Herbert William Tirrell - my grandfather

My grandfather, Herbert William Tirrell was born on 13th April 1894 in Amptill, Bedfordshire.  He was the fifth of ten children born to Joseph Tirrell and his wife Esther nee Spencer, who originally came from Northamptonshire.  Joseph was a navvy employed in digging tunnels for the railways.  His work took the family all round the country and all their children were born in different parts of the UK.  It must have been a very hard life, especially travelling with so many children.  They eventually settled in Yorkshire and my grandfather had such a strong Yorkshire accent that I didn't realise he was not born there until I started my family history research.

This is the first photograph I have of Herbert.  I don't know when it was taken but he does look quite young. Don't know who he is with either, maybe a brother or possibly a friend.  Herbert is the one on the right.

Herbert served in France with the Royal Engineers in World War I.  I am lucky to have his war medals which my mother had framed along with her World War II medals.

Two photographs of Herbert  in his  military uniform.

Below is  Herbert second from the left on the second row down with the 218 Field Squadron.

On December 26th 1920 Herbert married Edith Butler at St James' Church in Ravenfield.  I have already written the tragic story of my grandmother Edith in an earlier posting.  Edith died on 26th September 1925 when their only child, my mother Kathleen, was 3 years old.

This is Herbert and Edith on their wedding day. 

Two years after Edith's death Herbert married Evelyn Davis on 3rd December 1927 at The Wesleyan Methodist Church in Rotherham.  Evelyn is the lady I always called grandma and I didn't know until I was maybe late teens that she wasn't my real grandmother.  She was a lovely lady and I have very fond memories of her, 

 This is Herbert and Evelyn on their wedding day with Herbert's daughter Kathleen (my mother). 

More pictures of Herbert and Evelyn to come later.