Poole Museum

On April 16 1916 a blunt demand to the War Office was made for payment of half a crown, plus a penny for stamp duty, from a grieving father. The father was William Barfoot, who was on active service in France. The demand was from the Registry of Births and Deaths in Poole who wanted payment for the registration of the death of his nine-year-old son. The boy had just been killed in an accident on a railway line. The family lived at 42 Market Street, Poole. Young Jesse Ernest Barfoot, had been hit by a passing train near the No 7 railway bridge in the area known as the Bunny, which was by Poole Park. The tragedy happened just six days before the demand for payment was made. An inquest was held at Poole Guildhall where Jesse"s mother, Mrs Bessie Barfoot, told the inquest her son was never a boy to go away from home or onto the railway line. Jess, she said, was "slightly deaf". That day he had said he was going to the Ladies Walking Field with another boy. The jury heard that Jess, 12-year-old William Craven, also from Market Street, and a third boy had climbed over the railings there onto the railway line. They had never been there before, the jury was told. The boys were collecting fir cones and picking up sticks. They had gone on to the line to collect a piece of wood and then stayed there. The little boy who was with them called to say a train was coming and William alerted Jesse, who just said, "What?" He got up but did not move from the line. Jesse had been standing in "the four-feet way". The driver of the train, the 3.22pm from Bournemouth West, Sidney Hayball, said he saw three heads pop up when he approached the bridge and whistled and braked. But the boys had been 15 yards away when he first saw them. The train knocked Jesse down. There was a bit of a drop at the bridge and they could not get up and run away as if they had been on the level. The train stopped and the guard, Arthur Alfred Young, got out and placed the boy"s body under a tree. He saw the other boys run across the line after the train had passed. The coroner summed up the inquest expressing his sympathy with Jesse"s relatives but said there was no blame that could be attached. The boys ought not to have been there but "boys will be boys" he said. He congratulated the driver on his prompt response and returned a verdict of "killed by a passing train". William was who was working as a bricklayer's labourer in 1911, must have been out of work when he was sent, on 16 August 1915, to the recruiting sergeant by the Labour Exchange at Lansdowne, Bournemouth. He was 40 years old. The next day he was enlisted into the Royal Engineers Labourers Battalion.. Just 16 days later, he was with the British Expeditionary Force in France, serving with the Labour Corps (Regimental number 292582). Of stocky build, Barfoot, who was 5ft 4ins, weighed 11st 3lb and had a 38ins chest. Within three months of arriving in France, he went absent from work for a day and was given four days' Field Punishment Number 2 – placed in fetters and handcuffs for a number of hours for a number of days – as well as forfeiting a day"s pay. The same thing was to happen on the 28 March 1916, little knowing the tragedy that would befall his family the following month. (He was again given four days' Field Punishment Number 2 and forfeited two days' pay.) It would be nearly a year before William got himself into trouble again. The disciplinary report of 29 May 1917 states that "while undergoing Number 2 he absented himself from work from 3pm to 5pm". He was in an estaminet – a cafe bar – during working hours. For that he was given four days" Field Punishment Number 2. He was posted to 705 Labour Co. That October he was granted leave to the UK and, a month later, was transferred back to the Royal Engineers (regimental number 117444), joining the Water Boring Section with the rank of Pioneer. (He retained his previous higher rate of pay.) William was demobbed on 25 February 1919. He was awarded the 1914-15 Star, the British War and the Victory medals. William Charles Barfoot, had been born in Hampreston apparently in 1875, though it may have been a year or two later. He married Bessie Amey at St John"s Church in Wimborne on 8 April 1901. She, too, was born in or near the minster town. When he joined up, the couple had four other children still living at home. The two older than Jesse were Nellie Agnes Elizabeth (born on 14 March 1903) and Walter Henry ( 8 April 1904). Next came Jesse, born on 7 February 1907. After Jesse, two more sons were born. They were Albert George (17 Sep 1910) and Arthur Sidney (31 Jan 1913). William and Bessie also had other, older children. Their oldest surviving children, had been born in Cranborne and their youngest children in Poole. At the time of the 1911 Census the couple had two other sons and a daughter living at their then home in Stanley Road, Poole. They were Fred and William, aged 19 and 17, who were both labourers working at the Quay, and Winnie, who was 13 at the time and at school. William was working as a bricklayer's labourer at the time. Tragically, the death of Jesse was not their only loss. Three other children had previously died. Bessie and William appear to have moved after the war just round the corner from Market Street to a new address at 4 Providence Row, Love Lane. (The 1939 Register of England and Wales records a William Barfoot, born on 9 April 1877, living at 1 Oakdale Road, Poole. He was a claypit worker. He is recorded as being married but does not list his wife at that address.) William C Barfoot died in Poole in 1946 at the age of 68. * Please contact us if you wish to suggest an amendment or have additional information.

42 Market Street, Poole

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British Army

- Labour Corps

Pioneer

282582 and 117444