Brownrigg family

 

St Saviour’s Roll of Honour bears the names of

T. BROWNRIGG

W. BROWNRIGG

who were brothers, Thomas and William.

 

Their father was Henry Brownrigg (b. 1856 in Kirkpatrick, Dumfries-shire, Scotland), a general labourer.  Their mother was Jane Watson (b. 1848 in Askham, Westmorland).  The Brownrigg family moved from Scotland to Westmorland in the 1870s and Henry and Jane were married there in 1877.  All their children were born in Cumberland:  Henry (b. 1878), Mary Ann (b. 1879), Sarah Jane (b. 1881), Thomas (b. 1882), William (b. 1884) and Elizabeth (b. 1891).  But by 1901, the family had moved to Bamber Bridge.  In 1901, they were living at 31 Carr Street, and in 1911 they lived at 8 Clayton Street.  Henry died in 1912 and Jane died in 1918.

 

In 1911, Thomas (b. 1882) was still single and working as a machine hand in a card room in a cotton mill.  Tom attested he was willing to serve in the Army on 10 December 1915.  He was then 33 years old.  He originally indicated he wanted to serve in the Royal Field Artillery but he was posted instead to the Loyal North Lancashire Regiment and assigned service number 5299.  He was called up on 27 March 1916 but then discharged as medically unfit on 26 July 1916.  So, despite his readiness to do so, Tom never served abroad.  In 1921, he married Emma Hale (b. 1889 in St Helen’s).  Tom worked as an excavator’s labourer and the couple lived at 2 Smithy Street Bamber Bridge.  Tom died in 1960.

 

William (b. 1884) had married in 1907, to Rebecca Jackson (b. 1883 in Liverpool).  William was a carter.  In 1909, while living at Bacup, they had a son, William, and in 1911 they had moved to Summerseat, near Bury.  It seems likely that William came back to Bamber Bridge to enlist.  He joined the Loyal North Lancashire Regiment (like his brother) and was assigned service number 14305.  He landed in France on 25 September 1915.  I think this means he was with 1/4Bn, 164th Brigade, in 55th (West Lancashire) Division.  An outline of the history of 55th Division during the War can be read here.  William served throughout the War and was presumably wounded at some stage as he was discharged with a disability on 8 January 1919.  We don’t know what happened to him or where he served as at some point he was transferred to the Labour Corps and given a new service number, 598436 (some records show 398436).  After the War, he and his wife Rebecca ran a fish and chip shop at 191 Station Road, Bamber Bridge

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