Bertie James Brown

Story:
Bertie James Brown was born in Iwerne Minster, Dorset on 13 Apr 1891 and baptised there on 7 Jun 1891 the son of Frederick Brown and Emily Maria Brown (née Mullens).  He lived all his early life in Iwerne Minster. He had previously served with the Territorial before he was embodied on 7th October 1914 to the Army Service Corps, eventually becoming a Saddler Staff Sergeant (Service No. TS/3080). He served in France from 8 Oct 1914 and was eventually demobilized, with a pension due to contracting cystitis during his service, on 6th April 1919 and was awarded the Victory and British War medals and the 1914/15 Star.  During the war he had married Ada Blanche Weston in Marylebone, London, on 11th April 1917. There were two children of the marriage. The 1921 Census shows he was then living with his widower father in The Chalk, Iwerne Minster, Dorset, working as a Farm Labourer. By the 1939 Register he had moved to 3 Stevenage Road, Hitchin, Hertfordshire, where Bertie was working as a civilian cook for the RAF as well as being an ARP Warden. Bertie died in 1970 in the Hitchin area. Source: Based on previous research by Ken Baxter.