Charles Herbert Nunn

In recent times we have brought you the stories of the men from our village who gave their lives during the Great War and who are commemorated on memorials in Totley, Abbeydale and elsewhere. We would have liked to have researched the lives of all those local men who served and survived the war but because of resource constraints we have so far been able to bring you only a few of their stories.

We were very pleased, therefore, when Chris Emsley got in touch with us recently. Chris collects the war medals of men from Sheffield and north Derbyshire who fought in the Great War, primarily as a reason for exploring their stories. Medals are sometimes the only surviving physical reminder of the men as their photographs, belongings and other ephemera have long since sadly been discarded and lost forever. Researching their histories helps to keep the memories of these men alive. Medal collectors like Chris greatly respect the history they hold in their hands and believe they never really "own" the medals - they are merely their temporary custodians. One of these soldiers was Charles Herbert Nunn, of Green Oak. 

Charles Herbert Nunn was born on 12 April 1899 in Sheffield. His father was Herbert Nunn, who was born in Whittlesford, Cambridgeshire on 3 September 1875, the seventh of eight children. Whilst living at home with his family, Herbert had been an agricultural labourer like his father but sometime between 1891 and 1898 he moved to Sheffield to become a railway porter. 

Herbert married Kate Hadfield at Norton St. James on 9 November 1898. Kate was born in Hope, Derbyshire on 28 April 1877, the fifth of thirteen children born to Charles Hadfield, a joiner and builder, and his Dore born wife Mary Elizabeth, nee Reeve.

Herbert, Kate and their son Charles were living in Totley in 1901 when a daughter Ivy Ann was born on 6 February. The Census on 30 March records that the Nunn family were at Lemont Road where a number of other railway families lived. Charles was admitted to Totley Church School on 28 April 1903 at the age of 4 and stayed until 8 April 1910 when he left to go to another school whose name was not recorded. Ivy was admitted to Totley Church School on 29 May 1905, also aged 4. She left on 24 December 1914 at age 13 to attend Dronfield Grammar School. 

Kelly's and White's trade directories tell us that Herbert Nunn lived in Green Oak throughout the period from 1909 to 1924. In the 1911 Census, however, the family were recorded in Whittlesford, divided amongst three of Herbert's brothers. Herbert was now a railway signalman and was with Ernest Nunn, a farm labourer, at West End. Kate and Ivy were staying with Alfred Samuel Nunn, a paper mill engine tenter, on High Street. Charles was with Ellis Nunn, a smallholder, whose address was given as "Near the Clock". Herbert's father, Richard, had died during the first quarter of the 1911 so perhaps the visit was for his funeral.

After leaving school, Charles Nunn became a clerk working for the Sheffield and South Yorkshire Navigation Company, whose offices were at Exchange Street, Sheffield. The company had been formed in 1888 to promote navigable waterways, both canals and navigable rivers, throughout South Yorkshire and Lincolnshire primarily for the export of coal and import of Swedish iron ore. 

On 23 August 1915 Charles enlisted in the British Army and was designated Private number 21453 in the King's Own Scottish Borderers. Charles's military service record has fortunately survived. He was quite big for his age and times at 5ft 6¼ ins. and like many young men, he lied about his birth claiming to be aged 19 years 4 months when in fact he was only 16 years 4 months. After initial training at Hipswell Camp, Catterick, Charles was sent to France on 18 December 1915 and he served with the British Expeditionary Force until 6 March 1916. 

His tour of duty with the B.E.F. was brought to an end when somehow his true age was discovered and he was transferred to Home Establishment pending discharge "having made a mis-statement as to age on enlistment". Formal discharge was delayed by a seven day spell in a military hospital in Berwick for catarrhal bronchitis but eventually took place on 14 April. It was for this first spell with the B.E.F. that he was later awarded the 1914-15 Star along with the British War Medal and Victory Medal. His military character was described as "very good".

Charles was not out of the army for long, however, and he re-enlisted in Derby with the Sherwood Foresters on 30 April 1917. This second time around he was designated Private 30868 and had grown to 5ft. 9ins tall. Charles served at home until 31 March 1918 when he was posted to the B.E.F. with the 6th Battalion of the King's Own Scottish Borderers. Having been promoted to acting sergeant on 18 March 1818, his promotion was confirmed on 31 April, a month after arriving in France.

At some point before the end of the war, Charles saw action which earned him the Military Medal. This was announced in the Sheffield Independent on 20 September 1918 and Gazetted on 24 January the following year. His peace time employers presented him with a wristwatch to mark his achievements. 

At the end of the war, Charles was sent back to England for admission to the Officer Cadet Unit but it would appear that this never took place. He was transferred to Army Reserve on 17 February 1919 and finally discharged on demobilization on 31 March 1920. 

Back at home, his mother had given birth to twins, Joan and Douglas, on 12 April 1919. They continued to live in Totley for many years moving from Lemont Road to 44 The Quadrant.

In 1923 Charles Nunn married Mabel McKaig in Birkenhead. Mabel had been born at Toxteth Park in Liverpool on 10 May 1895. She was the fifth of six children born to James McKaig, a boiler maker, and his wife Elizabeth Jane, nee Tait, who had married in 1882 in their native Cumberland. 

After the war Charles became a railwayman like his father. He was a fireman in 1926 at Heeley according to his NUR record and in the 1939 National Register he was an inspector of motive power in Leeds. Charles and Mabel had a daughter, Betty Nunn, born in 1926. Betty married Victor Lees, a sales representative, in Leeds in 1947 and they had a son, Bruce, born the following year. 

Charles Herbert Nunn died at his home at 11 Spennythorne Avenue, Leeds on 4 December 1957. His wife Mabel died in 1970.

November 2019