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William (Bill) Graham was born on the 27th September 1884 in Patterdale. His father Thomas worked at Greenside mines in Glenridding. Thomas had married Jane Pattinson in October 1882 and they lived at her house in the Township Patterdale with Jane’s father John. By 1901 the family was still living there. In addition to William there were five other children, the eldest son Henry (born 1883), John (Jack) (1887), Joseph Laurence (Joe) (1891), Edwin (1893) and sister Elizabeth (1898).
By 1911, following the death of William’s grandfather, the family had moved to 6 High Rake in Glenridding. By now his father Thomas was totally blind and so his mother was head of the household. Joe and Edwin were working at Greenside and Elizabeth was still at school. William and his younger brother John had both started work at Greenside when they left school, but had then moved to the North East, working at the Carrock wolfram mines and in the coal mines near Shotley Bridge, Durham. It was from here that they emigrated to Dakota, U.S.A. in 1910 moving from there to Vancouver in the following year and settling at Coleman, Alberta, in 1912.
We know that William signed up for the Canadian Expeditionary Force in February 1916. By then he had married Eleanor and was father of a son, Robert. His profession on his enlistment was given as a miner. We believe he joined the 192nd Battalion of the Canadian Expeditionary Force (CEF) -
Private William (Bill) Graham
192nd (Crow's Nest Pass) Battalion Canadian Expeditionary Force
Born 27th Sept 1884 Patterdale. Died 1975 Canada
Son of Thomas and Jane (nee Pattinson) Graham, The Township Patterdale and 6 High Rake Glenridding
Husband of Eleanor Graham and Father of Robert Graham
John (Jack) Graham was born at the start of 1887 in Patterdale and baptised at Patterdale Church on the 6th Februiary that year. He was the third son of Thomas and Jane (nee Pattinson) Graham. His early life and that of his family is covered in the story above about his elder brother William Graham. We also know that in his early years John was a keen sportsman and was likely to have been a member of the Ullswater Football Team. He was also a member of the Helvellyn Oddfellows. The Helvellyn branch was an offshoot of the Manchester Unity and had been set up in Patterdale in the 1830s at the Patterdale Hotel. When John joined they used to meet in the White Lion Inn, and then in the Parish Meeting Rooms in Patterdale.
After starting work at Greenside aged 14 around 1901, John and William moved to the north-
On the outbreak of the 1914-
On his return to France he is likely to have taken part in the Canadian action at Vimy Ridge on April 9, 1917 with his regiment, most likely alongside his brother William and other men from Patterdale serving with the Canadians, including John Dewis Place and Henry Thwaites. John also saw action in the infamous Battle of Passchendaele. He was severely wounded in the later stages of the battle, most likely in the final phases of the ultimately successful Canadian assault on Passchendaele ridge. His injury was reported in the Herald on the 17th November 1917 by which time he’s been transferred to a hospital in Norwich.
As it said in his obituary, John never fully recovered from the wounds he received at Passchedaele. No longer able to work as a miner he had to look for another means of livelihood, and he and his brother William, taking advantage of Canadian Government Scheme to train and set up in farming, began a highly successful beekeeping business. They went from a wooden shack to a major factory and even exported their honey to Penrith. As reported in the Herald, by 1947 the firm was producing up to 90 tons of honey in one season. John was also the first president of the Alberta Bee-
John died in Canada in 1947 aged 60. If you can add anything to his remarkable story then please contact us.
Driver Joseph (Joe) Lawrence Graham
M2/131650 3rd Motorised Ambulance Corp, Army Service Corps
Born June 1890 Patterdale. Died 21 May 1961 Wisconsin Aged 71
Son of Thomas and Jane (nee Pattinson) Graham, The Township Patterdale and 6 High Rake Glenridding
Husband of Ida Myrtella Calvert
Father and Grandfather
His younger brother John was badly injured in the war (see below) and was unable to continue as a miner. The brothers returned to Canada after the war determined to find a new way to make a living. As recorded later in John’s obituary in 1947
“They bought a wooden shack to start one of the first apiaries in the Coaldale district of Alberta. Success followed in a remarkable way. The wooden shack is now a factory with all the accessories for the upkeep of a large bee farm even to the canning of their product for export. It is interesting to note, W. and J. Graham's Coaldale honey could be bought in Penrith shops just before the war. The firm now produces up to 90 tons of honey in one season. “
William and Eleanor stayed on in Canada. Eleanor died in 1973 and William in 1975 and they are buried together in Lehtbridge, Alberta, Canada.
In terms of the other family members, John and Joseph’s stories are told below. William’s father Thomas had died in 1925, and his mother in 1931. By then they were living at Scarfoot in Patterdale, home of the Harrison Family. William’s sister Elizabeth had married George Harrison on the 12th August 1922. George had also served in the war and their story is told on his biography page. Oldest brother Henry (Harry) had become a policeman in Workington and married Caroline Jane Bray from Glenridding in 22 July 1909. We are not sure what happened to them after that, although we believe Harry rose to the rank of Superintendent and moved to Keswick. We believe youngest brother Edwin stayed in Glenridding at least until 1930 and then moved to Appleby. After that we have not been able to track him down until his death in March 1983, aged 90, in Nottingham.
