Frank Thomas Holmes

Birth and baptismal records give first names as 'Frank Thomas' Frank Thomas was the son of Frank and Alice Holmes nee Gibson. His father was the son of Samuel and Jane Holmes and was born in Winster, Derbyshire, in about 1871 and baptised in the parish church on 19 March 1871. His mother Alice Gibson was the daughter of Thomas and Jane Gibson and was baptised on 7 December 1873 in Ripley parish church. Frank and Alice were married at Ripley All Saints church on 15 October 1893. Frank#'s occupation was given as 'carter'. They had at least six children: Alice Mabel birth registered 1894 (J/F/M Belper) bap. 23 May 1894 (Ripley Circuit), Frank Thomas b. 1895 (A/M/J Belper), Gertrude Lucy b. 1896 (A/M/J Belper Derbyshire), Reginald Shaw b. 30 March 1900 (A/M/J Sheffield), Albert Edward b. 1903 (O/N/D Belper) and John William probably b. 1906 (A/M/J Basford). Gertrude, Thomas and Albert were baptised at Ripley All Saints on 18 April 1905 while Reginald Shaw and John William were baptised at the same church on 22 September 1908. On the night of the 1901 Census Frank (28), a coal carter, and his son Frank Thomas (5) were registered living with his parents Samuel and Jane on Cromford Road, Ripley, Derbyshire. His three other children, Mabel (7), Gertrude (5) and Reginald (1) were living with his wife's parents, Thomas and Jane Gibson, on Park Road, Ripley. In 1905 when three of Frank and Alice's children were baptised in Ripley, they were living on Wood Street, Ripley. Frank's occupation was given on the baptismal register as 'stoker'. However, when their sons Reginald and John were baptised in 1908 their address was given as Park Road, Ripley, and Frank was working as a carter. By 1911 Frank Thomas (16) was living with his maternal aunt Lucy Whitby (nee Gibson) and her husband Albert Edwin Whitby, at Leabrooks, Alfreton, Derbyshire. He was working as a pit worker ganger. Four of his siblings, Alice (17), Gertrude (15), a cotton spinner, Reginald (11) and John (4) were living with their maternal grandparents on Park Road Ripley. Frank Thomas nominated his grandmother, Jane Gibson, of Park Road, Ripley, as his next of kin when he enlisted in 1914 and it was recorded that he had lived out of his father's house for three years continuously. However, when his personal belongings were returned to the family in 1916 they were sent to his father who was then living in Kirkhamgate, Wakefield. His father completed a form for the army in May 1919 listing his son's surviving blood relatives: Parents: Frank and Alice Holmes of Lowfield Lawns, Cargate nr. Wakefield Brothers: Reginald Shaw (19) of Leabrook, Albert Edward (15) of Montpelier Road Nottinghamshire, and John William (13) of Park Road, Ripley. Sisters: Alice Mabel Holmes (26) of Park Road, Ripley, and Gertrude Lucy Holmes (23) of Horsley Woodhouse. The later CWGC record gives his parents address as Kirkhamgate, Wakefield. Frank's brother, Reginald, enlisted on 3 April 1918 (121694) and served in the Sherwood Foresters. It is unlikely that he served overseas and he was discharged in December 1918 to Fren Bank, Park Road, Ripley.