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.