Pauline Priano has submitted the following:-
Frank Christie was the son of John Charles Denham Christie and his wife Alice Pond.
Starting out in the iron trade John C. D. Christie made his fortune in the Dunbarton Iron Works and in banking in Lambeth, London then worked for Brunel on the SS Great Eastern Railway. After settling in Greenwich he moved his family to Willington Quay joining the ship building firm of Thomas Adamson & Sons. His family by 1881 resided in Tynemouth where he was listed in the 1881 census as an iron ship builder.
Frank Christie who was born in the district of Tynemouth, Northumberland in 1869 was married at St. Alphege Anglican Church, Greenwich, Tuesday, June 26th 1894 to Gertrude Fletcher. Born in Gateshead, historically in County Durham in 1873, she was the daughter of Horatio Fletcher, a man of means and Ann Squire, they had lived in Greenwich for some time. After a reception hosted by the bride’s mother they left to honeymoon on the Continent.
In 1901 Frank Christie and his family were living at Percy Villas, Horsecroft Road, Hamel Hempstead but had transferred to Tynemouth, Northumberland, by the time their son Kenneth was born, August 3rd 1908. In 1911 they occupied an 11 room residence at 5, Bath Terrace, Tynemouth. Frank Christie is listed as a coal exporter and employer. To assist his wife in the running of the household there was a cook/domestic servant and a nurse/housemaid who attended to the needs of Kenneth (2), Ronald (15) was a scholar.
When Britain declared a state of war existed with Germany, August 4th 1914, men from all walks of life volunteered to serve their Country in answer to Kitchener’s call to arms and the order that all regiments raise new battalions. Despite his age of 44 years Frank Christie resident of 14, Percy Park Road, Tynemouth, enlisted in London, October 12th 1914 and was assigned to the newly formed 1st Sportsman Battalion Royal Fusiliers, then transferred to the 30th Battalion from whence he was discharged, June 28th 1916, under King’s Regulations 392 XIX, “no longer physically fit for war service,” “debility permanent, not a result or aggravated by military service”.
Ronald Christie enlisted during WW1 joining the Army Service Corps and died of wounds, April 12th 1918 in France.
Mr. & Mrs. Christie were also associated with the address of 5, Sinclair Gardens, Shepherd’s Bush, London, W14. Gertrude Christie nee Fletcher died in the district of Hammersmith, London, in 1938, her widower Frank Christie in the district of Islington London, in 1958. Their only surviving son Kenneth Christie died in Lambeth, Greater London in 1988.
In God’s safe keeping. Rest In Peace.
