The Talbot Inn in Much Wenlock, Shropshire was my grandparents’ home for most of the 1940s and 50s. In fact, I spent a fair proportion of my first two years there. But the Inn’s history goes back much, much further.
The Army Deserter
Great-Grand Uncle George William Pemberton had an erratic career with the British Army. In 1901 he was jailed for desertion – but 15 years later he was back in uniform, and lost his life at the battle of Thiepval in the Somme during World War 1.
The Communication Pioneer
Second cousin twice removed James Richard Beard emigrated from the UK to the US, got to know Buffalo Bill, and was in at the start of the communications giant now known as ITT.
The Spitfire Pilot
Uncle Allan was a Spitfire pilot during World War 2. He lost his life after taking part in the Allies’ disastrous raid on Dieppe. He was just 21.
American migrant
Edwin J Beard, our second cousin twice removed, left for the new world in 1904
Skeleton in the Cupboard
Edwardian England could be a dark place to live – as the Hattons of Castle Gresley found out.
Fighting at Ypres, Loos and the Somme
Percy Beard was already in his mid-30s when the First World War broke out at the end of July 1914. He signed up as a volunteer in Hounslow within a few weeks in September 1914.
First World War Diaries
Grandfather Allan Lee joined the Grenadier Guards in World War 1, and kept a diary of what happened to him.