The Missing Years - Edmund Buck (1880-1958)
Looking at the census records for Halsall, Edmund appears on each one from 1881, every ten years until 1939, except for the 1911 census. So, where was he at that time and what was he doing in the intervening years?
In 1898 at the age of 18, he boarded the ocean liner, the RMS Teutonic at Liverpool and sailed to New York to visit his cousin (and possibly find employment?)
This would be quite an adventure for a teenager today, never mind one in 1898. Up until then Edmund had been working on his father’s farm as a labourer; when he returned from this trip, we can see that in the 1901 census he was back living with his parents and working on the family farm.
Rare colorised film of a New York street scene in 1902, the period between Edmund’s first visit in 1898 and his second visit in 1907.
However, in November 1907 Edmund set sail again from Liverpool on board the SS Arabic , bound for New York where he arrived on 16th November 1907.
The SS Arabic was later sunk in 1915, 2 months after the controversial sinking of the RMS Lusitania. Four Americans were among the 44 passengers killed in the sinking which increased diplomatic tensions between Germany and the currently neutral USA. America joined the Allies in WW1 in April 1917.
This time, Edward Buck’s motivation was definitely to work; he had secured employment in California and in 1910 we can see him in the US Census for Kern County. His occupation was given as a labourer building the first Los Angeles Aqueduct. Construction had started on 20th September 1907, so Edmund would have been one of the first of thousands of labourers to work on this project. It was finally completed in 1913.
Edmund did not return to England at this time however. By 1915, he was in Canada – we know this as on 14th May of that year, he was recruited by the Canadian Overseas Expeditionary Force, at the age of 35 years old.
Edmund’s war saw him in France and unfortunately on 18th November 1916, he was wounded during the final day of the Battle of the Somme. A piece of shrapnel entered the back of his right leg; the medical case sheet provides more details:
He was treated in France, Aberdeen and finally Southport.
Edmund was discharged from the 38th Ottawa Battalion on 30th May 1919.
He returned to Halsall and in 1920 he married Ellen Kershaw G5DJ-HBF,
who worked as a general servant for Edmund’s older brother, John Buck KJG2-QDY. By the time the 1921 census was taken, Edmund and Ellen were living at 15 Moss Road, Halsall and 18 years later, at the beginning of WW2, we can see that the couple are still there.
Edmund died in August 1958 and was buried in the family grave at St. Cuthbert’s church, Halsall. Ellen passed away on 10th July 1975 and was buried with her husband.
