Henry was the youngest son of 12 children.  His Father, John, married Sarah Jane Brooks on 31st. March 1850 at St. Andrew's church in Rugby.  Sarah came from a tiny village called Hunningham, which is about four miles from Leamington and about the same distance west of Marton in Warwickshire.  In the 1851 British census, they both lived in Pinder's Lane, Rugby and John was an engine cleaner by trade. Their name was spelt Bacheler at the time and the image is almost illegible.  Fortunately, I have a CD. Rom by the I.G.I for 1851 and it deciphered the image for me. By the time the 1861 census was taken, his name was spelt correctly and he was a railway labourer.  They had five children by this time, four sons and a daughter and lived at 14, Little Elborow Street. Another ten years, 1771, saw them moved to Gas Street, Rugby and John was an engine driver by now. His eldest son, Robert was working as a bricklayer's labourer and Charles, his next son was a labourer at a cement works.  By now, John and Sarah had eight children.  Two girls and two boys were born during the next decade.  Young John being born in Derby in 1875;  so at some point, they must have lived there, but were back in Rugby in 1877; when Henry, the youngest was born at 34, Railway Terrace on September 19th 1877.  By 1881, their eldest daughter, Mary Ann, had married, had two little boys and was widowed and living back home with her family. Their surname was Lee but I haven't found any record of their marriage yet. John was back to being a general labourer.  In 1891, they were living at 19, Riley's Court, Dunchurch Road.  Only Hannah and Henry were living at home with their parents at this time;  John was still a labourer and Sarah was a laundress.  By 1901, all of the children had left home, John had retired---he was 79 by now---and he and Sarah lived at 30, Gas Street.  John died in 1903.

         Henry, meanwhile, had married Alice Farren Wilson on April 9th 1898. She was two years younger than him and was born at 18, Aylesford Street, Hillfields, on October 15th 1879, to Mary (formerly Farren) and Henry Wilson. Alice's Grandmother was said to come from County Wexford in Ireland ;  but unfortunately I have no evidence of this fact. The only hint I have is that the boys had an Irish look about them, as did Alice and they had auburn hair. Also they were very fond of singing Irish songs.  Uncle Bert used to favour the ones that were banned in England;  " Kevin Barry" and " We're All Off to Dublin in the Green".  Dad was fonder of the traditional songs such as "Rose of Tralee" and "Believe Me If All Those Endearing Young Charms" but I'm no nearer finding our Irish roots now, than I was when I first began tracing my Family Tree. They lived in Gas Street, Rugby when they first married, as Uncle Jack (John Henry), was born in Rugby Union Workhouse.  Something he was never happy about according to his Grand-daughters.  Henry's address on his birth certificate was Gas Street, Rugby, so I can only surmise that with Henry only being a labourer, they couldn't afford the services of a midwife.  They were still living in Rugby; when uncle Bertram George (Bert) was born in 1903.  Christopher came along in 1905 but only lived a year, as he caught diphtheria and died the following year. By the time that my Father Noel Kenneth arrived on July 22 1908, they had moved to Spon Street in Coventry. At first they lived on the South side of the street, in a one room up and one down, with a "scullery"---what we call a kitchen, but the cooking was done on  range in the living room. Of course, this was too small for them with their growing family, so they exchanged with a family called Taylor, who was related to them and got a two bedroom cottage across the road in Court 37, in the Lamb and Flag Yard.  .Bert and Jack were going to school by now at St. John's C of E in Dover Street.  Henry was as strict a father, as his wife was gentle.  They were often in some kind of mischief and felt his hand on their backside!  My Dad told me that when he was about four or five years old, Jack and Bert took him to the common on the other side of the road to the Memorial Park and they found a wasp nest.  One of the older boys got a stick and stirred it up and then ran off.  Leaving my Dad to deal with the wasps!  They came out of the nest in droves and settled around his head.  His ears were very badly stung and he was quite poorly for a while.  Every Spring he used to get a rash come up around his ears---the result of the stings.  Another time, they took him to the back of a cake shop where there was a broken window and made him stand on Bert's shoulders and reach in for the cakes.  The owner spotted them and once again, Bert and Jack ran off, leaving Dad hanging off the broken glass.  He was petrified as he was only a young boy and in his panic, slipped and ripped his thumb open.  The three of them got a hiding that time for pinching the cakes but most probably it was for getting caught!! So poor Dad had two punishments.  Grandad played Rugby football for Coventry in the early 1900's and also, cricket for Coventry and Warwickshire. I haven't managed to get any record of this yet but my cousin has one of his caps.

         Uncle Bun (Bernard Lawrence) was born in 1911 and Alice Florence completed the family in 1914. Four months later, the first World War began.  Grandad didn't volunteer with the first eager lads neither was he in Lord Kitchener's New Army, but in 1915, things were going so badly, that Lord Derby thought of a scheme to recruit new blood to replace the heavy losses that were incurred in the bloodiest "War to end all wars". For those men under 40 who didn't volunteer (there was no conscription then), they were simply called up.  Hence one Henry Batchelor finding himself enlisting in the 7th Battalion of the Royal Warwickshires. (48th Division, 143 Brigade) . He enlisted on the 18th of October 1915 and after doing his training and going over to France,  found himself in at the deep end at the Battle of the Somme in July 1916, where he suffered shell-shock and lost the use of his speech. There was an interesting and rather amusing article in the Coventry Graphic on June 17th 1917.

