Fellow local historian, Cynthia Budd, has meticulously researched the men listed on the Great War Memorials throughout the Shellrock Benefice (Great Ellingham, Little Ellingham, Rockland All Saints, Rockland St Peter and Shropham with Snetterton).
She has kindly allowed me to reproduce her tributes to the Great Ellingham men, on the Great Ellingham One-Place Study website.
Great War memorial tablet on the west wall of the Church of St James, Great Ellingham
The following is Cynthia’s piece commemorating Sergeant 14254 Charles Frederick Bilverstone, 182nd Company, Machine Gun Corps:
Charles was born in Little Cressingham. His birth was registered in the first quarter of 1885. He was the eldest of ten children of John Carlton Bilverstone and Emma Jane nèe Wigger. In 1911 they recorded that two of their children had died. The family had moved to Long Street, Great Ellingham by 1889 and in 1901 Charles was working as a Farm Labourer.
On 24 August 1903 he was Attested in Brandon for 6 years' service with the 4th Volunteer Battalion, Norfolk Regiment. He was aged 18 years 8 months and had been working as a labourer for the Earl of Wilton in the Brandon area. He was described as being 5' 5", 124 lbs, with a fresh complexion, blue eyes and brown hair. He had a large scar on his right shin, religion: Church of England. He served with the Volunteers for almost two months, then became a Regular Soldier in the King's Own Yorkshire Light Infantry. On completion of his service in 1909 he returned to Brandon and became a postman.
In 1910 Charles married Emma Agnes Hunt. They lived on Church Road, Brandon, in April 1911, he was still a postman. A daughter, Edna, was born in 1912, and by 1914, the family lived in Great Ellingham.
The Deanery Magazine of September 1914 lists Charles as one of ten Great Ellingham men already enlisted into the Army. In fact, he would have received a letter ordering him to return to his former Regiment in Yorkshire 5 August 1914. At the time he was an employee of Gaymers, Attleborough. He was sent to France with the Expeditionary Force arriving 10 August 1914.
In March 1915 a letter from him to one of his brothers was published in the Norwich Mercury. It mentioned cooking 'Five course dinners' in the trenches and concluded 'Never mind, we shall be home some day, then we shall have a good meal for a change'.
Charles was wounded in May 1915 and the Thetford & Watton Times gave details:
"Sergeant C F Bilverstone of the King's Own Yorkshire Light Infantry has been wounded in the severe fighting at Hill 60 and is now in hospital at Gravesend. Sgt. Bilverstone was one of the first sent to the Front and has seen severe fighting on the Aisne and gone through the Battle of Mons, also at La Bassee, Messines, Ypres, St Eloi and St Julien. In a letter to his brother at Thompson, he says: 'I am still kicking with one leg but the other has to lay quiet, as I had a rifle bullet through it, but it is going on nicely. I hope you are well. I could not write before, as we have been very busy these last few weeks out yonder. I am having a quiet rest now for a change, at Gravesend. I was hit on May 6th, the bullet went in my left foot at the top and came out at the bottom. It did not pin me to the ground, because unlike a nail, it had not a head to hold me, thank goodness.'"
When he died he was serving with the 182nd Company, Machine Gun Corps in the 61st Division. The Division had suffered very heavy casualties in July 1916 during the attack on Fromelles, after which their reputation suffered. They were not used in Attack again until 1917. They spent the remainder of 1916 holding Trench Lines. Sergeant Bilverstone is recorded as 'Killed in Action, France or Belgium'.
He has no known grave and is commemorated on the Loos Memorial. He was awarded the Victory and British War Medals and the 1914 Star. He should also have received the Clasp to his 1914 Star, but the records do not show this.
From the Norwich Mercury 11 August 1917:
In loving memory of Sergeant Charles Frederick Bilverstone killed in action in France August 8th 1916, dearly loved husband of Emma Agnes Bilverstone, aged 31 years.
One long sad year has passed,
Since our great sorrow came,
Still in our hearts we mourn for him,
The one we loved so well.”
Gone but not forgotten
‘Sadly missed by his loving Wife and little Daughter’
10th August 1918
‘Gone but not forgotten’
By his loving Wife and little daughter Edna
Emma Bilverstone remarried in 1920 and lived to the ripe old age of 94.
With many thanks to Cynthia Budd and Chris Clarke.
Cynthia’s sources. Please note that the sources include research carried out in relation to all the ‘fallen’ of the Great War throughout the Shellrock Benefice. Accordingly, not all the sources will be applicable to Great Ellingham :
Ancestry UK: Birth, Marriage, Death and Parish Records. Census Records and Electoral Rolls. Probate Records.Military Records; Army/Navy Service Records. UK Soldiers Died in the Great War Roll. Medal Index Cards. Medal Award Rolls. The Register of Soldiers’ Effects. War Diaries. Canadian Military Records.
Archant Archives, Norwich. Also Thetford Library; The Thetford & Watton Times.
Australian War Records Websites: https://rslvirtualwarmemorial.org.au https://recordsearch.naa.gov.au
Commonwealth War Graves Commission
FindMyPast; Military Service Records. Electoral Rolls. British Newspaper Archive. The 1939 Register.
The General Record Office.
The History of the Norfolk Regiment 1914-1918 F Loraine Peter OBE
The London GazetteThe National Archives
The Norfolk Heritage Centre, The Forum, Norwich. Breckles and District Deanery Magazines. Norwich Mercury (Microfiche)
The Norfolk Record Office.
Norwich Cathedral Library; 1919 Diocesan Roll of Honour.
Picture Norfolk https://www.norfolk.gov.uk/libraries/picture-norfolk
The Red Cross https://grandguerre.icrc.org
Various Regimental Websites.