Malcolm Roots lived in Newington for more than 30 years but never realised that the F Roots whose name was engraved on the village war memorial was his great uncle.
The connection was made by researchers from Newington History Group and Malcolm was invited back to the village for a service at Newington CofE Primary school to commemorate the 100th anniversary of Frank Roots' death in WWI.
Malcolm, from Tanglewood Close, Wigmore, was the first baby to be born in Newington following the outbreak of WWII in September 1939 and lived in the village until 1971.
But it was not until recently that he realised a family member had given his life in service in the Great War. “I lived in Newington all those years, went to the village school and was even married in the church. But my parents never spoke about my great uncle when I was growing up so it's been really interesting to find out his story. As lads, we used to play in tunnels around Newington and I now realise that they were part of the WWI defences in case the Germans ever invaded.”
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Malcolm Roots at the Newington War Memorial laying a commemoration cross against the name of
F Roots, his great uncle.
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Malcolm is the son of the late Leslie Roots, known locally for being the nine times winner of the Newington Working Mens Club marathon. Malcolm, his son Daren and daughter in law, Diane, were guests at the school where head teacher, Trudi Godfrey, told pupils about Frank's life when he lived at Ellen's Place in Newington and his role as a driver in the Middle East in the war. Frank caught dysentery and died on 10 July 1916 as he was being invalided to India.
The school was also remembering telegraphist, Arthur Martin, who died in Africa on 12 July 1916 from malaria. His father, John, was Newington's sub-postmaster. Following the service, Malcolm and his family went to the war memorial to lay a commemorative cross and hold a minute's silence.
The 100th anniversary services at the school are based on the book, Newington Remembers, which was researched by local historians Thelma Dudley, Debbie Haigh and Dean Coles and identifies every man named on Newington's War Memorial. As a result, they have been able to tell several other families in Swale and beyond about ancestors many of them knew nothing about.
Sue Flipping
Newington History Group
Twitter: @NewingtonHG
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