Thomas Martins
The soldier:
Thomas Martins joined the army in East Dereham, Norfolk. He was assigned to the Norfolk Regiment and given regimental number 40237.
Whilst serving as a Private in that regiment’s 9th Battalion, he died on the 28th March 1918, aged 27, in the 4th General Field Hospital, France from ‘wounds received’ in battle.
Thomas Martins is buried in Etaples Military Cemetery, Pas de Calais, France in grave reference XXXIII 30.
His name appears on both of Snettisham’s memorials and on its ‘roll of Honour’.
The man:
Thomas Martins was born on the 5th October 1889 in Ingoldisthorpe, Norfolk. His parents were William and Elizabeth Ann Martins (nee Sadler) who had married on the 2nd January 1875 in Ingoldisthorpe.
Thomas was baptised on the 1st December 1889 in Ingoldisthorpe.
By the 1891 census the family were living at an address on the Lynn Road, Ingoldisthorpe. William was now 45 and working as an ‘agricultural labourer’ Elizabeth was 38.
Thomas was 1 year old. He had several older siblings living at the family address; Beatrice (bn. c. 1878), Louisa (bn. c. 1882), Florence (bn. c. 1884), Ernest (bn. c. 1886) and Robert (bn. c. 1888).
William and Elizabeths’ oldest children, listed in the 1881 census; Mary A (bn. c. 1872) and William J (bn. c. 1876) were already living away from the family home.
In the 1901 census, the family were still living in Ingoldisthorpe. Ernest (now 15) was the oldest child living at home with; Thomas (now 11), Herbert and a younger brother Montague (bn. c.1892). There were also two girls living at the address, described as ‘step daughters’ ; Alice M Williamson (bn. c 1889) and Florence M Williamson (bn. 1896).
By the 1911 census, the family are still living in Ingoldisthorpe at an address in Lancasters Cottages. At some point, Elizabeth (Thomas’s mother) has died as his father William is recorded as a ‘widower’. William is now 65 and still a farm labourer. Living with him are now; Thomas, aged 21 and a ‘single’ farm labourer, Herbert, 19 and also a farm labourer, Montague, now 10 and Jessie Agnes, a new child (bn. c. 1903).
In early summer 1915, Thomas married Edith G Dye – the marriage being registered in Docking. Edith is shown as living ‘near the station’ in Snettisham in the 1911 census with her parents Robert and Martha and several siblings.
Tragically, Edith gave birth to Thomas’s sole child a daughter, Florence Lily May Martins on the 31st July 1918, the birth being registered under her maiden name of Dye. This means she would have been carrying the child at the time of and gave birth 3 months after Thomas’s death.
Edith went on to marry Arnold Burton (bn. on the 8th October 1895) in the early summer of 1920 the marriage being registered in Docking.
This information ties in with the information on the CWWG records listing Edith as (now Burton) of Station Road, Snettisham and the fact that Private Thomas Martins personal effects were shown as going to ‘Edith G widow’.
By the 1939 census Edith and Arnold were living in Lincoln, Lincolnshire. Arnold was now 45 and a ‘road stone quarrier’. Edith was living with him as was Florence who was now 21. Interestingly Florence still retains the name Martins and has not adopted the name Burton. Furthermore the census recorder has scored through ‘Martins’ and written ‘Waby’ as her surname.
This corresponds with records showing that Florence L M Martins wed Wilfred Waby in the latter part of 1939 in Lincoln, Lincolnshire.
Florence went on to have a child Linda D Waby in 1947, born Lincoln, Lincolnshire. Tragically, it appears Linda D did not survive infancy and died in 1948.
Thomas Martins’ wife Edith died in Lincoln, Lincolnshire in 1969. Florence Lily May Martins died on the 16th February 1978 also in Lincoln, at the age of 59.
