Biography

Joan Carnes, of 8 Garth End, Collingham, appears on the 1945 Service List of the Electoral Roll for Collingham, confirming that at that time she was serving as part of the war effort. Unfortunately that list does not provide any details of her war service.

Family Background

Joan Carnes was born on the 4th April 1920, the eldest child of Conrad and Ellen Carnes in Thorner. Conrad (b. 1883) had married Ellen Firth (b.1885) in 1914 and had had a distinguished army service in the First World War. He had been commissioned into the East Yorkshire Regiment in the 4th Battalion, but in September 1918 he was near Beaulencourt attached to the 1st Battalion East Yorkshire Regiment. During an attack on Lubda Copse, Conrad Carnes led the two attacking platoons of his company straight to the objective in spite of heavy machine gun fire. He was responsible for capturing a large number of prisoners. He then reorganised his men and led them through a heavy barrage to the final objective, which he successfully held, showing great gallantry. For this feat, Conrad Carnes was awarded the Military Cross. 2nd Lieutenant Conrad Cross was later discharged from the army due to a gun shot wound to his left eye. His address around that time was Elsden House, Wortley, Leeds.

After his marriage Conrad and Ellen, sometimes recorded as Nellie (for example in the 1921 ans 1922 electoral rolls) lived at The Beeches, Thorner, and Joan Carnes was born in Thorner in 1920. Later, on the 29th December 1921, Joan's brother, George Carnes was also born in Thorner. At the time of the 1921 census, the family was living at Sandhills, Thorner, and comprised Conrad, Ellen and Joan Carnes, Ellen's mother and father, James and Mary Jane Firth, both in their 70s who were listed as visitors, and a domestic servant, Eleanor Salkeld. Conrad was by now the Manager and Director of a company of reinforced concrete specialists and constructional engineers at 35 Park Square, Leeds.

Joan's childhood was marked by a number of house moves within the local area. Conrad and Ellen appear on the electoral rolls for 1921 and 1922 at The Beeches, Thorner, but 10 years later, in 1932 (when Joan was 12) they were registered living at Croft Dene, Collingham. They must then have moved again, appearing on both the 1933 and 1934 lists at 4 Willow Grove in Clifford. However in 1935, Conrad and Ellen moved to 8 Garth End, Collingham where they settled and lived for the next 20 years.

A rather strange occurance for the Carnes family was reported in the Leeds Mercury on the 11th August 1933:

In 1933, Conrad - the "middle-aged" man would have been aged 50 and his son, George, 12. It seems that Conrad may have got annoyed that a door to the Abbey was locked for safety reasons but unfortunately chose the moment to protest when a newspaper reporter was present.

In 1939, the Carne's house in Garth End was the family residence at the time of the National Registration. Conrad was by this time described as an Educational Officer at the Ministry of Labour Training Centre, and was still a 'temporarily retired' officer of the East Yorkshire Regiment. Conrad would by 1939 have been aged 56, but the description sounds like someone who wanted to return to the army ahead of World War 2. Ellen was a housewife and Joan was a shorthand typist at an insurance company.

Service Record

In 1941, when conscription of unmarried women came into effect, Joan Carnes would have been 21 years old, and it's likely that this is when her war service started. So far we have not identified what this service was, where her service took her, or when she finished serving. It's likely that she ended her service between 1945 and 1946, as her name is on the 1945 Electoral Roll Service Record, but by 1946 she is simply listed in the main roll at 8 Garth End, Collingham with her parents Conrad and Ellen.

After the war

Conrad, Ellen and Joan continue to appear on the Collingham electoral rolls at 8 Garth End in 1946 to 1950. Then in 1950 Joan married another Collingham villager, Clifford Leyton Frazer. Joan and Clifford then lived at 8 Garth End for a few years with Joan's parents (electoral rolls in 1952), but they then got their own place at Littleholme, Scarsdale Ridge, Bardsey where they were living briefly at the time of the 1953 electoral roll. We have lost track of them as a family from 1953 to 1957 when the appear firstly (1957) at 2 Prospect Place, Collingham, and then (1958 and 1959) at Westholme, The Avenue, Collingham.

Biography last updated 12 January 2024 13:55:38.