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The Great War (1914-1918) Forum

Remembered Today:

Bertram Foreman


Hookleg

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Another Pakenham man from their WW1 Memorial.  Bertram or perhaps Bertie was born in Pakenham in about 1877 as far as I can tell. Son of Charles Foreman a carpenter and his wife Maria Elizabeth, Nee Callas. In 1901 he is at Fort  Château à L’Etoc, Alderney as a Malster (presume this is Maltster).  As far as I know he was a Private in the Suffolk Regiment. Need to know any other info such as place and date of death plus cemetery. Thanks in anticipation.

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First name(s) HERBERT JAMES

Last name FOREMAN

Service number 18573

Rank PRIVATE

Regiment Suffolk Regiment

Battalion 7th Battalion.

Birth place PAKENHAM

Residence-

Enlistment place BURY ST. EDMUNDS

Death year 1917

Death day 15

Death month 3

Cause of deathKilled in action

 

http://www.cwgc.org/find-war-dead/casualty/284106/FOREMAN, H J

 

On the 1911 census, he was a house boy on a farm, aged 14, living with his parents. Address: The Street, Pakenham.

 

 

 

Edited by IPT
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Thanks for that. However there are 4 Foremans on the Memorial :-   Bertram, Frank Sidney, Herbert James and Walter. I believe that  Bertram or Bertie as he appears on the census and Frank were brothers and  sons of Charles and Maria and Herbert James and Walter were brothers and sons of James John Foreman and his wife Eva. There are a lot of Foremans in Pakenham and it takes some untangling as Bert and Frank also had a brother Walter of a similar age, but he lived till 1962. I have found info on Frank Sidney, Herbert James and Walter.

Edited by Hookleg
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If my calculations were right with the Alderney reference, he would have been between 36 and 40 at the time of his death.

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Ah fair enough.

 

If the man you mentioned was Bertie Stephen, born 1876 in Pakenham, son of Charles and Maria, he also has some pre-war service papers on FindmyPast.

 

There is a death in Cambridge, 2nd Qtr 1919, of a Bert S Foreman, aged 43. I think he had married Kate Brooks in Cambridge in 1915.

Edited by IPT
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The fact that he was at Fort  Château à L’Etoc, Alderney in 1901 suggests that he had enlisted.  The Fort was on the north of the island and had quite a few artillery pieces. Virtually all the others on that census page are from Suffolk as well. Presume they were on garrison duty. There was supposed to be a breakwater being built to mirror the existing one, but it never materialized. With regard to the middle name of Stephen, I have seen it on a tree, but not on any other document. Had also looked at find my past, but don't have a subscription so can't open the documents.  The death in Cambridge could possibly be correct if he died from wounds inflicted in the war, there is another Pakenham man on the memorial who died not long after end of WW1 and is buried in the churchyard.  Thanks for all your help. Really appreciated as you have done so much research for me.

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Yes, his birth was registered in the 1st Qtr 1876 in Thingoe, as Bertie Stephen Foreman. His baptism was 2/4/1876 at St Mary's Pakenham, again as Bertie Stephen Foreman, parents Charles, a carpenter, and Maria.

 

On the 1881, 1891 and 1901 census he is Bertie Foreman. On his 1896 militia attestation for the 3rd Sussex, he was Bertie Foreman, disembodied July 1901. Enlisted again in 1903 as Bertie Foreman, discharged on termination in 1907.  Due to his age, there is a possibility that he served and died at home. I haven't found any mention in a newspaper yet.

 

What's odd is the name Bertram on the memorial, as he doesn't ever seem to have gone by that name?

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Yes, this is the man. Pakenham was in the Thingoe Registration District. I have come across a tree with a little more info. He seems to have married a Kate Brooks in Cambridge in 1915 and had two children, Emily C Foreman in 1916 and Archibald in 1918. In 1941 Archibald married Phyllis N Flack. He passed away in 1986. No further info on the tree. The tree is huge with almost 19,000 names on it, so it is a fair guess that this branch is not particularly closely related.(at least I couldn't spot the connection). I had also spent some time looking at Newspaper archive to try to find any reference to a Foreman dying in the Cambridge area in 1919, but without success.  The name Archie does run in the family as Bertie had a brother Archie, born about 1892.

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