Photo: James Pasby
261931 Driver
N. Wilbert
Royal Field Artillery
2nd September 1920 Age 22
Until the day dawns
Jacky Cooper has provided the following:
Norman Wilbert was the son of Richard Wilbert and Sarah Jane Parker who had married in the autumn of 1888 in Auckland. In 1891, when the census return was submitted, Richard and Sarah were living at Surtees Street, Bishop Auckland. Richard was a flour miller and the couple had an infant son. It looks likely that by the end of the year the family was living in Gateshead when Sarah gave birth to a daughter.
Norman was born at Dunston in the spring of 1899, and the family was still living in Dunston at 15 Ellison Road two years later when the census was taken. Sadly, Norman’s father died in the spring of 1910, leaving Sarah with twenty year old George providing for the family as a packer at the flour mill. When the census was taken the following year Norman was still at school, but at the age of 12, it wouldn’t be long before he would leave and begin to contribute to the family income.
Two years later, when Norman was just 14, Sarah died. What happened to Norman after that is unknown, but both his brother George and sister Harriet married the same summer. Perhaps he was cared for by one of them.
It is difficult to know when and where Norman enlisted, but he shouldn’t have gone to the field of battle until he was 19, so it is likely that he joined his unit in the spring of 1918. He was posted to the Royal Field Artillery as a driver, though it is unknown which brigade he joined. As a driver he would have been trained in the management, use and care of horses. Six horses would be used to pull a gun or wagon, and the drivers would look after their horses as well as drive them. This was considered to be one of the most important jobs in the battery.
Norman survived the war, though it is unknown whether he was injured. He earned the British War Medal, and Victory Medal for his service to his country. After he left the army he returned home, living on Market Lane, Dunston. He married Beatrice Lily Foreman in the summer of 1920, but died just a matter of weeks later on 2 September. He was 21 years old. His death was attributed to the war, and he was duly accorded a Commonwealth War Graves Commission headstone on which Beatrice paid for the inscription ‘Until the day dawns’. In the spring of 1921 Beatrice gave birth to Norman’s daughter, Margaret Nora.
Norman’s older brother George also served in the army, earning the 1914-1915 Star, the British War Medal and the Victory Medal for his service in the Royal Army Medical Corps. George's name is in Dunston on D38.04
Norman Wilbert is remembered in Whickham on W86.09
