Pte Barnard Elsey

Barnard Elsey was born in Croydon and named after his father Barnard. His father was a beerhouse keeper, but died before Barnard jr. turned 10. His mother then remarried to a man named John Toms, and that is what brought the family to the Brentwood area - moving to 10 Warley Road in Great Warley where John worked as a labourer.

At about age 19, Barnard followed his older brother Ambrose into becoming a member of F (Brentwood) Company, 1st Volunteer Battalion during the Boer War. He enlisted in the 1st Volunteer Special Service Company, which was attached to the 1st Essex Regiment in South Africa. Private Elsey distinguished himself in several battles, earning the Queen's South Africa Medal with clasps for Cape Colony, Orange Free State, and Belfast. Upon his return to England, he and other volunteers from Brentwood were presented with a watch by the borough for their service.

In 1906 he married Edith Emily Wilson and they moved to 2 Mountain Ash, Crescent Road, Brentwood - they were later recorded living at 15 St Peters Road, Crescent Road, Brentwood, and this might be the modern road name/numbering for the same house. Barnard's brother, Ambrose, lived in Brentwood too, and they both followed the same profession - house painting.

It is unrecorded if Barnard served in the first world war, but he would have been the right age and was not in a protected occupation, so with his army experience he may well have fought overseas. He lived with his wife and children lived just off of Crescent Road until at least 1939, and towards the end of his life moved to Romford, where he died in 1953.