The Bewers family, outside Guinea Pig Hall

This photo, of the Bewers family, was taken outside Guinea Pig Hall on Runwell Road in 1910.

Seated in the centre is William Bewers (1835-1912) in his slippers.  On the left of the photo is Ada Mercy Bewers (1873-1920), who married Frank Carter.  On the right is Willaim John Cornelius Bewers (1876-1916) who was killed on HM Submarine E22 when it was torpedoed, four months before his brother Henry was killed in France.  He is holding Queenie Carter, daughter of Daisy Ethel Carter, nee Bewers.  Queenie was born in 1910.

William is remembered on the Naval Memorial in Chatham as well as the memorials in St. Catherine’s Church and Wickford War Memorial.

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  • I remember the Boultons as I went to school with them – Rita, Shirley and David. Where are they now? Perhaps we should get together? I am still in Wickford.

    By BOBCROOT (26/09/2019)
  • I also have a photograph of a family outside Guinea Pig Hall.  My mother, Alice Richards, moved into Guinea Pig Hall about 1940 when she became a widow.  She remarried a soldier who was billeted in Wickford and became Alice Boulton.  Her husband John (Jock) Boulton was captured and put into a Japanese Prisoner of War Camp. His first wife had also died, leaving him with six children, and my mother then had all of us in the very small Guinea Pig Hall, and it is a photo of her, her parents and seven children that I have outside the thatched cottage.

    By Rita Livermore nee Boulton/Richards (19/04/2015)
  • Submariner Bewers joined the Royal Navy about 1895. In 1899 his ship, HMS Terrible was sent to South Africa where some of its crew are said to have assisted in the Relief of Ladysmith. The following year HMS Terrible was sent to China to combat the Boxer Rebellion. His involvement in these actions resulted in W.J.C. Bewers being awarded the Queens South Africa Medal, and the China War Medal. After 18 years in the Navy he was awarded the Long Service and Good Conduct Medal. These appear to be the three medals that he is wearing in the photograph.

    By Cliff Thornton (28/11/2011)

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