The texture of everyday life gone by

Frank Ewart Barnes (1888-1969)

Tony Barnes in 1944

Frank Ewart Barnes was born on 16 November 1888 in Dorset, his father was John Charles Barnes (born Wimborne, Dorset in about 1849)  and his mother, Edna Wallis Barnes (née: Willis born Dorchester 1852 and died  10 May 1937 at Wimborne Minster, Dorset). Frank, a local news editor and reporter (and World War Two ARP warden (more here)), married Mary Jane Snell on 4 November 1915 in Wimborne, Dorset. They had two children (Tony and Marion) (maybe more)). Frank died on the 29 December 1969 in his hometown at the age of 81.

Frank’s son (pictured right), Anthony (Tony) CE Barnes (born in the Wareham, Dorset area 11 June 1920), was an apprentice electricians wireman at the beginning of hostilities in 1939. During the war he served in the British army in the UK and later in Singapore. Much of this archive includes Tony’s correspondence with Frank and his wife during the war years. Tony married his wife, Mary, in 1955 and I believed he died during the mid 2010s.

I acquired this collection, over several pages, of letters, photographs and general ephemera on the 21st August 2017:

Frank Ewart Barnes (1888-1969) page two here