Name
Oscar Charles Cherry
Conflict
First World War
Date of Death / Age
Rank, Service Number & Service Details
Awards: Service Medals/Honour Awards
Cemetery/Memorial: Name/Reference/Country
Headstone Inscription
Not Researched
UK & Other Memorials
Pirton School Memorial
Biography
Oscar appears on the School War Memorial, confirming that he attended the school.
Grace Tomlin (née Cherry) informs us that his parents were William Henry Cherry (sometimes recorded as Henry William Cherry) and Susannah (née Thrussell or possibly Trussell). He was born August 17th 1888, and so he would have been twenty-six at the outbreak of the war. Baptism and census records and Grace’s family tree reveal eight children: Ann Maria (bapt 1873), Harry (bapt 1875), Ellen (bapt 1878), Gertrude (b 1879), Emily (b 1882), Agatha Grace (b 1883), Tobias (b 1885) and Oscar Charles (b 1888), but the 1911 census reveals that William and Susannah had a total of twelve children of whom five had died. At that date, they were living at 10 Holwell Road.
Family records show that Oscar was confirmed in Pirton Church on March 20th 1903 by the Bishop of Colchester, presumably along with many others. His brother Tobias emigrated to Canada in April of that year and returned in December 1906. The reason for his return is not known, but other records suggest he then went back to Canada in June of 1907. He must have sent back good reports of life there because Oscar then followed. He left Pirton on March 22nd 1911, sailing on the S.S Corsican, and landed at St. John’s on April 3rd. From there, he travelled to Calcarry arriving on April 7th. Canada was a popular destination for the young men and women of Pirton that year, for family documents record that Oscar’s sister, Emily, also emigrated along with at least one other woman (Kate Trussell) and six other Pirton men.
Surprisingly, travelling to and from Canada seems not to be as uncommon as might be expected, for Oscar returned in 1913, landing on November 30th - strange timing as his brother Tobias got married on November 22nd. Perhaps he was delayed at sea. He may have returned for good as, on July 5th 1915, in Holwell, he married a girl called Bertha Jane Cherry (Oscar and Bertha were 6th cousins once removed), perhaps a marriage before going to war. It is not clear where they lived, probably Holwell, but certainly by 1921 they were living in Holwell and had a son Kenneth Charles in December of that year.
Additional Information
Text from the book ‘The Pride of Pirton’ by Jonty Wild, Tony French & Chris Ryan used with author's permission
Acknowledgments
Text from the book ‘The Pride of Pirton’ by Jonty Wild, Tony French & Chris Ryan used with author's permission
