Marshall William Baynham (1897-1963)
Born: 1897 at Walsall
Parents: Arthur William Baynham and Elizabeth Pye
Married: 1920 to Phoebe Isabel Walker
Died: 1963 at Walsall
Marshall was born at Walsall in 1897.
He married Phoebe Isabel Walker, daughter of Frederick Walker and Phoebe Beesley, at St. John’s Church, Pleck, Walsall in 1920, when they were both 23. They had three children: Joan Isabel in 1921; Stanley William in 1927; and Dennis Marshall in 1932.
Marshall died at Walsall in 1963, aged 66.
Phoebe died in 1984.
Marshall (my grandfather) was born on 6th May 1897, at the family home 26 Oxford Street, Pleck, Walsall; he was baptised on 28th May 1897 at St. John’s Church, Walsall.
At the time of the 1901 census, he is 3 years old and living there with his parents Arthur William and Elizabeth and four siblings – Arthur (19), Louisa (Lillie) (15), Tom (11) and Dora (1); he appears on the census as William, the name he will use for the rest of his life.
His father and brother Arthur are both working on the railways and Lillie is a tailoress.
Another brother Harry was born in 1903, but sadly three members of the family then died: William’s father Arthur died of tuberculosis in 1905, aged 49, when William was just 7; his sister Nellie, who had been working away from home as a housemaid, died the following year, aged 23, also of tuberculosis; and his brother Tom died in early 1911, aged 21, of intestinal problems (his death was the subject of an inquest).
By this time, possibly in 1906-07 (following the deaths of her husband Arthur William in 1905 and daughter Nellie in 1906, both recorded at 12 Oxford Street), Elizabeth had moved the family to 151 Prince Street, Pleck which would remain the family home for more than 60 years.
So the 1911 census shows William living there with his widowed mother Elizabeth (50) and three siblings in what looks to be a troubled household – Lillie (25) had been working as a sewing machinist in tailoring, but is described in the Infirmity column as “lunatic” as she has yet to be discharged from the asylum at Burntwood where she has spent the past few months; Dora (11) is at school; Harry (7) does not appear to be at school and in the Infirmity column he is said to have had “hip troubles at the age 6”.
William is now 13 and working as an apprentice whip maker, in a town famed for its leather goods, but at some time before April 1915 had started working in the galvanised iron works of Walker Brothers Ltd on Pleck Road as a plater. Perhaps this was encouraged by the family’s boarder, Thomas Reeves (61), who is a widower working as a puddler in a puddling forge (puddling is a process used to create wrought iron or steel from the pig iron produced in a blast furnace).
William enlisted into Kitchener’s New Third Army at Walsall on 13th April 1915, a few weeks before his 18th birthday.
He signed up with two other local men, Willam Millett and George Cartwright and it appears that the stories of these three Walsall Pals may be intertwined. All three survived the war.
William joined the Royal Field Artillery and, after a period of basic training in Ireland, landed in France on 26th September 1915, as a reinforcement gunner.
He was posted to 32nd Battery, part of 33rd Brigade (8th Division), seeing action in a gun crew firing an 18-pounder at the opening battle of the Somme in early July 1916, near Albert.
He was wounded in action shortly afterwards near Laventie on 18th July during heavy enemy shelling and was brought to England on the Hospital Ship St Denis.
He returned to the front in December 1916 and was posted to ‘A’ Battery, 86th Brigade (19th Division). He served with them until June 1917, taking part in the Battle of Arras and the successful capture of Messines Ridge, but was again wounded in action shortly afterwards and was brought home on the HS Stad Antwerpen.
On both occasions when he was wounded he was featured in the local newspapers –
In 1916, in The Walsall Observer of 5th August on its page ‘Brave Men And Worthy Patriots, Dear To God’ in the ‘Wounded’ column:
Bombardier William M. Baynham, of the R.F.A., a single man, 19 years of age, and whose home address is 151, Prince Street, Pleck, has written home stating that he was wounded on 18th of last month after 10 months’ service in France. Prior to enlisting in April, 1915, he was employed by Messrs. Walker Bros., Ltd., of Pleck Road, and as a boy attended Hillary Street Schools.
