Heroes and Rebels in the Family Tree—Bertie Edward Thacker

 

A Civilian, Bertie died on September 29, 1940 at age 56. 

Bertie Edward Thacker was born at Kessingland on February 8, 1884, the son of Samuel Thacker, fisherman, 1854-1947 and Mary Ann Harriet Grimson 1857-1948. He was the third child of ten born to Samuel and Mary Ann Thacker.  In 1891 his family lived at Kessingland. 

Bertie married Clarinda Eliza Blowers at Saint Edmund’s Church, Kessingland, on May 2, 1906. Like his father, Bertie was a fisherman and he and his wife lived at Verbena Cottages in Kessingland. Their children were:

 

 

1.      Stella Priscilla Thacker 1906–1992

2.      Maud Louise Thacker 1908–1908.  She died on November23, 1908, aged 11 months. A 20” high small child figure with the left hand on it’s heart, the right hand holding a cross is mounted on a 12” x 12” x 20” high stone to mark the grave at Kessingland churchyard.

3.      Kathleen Ena Thacker 1909–1986

4.      Mary Emma Thacker 1919–1999

5.      Bertie William Charles Thacker 1921–2015

6.      Rhona Irene Thacker 1925–2017

Boat Owner and Skipper

Bertie joined his older brother, Charles, in a partnership to own the sailing smack Widgeon about 1900 – 1910.

 He was skipper of the Au-Revour (LT505), which was part owned by his father, Samuel.

Bertie’s first owned steam drifter was the Lord Kitchener, later he owned the steam drifter Regain (LT757) which was lost at sea by fire about 1930.

During the first world war, Bertie joined the Royal Naval Reserve, to serve as a Deck Hand, on 6 June 1918, service number DA 20466. He was described as 5’8” tall, 35 ½” chest, of fair complexion and brown eyes.  It appears that, prior to this, he had been serving with the Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve, possibly in the Yacht Section with service number Y 15789. He served with the trawler Nightfall before joining the trawler Regain. Bertie was demobilised on 27 January 1919.  By 1929, Bertie and his family moved to Lowestoft, were they lived at Dene Lodge, Whapload Road, where Bertie worked at a fishing boat store with his net shed behind the house.

Bertie was also a ‘Mission to Seaman’s’ lay preacher at the ‘Bethel’ Lowestoft and Kessingland. In the 1920’s he was treasurer of the Kessingland Bethel Sunday School, which at that time had an enrolment of 80 children and 10 teachers, his personal generosity in providing a Christmas Tea to all the children and teachers for several years is recorded in the Bethel archives.

During the WW2, he worked as a civilian for the Admiralty.  On September 29, 1940 Bertie was working at the Herring Fish Market when a German Dornier bomber dropped six bombs on the Harbour and Dock area. The office at the Herring Market took a direct hit killing four sailors and four civilian naval employees.  Bertie was one of the civilians killed in the bombing raid on the town. It was the first time he agreed to work on a Sunday, in order to assist in the quick turn around of a naval ship.

His daughter Kathleen Ena on walking home after attending morning service at the Bethel, passed a covered body with the feet protruding, she immediately recognised the boots as worn by her father.

Roy Brown, a Kessingland shipwright, recalls the incident well as he was working on a ship nearby at the time of the raid. “As a strict sabbatarian, Bertie hated having to work on Sundays, but regarded it as a wartime duty.

Clarinda Eliza (Blowers) Thacker died January 5, 1948, aged 63 years. Bertie and Clarinda are buried in Kessingland churchyard.

The inscription on Bertie and Clarinda’s headstone reads:

We shall meet again across the bar of heaven.

Re-united.

Much of the information and pictures was collected by Andy Pearce.  Bertie and Clarinda Thacker were his great grandparents.  Thank you, Andy, for allowing me to reproduce much of your family history on this blog.

Genealogy:  Bertie Edward Thacker 1884-1940 was the son of Samuel Thacker (Fisherman) 1854-1947 and his mother was Pheobe Cole 1820-1903 and her mother was Lydia A Cotton 1794-1876 and her father was John Cotton 1766-1832 and his mother was Elizabeth Forster 1732-1780 and her brother was Samuel Forster 1740-1815 and his son was William Forster 1778-1854 and his son was Isaac Forster 1801-1890and his son was Thomas Forster 1837-1888 and his daughter was Caroline Forster 1864-1906 and her husband was George “Pikey” William Welch-Adams 1867-1940.