WW1 Memorial Quilt – Walter - Gardener

I have finished the last piece of my Memorial Quilt – the piece which represents the gardeners.

This design ought to have been the easiest.  There are so many things I could have knitted to represent gardeners.  I had thought of doing a large cauliflower or a row of carrots.  I considered doing rows of flowers in a Fair-isle pattern.  This design has taken me at least 6 months to think of – but I think I am happy with the end result.  It is the largest piece of the quilt with 134sts and 132 rows.  I have used small amounts of a lot of different shades of Rowan Felted Tweed DK yarn.  I had lots of odd bits left over from knitting other pieces and I have used up as many of them as I could.

The structure for the design is a formal garden – 4 beds divided by paths and a central feature.  The feature could be a statue or a sundial. Each bed represents a season.  Winter which is a bit sparse – berries, twigs and pine leaves, Spring which is a daffodil and a few buds, Summer which is a rose and Autumn which is a nasturtium. 

On another level the piece is a cross with flowers – to remember the men who died. It is named after Walter James Deal who was my third cousin, 3 times removed.  He was a gardener and a private in the 2^nd battalion of the Oxfordshire and Berkshire Light Infantry who died on 12 May 1918 aged 32.

It is also to remember the following men:

George Walter Thomas Shaxted who was my second cousin, 3 times removed.  He was a gardener and a private in the 6^th battalion of the Buffs (East Kent) Regiment who died on 20 October 1915 aged 20.

Charles Waite who was the husband of my fourth cousin, 4 times removed.  He was a gardener and a guardsman in the 3^rd battalion of the Grenadier Guards who died on 9 October 1917 aged 31.

Walter James Cole who was the husband of my second cousin, 3 times removed who I think was a gardener and a corporal in the Royal Garrison Artillery who died on 27 October 1917 aged 27.

John Norwood Berry who was my fourth cousin, twice removed.  He was a gardener and a private in the 6^th battalion of the Buffs (East Kent) Regiment who died on 4 August 1916 aged 30.

One last confession about this piece – I have done quite a lot of swiss darning.  I decided that it would be better to do that than keep taking it out because one stitch was in the wrong place.

I am now working on sewing the 21 pieces together.  I have arranged them on my bed and I think I am happy that they will look OK.  There are some pieces which are the same size and could have been swopped but I am going to stick to the original arrangement.  I hope to be able to show you the finished quilt later in the week.

WW1 Memorial Quilt – Albert – Railway Worker

This is my finished piece for my railway workers.

I hope the middle section looks like a railway engine.  Either side are trunks and a vague impression of a station building or a covered platform.

The piece has 121sts and 132 rows. 

I thought about this design for months.  I wanted to do a train in some form and I considered knitting just a carriage – or a train from the side.  In the end I decided to do a design similar to the Road Transport piece – even using red and black in a similar way.  For the engine I deliberately knitted black surrounded by red – so that it looked a bit like a poppy.  

This piece is to remember my third cousin, 3 times removed: Albert John Boyce who was a railway guard and a corporal in the Royal Fusiliers who died on 24 May 1915 aged 35.

It is also to remember the other men who worked on the railway including Wilfred Algernon Burfield who was my third cousin, twice removed.  He was a railway engineer who died from disease on 13 February 1916 aged 21.  He had served in the Royal Navy on HMS Vivid.

I am now working on the last piece – the one for the gardeners in my family.

WW1 Memorial Quilt – Cecil – General Labourer

This is the finished version of my piece for general labourers – that is labourers who were not agricultural labourers as far as I know.  Some of the men did describe themselves as dock labourer or brewer’s labourer but others are just labourers.

I thought of lots of ideas for this piece but in the end decided on words which described the sort of things they did.  The point is that they would do anything they were capable of doing.  These skills were useful in war time as well.

Because the design consists of words – it is an echo of the piece I did for the Printers and Compositors.  It is 134sts and 99 rows.  I have changed my mind a lot during the production of this piece and I managed to end up with a stitch in the wrong place in one of the “ands” – instead of taking it out again – I swiss darned the stitch to change it from blue to brown.  When knitting letters – the crucial thing is to get the spacing right – that can’t be fixed with swiss darning.  I know because I had to take out some of the phrases several times until I had got the letters in the right place.

This piece is called Cecil after my fourth cousin, twice removed: Cecil Edward Augustus Martin.  He was a General Labourer and a private in the 2^nd battalion of the Queen’s Royal West Surrey Regiment who died on 2^nd April 1917 aged 34.

It is also for all of the following men:

William Arthur Baker – my 1^st cousin, 4 times removed who was a labourer and a gunner in the Royal Horse and Royal Field Artillery who died on 20 July 1916 aged 32.

Frank Hamlyn – my 3^rd cousin, 3 times removed who was a dock labourer and a rifleman in the 1^st battalion of the Royal Irish Rifles who died on 14 October 1918 aged 33.

Holroyd Edward Hamlyn – my 4^th cousin, twice removed who was a mason’s labourer and a private in the 11^th battalion of the Somerset Light Infantry who died on 16 September 1917 aged 22.

Charles Edward Carswell – my 1^st cousin, twice removed who was a labourer and a private in the Canadian Expeditionary Force who died on 17 November 1917 aged 21.

Weston Berry – my 4^th cousin, twice removed who was a general labourer and a private in the 1^st battalion of the London Regiment who died on 31 July 1917 aged 26.

Herbert Clarence Shaxted – my 2^nd cousin, 3 times removed who was a labourer and a private in the 1^st battalion of the Buffs (East Kent Regiment) who died on 23 June 1915 aged 24.

Ernest Verlander – the husband of my great great aunt who was a brewer’s labourer and a private in the 2^nd battalion of the Dorsetshire Regiment who died on 31 December 1916 aged 23.

And lastly – although he was not exactly a labourer – this is to remember Arthur Edward Birkett, my second cousin, 3 times removed who was an insurance collector (walking from door to door) and a rifleman in the 8^th battalion of the Rifle Brigade who died on 3 May 1917 aged 34.

I am now working on the piece for the men who worked on the railway.

WW1 Memorial Quilt – Frank – Engine Fitter

I have finished the piece for the Engine Fitters in my family.

I have a bit of a confession – I still don’t know what an engine fitter did nor whether a fitter is the same or something different.  I decided to knit what I wanted to – which is an artistic impression of a combustion engine – in case you wondered!  The piece has 80sts and 132 rows. 

This piece is named after my second cousin, 3 times removed: Francis James (Frank) Templeman who was an engine fitter.  He was a sergeant in the 5^th battalion of the Lincolnshire Regiment who died on 30 July 1915 aged 33. 

It is also to remember my great great uncle Percy Carswell who was a fitter.  He was a private in the Royal West Kent Regiment who died on 29 June 1916 aged 40.