Bertie Charles Brooks

Story:
Bertie Charles Brooks (the name he was registered with was frequently reversed as Charles Bertie Brooks) was born in Iwerne Minster, Shaftesbury, Dorset, on 11 Sep 1893 and baptised there (as Bertie Edward) on 5 Nov 1893 the son of Thomas Brooks and Eliza Brooks (nee Wareham).  He lived all his life in Iwerne Minster except when he enlisted on 26 Jan 1917 with the Royal Engineers (Motor Transport) as a Pioneer (Service No. WR 40244).  He served in France and Flanders where he received severe gun shot wounds to his right thigh which eventually necessitated a full amputation of the leg.  He was discharged on 9 Oct 1918 as being medically unfit and awarded the Silver War Badge No. B10625 plus the Victory and British War Medals. He was fitted with an artificial leg and became a very successful fund raiser for the Iwerne Minster men who were Prisoners of War. James Ismay of Iwerne Minster House paid for him to be trained as a hairdresser and set him up in business in the village. He married Kate Pitman in Weymouth, Dorset, on 28 Mar 1921.  Both the 1921 Census and 1939 Register show he was living and working as a Hairdresser in Blandford Road, Iwerne Minster, Shaftesbury, Dorset.  His death was recorded at the Sturminster, Dorset, Registry on 20 Jan 1969.  His name appears on a Roll of Honour published privately in Iwerne Minster.

Printed source:
"Iwerne Minster Before, During, and After the Great War", Edited by P. Anderson Graham, Printed for Private Circulation only.