Streeter family update

After I published the original post on the Streeter brothers I was contacted by their relative Christine Johnson, and she supplied photos from the family album, with permission to use them. It’s taken a while for me to have chance to research further around them, but here they are.

Firstly, the original of the image that appeared in The Ringing World and local newspapers after Albert’s death, and the memorial card created by the fmaily:

Albert Streeter while still in the Queen’s Regiment, probably just after qualifying as a machine gunner

A memorial card created by the family, these would have been distributed around the family and friends.

Then an image of William jr:

William Streeter jr in the uniform of the Queen’s (Royal West Surrey Regiment), recognisable by the Lamb and Flag cap badge, standing in front of a studio background. He’s carrying a walking out cane, and has some sort of braid over his left shoulder, these may also be studio props. Probably taken shortly after joining up in about September 1914, or just before he was posted to France, he arrived there on 1 June 1915

There’s a later image of William jr with his wife:

William Streeter jr pictured with his wife, Susannah “Nessie” Leaven, presumably on their wedding day, 26 April 1919.

With confirmation that he married, I was able to track down the marriage certificate. William Streeter (26, a soldier) and Susannah Leaven (22) on 26 Apr 1919 at Holy Trinity, Finchley. Fathers’ names William Streeter (recorded as a farmer, whether this was a misunderstanding by the vicar, or a deliberate attempt to “sanitise” the fact it was a sewage farm isn’t clear) and Abdy Leaven. The address for both is given as 9 Prospect Place. The second marriage recorded on the same page of Arthur Edgar Hill (20, a soldier) and Ellen Louisa Connor (20) who also both give their residence as 9 Prospect Place, one of their witnesses is Rhoda Streeter, sister of William, while one of William and Susannah’s witnesses is Dorothy Grace Hill, presumably a sister of Arthur. They had a son, Kenneth W, on 15 February 1927 in the Barnet registration district, and a daughter Binnie J, in Halstead, Essex, in 1933. By 1939 the family were living at Mount Pleasant, Stoke Goldington, Newport Pagnell. William’s death was registered in Northampton in the first quarter of 1967.

Perhaps most interesting were the photos of William sr, showing that he also served during the war:

William Streeter sr in army uniform. The cap badge appears to be that of the Royal Engineers. The photo has been partly hand-coloured, largely to bring out the colour of the brass of the buttons, badge and belt buckle, and also some of the background.

A three-quarter length photo of William Streeter in uniform. He now has the single stripe of a lance corporal, or since the cap badge appears to be that of the Royal Engineers, 2nd Corporal, so this photo was presumably taken at a later date than the other one of him. This photo has not been coloured, but there is still a backcloth behind him

I’ve not been able to find a matching profile on Lives of the First World War: given his age it seems likely that he would only have served in the UK, so he would not have been eligible for campaign medals, and so would not have profile. This does though raise the possibility that it was actually William sr who is listed on the roll of honour, not William jr, although the unit is stated as Queen’s, not Royal Engineers. I never could find any evidence of William jr ringing in Surrey, and we can now see that he had moved away from the area straight after the war.

There was also a photo of him with the Redhill ringers in 1902 (I made use of this in the post on Henry John Dewey):

The ringers at St John’s, Redhill, when they rang to mark the Coronation of King Edward VII and Queen Alexandra on 9 August 1902. Edward Dewey is named as steeplekeeper, and is probably the man seated in the middle of the front row. The man at the right of the back row marked “My grandad” is William Streeter (father of the Streeter brothers).

Finally, some photos more closely related to other members of the family, a wedding photo of Ellen Jane Streeter and Augustine Chandler:

The full wedding party for the wedding of Augustine “Austin” Chandler and Ellen Jane Chandler at Redhill on 17 June 1919

In the bottom right is a man in army uniform, cropping this section out for a closer view, it seems evident that this is William jr, with his father (William sr) to his immediate right, and then his wife Nessie. William jr’s shoulder titles now seem to be the later form of fusilier shoulder titles, with the flaming grenade now separated from the letters representing the regimental title.

Crop from photo of the wedding of Augustine “Austin” Chandler to Ellen J Streeter: the seated adults are believed to be (from left to right) Susannah “Nessie” Leaven, William Streeter sr and William Streeter jr (compare with other named photos)

In addition to the photos I also tracked down a local newspaper account of the funeral of William sr in 1942, Surrey Mirror, 9 January 1942, p7:

THE LATE MR W STREETER.-The funeral took place on Wednesday of Mr William Streeter, who passed away, following upon a fall, at 9 Park-lane, Coulsdon, the home of his son, on December 31st, at the age of 71. Mr Streeter was for many years in the employ of the Reigate Town Council at the Corporation Farm. He was conscientious in the discharge of his duties, and was much respected. He was also a member of St John’s Church bellringers for many years. His wife predeceased him in 1935. The funeral service was held at Reigate Parish Church, the Vicar (the Rev R Talbot) officiating, and the internment was in the family grave in Reigate Cemetery. The mourners were: – Mr W Streeter (son), Mr and Mrs R T Streeter (son and daughter-in-law), Mr and Mrs G Chandler [sic] (son-in-law and daughter), Messrs G and S Streeter (sons), and Mr and Mrs R L Taylor (son-in-law and daughter). There were a number of beautiful flowers.

The 1939 Register shows that William sr was living with the Chandlers at 1 Holmside Cottage, Dorking Urban District, Surrey, England when the register was compiled on 29 September.

To bring the First World War service of the family together, I’ve created an additional community in Lives of the First World War for the member’s of the family who served. Hopefully I’ll be able to create a profile for William sr at some point.

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Streeter brothers: Albert (1896-8 October 1916) and William (1893-?)

