Serjeant C B Younge Norfolk Regiment 1917

There is a standard CWGC pattern headstone in the Cemetery.

 

5075 Serjeant

C.B. YOUNGE

Norfolk Regiment

15th November 1917

 

Serjeant YOUNGE, C B

Service Number:………. 5075

Died:…………………… 15/11/1917

Unit:…………………….3rd Bn. Norfolk Regiment

Buried at METHWOLD (ST. GEORGE'S) CHURCH BURIAL GROUND

Location: Norfolk, United Kingdom

Source: www.cwgc.org/find-war-dead/casualty/2803529/younge,-/

 

No match on SDGW.

 

The Medal Index Card for Private 5075 Cecil Bertie Younge, Norfolk Regiment, is held at the National Archive under reference WO 372/22/127798

Source: discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/D6060566

The card actually relates to his appearance on the Silver War Badge. He enlisted on the 11th May 1911 and was serving with the 3rd Battalion when he was discharged on the 12th September 1916. He was no longer physically fit for service as a result of an “Epithelima of Tongue”. (While it’s not the only cause of epthilioma of the tongue, the most fatal at that time was cancer).

 

His full Service Records do not appear to have survived the incendiary attack during the Blitz on the Warehouse where all the Other Ranks Army Service Records were stored. However his 1910 Discharge Papers for “the termination of his first period of engagement” have survived and they to have been updated with notes about his Great War Service.

 

Private 5075 Cecil Bertie Hedge, 1st Battalion, Norfolk Regiment was discharged on the 7th December 1910 at Aldershot. He was then 30 years and 1 month old, was 5 feet 7 and a half inches tall, with a fresh complexion, grey eyes and brown hair. A labourer by trade his intended place of residence was The Old Vicarage, Methwold,Norfolk. His conduct and character was recorded as exemplary. In the section”Special qualifications for employment in civil life” it is noted that he was “A signaller for over nine years – Smart & steady of good intelligence”.

 

He two Good Conduct badges and had achieved his 3rd Class Certificate of Education. He had both the Queens and Kings South Africa medal. The relevant Service Medal Roll shows that he served in South Africa with the 2nd Battalion but had been posted to the 1st Battalion in India.

 

He had completed his full 12 years of service.

 

He had originally enlisted on the 8th December 1898.

 

Its not clear but there is a reference to him serving 3 years in “Sec. D. Mob” and it was from there he was called up. The Silver Badge Roll records that his current period of service starts from the 11th May 1911.

 

He was mobilised on the 5th August 1914 and discharged again on the 12th September 1916 as a result of his Epithilioma of tongue, having been found medically unfit to serve. His new address would be White Road, Methwold. It’s noted on his pension form that he had served 2 years 5 months in South Africa and 8 months in India. His place of birth on the same form is Methwold.

 

The Medical Board summary was:-

“Originated Jan. 1915 Walton. He noted a pimple on side of tongue – this spread – difficulty in eating – reported sick – hosp. operation. Portion of right tongue has been excised – galnds excised. Not result of + not aggravated by Military Service.”

 

His Chelsea Hospital Number was 53833.

 

A letter from a justice of the peace requesting an increase in the pension for this man. This led to an exchange of memos’ between various department with some pushing for a more lenient treatment, especially as his most recent medical board found him 100% disabled and with his carcinoma so far advanced that they suspected he did not have long to live. However the top level continued to push back, seemingly worried that this would set a dangerous, (and expensive) precedence. In the end the Advisory Board of the Ministry of Pensions sought a compromise – they would offer an one off payment of £150. Given the concerns about expense and the medical opinion that this man did not have long to live, this seems a very odd idea od a compromise as the additional pension being argued over was 5s and 11 pence. The Ministry wrote to Charles on the 27th November 1917 seeking his written agreement. The response they had back was that Charles had already died.

 

The Silver War Badge Roll for the Norfolk Regiment confirms he had seen no overseas service in the Great War.

 

No match on Picture Norfolk, the County Image Archive.

 

No obvious Civil Probate for this man.

 

On the War Memorial in the same Cemetery he is recorded as Bertie Younge.

 

 

1882/83 – Birth?

 

There is no match for the birth of a Cecil \ Bertie Younge \ Young in the quarterly index of births for England and Wales published by the General Registrars Office. The nearest thing to a match was the birth of a Caesar Bertie Young was registered with the Civil Authorities in the Thetford District of Norfolk in the January to March quarter, (Q1), of 1883.

There is no obvious matching death or subsequent census entry for Caesar.

