Martham – War Memorial (Beryl Applegate)

Beryl Applegate was one of ten names added to the village’s war memorial following the end of the Second World War, a twelve-year old girl who was killed during an air-raid. Beryl was injured during an air-raid which took place on 4 September 1940 and she died two days later at the Norfolk & Norwich Hospital. The local press reported the funeral, although noted that Beryl was aged 10, writing that during the service the hymn ‘There’s a friend for little children’ was sung. The funeral was well-attended, including by Beryl’s friends from school and her teacher was also present. Beryl lived at 14 Council Houses (a development of properties on Somerton Road in the village which were built in 1925), and the paper noted that at least one resident from every house on this street was present at the funeral.

Beryl was the daughter of Charles Applegate (born on 25 September 1898) and Phoebe Applegate (born on 24 October 1900). Charles worked as a farm labourer and Phoebe was a housewife, with the 1939 register noting that they lived with their three children, Frederick (born on 14 June 1924) who was already working as a farm labourer, Beryl (born on 13 March 1928) and Roy (born on  22 February 1930). There are also two other people listed as living with the family, likely two younger children, but these names are redacted from the register as they’re either still alive or were living relatively recently (one of them hasn’t been very well redacted, so I can see it was a male born on 22 June 1932).