Christopher Levett, Christopher Levitt, Cambridge. Died in WW1

When I'm looking at the Roll of Honour and I see that they've no real information on somebody, that makes me feel quite sad.  Some young man had a whole life, a mother/father, siblings, his little belongings in his bedroom - and then he was sent to War.... and died.  Often with no body, or a distant graveyard that his mother would never ever visit.

So when I came across the statement "No further information currently available - Cannot find any record of a Christopher LEVETT on CWGC or SDGW" against the Matthew & Son, Cambridge, Roll of Honour.  This was for the employees of the firm who had gone to war and returned - as well as the short list of those who never returned.  The page that started me on this quest is at http://www.roll-of-honour.com/Cambridgeshire/CambridgeMatthewAndSon.html - this is an interesting page in itself as it lists all their employees that went to war and survived.  Elijah Levett is listed (Levett, E), because he survived, with his bad arm.

I felt sad for the lad - and went to see what I could find. Who was Christopher Levett?  I wanted to check that he'd not been lost/forgotten.  So many were as they were so young many didn't leave a widow, or the widow remarried quite quickly.  An orphan, too, might not have much of a trace left.

Everything I do is unsubstantiated as I've used free family research resources to find what I find - and don't have the cash to confirm anything.  With each certificate costing £10, it can often cost you £50-100/person!  So here's what I believe to be the case.

The answer seems to pop up quite easily.  It was a typo in the Kelly's Directory full page advert they took out in the 1929 Edition.

Christopher Levett was actually Christopher Levett.  He died on 31 July 1917 in France.  He had been employed as a vanman for Matthew & Son, Trinity Street.  The Cambridge Daily News had this information when they announced that his widow had received notice that he'd died.

Another of Christopher's brothers worked for Matthew & Son - Elijah Levitt.  Elijah survived the war, but, at the time of his brother's death he was in Epsom Hospital with a badly injured left arm. Elijah Levitt had worked in the wine department of Matthew & Son for many years.

A third brother of the Levitt family also died in the war.  Roger F Levitt.  Roger had gone out to Australia, just before war was declared, to be a farmer, joining his brother Alexander (Alexander had married Fanny Booth in 1910).  Roger Levitt had joined up on 18 August 1815 as part of the 51st Australian Infantry Battalion.  He died on 15 August 1916.  Roger just disappeared during a battle.  He was a stretcher bearer and on that date many stretcher bearers were taken prisoner, so his Unit believed he'd been taken as a PoW, but they didn't know.  An informant told them in January 1917 that this had probably been his fate.  They also noted that his middle initial was "M" (I've no record of Roger being Roger F Levitt, or Roger M Levitt, as the sources I've checked so far just have him as Roger Levitt).  Roger is buried in France.

As for Alexander in Australia, he'd married Fanny Booth at Chesterton Registry Office (Cambridge, England) in 1910.  They continued to live at Narrogin, Western Australia, raising a family until Fanny Levitt died in 1956 and Alexander died in 1966.

There were no parents to mourn Roger and Christopher Levitt.  Their parents, Elijah Levitt and Emma Levitt, had at least 12 children and they died in 1903 and 1907 respectively.  Elizabeth, the older sister of the lads, had got them living with her in the 1911 Census, at Richmond Road, Cambridge.

• Christopher Levitt had married Fanny Robinson and had one child - probably Grace Levitt, born 4th quarter 1916.
• Roger Levitt was single. 

There are photos of Christopher and Roger in the local newspaper in late September 1917.  The military details of these two brothers who died in WW1 are:

• Private Christopher Levitt, Norfolk Regiment, 7th Battalion, service number 20183. Died aged 35.
• Private Roger Levitt, Australian Imperial Force, 51st Battalion. Service number 2705. Died aged 28.

I'm glad Christopher wasn't "forgotten", he was simply not tied up to being the Christopher Levett at Matthew & Son. He is listed on the rollofhonour website, on the pages for St Luke's Church, Cambridge and the Guildhall, Cambridge.

So, as you can see, there's still a lot you can find out from the Censuses.   In all I got carried away and probably looked into the entire family from 1840 through to 1980!  The father, Elijah Levitt, had been a publican at the British Queen Inn, Landbeach when he'd first married Emma Osborne in 1869.  Having (at least) 12 children means there was a lot of information to look into and research/discover etc!

That was a very exciting day spent on what is a "Real Life Detective" game.