Whatmore Family History

Looking through the names of those killed in the First World War on the website of the Commonwealth War Graves Commission, I came across the name of ARCHIBALD  LAING WATMOUGH. It seemed an unusual name and I decided to see if I could find out more about his life and his ancestors.

Whilst today we may see the  slaughter in the trenches as a pointless sacrifice, we still honour the memory of those brave soldiers who gave their lives for their country. Perhaps, in its small way, this post will be a memorial to Archibald, one of those brave soldiers.

Archibald was a Private, No. 6707 in the 1^st/4^th Bn of the Kings Own Yorkshire Light Infantry. He was killed , aged 30, on the Somme on 13 September 1916 and is buried in Grave VII Section D10 in Longsdale Cemetery, Authuille.

Archibald had been born in 1885 in Hull, the son of George Lovice Watmough and his wife Julia Kate Penny. George Watmough was a Grocer and Wine Merchant.

 In 1891 Archibald  was at home at 1 Prospect Street in the parish of Holy Trinity Hull with his parents and his siblings  George Forsyth aged 10, Kathleen Mary aged 7 and Florence aged 11 months.

In 1901 Archibald was at home in the same place with his parents and siblings. There had been, however, an addition to the family – Gladys born about 1892.

In 1910 Archibald  he married Lily Robinson in Hull. They had two known children – Raymond born in 1914 and Dorothy born in 1915. It is tragic to think that Dorothy was probably born after he had left for France and that Archibald never saw his daughter.

At the time of Archibald’s death his wife and children were living at 154 Belvoir Street, Princes Avenue, Hull and that his parents were living at 404 Hessle Road, Hull.

Archibald’s father, George Lovice Watmough had been born about 1855 at Saxilby, Lincolnshire. He was apprenticed to Thomas Ward, Grocer in the Market Place at Boston, Lincolnshire, and George was there aged 16 at the time of the 1871 census. George Watmough married  Julia Kate Penny in 1880 in the Boston Registration District.

George Watmough’s father was another George Watmough who was baptised on 2 September 1817 at Redbourne in Lincolnshire. He married Selina Forsyth in 1850 in the Lincoln Registration District and became the Blackmith at Saxilby.

 George Watmough’s father was a John Watmough who was born at Waddington and baptised on 8 July 1782 at Redbourne in Lincolnshire. On 16 June 1805 he married at Redbourne to a woman with the wonderful name of Appy Cocking.

The earlier ancestors of Archibald Watmough are shown on the chart below. This shows the movement of a Watmough family into Lincolnshire from Nottinghamshire and it would thus appear that many of the Watmoughs to be found in Lincolnshire are descendants of the Watmough family of Tuxford in Nottinghamshire (see earlier post).

Let us hope that the children  and the grandchildren of Archibald Watmough have  thrived, and that through them his memory remains green.