If you can add anything to the story of William and his family please contact us.
A photo of what we believe to be Joe and Ida’s shop
Laurence (Laurie or Joe), John (Jack), William (Bill) and Henry (Harry) Graham. Joe, Jack and Bill are served in the army and Harry was in the Police. We think this was taken in Patterdale in January 1917.
Private John (Jack) Graham
Princess Patricia’s Canadian Light Infantry
Born 1887 Patterdale. Died 1947 Canada aged 60.
Son of Thomas and Jane (nee Pattinson) Graham, The Township Patterdale and 6 High Rake Glenridding
Joseph Lawrence Graham was born around June 1890 in Patterdale and baptised at St Patrick’s Church on the 27th July 1890. He was the fourth son of Thomas and Jane (nee Pattinson) Graham. Like his elder brothers William and John he would of attended Patterdale School. Also there in the same class would have been James (Jimmy) Little Bowman, who was baptised just a month after Joe and would become a lifelong friend, future business partner and indeed a brother in law. His family have told us of an early memory of Joseph and his brother Edwin pushing their younger sister Elizabeth down Lanty’s Hill in Patterdale, which was just around the corner from where they lived (and a little steep in places!)
By 1911 his eldest brothers had left home and Joe was working at Greenside as a lead miner. On the 25th June 1914 he set sail from Liverpool aboard the SS Empress of Britain with his school friend James Bowman, who had been working as a stonemason in Kendal. Family rumour has it that one of the reasons Joseph Laurenace became “Joe” was that on this trip a clerk at the shipping company decided that Laurence must be female and he was allocated a berth in the women's quarters. He had great difficulty sorting this out and to avoid any future embarrassment he became Joe. Whether true or not -
After these troubles they finally arrived in Quebec, Canada, but then moved to America, where they made their way to Benton, Wisconsin where they worked in the mines.
Quite soon after war broke out Joe must have decided to return to England. James Bowman was to return later in the war. Joe sailed aboard the White Star Liner SS Lapland arriving in Liverpool in late July or early August 1915. He most likely returned to Patterdale and from there he went to Keswick on the 11th October 1915 to sign up. He enlisted in the Mechanical Transport (MT) section of the Army Service Corps having listed his profession as a “Petrol Motor Driver”, and his address as Scarfoot, Patterdale, with his mother as his next of kin. He was immediately posted to the MT training depot at Grove Park in Lee London, and within a month was embarking aboard the SS Saba from Avonmouth bound for France. He joined his unit in Rouen on the 26th November 1915. He was initially assigned to the 317 Company but then transferred to the 420 MT Motor Ambulance Convoy Companies, which was part of the Fourth Army, which was involved in many of the key battles of the First World War, including the Somme Offensive.
We know that Joe was granted leave from the 31st December 1916 to the 10th January 1917, which when we believe the great picture at the top of the page of four of the Graham brothers was taken, most likely in Patterdale. Joe was finally demobbed on the 14th March 1919. As part of the terms of his service he was entitled to free passage back to Wisconsin -
At this point there is a slight discrepancy in where Joe went next from various family stories we have heard. In one he he joined his brothers William (Bill) and John (Jack) in Western Canada and began working in the mines there. Once Bill and Jack had established their honey business Joe left the mines and joined them but soon realising that farming was not for him, he left to seek a fortune in the Yukon. That too was not a good idea and he found his way to Detroit and got a job with General Motors (Cadillac division). It is possible that he went there with the Marr Brothers, who were working there at the Ford Motor Company at the time. He took part of his earnings in G.M. stock which he sold to raise money to buy into a business with Jimmy Bowman in Benton, Wisconsin. There is an even more exciting family story of the time between 1919 and 1925 in which which Joe went to South Africa to join one of his brothers who was supposedly making a fortune knocking together shanty towns as native South Africans flocked to the diamond mines to be exploited by the owners. Whilst the brother is said to have done very well, the story is that he failed to pay Joe and as a result he he had to stay almost 4 years before his family could afford to bring him home. Whatever the truth it’s a great story!
At the end of the war Jimmy Bowman had married Henrietta Calvert and was well settled in Benton. In 1925 Joe married Henrietta's sister Ida Myrtella (pictured left). Henrietta and Ida were part of a very large family founded by pioneer settlers from Swaledale. Eventually Joe and Ida left Benton for a small town about 40 miles away where they started a general store. From then on they lived quietly and successfully citizens, pillars of the community -
Joe and Ida retired in 1949 and returned to Brenton to be near Ida's family which of course included Jimmy Bowman. So that Joe and Jim were back together again. Ida died on the 12th January in 1953 aged 59 and Joe on the 21st May 1961 aged 71. They had two children.
We are very grateful to the Graham family for their memories and photos, which they have shared with Warren Allison over the years, and apologise profusely for any errors we have made in transcribing them.
A photo kindly supplied by the Graham family showing one of the brothers (probably Joe) with “C” Section.