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Memorial
FOR
WILLIAM ALFRED HENRY MARSH
 William Alfred Henry Marsh
was born on 15 February 1888, the son of George Marsh and his
wife Ann Elizabeth, née Frost, who had married on 15
April 1876 at St Andrews, Buckland. Mr Marsh was then a
labourer. The couple had six children; the first was Emily
Elizabeth Louise, born on 9 May 1880, followed by George
William Thomas, born on 17 October 1881, when the family were
living at 6 Winders Row, off the London Road.
The family changed their address to 153 London Road, and there
were born Annie Florence Nerissa, on 26 July 1884, Emily Bertha
Maud, on 5 September 1886, and William. Their father had been
working as a brewers' labourer, but then changed to become an
engine driver, probably in the paper factory, where he is
recorded as a stoker in 1901, as was his son George.
 The
family moved again to Valley Road, River, where Louise Grace
Eveline was born on 19 September 1890, and by 1901 Emily
Elizabeth ("Elizabeth") and Emily were both dressmakers, while
Annie ("Florence") had become a domestic servant. By 1911 Emily
and Louise were working as cook and housemaid respectively in
the home of John Aaron Robson, a bank manager of 6 Pencester
Road.
Later that year, on 9 December 1911, William married Elizabeth
Mary Kate Laws ("Kitt"), born 17 October 1897, at St Andrews.
From 6 Valley Road, he was working at the Wiggins Teape paper
mill as a wooden-box maker. There were three children in the
family; Sydney, born about 1914, George, 1920, and Joan, about
1922.
William served in the Buffs as 200293, during the Great War, and
in 1918 he joined the Royal Sussex Regiment as 260159, when he
served in France and Belgium.
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He was not enamoured
of his service, writing to his wife on 23 August
1916, "Dear Kitt, This is the way we have our kits
inspected of a Sunday; this is not our Company
though. Am having a rotten time. Will try and write
more tomorrow. Thanks for letters received today.
With best love to you all at home, Will", |
 After
the war William resumed his previous occupation, being described
as a packing-case maker in 1939, when the couple lived at 66
Oswald Road. He became an air raid warden in the Second World
War.
The certificate, signed by the Chief Air Raid Warden, reads,
Dover
1939 - Civil Defences - 1941
In appreciation of valuable services rendered under difficult
conditions it is hereby recorded that Mr W A H Marsh served on
the above defences as an Air Raid Warden from September 1939 to
September 1941 during which period the Great Air Battle of
Britain was fought in the Autumn of 1940 and the Town of Dover
was frequently attacked by enemy aircraft and shelled by guns
fired from the coast across the English Channel.
William Marsh died in 1982. Mrs Elizabeth Marsh was first cousin
to
Thomas Laws.
photographs of William Marsh as
an officer during the Great War and, below, in Belgium
with thanks to Diana Miller
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