Joseph Edgar Knott Walker
Private Joseph Edgar Knott Walker — The Last Military Burial of 1942
Early Life
1901 Census
Joseph Edgar Knott Walker was born in Cardiff in
1900, the youngest son of Alfred Henry Walker and Helen Knott.
At the time of the 1901 Census, the family was living at 54 Alderwood
Road, Canton, Cardiff. Alfred, then 41, worked as an accounts clerk, while
Helen was 32. Their children were Harold L. (5), Charles R. (3), Alfred R.
(1), and Joseph (4 months). Also in the household was Beatrice Knott,
a 30-year-old farmer’s daughter and relative of Helen.
 |
| 1911 Census |
By the 1911 Census, the family had moved to 12 Penmaen Terrace, Swansea. Alfred, aged 51, was employed as a confidential clerk for a drapery, while Helen was 42. Harold, now 15, worked as an apprentice in motor engineering, while Alfred Richard (11) and Joseph (10) were still at school. Two younger brothers had been added to the family: James Norman (6) and William Kenneth (4). Also present was William Lance Royston Lewis, a 14-year-old boarder and motor engineering apprentice.
 |
| 1911 Census |
 |
| Charles Rawlings Walker Dernancourt Communal Cemetery Extension credit - findagrave |
At the same time, Joseph’s brother Charles Rawlings, then aged 13, was living with their maternal grandparents, William and Emma Knott, at their farm, The Haggetts, in Rochford, Tenbury, Worcester. Charles would later serve as a Lance Corporal with the Worcestershire Regiment in the First World War. He was killed in action on 8 November 1916, aged just 18, after being wounded during the Battle of the Somme. He lies buried at Dernancourt Communal Cemetery Extension.
 |
| 1921 Census |
By the 1921 Census, Joseph himself, now 20, was working as a farm labourer and living as a boarder at Hill Top Cottage, Rochford, Tenbury, in the household of George Ernest Newport, a groundsman, and his wife Helena Edith.
Marriage and Civilian Life
 |
| 1939 Register |
Military Service
During the Second World War, Joseph enlisted with the Royal
Army Medical Corps, serving as a Private. His duties connected him
to the care and support of soldiers, reflecting his steady and practical
character.
Death and Burial
 |
| South Wales Daily Post |
On 14th December 1942, the South Wales
Daily Post reported that Joseph had been injured in a tragic accident when
he came into contact with a train on the Mumbles Railway at the Slip,
near Swansea. Despite medical attention, he succumbed to his injuries on 18th
December 1942, aged 42.
 |
| Joseph Edgar Knott Walker St. Hilary Church, Killary credit - findagrave |
Legacy
Joseph Walker’s story links the industrial streets of Cardiff
and Swansea, the rural life of Worcestershire, and the tragedy of
war across two generations. His brother Charles fell in the First World War;
Joseph himself served and died during the Second. Their sacrifices, separated
by more than two decades but united in the family’s grief, stand as a reminder
of how the toll of war reached deeply into ordinary families across Britain.
Unlike many of the servicemen buried at St. Hilary, Joseph
was not a teenager or a man in his early twenties, but a 42-year-old husband
with a settled civilian life. His presence among the rows of young airmen
highlights another dimension of wartime loss: the older generation, called upon
to serve in supporting roles, who also paid the ultimate price. His grave, side
by side with theirs, reflects the shared burden of sacrifice across age and
background, uniting the youthful promise of the very young with the steady
service of those already established in life.
Comments
Post a Comment