 

Then, as now, you had 42 days after the event to register the birth without facing prosecution and a fine. Thus a birth registered at the start of Q1 could actually have taken place as early as the middle of the previous November.

 

Unless his parent successfully delayed registering his birth for several years and maintained the fiction through the subsequent censuses, it would appear that Cecil lied about his age when he enlisted – he could only sign up for 12 years once he was over 18.

 

The Thetford Civil Registration District included the Civil Parish of Methwold.

 

1891 Census of England and Wales

 

There is no exact match for Cecil on this census.

 

His widowed mother and siblings were living in a dwelling at Methwold, (no precise address given), and the census enumerator has recorded then with the surname spelt “Young”. Mother Ellen, then aged 32 and born Methwold, was Living on Own Means. Living with her are her daughter Honor, (aged 14, a General Domestic Servant) and son Bertie, (aged 8) – both born Methwold. Also in the household is a lodger, the 28 year old unmarried Shoemaker John Manning, born Gooderstone, Norfolk.

 

Going back to the 1881 Census the 24 year old Ellen Younge, born Methwold, was already widowed and she was living with her in-laws at Methwold. They were Noah and Ellen Younge. Among the other members of the household there was their grand-daughter Honor Younge, (aged 4, born Methwold) and their grand-son Herbert Younge, (aged 2, born Methwold). Herbert may not be Ellens’ child but it does seem a possibility.

 

I could not track down a likely marriage for Ellen. On the 1871 census her inlaws had a 14 year old son John, although once again the family was recorded with the surname “Young”. A check of the quarterly index of marriages in England and Wales produces no likely matchs for a JohnYounge \ Young in England and Wales to Ellen.

 

1901 Census of England and Wales

 

There appears to be no match for Cecil on this census, but from what we’ve seen in his Army papers that is only to be expected. A soldier in the Regular Army he was serving with the 2nd Battalion, Norfolk Regiment, in South Africa at the time of this census in England and Wales.

 

His mother, Ellen Younge, was the widowed head of the household at one of the dwellings in the Old Vicarage Yard, Methwold. Aged 44 and born Methwold, she was then working as a Laundress. Living with her are her unmarried daughter Honor, (aged 24, born Methwold), and her Grandson Alfred, (aged 8, born Methwold). Completing the household is the 40 year old boarder, John Manning, a Barber & hairdresser born Gooderstone, Norfolk.

 

1911 Census of England and Wales

 

The 28 year old Cecil Bertie Younge, a General Labourer, born Methwold, was recorded as a boarder at the Old Vicarage, Methwold. The head of the household is an unmarried man, John Lancaster Manning, aged 50 and a Bootmaker (Dealer), born Gooderstone, Norfolk. However it’s the other members of the household that perhaps hint at the set-up. First there is a 53 year old widow Ellen Younge, born Methwold. Originally it looks like her relationship to John was given as “Servant” but this has been rubbed out and a line written across the box. No occupation is given. It’s difficult to make out as the census enumerator has crossed through the entries, but it looks like she has stated that she has had three children, all then still alive. The final member of the household is an 18 year old Boarder, Alfred John Younge, an Apprentice Bootmaker, born Methwold. I suspect Ellen is Johns’ housekeeper and the two young men are her sons.

 

(NB - the age stated on the census makes him three years younger than that stated on his Army records).

 

1914 – Marriage………………..

 

The marriage of a Cecil B Younge to a Gertrude Y D King was recorded in the Thetford District in the July to September quarter, (Q3), of 1914.

Until September 1911 the quarterly index published by the General Registrars Office did not show information about the mothers’ maiden name. A check of the General Registrars Office Index of Birth for England and Wales 1911 – 1983 shows three potential children of Cecil and Gertrude – all registered in the Thetford District with mothers’ maiden name King.

Cecil B J Younge…………Q3 1914

Frederick V Younge………Q2 1916

Olive L Younge…………..Q2 1918

 

 

On the day…………………………………

 

Cecil succumbed to his cancer on the 15th November 1917. His death was registered in the Thetford District of Norfolk in the October to December quarter, (Q4), of 1917 at the age of 35.

 

 

Postscript…………………………….

 

The Army Register of Soldiers Effects records that Sergeant 5075 Cecil Bertie Younge, 3rd Battalion, Norfolk Regiment, died after discharge. His War Gratuity was paid to his widow, Gertrude Younge, in October 1919.

 

It may be a co-incidence but a Gertrude Y D Younge would marry a Frederick Reeve in the Thetford District in the April to June quarter, (Q2), of 1930.

 

 

Done