KINGS Enoch Harold

The birth of Enoch Harold Kings is registered in the December Quarter 1898 under the Bromsgrove Registration District.

Enoch was born in 1898 in Bromsgrove and his parents were Walter and Louisa Kings. The family lived at Malt House Square in 1901 and had moved to New Buildings, Church Fields by 1911. Walter was a nail maker. Enoch was the 5th of 9 children. In 1911, Elsie Mary was a packer; Walter Henry was a carpenter; Farrance William was a shoemaker; George Edward was a brass maker; then came Enoch, followed by Amy Elizabeth, Victor Arthur, Fred and Georgina Louisa.

There is a service record for Enoch which shows he was conscripted in 1916/17 when he would have been 18. He states his occupation as a boot and shoe operative, and he was living in Strand Street, Bromsgrove. He became a Rifleman (32633) in the Prince of Wales Volunteers (South Lancashire Regiment) 1st/5th Battalion. He was killed in action aged 19 on the Western Front on 23rd March, 1918. His mother is recorded as asking to be sent his medals in 1922.

A photograph of Private E.H. Kings of Bromsgrove can be found in Berrow’s Worcester Journal Supplement, Saturday 1st June 1918, available at Worcestershire Archives.