Our plea for help concerns a former WWI Canadian soldier and the search for his final resting place.
In January 2018, we wrote about PRIVATE JOHN SMITH. Following his discharge from the army in July 1919, his record shows he intended to live with Mrs Ellen Brown, his sister, in Coe Wood Cottages on the Carlton-Peasenhall Road at Rotten End, Sibton [near Saxmundham and Halesworth in Suffolk]. John died on 23rd September 1920.
Coe Wood Cottages — before refurbishment and now
However, further research has now uncovered an amazing story. Born on 15th February 1896 at Sibton, his actual birth name was Charles Frederick Brown. It now transpires Mrs Ellen Brown (née Abbott) was in reality his mother, not a sister, and married to David Brown. The two Coe Wood cottages were almost certainly tied farm cottages. The Brown family were most likely estate workers at Wood Farm, long owned by the Levett-Scrivener family.
Giving their address as Coe Wood Cottage, Charles Frederick Brown and Nellie Thorn were married by ‘Licence’ on 9th June 1919 in the Register Office at Bulcamp, just a month before he was demobbed. Shortly afterwards, they had relocated to Quinn Square, Russia Road, Bethnal Green, London. As Charles was suffering with tuberculosis, they may have moved there to enable him to attend the nearby Bethnal Green Military Hospital at 214A Cambridge Road. Sadly, Charles Brown died in the hospital on 23rd September 1920, the exact same age, day and place which the army recorded for ‘John Smith’.
With probably very little money to spare, logic dictates Charles should have been laid to rest close to where he died. To date, his burial has not been traced to any London cemeteries or churchyards within a reasonable radius of Bethnal Green Hospital.
Therefore, did his family find a way to bring his body back home to Sibton and bury him locally? Again, no trace so far. Curiously, the burial place of Ellen and David Brown is also ‘Unknown’.
Extensive research is continuing in London and Suffolk to establish where Charles was laid to rest. In either case, it is highly unlikely he has a headstone. We are appealing for help to try to locate his grave, so that it can be marked with a Commonwealth War Grave Commission headstone before the centennial anniversary of his death.
Thank you and if you are able to help in any way, please contact us direct or via the AVSFHG Newsletter Editor. [This article is reproduced from the January 2019 "Alde Valley Suffolk Family History Group Newsletter" issue 43]
Diana Beaupré MSM & Adrian Watkinson MSM
Far From Home project
w: www.canadianukgravesww1.co.uk
e: dbeaupre1944@hotmail.co.uk
[Surely someone remembers or knows of the Brown family? Or the Abbotts? Or the Thorns?
Coe Wood Cottages have recently been rebuilt, but does anyone have a photo of the original cottages as they used to look – please? Ed.]