When faced with the task of researching the names on the Roll of Honour it has
sometimes transpired, that having set the research in motion, information turns up
quite unexpectedly changing a few short facts into a much fuller picture. Ted Bone
is just such a case and research started with a first mention by Revd. F.H.Tatham in
the Parish Magazine for November 1915:
Checking the Census returns established several things. He was born to parents
Marshall Bone, of Little Ryburgh, baptised May 27th. 1855:
and Ellen Mary Curson, of Great Ryburgh baptised April 3rd 1864
Marshall and Ellen Mary married during Morris Fuller's unhappy incumbency and his
less than diligent filling in of the marriage register has left the couple as Mr and Mrs
Bunn in perpetuity!
The Groom's father and mother were Rudd and Harriet Bone who the time of
Marshall's birth kept the Black Horse pub in Little Ryburgh.
The bride's father, John Curson was by then a widower who lived in one of a pair of
cottages that stood in the field by the corner of the road up to Little Ryburgh.
Marshall and Ellen had, according to the 1911 Census, 10 children of whom only 3
survived and they were Edward Charles the eldest , Emma Elizabeth and Violet Mary
the youngest.
There is a Maltings workforce photograph that was taken in 1901 and Marshall Bone
was present and is named on the photo standing in the back row. This is Marshall
when cropped out of the group:
It is thanks to his daughter Violet (who would have been aged 5 when that picture
was taken) that a number of photographs and postcards dating from the years
before and after WW1 were passed down the family and were brought to our
attention by Violet's Great Grandson, James Neal who has kindly allowed
some of them to be shared on this site.
Ted was born on 14th March 1887 according to his surviving service record and
baptised at St Andrew's on May 1st that year. Morris Fuller strikes again!
Ted would have started school at more or less the same time that Albert Foster took
up his post as Headteacher following the untimely death of Arthur Henry Bradley in
April 1891.The Bradleys were close neighbours of the Bone family and amongst
James Neal's collection are a number postcards addressed to the youngest Bradley
daughter, Mary. More interestingly are a series of postcards with typical sentiments
of the period sent to Ted during 1915 from "Mary" .....but Mary who?
This is all before the reported "Jack Johnson" incident and a record of this encounter
doesn't appear in the service record that survives. What it does tell us is that his
occupation on joining was " motor engineer/chauffeur,” "drives car well”, and that he
enlisted in Norwich 1st September 1914 for 1 year in the Norfolk Regt . The
attestation document states that he had already served 4 years with the 6th Cyclist
Btn. Norfolk Regt.
From 19/1/1916 he was with the ASC MT as a lorry driver with the 20th siege battery
and he was also promoted L/Cpl. He was 5’ 8 &7/8 inches tall, weighed 114 lbs. with
blue eyes and light brown hair
He first served in France on 24th March 1915 as shown on his Medal Index Card as
part of the Army Cyclist Btn of the B.E.F., a fact born out by the address on one of
Mary's postcards sent to him in August 1915.
He was gassed 25th September 1918 and returned home the next month where he
was admitted to the Royal Albert Hospital at Woolwich on October 29th 1918 and
finally discharged from the Army on 22nd. February 1919.
This appears in the Parish Magazine in May 1918:
and the following month Ted gets another mention:
This excerpt also reveals two other connections to be found in James' collection.
"Orby" (Arthur George Osbourne) Bradley was the older brother of Mary Bradley, and
the Bone's neighbours near the school. He enlisted with the City of London Rifles and
first saw action in France at the end of October 1915. He ended the war in the R.A.F.
via the Royal Flying Corps.
Albert Tash had worked at Starks shop opposite the Bone home before the War. He
enlisted with the Bedfordshire Regiment and transferred to the Machine Gun Corps.
He married local girl Annie Eva Dodman on March 14th 1916 and after he had been
wounded, he sent Ted a P.C. in June 1918 which certainly backs up the report of his
impending home leave :
and writes:
Among James Neal's photographs are 27 images of soldiers, mostly unidentified.
However there are 4 which appear to feature the same man. In one of these he is
wearing "hospital blues" and this is signed on the reverse "Ted". This is surely Ted
Bone, sitting front right in the photo below and taken probably after he was gassed
in 1918 but certainly after 1916 when he became L/Cpl:
This card has a date impressed "9 Oct" and other indecipherable marks!
Ted seated. After 1916: A.S.C. Cap Badge and L/Cpl stripe
Uncertain date but surely Ted again, this time as a Private. The cap badge is too
indistinct to be sure of regiment but has to be the earliest of the photos before the
War took its toll
Ted looking the worse for his wartime experience?
None of these images are labelled "Ted Bone" but circumstantially there is a strong case!
As evidenced before in this collection of commemorative pages, E Bay has again provided more related material. On Sunday 12th January 2020, Ted's 1914-15 Star was sold to a collector, though sadly neither the local family nor the writer of these pages. We did however receive permission from the seller, Dereham based E Bayer Paul_West to use his photographs on this page and to whom we extend our grateful thanks:
During both his period of training in Wiltshire and during his time in France he sent
home to his Mother and Violet postcards, mainly "tourist" views of war ravaged
Belgian and French towns, villages, and other landmarks. This one differs from
most in that it shows where he had dinner on his way to Trowbridge in March
1916 during his A.S.C. training:
On this one below, Ted says to show to the Revd. Tatham:
Nineteen of these cards have survived some with a brief commentary, others with
the request to "keep these" or just "for Violet". This one reads on the back :
"This was the hottest place I ever was at. Fritz use to shell it a lot but it is better now"
Before leaving this page we must briefly return to the reason that these Ted Bone photos have survived....... because on April 9th. 1917 James Neal's Great-Grandmother, Violet Bone married one Morris William Butcher born at the end of 1898 or beginning of 1899 the son of a bricklayer from West Rudham. He joined the Royal Army Service Corps and when married he was a butcher at the Cavalry Barracks in Norwich:
When he was posted to somewhere in France he was with the 14th Field Butchery No 73 hut. There is also a series of coloured cards, mostly from Morris to Violet, picturing Boulougne and a rather different War experience for Morris with his short messages on the reverse such as:
and:
