British family ripped apart by World War One

[Matlock1418]

Some belated feedback from the National Portrait Gallery [my fault for the majority of the delay - NPG kindly replied 22 August]

I have spoken to the team in charge of The Nation's Family Album, and unfortunately we weren't directly involved in the process of researching these pictures. For more detailed information, we advise either contacting Ancestry directly, or searching on the page below:

https://www.ancestry.co.uk/search/collections/62208/

So we are still none the wiser as to the family's identity.

M

Edited 22 February by Matlock1418
typo

[travers61]

Have located the photo on the ancestry website. As others have done I tried various search words & eventually found it in the results using "family". Quite daunting & it was on page 34 of the results.  Most of the refs are for royalty, society & the professional classes, but there was a batch together with no sitters name & photographer unkonwn.

This Image Shows the Abbott Family At the Rear of 3 Picardy Road, Belvedere, Kent on the Occasion of the Home Leave of George Stanley Abbott From the Salonica Front in Late November/Early December 1917. His First and Last Leave Since Christmas 1914. He Died of Malaria.two Days Before the End of the War in Salonica. the Abbott Family Shown Are Henry Herbert 1900-1981, Minnie Louise 1898-1918 (Spanish Flu), Frank Arthur 1903-1981, Ethel Edith 1893-1978, George William 18641934, Eliza Ellen 1865-1950, George Stanley 1895-1918, Alfred John 1909-1985 and Rose Annie 1906-1973.

https://www.ancestry.co.uk/discoveryui-content/view/156709:62208?tid=&pid=&queryId=aaae9771-1e91-43f1-a9f1-ea0f419d9693&_phsrc=bSK60&_phstart=successSource

The location & siblings mentioned fit with two public trees on ancestry which have this soldier as their brother but do not have the actual photograph posted so it was possibly sent to the NPG competition by a non ancestry member. A great photo to have been chosen.

https://www.cwgc.org/find-records/find-war-dead/casualty-details/340300/g-s-abbott/

 

Travers

Edited 23 February by travers61

[AndrewSid]

Bulgarians surrendered on the 30th of September 1918,  hence the “died two days  before the end  of the war”  comment in the above post. 

Andy

Edited 23 February by AndrewSid

[Matlock1418]

5 hours ago, travers61 said:

This Image Shows the Abbott Family At the Rear of 3 Picardy Road, Belvedere, Kent on the Occasion of the Home Leave of George Stanley Abbott From the Salonica Front in Late November/Early December 1917. His First and Last Leave Since Christmas 1914. He Died of Malaria.two Days Before the End of the War in Salonica. the Abbott Family Shown Are Henry Herbert 1900-1981, Minnie Louise 1898-1918 (Spanish Flu), Frank Arthur 1903-1981, Ethel Edith 1893-1978, George William 18641934, Eliza Ellen 1865-1950, George Stanley 1895-1918, Alfred John 1909-1985 and Rose Annie 1906-1973.

https://www.ancestry.co.uk/discoveryui-content/view/156709:62208?tid=&pid=&queryId=aaae9771-1e91-43f1-a9f1-ea0f419d9693&_phsrc=bSK60&_phstart=successSource

A really great find by you, Travers 

It is a great photo - Clearly the "Ripped apart" in the photo title was there as bait for the public since many families suffered much worse - but certainly the photo has a sad undertone

https://www.cwgc.org/find-records/find-war-dead/casualty-details/340300/g-s-abbott

3 hours ago, AndrewSid said:

Bulgarians surrendered on the 30th of September 1918,  hence the “died two date before the end  of the war”  comment in the above post. 

Thanks Andy.

At least George got his second stripe.

George Stanley ABBOTT, Y632, King's Royal Rifle Corps

Pension claim by his mother matches dying from "Pneumonia" [Though I'm not a medic it seems respiratory illness can be a part of malarial disease - though I wonder where the cause of death being described above as "Malaria" initially came from??]

Image thanks to WFA/Fold3

Thanks to all who contributed - I hope the photo and info gleaned have been of interest to a wider audience.

M

Edit: His medal index card

Image thanks to WFA/Fold3

Edited 23 February by Matlock1418
edit add mic

[Matlock1418]

Ethel Edith ABBOTT 1893-1978 - appears to be in the nursing uniform

@FROGSMILE has her as a Voluntary Aid Detachment (British Red Cross Society contingent) member.

I wonder if there is any info on her wartime service?

M

Edit: As has been menetioned elsewhere on GWF the revised Red Cross VAD site search is currently rather a challenge [certainly more so than before]

https://vad.redcross.org.uk/search?searchTerm=Ethel Edith ABBOTT&filter=Name Phew! - comes up with 1000 results and I'm struggling to filter  - I hope others may have more success 

Edited 23 February by Matlock1418
vad etc

[FROGSMILE]

6 minutes ago, Matlock1418 said:

Ethel Edith ABBOTT 1893-1978 - appears to be in the nursing uniform

@FROGSMILE has her as a Voluntary Aid Detachment (British Red Cross Society contingent) member.

I wonder if there is any info on her wartime service?

M

As well as her BRC VAD apron she has the later version of headress, fastened at the nape of the neck, apparently ordered in 1917.  I think Vera Brittain mentioned this in her biography.

Edited 23 February by FROGSMILE

[Matlock1418]

On 23/02/2024 at 20:18, FROGSMILE said:

As well as her BRC VAD apron she has the later version of headress, fastened at the nape of the neck, apparently ordered in 1917.

Sorry it's tardy but thank you FS.

M