Name
John Norman, (Norman) Newbery
Conflict
First World War
Date of Death / Age
Rank, Service Number & Service Details
2367
Hertfordshire Regiment
1st Bn.
'G' Coy.
Awards: Service Medals/Honour Awards
Cemetery/Memorial: Name/Reference/Country
Headstone Inscription
Not Researched
UK & Other Memorials
Pirton School Memorial
Biography
There appear to be several spellings of the surname, i.e. Newbery, Newberry and Newbury, but Newbery is believed to be the correct spelling for John Norman.
In a number of newspaper reports it seems that John was commonly known as Norman, and the name Norman Newbery appears in the Hertfordshire Express of July 11th 1914, which reports the Pirton Transept Fête. He was listed as a judge or official for the sports and as a member of the organising committee.
Norman appears on the School War Memorial, confirming that he attended the school, although he appears as Norman John. Parish records suggest only one man of this name who could have served and he was born on September 22nd 1892 to William and Ellen Newbery. William, his father, was the village blacksmith operating from Great Green and a church warden for twenty-six years. Norman would have been twenty-one at the outbreak of war. Baptism and census records list three children, but by 1911 one had died; Ellen (bapt 1891, d 1891, aged two months), John Norman (b 1892) and William Alexander (b 1889). William also served and survived.
Norman is recorded twice in the Parish Magazine; in September 1914 as being in the Territorials and in September 1915 as enlisting in 1914 after July, and serving in the 1st Hertfordshire Regiment. The Hertfordshire Express of November 11th 1914 reports that he was serving in the Middlesex Territorials, so his exact Regiment is uncertain and it could be that all the reports may be correct.
A letter from Norman, dated December 1914, thanks Mr Franklin for the gift of jerseys for him, W Reynolds (could be Walter or William) and Edward Goldsmith. It also confirms that all three were in “G” Company and in Thurston in Suffolk, near Bury St. Edmunds.
He was a good friend of Fred Baines, who also served, and provided a gift of a case of carvers at Fred’s wedding to Kathleen Chambers in April 1917.
By 1918 he was recorded as Private 2367, 1st Hertfordshire Regiment, with his home address as Great Green.
His nephew Ted, son of William Newbery, Norman’s brother who served, confirmed that Norman lived until September 7th 1964 and had two daughters and a son.
Additional Information
His service number is likley to have change in 1918 to six digit one.
Acknowledgments
Text from the book ‘The Pride of Pirton’ by Jonty Wild, Tony French & Chris Ryan used with author's permission, Ted Newbery (nephew)
