Selected Biographies

Finlay, Mrs Florence Seeley [née Smee] – Born: Chelmsford, Essex on 18.6.1872.  Parents: Frederic Smee (Sheriff’s Officer for Essex) and Eliza [née Seeley].  Family Connections: Mother of Kenneth Neil Finlay [b1899]; also, sister of Alice Maud Westropp [née Smee] [b1870] and sister-in-law of Charles Henry Westropp [b1869] see entries below.  Home: Oakhurst, Sylvan Road, Wanstead, Essex (1901), Melford Place, St Marys Street, Long Melford (1911), Melford Place Cottage, Liston Lane, Long Melford (1939) to [1944].  Married: George Neil Finlay in 1896.  Service Record: Mrs Finlay acted as a canvasser for the recruiting drive in Long Melford in April 1917.  Died: London on 7.3.1944.[1]

Finlay, Kenneth Neil – Born: Snaresbrook, Wanstead, Essex on 23.8.1899.  Parents: George Neil Finlay (Surveyor) and Florence Seeley [née Smee].  Family Connections: Nephew of Charles Henry Westropp [b1869] and Alice Maud Westropp [née Smee] [b1870].  Home: Oakhurst, Sylvan Road, Wanstead, Essex (1901), living with his widowed mother and Charles Henry Westropp (Uncle) at Melford Place, Long Melford (1911), Ye Olde House, Hall Street, Long Melford [1918].  Occupation: Engineer [1917].  Service Record: Kenneth was a member of the Long Melford Volunteer Training Corps in 1915.  He was conscripted on 5.9.1917 as Air Mechanic N^o. 94815 with the Royal Flying Corps and appointed to a temporary commission on 23.1.1918 as Sub-Lieutenant PI25019 with 26^th Training Squadron, Royal Air Force.  Died: Kenneth died from injuries sustained during a flying accident at Swaffham in Norfolk on 3.6.1918.  He is buried at Liston Church, Essex and commemorated on the Long Melford War Memorial.[2]

Notes – [1] Date of birth from the 1939 Register for Long Melford.  Date of death from the National Probate Calendar.  [2] For Training Corps articles see Suffolk and Essex Free Press 10.3.1915 and 29.12.1915.  Date of birth from Air Member for Personnel and predecessors: Airman’s Records [AIR 79/860], also see Master-General of Personnel: Officer’s Service Records [AIR 76/161].