Charles William Bush
The soldier:
Charles William Bush enlisted in to the army in Norwich on the 7th December 1914. He was assigned to the Norfolk Regiment and given regimental number 17154.
Charles enlistment papers show that he was 19 years and 8 months old and 5 feet 7 and a half inches tall. His occupation was given as ‘Agricultural farm labourer’ and his address was listed as ‘Flatts Lane, Snettisham’, where he resided with his mother ‘Susan’.
He died of ‘wounds received’ in battle on Saturday the 4th May 1918 whilst serving as a private in the 1st Battalion, Norfolk Regiment. He was just 23, having been at war for the last 3 and a half years of his young life.
He is buried in Grave II H.22 of the Aire Communal Cemetery, Pas de Calais, France.
Charles name is inscribed on both Snettisham’s war memorials and appears on its ‘roll of honour’.
The man:
Charles William Bush was born in Docking on the 19th April 1894 to Susan Bush (nee Mindham). He was baptised on the 30th June 1894 in Docking.
His mother Susan (born c.1858, in Heacham) had married Edward Bush (Born c.1857, in Ingoldisthorpe) on the 9th February 1878 in Ingoldisthorpe, Norfolk. Edward’s occupation at this time was listed as ‘Bricklayer’.
According to the 1881 and 1891 census’, Charles had several older siblings by Edward and Susan’s marriage; Henry James (bn. c. 1879), Agnes Louisa (bn c.1881 in Snettisham), Walter (bn. c. 1883), Margaret (bn. c. 1884), Edward (bn. c. 1887) and James (bn. c. 1889).
However, by the 1891 census, Susan was recorded as ‘widowed’ and the head of the household. the family were now residing in Sedgeford and Susan’s occupation was listed as an ‘agricultural farm labourer’.
There is a burial of a 33 year old, ‘Edward Bush’ recorded in Sedgeford on the 4th October 1890. This information tallies with the census data and it is reasonable to conclude that this Edward was Susan’s husband.
If this information is correct, Charles and his subsequent siblings had a different father or fathers, being raised by their single, widowed mother, particularly challenging at that time.
By the 1901 census, Susan was living with Charles, now aged 8, at an address in Littleport Road, Sedgeford. All of Charles previously recorded older siblings had by now left home except for the youngest of these, James Henry, who was now 14.
In addition, at the address were siblings; Ellen Eliza Bush (bn. c. 1892), Mary Elizabeth Bush (bn. c. 1897) and Bertis Henry (bn. c. 1899).
The 1911 census records the family as living in Snettisham, Norfolk. Susan was now 54 and still listed as the ‘Head of the household’ and a ‘widow’. Her occupation was now taken as ‘charwoman’.
There were 3 children still living at home, Charles now being the eldest, at 18. His occupation was listed as farm labourer. His younger sister Mary was now 14 and a ‘servant’ and a younger brother Frederick was 13 and at school.
It is highly likely that the family moved from Sedgeford to Snettisham in 1907 as both Mary and Fred Bush (as recorded) were enrolled in the village school (still Snettisham’s existing primary school) on the 4th November 1907.
Army correspondence shows that Susan’s address moved for a short-time to the ‘High Street, Sedgeford’ shortly after Charles death, (a change of address noted 17th September 1918) but that she had moved back to ‘Park Lane, Snettisham’ by the 7th October 1920.
Tragically, Charles army record also reveals his girlfriend, Ethel Maud George of 8, High Street, Snettisham had his only child on the 16th February 1915, a few months after he had gone off to war.
