Frank Paling

Frank was the second son of John and Annie Paling. John Paling (b. Halam) married Annie Gibson (b. Edingley) in 1890 (reg. Southwell). They had three sons, George b. 1890, Frank birth registered 1893 (J/F/M) and Albert Ernest b. 1896. In 1891, the year after their marriage, John and Annie were living at Cork Hill Farm ('Mr Johnson's') where John was a farm bailiff. Their first child, George, was 4 months old. Also living with them was John's father, Thomas Paling (62), an agricultural labourer. By 1901 they were living on Westhorpe, Southwell, with their sons George (10), Frank (8) and Albert Ernest (4). John (42) was a farmer. Also in the household was Joseph Cook (16), a farm servant. However, in 1911 the family was living at Constance Villa, Station Road, Southwell, and John was a boarding house proprietor. All three sons were still at home, George a carter at Merryweather's nursery, Frank a gardener at the same nursery and Albert a miller. There were two boarders in the household as well as a six-year old boy, Arthur Michael Boynton, who was John's nephew. Frank's brother, Albert, served in the 1/8th Bn Sherwood Foresters) and died on 14 July 1916 in France of wounds received in action the previous day (Warlincourt Halte British Cemetery). Frank's father completed a form for the army in May 1919 listing his son's surviving blood relatives; he named himself and his wife and his surviving son George, all of Constance Villa, Station Road, Southwell, and two aunts, Mrs EM Powley and Mrs Lucy Foster, both of Southwell, and an uncle, Frank Paling, of Kirkby in Ashfield. The form was witnessed by Henry Merryweather, Norwood House, Southwell, for whom both Frank and his brother George had worked. Their father, John, died on 23 April 1932 and their mother, Annie, two years later on 17 August 1934. They were still living at Constance Villa, Station Road. The surviving son, George, was awarded probate of his mother's estate;