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England (Counties as in 1851-1901) => England => Hampshire & Isle of Wight => Topic started by: Skoyen89 on Tuesday 06 June 23 12:18 BST (UK)
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I am trying to find out about the military service and death of two relatives who are buried in Hollybrook Cemetery in Southampton and share a grave and CWGC headstone. They died in the few years after WWI ended and were brothers.
Frederick Callaway was a Lance Corporal in the Royal Engineers (no. 1843640). He died on 16 Sept 1920 and appears from the CWGC Concentration Document that he was buried in Shirley Warren Infirmary cemetery first, suggesting he died there. His parents are given – Henry Noah Callaway and Rosabell Callaway (nee Ross) of 73 Payne’s Road, Freemantle, Southampton. His birth seems to have been in 1894 as he was aged 26 at death.
Frederick went to Sholing School in 1905 and was living in Spring Road and in 1901 was living in 73 Paynes’s Road and was an Aluminium Grainer. He was single and aged 16 in 1911.
There is a Fold 3 entry for Frederick Callaway but I don’t have the level of subscription to access it.
The other person buried there is ‘C Callaway’. He is given as a A/C 2 (Aircraftsman 2nd Class – the first rank on joining the RAF) in the RAF with a number of 125941 on the gravestone. He died on 31 July 1922 but although he is on a CWGC headstone he is not on the CWGC database.
Frederick had a brother Claude who was born in Q3 1900 (source: Birth Index and 1901 Census). He shows in the 1911 Census as a schoolboy and in the 1921 Census where he was living with his parents at 73 Payne’s Road, aged 20 years 10 months and a motor Driver for the GPO. He was single.
There is then a marriage to Winifred G Abraham in Q4 1921 (Southampton 2c 174). They may have had a son – Claude C Callaway (mother: Abrahams) born March 1923 in Southampton and died in Surrey aged 54.
There are two Winifred G Abraham – I think ours was born 4 Dec 1898 in Hedge End, lived in Bournemouth in 1939 and died Oct 1987 in Reading/Wokingham. There is another born 1902 in the New Forest, name Winfred Gwendoline Abraham.
I have looked for Newspaper reports of their deaths on FindMyPast but nothing showing.
The one thing that threw me a bit is that when I searched for RAF records online I found a record for the number given for ‘C Callaway’ on the headstone – 125941. That showed it was given to Charles A Galloway who was an AC2 in the RAF. He was a Motor Driver and lived in Freemantle, Southampton. However he was born in 1890 and joined the Army in Jan 1918 and transferred to the RFC on 29 Jan 1918 and the RAF on 1 April 1918. He married Violet Galloway on 26 May 1912. Although there are lots of similarities to Cecil Calloway I think they are different persons.
As I said I would like to understand more about their military service and death of Frederick and Cecil Callaway. Any help or things to follow up on would help. If someone has Fold3 subscription and could do a lookup that would be welcome. I plan to order death certs and Cecil’s marriage cert but they will take a week or two.
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Had you ruled out -
Hampshire Advertiser, 5 Aug 1922
CALLAWAY - On Monday 31 July, Charles Albert, age 30, the beloved son of Mr and Mrs H N Callaway, 7?, Paynes Road, Freemantle.
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Hi Hanes Teulu
No, but it didn't come up in my newspaper search for Callaway in 1920s in FindMyPast!!! I will look into that some more.
Charles Albert comes up a lot in the Callaway family - each family and each generation seems to have one so untangling them is sometimes challenging.
Very, very grateful!!! Spent about five or six hours on this last night of which much was chasing Cecil Callaway.
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I have access to newspapers via FindMyPast and British Newspaper Archive (BNA). I prefer BNA's search/navigation.
I pulled up Charles Albert's death notice on BNA searching for Callaway (ie. less is more) and checking "hits" for Hampshire papers shortly before/after 31 July.
Searching FindMyPast for Callaway, and Hampshire "hits" shortly before/after 31 July, delivers hits for Callaway in the Hampshire Independent (page 10- 4th Aug) and Hampshire Advertiser (page 10 - 5th Aug). But these are not Charles Albert.
The search does not identify Charles Albert's death notice in the Hampshire Advertiser 5th Aug - odd.
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Just some clarifications on Claude Callaway. I think this is him in 1939:
1939 register
Claude Callaway 22/7/1900 widowed
[redacted]
Beryl C Callaway [NUNN] 25/12/25 single (she married Herbert C Nunn Q4 1942)
birth registration
Beryl C Calloway
Q1 1925
mmn Abrahams
(note however the discrepancy on year of birth)
death Winifred G Callaway
Q2 1930 Southampton
so I think Claude's wife was indeed Winifred Gwendoline
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There's not much at Fold3 for Frederick Callaway I'm afraid.
RE 23589, L/Cpl, single
death 17/9/1920 disease
Claimant mother, Mrs R Callaway,73 Payne Rd, Freemantle, Southampton, age 50
seems to be an award of 5 shillings.
The Callaway family is at 73 Paynes Road in 1921: Henry, Rosebell, plus Henry (33) Charlie (30) and Claude (20). Henry and Charlie are both recorded as married, but no wives are in evidence: only Claude is single.
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I may be missing something in your original post: given the confusion over who is actually in the grave, what evidence is there for the existence of Cecil Callaway?
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General info only.
"the beloved son of Mr and Mrs H N Callaway, 7?, Paynes Road, Freemantle."
