Photographs of my Father

Lawrence (Judah) Assenheim Was born 18 Jan 1892 at 27 South Block, Petticoat Square, London England. He died on 3 September 1916 in Beaumont-Hamel, Somme France. Lawrence joined the Army on 12 July 1915 and was attached to the 17th Battalion, Kings royal Rifle Corp. His Regimental Number was C/4164. At the time of his enlistment he was residing at 25 Harold Road. Upton Park, Essex, which was his Father’s address. He noted his trade as ‘Porter’. His next of kin was his father Solomon. He obtained the rank of Private. He was killed in action on the 3 September 1916 at the age of 26. He was awarded the Victory Medal and the British War Medal. The British War Medal was presented to his Father on 10 February 1921 and the Victory Medal on 9 May 1921 In a declaration by his Mother on 19 June 1919, she stated that Lawrence’s next of kin were his Father Solomon, Mother Betsy, his brothers Harry (21) David (39) and his sisters Ranah (40), Aggie (33) Sarah (31), Sophie (26) and Rachel (23). All were listed as residing at Harold Road, Upton Park. Lawrence is buried in the Ancre British Cemetery, Beaumont-Hamel, France. || Photographs of Lawrence and of his grave

Philip Doyle was my maternal grandfather. He was born in 1891 in Ram Street Wexford. He sailed on schooners first and then he joined the Navy in WW 1 and served on “HMS Vivid” – the navy base at Devonport. He was also deployed to the front in the defence of Antwerp. He was later interviewed about his experiences during that time - “Interviewer: Philip Doyle, a marine recalls the unique experience from that time, when they tried a rear-guard action at Antwerp. Philip Doyle: The Germans was coming in, taking Antwerp, and they had a gun they called it Jack Johnson that time, ya know they only had the one big gun and you’d hear him roaring all over the sky coming in over your head. Well I suppose I knew a thing or two a kind of a bluff thing, bluffing the Germans because Mr. Churchill got up on a box in a big shed in Antwerp and he told us we’re going to meet the enemy but they were all old men. Well we found out our mistake they weren’t all old men. Old men. And we had nothing at all only Japanese rifles and Japanese bullets and we didn’t understand what we had and they were all loose in a big schoolbag, all our gear, we were only on a bluff and now we were in the trenches for about a fortnight and then they were through it out the trenches. The word come down through don’t retreat til dark if we’d retreated in the daylight, the Germans woulda seen us and they’da blew us all to pieces so we got out in the dark back into Antwerp and we docked again in Dover.” Philip survived the war and joined up again when WW2 broke out. Philip’s great grandchildren are still living in Wexford. When he retired in the 1950s he was in Bombay and he waited for weeks to get a ship home as he didn’t want to get on a plane. || || Photograph || Philip Doyle