Address: Lower Lane

Address: Brindle, Chorley, Lancaster

The family surname was changed from Longton to Waring sometime between Feb 1892 and the 1901 Census. The reason is not known. Benedict changed his Christian name to Bertram whilst he was in the Navy - possibly to make it sound less Roman Catholic.

He was a lapsed Roman Catholic. Pat his step-granddaughter who was very close to her grandmother cannot remember him going to church but can remember him searching for his roseary when his sister Fan was coming to visit.

He served in a number of different ships and had a somewhat chequered career. He was advanced to Leading Seaman in November 1915 but disrated for a disciplinary offence the following March. He also lost a Good Conduct Badge in July 1920 but had it restored in March 1921. His stepdaughter-in-law Doris Wallace said it was through drinking. If it was then to be disrated meant that he was incapable of carrying out his duties because of drink. Certainly after he married Amy Wallace in June 1921 he never committed another offence. He was advanced to Leading Seaman once again in August 1923 and passed educationally for Petty Officer in June 1921 although he was never advanced to Petty Officer before he left the Navy. In those days advancement was very slow. He was in the battleship H M S Lion from January 1914 to March 1920 and thus spent the whole of WW1 in her. For most of his Naval service his ability was classified as superior. For further details see his Record of Service.

There are several photographs of him in Naval uniform.

Address: Plymouth Sound, Devon

H M S Bellona was an un-armoured cruiser in the 2nd Destoyer Squadron commanded by Captain The Hon. Hubert G. Brand M.V.O. R.N.. The squadron would probably have consisted of Bellona and seven destoyers and would have been used for scouting for the enemy in support of heavier warships. At the time Benedict was an Able Seaman.

Address: Devonport, Devon

He was drafted to Vivid on 9 July 1920 and it is assumed that after he was married he went to live with his wife Amy when he was ashore.

Evidence that it was in 1921 comes from his service record where there is an annotation 'Name amended vide 9NPn/R4526/21'. The letter is not available but the '/21' gives the year. The change was made before his marriage to Amy Wallace. Benedict was Roman Catholic but probably not a practising one (the marriage took place in a Church of England church) and he may have changed his name to make it sound less Roman Catholic. He was known as Bert.

Address: Devonport, Devon

It is assumed that he gained employment in Dockyard as a rigger shortly after leaving the Navy. His experience in the Navy as a seaman would certainly have qualified him as a rigger and his step-granddaughter Pat remembers him picking steel splinters (from wire ropes) out of his hands. As he is shown on his Death Certificate as a Dockyard Pensioner he probably retired at the normal retirement age for Government employees of 60, i.e. in 1951.

Cause: cerebral haemorrhage

Address: Plymouth, Devon

His step-son Roy Wallace was informed of his death by a telegram sent from the hospital.

Bertram was very fond of his step sons Roy and Harry Wallace and it was his declared intention to divide his estate between them. However, he died intestate and his money went to his sister Fan (Frances Waring) and his niece Madeline. Fan, knowing his intention, gave her share back to Roy and Harry. However, Madeline took her share and never visited the family again.

Address: Plymouth Central

Amy Winifred Wakefield (1887-1956)

Address: East Stonehouse, Devon

Their relationship to the groom and the bride is unknown but they may have been a married couple who were friends of the bride. It is unlikely that they were friends of the groom as he was in the Navy and living in the R. N. Barracks at the time. The church was destroyed in Blitz in 1940 and is is thought that the Registers were also destroyed at the same time.

Amy's children Leslie, Roy, Harry and Winifred who were 13, 11, 9 and 7 at the time were old enough to appreciate that their mother was getting married and the three oldest almost certainly remembered their father who had died three years before. Winifred may have had only a hazy memory of her father as he would have been away a lot during the 1914-18 war. It is not known whether they attended the service but they probably did. Who else attended is not known.

Although Amy was still of child bearing age Bertram and Any did not have any children of their own.

Address: 25 Dingle Road, Swilly

For all or most of their married life they lived in a Council house at 25 Dingle Road, Swilley. It is assumed that they moved there shortly after their marriage and they continued to live there until their final illnesses took them into hospital. Their ganddaughters Pat & Madeline Wallace remember the house as being a rather small semi-detached property which was always clean and tidy and the garden was well kept. Initially they had Amy's four children - Leslie, Roy, Harry and Wynne - living with them and in later years Pat wondered how they all fitted in although the situation would have been eased as the children moved out. Leslie in 1924 when he joined the Navy, Harry when he married Mary in 1935, and Roy in 1941 when he married Rose and they went to live with his mother. Presumably Leslie returned home when on leave as 25 Dingle Road is shown as his home address on his Marriage Certificate when he married Doris Luscombe in 1931; according to the certificate the area was called North Prospect, Ford, at that time. The certificate also provides the earliest definative record of 25 Dingle Road being the family home.

Pat remembers the marriage as being a very happy one and she accepted Bertam as her grandfather and was always very happy in his company, and also her grandmother's. She would often spend the weekend with them.

A few photographs from the 1930s of Amy with some of her children taken in the garden of 25 Dingle Road survive.