Birth
CALLAWAY, NOAH HENRY mmn BILES
GRO Reference: 1868 M Quarter in SOUTHAMPTON Volume 02C Page 19
Death
CALLAWAY, HENRY NOAH 57
GRO Reference: 1925 M Quarter in SOUTHAMPTON Volume 02C Page 106
Parents marriage
Marriages Sep 1865
Biles Emily Southampton 2c 67
Kallaway Albert Charles Southampton 2c 67
John
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Like AlanBoyd, I am confused. But my confusion is about why LCpl Frederick Callaway RE seems to have two different Regimental numbers. On the grave marker it's shown as 1843640 but on the grave registration card and, according to Alan, on Fold3, he's 23589
There's an MIC for 23589 Spr Frederick Callaway RE who received the Victory Medal, British War Medal and 1915 Star. He went to the Balkans 22 -3- 1915. No sign of an alternative number on his MIC. The Royal Engineers only renumbered soldiers from the Territorial Force and that occurred in 1917 (see this article on the Long, Long Trail website (https://www.longlongtrail.co.uk/soldiers/a-soldiers-life-1914-1918/renumbering-of-the-territorial-force-in-1917/renumbering-of-the-territorial-force-royal-engineers-in-1917/)) and both the old and new number should have appeared on the MIC. As far as I know, the RE did not re-number soldiers for any other reason, unlike transferring between Infantry Regiments or other Corps. There's no MIC for 1843640 Callaway
The Grave Registration Card does appear to record his rank as Acting LCpl, so the medal rolls might have recorded him in his substantive rank, but the number is still an issue.
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OK, just went back and looked again. He seems to have several cards. This isn’t the one that I transcribed from earlier. As you can see, it shows an annotation with the gravestone number.
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Many thanks to all of you for your help in this and in straightening me out. Sometimes it just helps to have another set of eyes looking at the same stuff and sometimes it just helps to have extra information!
So it looks like Frederick Callaway died of disease and had two army numbers 23589 and 1843640.
Cecil Callaway, although he was Frederick Callaway's brother, is not in the grave and survived into later life. In that respect he and Winifred is a bit of a red herring, although interesting in building the whole family tree.
It is Charles A Callaway who is in the grave and we have his Army/RFC/RAF records from FindMyPast (even if there is a typo and it gives his name as Galloway). Interestingly it says he was discharged to the RAF Reserve on 30 April 1920 which two years before he died.
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In answer to an earlier question the reason Charles Callaway does not appear in the CWGC database is that he did not qualify for war graves commemoration i.e. he did not die within the qualifying period 4 August 1914 to 31 August 1921. The First World War war graves at Hollybrook seem to be from deaths at the hospital and Charles may have died at the same hospital. The family may have requested he be buried in the existing grave, this before the stone headstones had been manufactured. Once things were more normalised the Commission was faced with this unusual situation and had to order up a non-standard headstone to address the issue.
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I have ordered the Death Certificates for the Callaway Brothers which may add some more info on them after they left the Army and RAF.
It looks like Frederick joined the Army 'B' Reserve in 1919 and Charles Albert was discharged to the RAF Reserve on 30 April 1920. We know that Frederick died of 'disease' in 1920 (source: Fold 3 Pension info) and Claude died two years later whilst a civilian so their cause of death may be related to their service hence the CWGC headstone for Frederick and the addition of Charles Albert in the unusual headstone. There are hints of this in the attached headstone forms and as IMBER suggests above.
Charles Albert appears in the 1921 Census living in the house of his parents at 73 Paynes Road on 19 June 1921 when the census was taken. He is shown as a Motor Driver and Married although his wife and children are not shown. He married Violet Spreadbury in 1912 and had at least two children.
Again thanks to all who have added to sorting this out.
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According to the Death Certs both died of a form of Tuberculosis. After a period of slow decline pre-war Tuberculosis increased during the War and shortly afterwards. As they were accorded a CWGC Headstone it suggests the disease was linked to their military service.
Frederick Callaway is given as an 'Army Pensioner' and he died at home (73 Paynes Road) of Phthisis Pulmonalis. This is a wasting away caused by tuberculosis affecting the lungs leading to their destruction.
Charles Albert Callaway died of Miliary Tuberculosis. This is where the tuberculosis bacteria spread to other organs than the lungs and is normally fatal. Charles Albert was given as a Motor Car Driver and he died at ‘1a Chilworth Road’ which was used to denote the Shirley Warren Infirmary and the workhouse that preceeded it.
Interesting, given where I started out above, that the person registering Charles Albert’s death was his brother C Callaway (Claude) of 6 Onslow Road, Southampton.
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The Death Certs are back and both died of a form of Tuberculosis.
Frederick Callaway is given as an 'Army Pensioner' and he died at home (73 Paynes Road) of Phthisis Pulmonalis. This is a wasting away caused by tuberculosis affecting the lungs leading to their destruction.
Charles Albert Callaway died of Miliary Tuberculosis. This is where the tuberculosis bacteria spread to organs other than the lungs and is normally fatal. Charles Albert was given as a Motor Car Driver and he died at ‘1a Chilworth Road’ which was used to denote the Shirley Warren Infirmary and the workhouse that preceeded it. His address at the time was given as his parent's house at 73 Payne's Road.
The person registering Charles Albert’s death was his brother C Callaway (Claude) of 6 Onslow Road, Southampton.
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You commented "As they were accorded a CWGC Headstone it suggests the disease was linked to their military service. " Yes, it appears that their disease may have been linked to their military service but, as I explained earlier, that makes no difference in the position of Charles. His commemoration on a CWGC headstone is incidental. He died outwith the Commission's qualifying dates for commemoration. In this connection it is interesting to see that in the additional official paperwork relating to Frederick there is a copy of his entry in the cemetery register. Alongside his name is the pencilled annotation “ In this grave is also buried Callaway C 125941 RAF 31 July 1922 NWG”. NWG means non war grave. That is the reason why Charles does not appear in the Commission's on line register of names.
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Hi Imber
Thanks for clarifying. I wasn't very clear.
Regards
Skoyen89