Mothers of the Empire - Mrs James Pointing of Chailey

On Friday 6th April 1917 the Sussex Express published a photograph of Mrs James Pointing of Chailey and her four sons and one son-in law. The digital version of this page is now available on Findmypast and The British Newspaper Library. This particular page, which is probably from old microfilm, has not scanned well and so anyone who desires a better copy is advised to go to the British Library and recall the original paper. There are separate pages on this blog for the men who are reported in the Sussex Express as:

Pte W Pointing, The Buffs
Sgt F Pointing, Royal Flying Corps
Pte G Pointing, Queen's Own
Signaller G Pointing, Sussex Yeomanry
Cpl E F Stephens, Royal Fusiliers

For what it's worth, even though it's a poor copy, I've reproduced the image on this post. Mrs Alice Pointing (who was possibly the cook for Sussex 54 VAD) is pictured below:

Alice Pointing, cook, Sussex 54 VAD

Alice Pointing was the sister of Frank Pointing, George Pointing, James Pointing and William Pointing.  She married Ernest Stevens who also appears on this Chailey roll-call.

I know very little about Alice other than that she served, at some point anyway, as a cook with Sussex 54 VAD. She was born in about 1891 and her mother was also Alice Pointing although I believe it was the daughter (pictured above with Ernest Stevens) who was the cook, rather than the mother.

The photograph above must date to after Alice and Ernest's marriage in 1915.

Ernest Stevens and Alice Pointing

I've added a photo of Ernest Stevens and Alice Pointing (above). The couple were married in 1915 and Ernest would serve with the Salvage Corps after the war had ended. Alice's four brothers all served their King and Country and their mother, also Alice Pointing, worked as a cook with Sussex 54 VAD.

Alice Pointing and Ernest Stevens

Thanks to correspondence from a relative I've been able to fill in additional detail for Alice Pointing and Ernest Stevens (who has languished on my site as E F Stevens for the past two years).

I had always assumed that the Alice Pointing noted as serving as a cook with Sussex 54 VAD was the sister of Frank, George, James and William Pointing. In all likelihood however, it appears that it was in fact their mother. I have made this point on Alice's page.

Alice junior however, married Ernest Frank Stevens in December 1915 and so I am pleased, finally, to be able to reproduce his name in full and also to add additional detail to his page. Two years after initially publishing my research on-line, these small titbits coming through continue to fascinate as well, of course, as building a greater picture of Chailey's protagonists during those Great war years.