In 1917 he appeared in a photographic supplement to The Walsall Pioneer of 4th August, called ‘The Toll Of The Brave’.
He was posted back to France in February 1918, but spent several months in and out of hospital with minor ailments at Havre before being promoted Bombardier on joining 24th Divisional Ammunition Column in September.
He finally returned to UK in June 1919.
His MoD service record reveals his long and fascinating Great War story.
After the war, aged just 22, he returned to The Pleck to live at 151 Prince Street with his older sister Lillie (32) and younger siblings Dora (20) and Harry (15); William’s mother Elizabeth had died of a stroke on 8th October 1915, aged 54, while he was in France.
Lillie died of tuberculosis in March 1920, aged just 33.
William married Phoebe Isabel Walker at St. John’s Church, Pleck, Walsall on 4th September 1920, when they were both 23.
Phoebe was born on 21st May 1897, the fourth of the eight children of Frederick Thomas Walker (1852-1922, described in the 1901 census as a ‘Victular Pub. Own Account.”) and Phoebe Emma Beesley (1868-1946); he was from Basford, Nottinghamshire but his wife was a local woman.
As a child, Phoebe lived at 92 Oxford Street, Wednesbury.
By 1911 the family had moved to The Pleck in Walsall and was living at 148 West Bromwich Road. Aged 13, Phoebe is working as an artificial teeth maker, like her older sister Florence (17). Her father is now an agent for sewing machines, two other children are working in the leather trade, plus there are three younger children still at school.
The 1921 Census shows William (24) living with his new wife Phoebe (24) and baby daughter Joan at 151 Prince Street with his brother Harry (18) and a boarder Richard Mumford (69), who is a widower.
William is working as a Plate Layer for London & North West Railway at Bescot, Harry is a Fancy Leathert Worker with Winsor & Plant on Glebe Street, Walsall and Richard Mamford is working as a Gardener for a Mr. E. J. Shaw who lived on Wednesbury Road, Walsall.
William and Phoebe’s first child, Joan Isabel, was born on 14th April 1921. William may well have missed her birth, as he had been re-called to the colours on 12th and posted to Newcastle Upon Tyne on standby during a period of serious industrial unrest.
This seaside photo, taken in 1922, shows (left to right) William holding Joan (1), Phoebe, Dora and Howard holding Betty (1).
Phoebe’s second child Stanley William (my father) was born on 23rd February 1927.
This photo, most likely taken in The Pleck in Summer 1931 , shows Phoebe and William with their children Joan (10) and Stanley (4) on the left and their nephews and nieces (Dora and Howard’s children) Betty (10), Geoff (7) and the twins Joyce and Malcolm (3) on the right.
Their third child Dennis Marshall was born on 1st January 1932, so the 1939 register shows William and Phoebe living at 151 Prince Street, Pleck, Walsall with their three children Joan (18), Stanley (12) and Dennis (7).
William is working as a Sub Ganger, Railway Engineering and Maintenance.
William died on 24th January 1963 of chronic bronchitis. He was buried in Ryecroft Cemetery, where his father was buried.
Phoebe continued to live at the family home for a short while after his death before going to live with her daughter Joan. She died at Walsall, on 22nd January 1984, aged 86.
Dennis died in 2001, Joan in 2011 and Stanley in 2015.
Notes:
- the census transcription shows Baynham as ‘Brynham’
Census and Register extracts – www.ancestry.co.uk
Army Service Record – Historical Disclosures, Army Personnel Centre, Glasgow
Medal index card – The National Archives
War Diaries of the following units, Royal Field Artillery – The National Archives
- 8th Divisional Ammunition Column
- 33rd Brigade
- 19th Divisional Ammunition Column
- 86th Brigade
Advice and assistance on army service record – various members of The Great War (1914-1918) Forum in particular David Porter, Graeme Clarke, Max D, ‘sadbrewer’, ‘tullybrone’, ‘wmfinch’, ‘awjdthumper’, Craig (Admin) and Charlie (‘charlie962’)
Photographs – family