 You may have recently read in the Liverpool Echo the remarkable story of a Family History Internet group who have been searching for the grave of Robert Stead that was eventually located in or churchyard. When located the headstone, although in perfect condition had fallen flat. Following donations from the rootschat website group sufficent funds were raised to employ local stonemasons, Welsbys, tp repair and replace the stone, today as can be seen it is mission accomplished!
 I leave a full description of "the quest" to one of the Rootschat members and we will update you as the remainder of the story unfolds. THE QUEST !!!
A group of people who live
all over the world and are members of the free family history site of
RootsChat.com have come together to bring this WW1 soldier back into the
limelight !!
I would like to introduce you to Robert William Stead who nearly 2 years ago
became our quest .... we wanted to find out if he had any relatives who would
be interested in the tag that Michel Knockaert found nearly 30 years ago in the
WW1 battlefields around his home in France .... it has been quite a
wild ride and a wonderful one too .... we weren't able to find relatives but we
did find his final resting place .... at St Peters Church Woolton Liverpool ...
sadly the grave stone had fallen so between us - we all "chipped in "
to re-erect his gravestone so he is able to face the sun again !!
Who knows what it was that endeared Robert to so many people ? - maybe it was
because we could all relate to our own Grandfathers and Great Grandfathers ....
but we knew we wanted to honour this brave soldier - in the eyes of the world
he was an ordinary man .... but in our eyes he became a very extraordinary man
and we seem to have become all the better for "knowing " him !!
Michael writes,
”25 years ago, when I was General
Secretary of the town hall of LA COUTURE, a village between ARMENTIERES and
BETHUNE, just on the western front, I found, among old coins and a button of British
trench coat, a piece of metal engraved in English.
Since that day, I search in the British cemeteries of my sector the grave of
the man (there are many of them near my home)
In fact, with help of members of the forum and of a new friend from Minnesota
one day I see I made a mistake, the man survived the conflict and returned back
alive at home in Anfield Liverpool
The memory of this man, that I do not know haunt my spirit, my best wish is to
restore the wrist tag to his descendants, if they are still alive, that is very
very important for me.
Of course, no money in this history, just to be in peace with my soul, this
medal is not mine, it must go back in his real place “
Who was Robert Stead ?
Robert William STEAD (1896 West Derby
-1926 Gateacre)
Robert William Stead was born March 22nd 1896 in West Derby Liverpool - the son
of William Harley ( Master Mariner ) and Emily ( nee Richards ) Stead and lived
at Watford Road Anfield Liverpool
Robert William Stead was 17 years and 5 months old when he attested to join the
army for 4 years in Liverpool on 25 August 1913 He gave his address
as Watford Road Anfield Liverpool the home of his father William
Harley Stead who he gave as next of kin and later identified as a Master
Mariner Robert who was a single man, identified his birthplace as
Liverpool Lancashire - his current occupation as a bank clerk at Parr's
Bank Liverpool and his religion as Church of England.
He returned the next day, for a medical examination. This revealed that
he stood 5 feet 9 inches tall, weighed 10st 9lbs and had a chest
measurement of 35 inches.
He was accepted into 6th Rifle battalion of the Kings Liverpool Regiment
Once in the Army - Robert William Stead became a number – 1466 to
begin with - he faced a couple of months worth of drill square bashing and
weapons training - in order to turn him from a bank clerk to soldier
....... Private Stead 's unit first entered the theatre of war in France
in February 1915 and he was promoted to L/Cpl 28th August 1915
Yet Robert given his intelligence - was not the sort of man to remain an
infantry soldier for long - in fact he was the perfect sort of person to become
a member of the newly created Machine Gun Corps.
Robert William Stead # 22397 attested 20th February 1916 with 165
Brigade MGC and was promoted A/Cpl 29th March 1916 - he was sent to the Machine
Gun training centre at Grantham back in England - here he
familiarised himself with the workings and complexities of the Vickers
.303 and heavy machine guns
He became a team player – each gun was ideally manned by a crew of eight
- four men were involved in the actual firing and the other four responsible
for sighting and the preparation and the bringing up of ammunition - crews in
the field normally numbered six - simply because of the shortage of men.
The course only lasted approximately 6 weeks due to the intense demand for
gunners. Thus Robert really only had basic training in the complexities
of machine-gun warfare.
( The targets of every enemy weapon - members of the MGC were also called the
Suicide Squad ) He rose through the ranks and was promoted to
Second Lieutentant
Robert was wounded in the chest and thigh in August 1916 while in Abbeville and
was released from the Army 20th March 1919
Coming home after the war he married Elizabeth Neil Grant in 1921 at St Simon
and St Judes Church Liverpool and they moved to Gateacre .... tragically
they were only married 5 years as Robert William Stead died in 1926 in Gateacre
of a cerebral hemorrhage |
