Many thanks. I cannot see HMG changing the rules after all this time as it would 'open the floodgates'. Your article has prompted me to try and find out where he is buried. Sadly, after his death, his widow remarried and contact was lost with that branch of the family until recently. You may recall rapping my knuckles for an 'illegal' post on the IOT site which brought forth a result. Chris ________________________________ From: Suzannah Foad <[email protected]> To: [email protected] Sent: Monday, 19 October, 2009 16:04:45 Subject: Re: [Isle-of-Thanet] REMEMBRANCE TIDE - A SPECIAL EVENT Private George Foad - 7th November 09 at 11am Not knowing what area he was from, is there not some sort of memorial in the local church or similar? I have seen mentions of people dying some years after the wars in churches but I think this would depend on the families involved and how helpful the local authorities, churches were. There isn't any harm in contacting the CWGC? Suzannah ----- Original Message ---- From: CHRISTOPHER HART <[email protected]> To: [email protected] Sent: Monday, 19 October, 2009 3:43:21 PM Subject: Re: [Isle-of-Thanet] REMEMBRANCE TIDE - A SPECIAL EVENT Private George Foad - 7th November 09 at 11am It must have given you a great sense of satisfaction being able to right a wrong, albeit 92 years on! My mother's brother died of his WW1 war wounds, gassing, in 1927 and there is no possibilty of a public memorial to him as deaths after 1921 were not regarded as 'war deaths' so I am told. Chris ________________________________ From: Suzannah Foad <[email protected]> To: "[email protected]" <[email protected]> Cc: [email protected] Sent: Monday, 19 October, 2009 14:44:43 Subject: [Isle-of-Thanet] REMEMBRANCE TIDE - A SPECIAL EVENT Private George Foad - 7th November 09 at 11am REMEMBRANCE TIDE - A SPECIAL EVENT. Recent visitors to the cemetery at St Nicholas-at-Wade might have noticed a brand new Commonwealth War Graves headstone, commemorating Private George Ernest Foad, of the Queen's Royal West Surrey regiment, who died in 1917. Until recently, practically nothing was known about this soldier, save that his name is among those inscribed on the Monkton Village War Memorial. Enquiries locally revealed very little information and he was not mentioned in the official records immediately available. In recent months further research has been carried out by Mrs Janet Graham, Headteacher of Monkton Primary School, and myself, and we now have a fuller picture. George Foad was born in 1889 and lived in Monkton, working first on the land, and then as a colliery tip man ( at the newly opened Chislet Colliery?). He enlisted in the Queen’s Royal West Surrey Regiment in 1915, and was graded fit for active service. He completed basic training but, just before he was to be posted to the Western Front, he became ill with pleurisy. His condition deteriorated over the following months and he was eventually invalided from the service on pension, with a good military character, in July 1916. He died nine months later at his parents’ home at Gore Street New Cottages, from tuberculosis of the lungs and peritoneum. He was 27. Private George Foad was buried in the Cemetery following a service in St. Nicholas' Church conducted by the Vicar of Monkton, the Revd Fabian Brackenbury. [George's mother, Emily, was a St Nicholas' girl.] In more recent years, the unmarked grave has been entirely forgotten, but the clear picture we now have is of a man who had tried hard to do his bit, and it is good to know that his contemporaries in Monkton saw to it that his name was included among those commemorated on the village war memorial. The results of our research were submitted to the Ministry of Defence, who agreed to authorise the Commonwealth War Graves Commission to erect a headstone on Private Foad’s Grave. The stone was finally put in place in May this year, and a short ceremony of Dedication on the Saturday before Remembrance Sunday, November 7th at 11am, in the presence of descendants of the Foad family. Mrs Janet Graham and I are very grateful to all those who have helped us in this venture, particularly the St Nicholas-at-Wade & Sarre Parish Council, and Mrs Julie Francis, the former Clerk to the Council who quickly located George Foad's grave in the excellent cemetery records, and liaised with the War Graves Commission over arrangements for installing the the memorial stone. The Council also kindly waived their fees in this case. ------------------------------- To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to [email protected] with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message ------------------------------- To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to [email protected] with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message ------------------------------- To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to [email protected] with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message