Nine more histories have been added,  all relating to the Lines family. They are:
Frederick A Lines
Henry W Lines
Owen Lines
William G Scott
Ernest  R V Cowley
Albert Bazeley
Edwin W Bazeley
Walter Frank Bazeley
Arthur Bazeley

As always, the experiences of each serviceman vary more than you might expect and each has his own story. This group includes an underage marine and a prisoner of war who died four days before the war ended.  I have also been adding information onto my database on several men who were born in Cottingham but moved away well before 1914. One of them emigrated to Australia and may be the oldest serviceman so far found, enlisting one month short of his forty fifth birthday.

So many servicemen, so little time to write them up!

Binleys et al

I unintentionally deleted my two previous 2015 blogs - never answer the phone while keyboarding. For anyone interested, they referred to an expansion of last year's entries for the Dunkley brothers, and new entries for the Beadsworth family. All but one of the the Beadsworth soldiers who died in the War descended from the same couple in Drayton;  to discover which of them briefly played for Manchester United, have a look at their histories.

The most recent additions to the website concern the Binley family. I am indebted to Janice Binley of Cottingham (strangely enough Janice now lives in the house once occupied by my grandparents) who has generously shared her information with me. I have done further research into relatives and descendants of the Cottingham Binleys so in all there are thirteen new histories to read. Janice has also written an account of her family's antecedents which is published at www.craxfordfamily.co.uk. This fascinating website has a wealth of information on local families including an account of Barrack Yard co-written by Janice. 

I continue to research the individuals and families with Cottingham connections and enter the information onto my database, which is becoming positively gargantuan as a result. New  people keep turning up,  and new online sources of information appearing;  at this rate I will still be compiling entries ten years from now. In the meantime, you will find that the listing of each serviceman  now contains details of the regiment / battalion / unit in which he served, which should help anyone who wants to start his/her own research.  Please contact me if I can help you, or if you can help me. I am currently working on the West and Lines families.

July

I unintentionally deleted my two previous 2015 blogs - never answer the phone while keyboarding. They referred to an expansion of last year's entries for the Dunkley brothers, and new entries for the Beadsworth family. All but one of the the Beadsworth soldiers who died in the War descended from the same couple in Drayton;  to discover which of them briefly played for Manchester United, have a look at their histories.

The most recent additions to the website concern the Binley family. I am indebted to Janice Binley of Cottingham (strangely enough Janice now lives in the house once occupied by my grandparents) who has generously shared her information with me. I have done further research into relatives and descendants of the Cottingham Binleys so in all there are thirteen new histories to read. Janice has also written an account of her family's antecedents which is published at www.craxfordfamily.co.uk. This fascinating website has a wealth of information on local families including an account of Barrack Yard co-written by Janice.

I continue to research individuals and families with Cottingham connections and enter the information onto my database, which is becoming positively gargantuan as a result. New  people will keep turning up,  and new online sources of information keep appearing;  at this rate I will still be compiling entries ten years from now. In the meantime, you will find that the listing of each serviceman  now contains details of the regiment / battalion / unit in which he served, where known, which should help anyone who wants to start his/her own research.  Please contact me if I can help you, or if you can help me. .I'm currently working on the Lines and West families.

Chris

2015 is going to be a busy year. I've been busy adding information on several newly identified servicemen with Cottingham connections onto my database but the priority for January is adding to and amending information on servicemen  already uploaded onto the website. In particular a lot of new information on the military career of William Coles has recently been published on findmypast - my thanks to Amanda Taylor for notifying me.

Pual Goult of Corby Borough Council points out that the Core Theatre based in the Core, Corby is screening the film of the Battle of Coronel and Falklands mentioned in an earlier blog. It will be shown on Friday 16^th January  at 7:00 pm as part of the Centenary commemorations. At least two local seamen died at Coronel.

The British Film Institute is to show a long forgotten silent film about the Battle of Coronel and subsequent Battle of the Falkland Islands. Able seaman Arthur Stokes of Drayton was one of those who died at Coronel. ' The Battles of Coronel and Falkland Islands (1927), directed by Walter Summers, will also be shown at selected cinemas across the UK.

Taking part in the WW1 event at Cottingham on 24 August was a hugely rewarding experience. The organisers did a brilliant job and I'm very grateful to them all for inviting me. There will be a repeat of the exhibition in November at the Methodist Church.

I've acquired lots of new information,  much of it from Janice Binley who has been very generous with sharing her research. I've also been provided with Corby Borough Council's list of people in the relevant parishes who served in and survived WW1;  some of them known to me but not yet researched, others whom I didn't know about. All in all, there's a lot of work yet to be done, but what are long winter nights for, if not slaving over a hot computer?  

24th August seems a long time ago. We've been helping look after our small grandchildren and have only just got home again, somewhat weary, but hopefully I shall be revving up for the next wave of soldiers within a day or two. Maybe three.

It's been an exceptionally busy few weeks on the domestic front, so opportunities for Soldiering On have been brief. However, this week sees the William Coles history going public. It's one of the longest so far,  mainly because there was some very interesting family background to be unearthed.

In just over a week the World War One exhibition is happening in Cottingham; details at htpp://cottinghamnews.co.uk/news.htm. I've been exchanging information with Janice Binley, and am particularly excited to learn that one of the medals to be exhibited belonged to the only man named on the Cottingham war memorial to whom I'm related. Edwin (known as Edward) Towndrow was married to my great aunt Frances Bamford for five months before his death at the Battle of Neuve Chapelle on 13 March 1915. (William) James Tansley was killed on the same day, both men being in the 2nd Battalion, Leicestershire Regiment.

I have a good deal of information on both men as much of their military record survives. Unfortunately their histories are unlikely to be ready for uploading before the exhibition on 24 August, but I should have them finished in the autumn.   

I am really looking forward to seeing people's family memorabilia on display and hoping to learn a lot more about Cottingham's soldiers from the families who remember them. It should be a great day.