Albert Raynor was the son of James Raynor, a miner from Nottinghamshire who worked at Denaby Main Colliery, and Leah Pounder. The couple married in mid 1881 in Nottinghamshire, and were married for twenty years before Leah sadly passed away in 1900. During their marriage, the couple had nine children together, but only four survived; Joseph, John, Albert and Archibald.
In 1891 the couple are living at 24 Tickhill Street, Denaby Main with three sons; Joseph, William and John. It seems the couple had moved to the area within the past five years as youngest son John, who was two years old had been born in Denaby, but eldest son Joseph and middle son William (five) had been born in Derbyshire. William sadly died in early 1887 at the age of 11. Albert was born after the census in 1891, in Denaby. Unfortunately, it hasn’t been possible to locate any of the Raynor family on the 1901 census.
His military service papers show that at the age of 22, Albert was 5 foot 6 inches tall, weighed 131lb (9st 5lb), had a chest measurement of 35 inches and his physical development was good. He had a sallow complexion, grey eyes and brown hair. His paperwork shows he had no distinctive marks or tattoos except for three vaccination marks on his left arm.
The Conisbrough and Denaby 100 Project
Albert Raynor
In 1911 Albert is living with his father James, who has been widowed following Leah’s death, and two of his brothers; elder brother John and younger brother “Archiebald”, who is 16. The family live at 23 Braithwell Street, Denaby Main and have a housekeeper Annie Roebuck, who comes from Highgreen, Sheffield and lives with her son Alfred, who is five years old. All four Raynor men are working at Denaby Main Colliery; James is a Hewer, John a Filler, Albert himself is a Driver and Archibald is a Pit Top Boy.
Brother Archibald Raynor
Albert joined the army on 19th February 1915 at the age of 22 years, 1 month. He became 80545 Driver Albert Raynor of the Royal Field Artillery and was posted to A Battery of the 124th Brigade, serving at the depot in England until 26th June when he was posted to France. He had two periods of leave during his service, first in June 1916 and again in November 1917, and was fortunate enough to have sustained no injuries or illnesses at all during his service until he sadly died of pneumonia on 27th October 1918 at the No.18 CCS in France.
Albert was not alone in serving in WW1. According to newspaper reports, at least three of the surviving Raynor sons (including Albert) served in the Army during WW1. Elder brother John and younger brother Archibald also served.
Paperwork for John isn’t available, however Archibald’s paperwork shows that when he enlisted at the age of 19 on 17th April 1915, he lived at 4 Tickhill Street in Denaby. He had never served in the armed forces before, and he was listed as a miner. He was posted to the 5th Battalion, King’s Royal Rifles with service number 11861. Both brothers survived the war and died in 1940 and 1942 respectively.
Rocquigny-Equancourt Road Cemetery (click for larger image)
Albert's inscription on the Denaby War Memorial
We visited Albert's grave on a bright, clear and very cold day in March 2015.