Rackstraw boys


Grave of Ellen Rackstraw with no memorial to her sons in evidence	Brook Street (SWOP BFP40157)

Ellen Rackstraw (1860-1934) mother of the Rackstraw boys

I am Ellen Rackstraw and I was born in 1860 in Marlow. By 1911 I was living at 11 Brook Street High Wycombe with my husband Joseph (he’s a best chair maker) and we were once a family of six. Ellen, Walter, Clara, Joseph, Leonard and Bertha. They were all involved in the chair trade except for Leonard who worked for Mr Temple at Temple End as a confectioner and baker. It was my two youngest sons, Joseph and Len who I lost to the Great War. There is no memorial to them on my grave but they will always be in my heart. I am here to represent the many parents who have graves in the cemetery (both my husband and I are buried here in F1 Uncon 441) but who were unable to bury their own sons here.

When Len was killed in August at 23 yrs of age - he was a Lewis gunner and died along with many of his regiment - I got the kindest letters from his army chums, one then in hospital, who not only remembered him fondly but also recalled the happy days here at home. Another one said ‘He was a fine fellow – brave, perhaps a bit too brave.’ Yes, that sounds like my Len.

Then Joe died in September at a casualty clearing station in France only a few weeks later. He was 25 and died as a result of his injuries, but at least he was being cared for, not left on the battlefield. He worked at Mr Howland’s factory in Denmark St and had got engaged to Ada. His future was looking so rosy. He wrote a letter to us on the eve of the battle and asked a comrade to post it should he be killed and it said:

Dear Ada and Mother, I am writing these few lines hoping you are well, as I am at present. I’ve had mother’s letter to-night and was glad to see that she was much more cheerful. I am writing this letter on the eve of an attack on the German position at (censored) in which I am to take part. I am trusting in my God for a safe return, but if I fall I am asking you to say ‘Thy will be done’. This may be my last day on earth but my trust in God is greater then ever. I may fall, even as Len fell, but it’s only a short cut to Heaven. Be a good girl Ada, and live as you’ve always lived and God will bless you. Hoping there will be no need for you to receive this letter, I remain, to the end, your ever loving son, and sweetheart, Joe

He was a good Methodist like his parents and we will always be proud of him.


Researched and performed by Sally Scagell of Flackwell Local Area History Group/ Buckinghamshire Family History Society/ Lost the Plot	Rackstraw boys on Wycombe Hospital war memorial

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