Biography of Job Wilson     Name Job WILSON Date/place of birth 1883  Q1  Hyde, Luton, Beds Date of death 8 October 1918 Place of death France Age 35 Cemetery Flesquieres Hill British Cemetery, France Regiment Oxford & Bucks Light Infantry, 2nd Btn Rank Private 18561 Family Wife Rose, daughter Rosa, son George Residence Office Cottage, off High St, Gt Missenden ·        Job was the second youngest of 12 children born to Job and Jane Wilson. His father was a farm labourer, born in 1838. ·        In the 1901 census, Job was aged 18 living with his parents. He was a bricklayer’s labourer. ·        Job married Rose Norris in 1910, Q4 in Luton. Job was 27 and Rose was 22 or 23 years old. ·        By 1911, the couple were living in a hamlet called Woodside, Slip End near Luton.  Job was a labourer in an Iron Foundry by then. ·        Two days after the 1911 census they had their first child, a daughter called Rosa, born on 4 April 1911. They also had a son, George, born 9 September 1912. Both children later attended the local church school in Great Missenden. ·        In 1913, the family moved to Office Cottage, off High Street, Great Missenden. Apparently, the family walked from Luton to Great Missenden, with their possessions in a cart. Job had got a job as a gardener at a large house. ·        Job joined up voluntarily (pre-conscription) at Oxford in 1915, and he sent a postcard to his daughter in August 1915, showing himself and his comrades in uniform. The postmark shows it came from Cosham, Hants, so perhaps he was training there or was at the coast, ready to go over to France. ·        Job served as a batman to a couple of officers and was credited with saving the life of 2nd Lieutenant PHR Whitehead, as related in a very grateful letter from the officer’s father. ·        Several of Job’s letters home have survived. Some are to his daughter Rosa and are very affectionate in tone, with lots of kisses. He often calls his daughter “my dear little girlie”. ·        A letter survives to his wife, written only 3 days before his death. Ironically, he says in it “there are better days in store”, trying to cheer her up. ·        There is another poignant family momento of a Christmas card sent from Job to his daughter in 1917.  It was the official Christmas card of the Ox & Bucks Light Infantry. This was to be Job’s last Christmas. ·        Job unusually survived for nearly the entire duration of the war, fighting on the Western Front (France & Flanders).  He came home on leave in September 1918, but on 8th October 1918, his battalion was involved in the 2nd battle of Cambrai, where they sustained many casualties. Job was one of them and died of wounds following shelling by the Germans, only a month before the war ended on Nov 11th 1918. With grateful thanks Jill Robertson who compiled this biography in 2015. Updated and uploaded by Mark Smith, Job’s great-grandson and grandson of Job’s daughter, Rosa.

Mark Smith