Isaiah Clement Hackett 1879 – 1949
Isaiah was born on 28th August 1879 in Nuneaton, Warwickshire, to Alfred and Sarah Jane (née Ellis), and was baptised on 11th September that year, in the Anglican church of St Mary, Nuneaton.
At this point his father was working as a signalman and the family was living at 2 Cooper’s Square, Midland Road. Alfred’s job saw the family move around the country, as the Censuses show. In 1881, they were living at 85 Wood Lane, Higham-on-the-Hill, Leicestershire. By 1889, they were found at 7 Rockell’s Place, when Isaiah and his older brother, Alfred George, were admitted to the Goodrich Road school in Camberwell on the 11th November.
The 1891 Census showed that the family had relocated again to 2 Elizabeth Terrace, Camberwell, with his father still working as a signalman. Neither Isaiah nor his brother were found on the 1901 Census; a transcription record indicated that they were both serving in the 2nd Boer War with the 1st Battalion, the East Surrey Regiment, however no other evidence has come to light to verify this.
Towards the end of 1905, Isaiah married Annie Louisa Stevens in Camberwell and by 1911, they were living at 3 Railway Cottages, Barham with their son and two daughters. Isaiah was employed as a signalman at this time but an entry in the Canterbury branch of the National Union of Railwaymen on 25th April 1913, shows him as a porter aged 33. He left the Union on 3rd April 1914.
From Isaiah’s medals and awards entries, he was shown initially as a private in the East Surrey Regiment with the service no. 6285, and then was transferred to the Royal Fusiliers, still with the rank of private, and the no. GS/61491. These records also show a date of disembarkation of 31st May 1915 and a final date of 28th February 1919. No other records have been found to date.
Finding records to back Higgs’ assertion that Isaiah was a Shepherdswell resident had proved elusive until the school records showed his oldest two children were attending the village school with the family’s address given as 6 Whittington Terrace. It is not known how long they remained in the village, but it is possible that at least one or more of their eight children was born here.
In the 1939 Register, Isaiah and Annie were living with their two oldest children at 10 Belvedere Road, Faversham. There were three other occupants in the premises at the time, likely to be their married third child and grandchildren. Isaiah by this time was working as a railway station foreman.
He died ten years later, in the first quarter of 1949 in the Sittingbourne district, aged 69.