          Henry's eldest son, Jack was also serving in the war and became a corporal.  He was serving in Belgium and there met his wife to be, my Auntie Bertha who lived in Ostend.  In fact they "married" four times!  They had a civil ceremony and a church ceremony in Ostend, that my Grandmother attended and also the same in Coventry, the church wedding being held in St. Osburg's church, Hill Street, as Jack changed his religion to become a Roman Catholic.  I have been told that when he brought Bertha back to England, she couldn't speak English and that they were all teaching her swear words for everyday things!!

           Henry and Jack became staunch members of the British Legion, as in fact my Mum's half of my family were.  All the family used to go on the outings  in the charabancs which were the fore-runner of the motor coach. These outings were very popular before the last war (W.W.2) and also for some years after. They would usually go to some near seaside or places like Wicksteed Park, Trentham Gardens or Billing Aquadrome. Sandwiches and beer were taken along, with pop for the children and there would always be a sing-song on the coach, both there and back and everyone had fun.  It was the nearest thing most people got to a holiday in those days.

          Dad joined the Territorial Army in the 1920's but left in 1925 to join the Regular Army.  He was also in the Royal Warwickshires and went to serve in India, where I was informed that he almost married an Indian lady.  It was a toss up between her and my Mum.  Thank goodness Mum won,  or I'd hate to think where I would be! He met an Indian apothecary there in Delhi who gave him a jar of ointment that guaranteed he would never have to shave again. He got cold feet and tried it on his leg first. Until the day he died, he had a bald left leg! At some point, he joined the Tank Corps and was promoted to Corporal.  He left the Army in 1932 or 1933 and courted Mum in earnest.  They married on August 17th in 1935 at St. John's church in Fleet Street.  Their reception was held in Nan's back garden at Norfolk Street where Grandad Death lined the back garden walls with Union Jacks borrowed from the British Legion

           Uncle Bert married Florence May Palmer sometime around 1923.  His son Bert was born in 1925 and he  joined the Royal Navy in World War 2, as did Jack and Bertha's son, Andre.  Young Bert had a scrape with a bullet on his temple and had to leave the British Navy, but after the war, he emigrated to Australia; where he joined their Navy, and married Joyce.  Sheila Pearl was born about 1926.  She used to be called Pearl, but she is now known as Sheila. Pearl and I were very close when I was young and I was her bridesmaid at St. James's church in Tile Hill about 1949 when she married David, her first husband. They also emigrated; but to Toronto, Canada, where  they adopted two little boys; but tragically, David was to die in a car crash a few years later. Pearl married again later; and is still in Canada.

             I have talked about Uncle Bun in a separate chapter but will mention here briefly that he left home when he was sixteen in 1927 to join the Royal Navy and  trained as a cadet at H.M.S. Ganges in Nuneaton.  He served all through W.W.2 and became a Petty Officer until he left the Navy in 1950. In 1927, there must have been a very special occasion when Noel and Bun were on leave at the same time.  They marked it by all going into a studio and having this portrait taken.

             Last but not least, came their only daughter, Alice Florence. Alice was very much like her Mother both in looks and personality.  She was very beautiful and very quietly spoken.  In other words, a lady.  The family was a very close knit one and Alice was especially treasured.  She was born January 25th 1914, so she was only a baby when Grandad went off to war.  She married Horace Lapworth in 1937 at St. John's church in Fleet Street.  They had a house at no. 41, Trafalgar Street and young Bernard was born on February 16th 1940 but as Horace had been called up for W.W.2, Alice was staying with his sister at the time at Brackenhurst Road, Coundon,  in the same house that I was to occupy when I married myself for the first time. Sadly, when young Bernard was 16 months old, Horace was up in Scotland on manoeuvres and had a burst ulcer which turned to peritonitis and he died, so Alice was left to raise a young baby on her own. Horace is mentioned on the Commonwealth War Graves site and has a tree in the Memorial Park dedicated to him.

Christian Name(s)
Horace

CWGC :: Casualty Details

Name:LAPWORTH, HORACE
Initials:H
Nationality:United Kingdom
Rank:Lance Corporal
Age:32
Date of Death:22/06/1941
Service No:5332748
Additional information:Son of William Henry and Charlotte Elizabe
Lapworth, of Coventry; husband of Alice Florence Lapworth, of Coventry.
Casualty Type:Commonwealth War Dead
Grave/Memorial Reference:Square 279. Grave 102.
Cemetery:COVENTRY (LONDON ROAD) CEMETERY


 

          Alice lived with her little boy in Trafalgar Street until  late 1942 when she married John Terence Coote ( Uncle Terry), at St. Mary Magdelaine's church in Earsldon (the church with the blue roof). I went to their wedding and the reception was held at the old Bowling Green in Spon Street.  Terry had a job working at the Government Communication Centre in Cheltenham and they moved there soon afterwards, where Alice gave birth to Glenice in 1943.  She had another son, Melvyn in 1954.  Sadly, Alice developed Altzheimer's disease in the early 90's and died on November 12 1997.  Terry died in February this year.  Last Christmas, I appeared on a television programme called "The Way We Worshipped" and it led to a re-union with my young cousins.  Uncle Bun's daughter Val arranged for us all to meet in Bernards house.  He lived in Cheyesmore and was convalescing in Ayesford House at the time.  We got together and exchanged photos and certificates etc.  It was the first time I'd seen them for about 30 years or more and we had a wonderful time.  Soon after this, Uncle Terry died and my brother David took me down to Cheltenham for the funeral.  Then, of course, Uncle Bun , 96 by now, passed away on May 27th, the last of his generation.