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Remembrance
- The Yorkshire Regiment, First World War The Fighting Cousins, - Frank & Samuel Maltby Close Window to return to main Page |
Chris Weekes, <weebex12@hotmail.com>, a great nephew of Frank Maltby, has researched the careers of Frank, - and his cousin Samuel, in the Yorkshire Regiment in the First World War. Frank lost his life in the conflict, though Samuel survided (after being made a Prisoner of War. The description of the background and careers of the two Maltby cousins, below, is a result of this research. THis account has been broken down into sequential "chapters", which can be selected from the links below.
1 INTRODUCTION
The Maltby family of Cambridge was a prominent and dispersed group in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, one member even becoming the Mayor of Cambridge. My grandfather, George Mason Maltby, was born into the Norfolk Street branch of the family in 1899. His father Samuel was a robe maker and family anecdotes suggest that he was involved in the making of the Coronation robes for Edward VII. There were six sons in the Norfolk Street Maltbys, but by 1901 only five were still living at number 41, including Frank born in 1896, and George, the youngest.
Frank, his parents and brother Sidney
The outbreak of the First World War in August 1914 affected the Maltbys like all other families across the land. Frank was working at the Central Meat company in Burleigh Street when he, like so many of his generation, enlisted in November 1914. He joined the 2/1 Battalion Cambridgeshire Regiment which was a training unit and over a period of twenty two months he found himself moved around the country into different divisions and training camps, ending up in Catterick in July 1916. He was posted to France on 30th August 1916 in the 5th Battalion Yorkshire regiment as Private 5211.
Frank’s cousin, Samuel Richard David Maltby, was also transferred to the same unit on 30th August 1916 as Private 5212, A Company No 2 Platoon. Fortunately Samuel’s army service record is intact and available on-line. It shows that he enlisted in the Territorials on 1st January1914.
Samuel was born in 1894 and lived in Barton Road, Cambridge employed by the local brick company as a labourer. Having joined the territorials he was embodied - called up - on 5th August 1914 as Private 1694, 1st Battalion, Cambridgeshire Regiment but did not volunteer for immediate overseas duty so was transferred to the 2/1 battalion. Like his cousin Frank, Samuel spent two years in a variety of training establishments before being posted on 30th August 1916 to the Yorkshire Regiment, The Green Howards.
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