Christopher Charles Waller, 1887-1951.

Christopher Charles Waller was born on 30th June 1887 to John James and Mary Jane Waller (née McNally but she spelled it McNalley) of 14 Russell Place Birkenhead, the 6th of 13 children. 2 died in infancy. He had 7 sisters and 3 brothers. He was baptised on 12 October 1887 at the Church of the Holy Trinity in Price Street.

In the 1891 census the family had moved to 52 Cathcart Street.

In the 1901 census they were living at 232 Beckwith Street, and he was aged 13 and a railway messenger. In the 1911 census the family had moved to 267 Brook Street and he was a dock labourer aged 23.

I knew very little about him, other than that he had returned from being a cowboy in Argentina to fight in the First World War, worked at the docks in Birkenhead and had six children.

These were Kathleen Mary born 1918, Desmond Christopher born 1920, Leonard Vincent born 1921, Patricia Violet (Patsy) born 1925, Audrey Josephine born 1929 and Norman Adrian born 1932. He had married Mary Veronica Madge Whelan in March 1918.

In the 1939 register the family were living at 83 Larch Road Birkenhead, which is still standing, and later moved to 36 Tollemache Road, possibly due to Larch Road being bombed.

Christopher died on 15 September 1951 aged 64 at St. Catherine’s Hospital, 56 Church Road Birkenhead, occupation recorded as Cattle Drover (Foreman). Death Certificate dated 18 September. He was buried in the Roman Catholic part of Birkenhead (Flaybrick) Cemetery , Section RC6 Grave number 249, on 19 September, as his wife Mary was Catholic.

In the same grave are his mother-in-law Ann Whelan who was buried in 1931 aged 75, and Thomas Whelan aged 51 (born abt. 1892) buried in 1943, who is Mary Veronica’s brother.

Oddly, his wife Mary is buried at Landican Cemetery rather than Flaybrick.

A cousin got in touch in April 2018, and he also made contact with our other cousins in the UK, Canada and Australia. One cousin had the above photo, along with a letter from his C.O. on demobilization in April 1919, and there were some more details of his life.

As well as working as a cattle drover at the Woodside Lairage at Birkenhead docks, he was a raconteur in pubs and clubs and was known for wearing a cowboy hat. There were stories that he had been a cabin boy on a Polar expedition (he’s not on any crew lists), he’d been marooned on a desert island and had owned a monkey. These may not have been based on fact…

His Army service records were among those destroyed in the Blitz in 1940. However, a copy  of his medal card was available, which showed he was in the Royal Field Artillery, first as an Acting Bombardier and then as a Sergeant, and his qualifying date for medals was 15 July 1915. Luckily, he was treated by the 51st Field Ambulance on 31 August 1917, so we know from their records that, on that date, he was a Sergeant in “C” Battery of the 79th Brigade R.F.A.

The letter from his C.O. dated 12 April 1919 indicated that  he had served as a Sergeant in “C” Battery , 93rd Army Field Brigade for over 15 months, so since approximately January 1918.

The National Archives had begun scanning War Diaries in 2014, and both 79th and 93rd Brigade diaries were available. 79th Brigade arrived at Le Havre in France at 9 pm on 14 July 1915, but the “qualifying date” on the medal card was 15 July, so this didn’t tie up.

Having obtained the war diaries of the other three RFA Brigades in 17th (Northern) Division, 78th arrived in France 13 July, 80th on 15 July and 81st on 14 July. I was therefore 99% sure he was initially in 80th Brigade. 80th Brigade was broken up on 31 August 1916, at which time the “right half” of “C” Battery 80th went to “C” Battery 79th Brigade (the left half going to “B” Battery 79th Brigade). He was definitely in “C” Battery 79th Brigade in July 1917.  So he may have been in the right half of “C” Battery 80th Brigade when they were broken up.

Subsequently I found the service record of his younger brother Edward, in which was a letter dating from early 1915 from Granddad (at that time a Gunner) requesting Edward be transferred to his unit, which was “A” Battery 80th Brigade. The letter indicated he had not seen Edward for more than a couple of hours in six years (i.e. since 1909) as he had been in Argentina , but he was a dock labourer living at his parents’ home at 267 Brook Street in the 1911 census. Perhaps he went to Argentina after 1911, or perhaps he just happened to be home on leave when the census was taken? I think he went there sometime after the census  was taken on 2 April 1911, otherwise he would not have stated his occupation as dock labourer?

At the time war was declared on 4 August 1914, he was working for the Swift and Morris Beef Company in Argentina.

He returned from Buenos Aires on the S.S. Darro, arriving in Liverpool on 22 October 1914, aged 27 (although his age is listed on the passenger manifest as 25). His occupation was stated to be Master Stevedore. His contact address is Bistone (Bidston) Temperance and then an illegible word, Birkenhead, rather than his parents’ address of 267 Brook Street. No trace of this contact address.

His 1915 letter states that he joined up immediately on landing in Liverpool.

The War Diaries include many map references of precisely where his batteries were located, and sometimes which area they would have been firing at.

I thought it would be interesting to track his progress through the war, so that’s the plan!

Roll of Honour, Woodside and Wallasey Lairages Livestock & Meat Traders Association Ltd (he is listed at the bottom right).