A further request for assistance! Jim Farmery having contacted the Archive regarding: “This is my grandad Ernest Farmery in goal for Charltons Mission Football team – don’t know the year but would appreciate any information? My Dad was born in Guisborough in a mining family living in Charltons terrace as he called it. I’d love to know more about my Cleveland heritage – my Dad was really proud of where he came from and his family. He was one of four lads all born in the area – Eric (my dad) and uncles Alan, Gordon and Cyril. My gran (his mum) was called Beatrice May Farmery (nee Craig. His Grandad was called Ezekiel Craig and they lived in Charltons Terrace – he was a lead miner from the Lake District who move to Cleveland in the 1870s to the work in the ironstone mines. My dad became a deputy in an ironstone mine in Lincolnshire where I grew up.” Colin Hart has assisted with: “Guisborough Church League Division 1 March 1922; Charlton’s Mission 4-2 North Skelton B C; Police Charity Cup Third Round March 1922; Guisborough P C v Charltons Mission.”
Can anybody assist in this intriguing family history search?
Image and information courtesy of Jim Farmery; thanks to Colin Hart for the update.
Hi Jim. I’m doing some research for your cousin, Ruth, (- daughter of Gordon Farmery).I like the photo and wonder if you have any more of the early Farmery’s. I have one of Ezekiel and your great great grandfather, John Craig plus an account of the Craigs since 1800. Contact me if I can be of help
A few extra comments. Ernest Farmery was born on the 13 March 1898 at Gainsborough. He was conscripted into the British Army on 19 February 1917 and his medical noted that he was He was 5’ 5” tall, had a chest measurement of 33’’ and weighed 107 lbs. He was classified as C1 because he was so underweight. He joined the Army Service Corps 554 Company (Horse Transport) as a driver, helping to keep the British Army supplied with food and provisions in the UK.
He met but met his wife to be when on an army camp near Skelton. He married Beatrice Ann Craig on 30 October 1918 at St Aiden’s Church, Boosbeck, and they moved in with her parents. However, he was not demobilized from the army until 7 December 1919 at which point he became an ironstone miner.
Hence, although Ernest looks very young in the photo, the earliest full season he could have played was 1920-21. The Charlton(s) Mission team would have been made up mainly of miner’s or sons of miners living at Charltons. The use of the word ‘Mission’ suggests a close link with the local Primitive Methodist Chapel. The distinctive kit – white with a red chevron (according to my colourising software) – is very similar to the one Manchester United first wore in 1922-3!
Finally a few memories from his sons:
‘We spent more time with our grandfather (who was retired) than our father, and it was our mother who gave us a good clout if we misbehaved’.
Eric wrote to us ‘There was always an acute shortage of money, but as boys that never seemed to be a problem……I always think we had such a happy time as children’. Gordon recalled ‘having the freedom to wander off across the fields….bird watching and collecting bird eggs, and tickling trout.’
The person sitting in the middle of the front row and over the cup is my grandad, Nathaniel (Nat) Smith. He lived in Charltons and Margrove Park all his life, latterly at No 64 Charltons. He played billiards as well as football and was well known in the village. He was an ironstone miner born in 1896 in Margrove Park with parents from Commondale on the North York Moors.
Guisborough Church League Division 1 March 1922
Charlton’s Mission 4-2 North Skelton B C
Police Charity Cup Third Round March 1922
Guisborough P C v Charltons Mission