Selected Biographies

Boar, Charles William – Born: Assington, Suffolk on 15.8.1877.[1]  Parents: William Boar (Agricultural Labourer) and Sarah Ann [née Elmer].  Family Connections: Father of William Charles Victor Boar [b1901] and George Thomas Boar [b1904]; also, brother of Robert Boar [b1880] and brother-in-law of George Moss [b1870].  Home: Recorded as William Bore in Assington, Suffolk (1881), Bull Lane, Long Melford (1901), Sargents Yard, Hall Street, Long Melford (1911),[2] Smaley Lane, Long Melford (1921 to 1939).  Occupation: Agricultural Labourer (1901), Maltster’s Labourer for Frederick Branwhite & Sons, Maltsters and Corn Merchants (1911 to 1921), Agricultural Labourer (1939).  Married: Lydia Moss of Long Melford in 1900.  Service Record: In 1896 William enlisted as Gnr.1911 in the Suffolk Artillery Militia.  He transferred in 1898 as Pte.31331 to the Royal Artillery, being discharged in the following year.[3]  There is no definitive record of his service during the First World War, however he is recorded as a soldier at the baptism of his son George in 1916.[4]  In August 1919 he contracted malaria which suggests that he could have been part of the Mediterranean Expeditionary Force to Salonika, where such infection was commonplace.[5]  Died: Sudbury, Suffolk in 1948.

Boar, George Thomas – Born: Long Melford, Suffolk on 31.5.1904.[6]  Parents: Charles William Boar (Maltster) [see below for details] and Lydia [née Moss].  Family Connections: Bother to William Charles Victor Boar [b1901] and nephew of Robert Boar [b1880].  Home:  Sargents Yard, Hall Street, Long Melford (1911), 57 High Street, Long Melford (1939), 112 Churchfield, Harlow, Essex [1972].  Occupation: Stockman on High Street Farm [1939].  Married: Beatrice Elizabeth Stent in 1939.  Social Record: George came to public notice in 1937 as the first man in the village to own a television set.  What made the story unusual and therefore newsworthy was that a humble farm hand earning £2 per week would have the wherewithal to afford an item costing over eighty pounds.  There the story would have ended had George not mentioned in one of his interviews that now he had a TV set all that was left to make his life complete would be a wife to sit a watch it with, while sitting by the fire.  The public interest that this comment drew sent the story nationwide, and over the following weeks hundreds upon hundreds of proposals of marriage flooded in from prospective brides.  The candidates were quickly whittled down to a handful until one young lady agreed to meet him face-to-face. As the Sunday Mirror breathlessly informed its readers, when the couple met, it was love at first sight.  They were married barely a month later.[7]  Service Record: No definitive military record found.  Died: Harlow, Essex on 28.9.1972.[8]

Boar, Robert – Born: Assington, Suffolk in 1880.  Parents: William Boar (Agricultural Labourer) and Sarah Ann [née Elmer].  Family Connections: Brother to Charles William Boar [b1877]; also, uncle of William Charles Boar [b1901] and George Thomas Boar [b1903].  Home: Murrels Lane, Assington, Suffolk (1881), Prisoner in HM Prison, Grimwade Street, Ipswich, Suffolk (1911).  Occupation: Engine Driver of a Threshing Machine (1911).  Married: Eliza Tatum in 1907.  Service Record: No definitive military record found, however could possibly be Gnr.3775, later renumbered as Gnr.687275 with the Royal Field Artillery.[9]  Died: Ipswich, Suffolk 1971.

Boar, William Charles Victor – Born: Long Melford, Suffolk on 19.10.1901.[10]  Parents: William Charles Boar (Maltster) [see above for details] and Lydia [née Moss].  Family Connections: Brother to George Thomas Boar [b1904]; also, nephew of Robert Boar [b1880].  Home: White Hart Yard, Little St Marys, Long Melford [1905], Sargents Yard, Hall Street, Long Melford (1911), Smaley Lane, Long Melford [1921], 29 Queen Street, Kettering, Northamptonshire (1939).  Occupation: Stockman [1921], Fitter Erector (1939).  Married: Ivy Emma Poxen in 1928.  Service Record: Before 1921 William served as Pte.6483498 with 47^th Battalion, Royal Fusiliers.  He re-enlisted in that year as Tpr.6452498 of the Royal Tank Corps, purchasing his discharge in 1927.[11]  Died: Kettering, Northamptonshire on 29.12.1969.[12]

Notes – [1] Date of birth from the 1939 Register for Long Melford. [2] Recorded as Charles William Boar on the UK Census for 1911. [3] Chelsea Hospital British Army Service Record [WO 97] up to 1899. [4] For christening of his son see Baptism Register 7.1.1916, St Catherines Mission Church, Long Melford. [5] See the Infectious Diseases Register of Medical Certificates Received for 12.8.1919 [Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk Record Office ref: EF501/4/20].  This document also lists other men who appear in this Nominal Roll and were also diagnosed with malaria shortly after returning home, namely: George William Cook [b1897], Ernest George Deeks [b1883], Jack Eady [b1892], Ernest Hume [b1882], Arthur James Mills [b1879] and James Nice [b1878]. [6] Date of birth from the 1939 Register. [7] ‘A Melford Marvel’ Suffolk and Essex Free Press 4.11.1937, ‘Labourer’s £80 Television Set’ Liverpool Echo 27.2.1939, ‘£2-a-Week Television Fan – He’s Never been to a Dance or Cinema – Wants a Wife’ Sunday Mirror 5.3.1939, ‘600 Girls Want to Wed George’ The People 19.3.1939, ‘Farm Labourer’s Bride Picked from a Thousand Applicants’ Nottingham Evening Post 23.3.1939, ‘Chose Bride, Wired “Sorry” to 5 Others’ Daily Mirror 23.3.1939, Daily Herald 3.4.1939, ‘Melford’s Television Pioneer’ Bury Free Press 3.4.1939. [8] Date of death from the National Probate Calendar. [9] For possible military record see Service Medal and Award Rolls 1914-1918 [WO 329] and Service Medal and Award Rolls Index Cards 1914-1922 [WO 372]. [10] Date of birth from Admission Register 3.4.1905, St Catherines Infants School, Long Melford, confirmed by the Death Index. [11] Tank Corps Service Record, which also records his home address. [12] Date of death from the National Probate Calendar.