My great grandfather Joseph Charles Abram enlisted in the British Army on 22 January 1901 aged 19 years and five months and served until 1922. He worked as a Farrier Staff Sergeant (a blacksmith specialising in shoeing horses, a skill that requires not only the ability to shape and fit horseshoes, but also the ability to clean, trim, and shape a horse’s hooves) in the Army Service Corps. During his time in the army he served in South Africa, Egypt and Palestine.
The 1901 census records Joseph, aged 19, as a soldier in barrack rooms at Woolwich, London and Kent. The 1911 census records Joseph aged 29 and single at Bulford Camp Salisbury, Bulford, Wiltshire. The same document records Harry Bowers, a Wheeler Staff Sergeant. Harry introduced Joseph to his sister Milly May while on leave — Milly May Bowers later became Milly May Abram. The 1921 census records Joseph aged 39 and married in the Armed Forces Overseas at P G H Ludd, Palestine.
My family is fortunate to have a copy of his service record together with other mementos of his time in the army, including a brass tin (a Christmas gift from Princess Mary to those serving in the armed forces in 1914) and the Christmas card that came with this.
We have his war medals, the 1914 Star, British War Medal and Victory Medal, which were also known as Pip, Squeak and Wilfred and the Oak Leaf emblems which he received for having been mentioned in despatches on 30 December 1913 (a member of the armed forces mentioned in despatches is one whose name appears in an official report written by a superior officer, in which gallant or meritorious action in the face of the enemy is described).
Further information
- Museums Victoria Collection: Princess Mary Christmas tin
- The Great War: A Guide to British Campaign Medals of WW1
A little bit of this ~ A little bit of that 