William (Lives profile) and Albert (Lives profile) were the first and third sons respectively of William and Eliza (née Bradford). They married at Horne on 29 October 1892. William followed shortly afterwards—his birth was registered in the first quarter of 1893 in Reigate. Later census returns indicate that he was born in Outwood, near Burstow. 

William was followed by Ellen Jane in 1894, Robert in 1896, Albert in 1897 (also at Outwood), Rhoda Emma in 1899 and George on 4 September 1900. George is the first child for whom a baptismal record has been found, at Redhill on 18 November 1900. The family were then living at Earlswood Common.  However, by the 1901 census on 31 March, the family’s address is given as Dove Cottage, Lonesome Lane, Redhill. The older William is recorded as a sewerage farm worker. 

Over the next few years the family grew with the addition of Sydney on 28 April 1904 (baptised 3 July 1904), and Percy on 12 July 1908 (baptised 4 October 1908).

In 1911 the family were living at 2 Sewerage Cottages, Redhill. The older William seems to have now become the foreman of the sewage farm. The younger William had moved out, and was living and working at a Temperance Hostel at 106 Brighton Road, Redhill.

It seems the older William began ringing when bells were hung at Redhill in the later 1890s. Other Streeters were ringing at Worth and other nearby Sussex villages, but I’ve not managed to connect them definitely. 

Albert began ringing around 1913, ringing his first quarter peal on 27 March 1913 at Redhill. He rang the treble to Grandsire Triples, his father was ringing the second, and his uncle (William’s younger brother), Amos Thomas Streeter (also his first quarter peal). This was the first quarter peal by a band entirely from Redhill. Ringing the Tenor was E Dennis, father of Harold Dennis who would die just a few weeks after Albert. They repeated the quarter peal a month later, with much the same band. 

On 26 December 1913, Albert rang his first peal, trebling to plain bob major. This was with a mixed band at St Michael’s, Betchworth. It was conducted by George F Hoad, his brother Henry A Hoad also rang, as did Henry F Ewins, all of whom also appear on the roll of honour. 

He rang another peal, this time at Reigate, on 4 May 1914, trebling to grandsire triples. 

Albert doesn’t seem to have managed any further peals or quarter peals before the outbreak of war. He and the younger William seem to have joined up quickly, along with a third brother, with The Ringing World of 11 September 1914 reporting:

Three sons for the country

The members of the St John’s Society, Redhill, met at St. John’s Church on Sunday week for a quarter-peal of Grandsire Triples, and for the purpose of congratulating one of its members, Mr W Streeter, whose three sons had during the previous week, responded to their country’s call, and had signed on for either home or foreign service. One of the sons was also a member of the St John’s Society; and was a very promising ringer. The following ringers constituted the band: H. Dennis 1, W Streeter 2, E Harman 3, A Gear 4, T Streeter 5, H Edwards 6, H Card (conductor) 7, E Dennis 8

Albert is presumably the one referred to as a promising ringer, with the other two probably being William and Robert. While a W Streeter is listed on the roll of honour and I think it’s the younger William (though there are no definite reports of him ringing), Robert never seems to have become a ringer. 

By 4 October 1914 Albert was stationed at Gravesend with 9th Battalion, The Queen’s (Royal West Surrey Regiment). He joined the local band there to ring a quarter peal for their harvest festival, ringing the second to grandsire triples. Also joining the locals was W Denyer of Ewhurst (not listed on the roll of honour) who was also with The Queen’s. 

By July 1915 the battalion had moved to Colchester and Albert had been promoted to Corporal. Meanwhile William had gone to France with the 6th Battalion on 1 June 1915. At some point he would be transferred to 7th Battalion. 

Albert was presumably training as a machine gunner as by the time he went overseas he was with 53 Machine Gun Company. This was part of 53 Infantry Brigade in 18 (Eastern) Division. The division went to France in 1915, but Albert did not receive the 1915 Star, so presumably joined later.

Albert died of wounds in one of the British hospitals based in Boulogne on 8 October 1916. It seems most likely that he was wounded in the period 26-30 September 1916 when the division was taking part in the attacks on Thiepval ridge and the Schwaben Redoubt. 

The Ringers at Redhill attempted a muffled peal in his memory, but unfortunately without success. However it was reported in both The Ringing World and the local press. The Dorking and Leatherhead Advertiser report is shown as the featured image for this post, and also includes a photo of Albert (thanks to Andy Arnold for spotting this and sending the image to me). It also mentions an earlier report of his death, which might give more details as to the circumstances, but I’ve not yet obtained a copy. 

William’s 1915 Star medal roll entry indicates that he re-enlisted in the Royal Fusiliers on 18 January 1919. This may explain why it’s been difficult to find him in later records—I’ve not found any definite record of his death, or a marriage record, nor an obvious entry in the 1939 Register. 

A final note on the family, the youngest brother Percy had a son Alan who also became a ringer at Redhill. He married a fellow ringer, Freda M Stanley, and they moved to Nutfield where Alan was tower captain for many years. He died in early 2015. 

Redhill, St John – the Streeter family

St John, Redhill had the second-highest casualty rate in the association. Three out of five of the ringers who went to war did not return. Two of the ringers listed were from the Streeter family, brothers Albert (killed) and William (who survived). Their father was also was also a ringer, and apparently had at least one more son who served (though the report which tells us this states that only one son was a ringer). The other two men killed were William Maynard and Harold Dennis. Maynard had previously been misidentified on the Central Council roll of honour.

The final man is listed as H Edwards. The 1911 census gives two candidates, Harry William Edwards and Henry Williams. Harry was a 38-year-old blacksmith in 1911, Henry a 31-year-old bootmaker. Either would be a good candidate for serving with the Supply Section of the Army Service Corps as indicated on the roll.