Michael Noon from North Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, writes: I am doing some family history research and came across the following article, which appeared in the Bolton Evening News on February 27, 1940.
I’m actually interested in information about the wife of Mr Fred Entwisle (an unusual spelling), her maiden name was Mary Alice Noon, and was previously married with the last name Banks. Her first husband was killed at Vimy Ridge.
Mary and Mr Entwisle had two sons, Thomas and Frederick, who may possibly still be alive, or any of their family should still be around and would still be living in the Bolton area.
My grandparents Michael and Bridget Noon lived in Bolton, and as I have found out may have ended their lives living in the Bolton Workhouse according to the 1881 census.
They had sons Michael, William, (my grandfather), Anthony, James, John Thomas, and Patrick.
If anyone has any information or anything they could share with me I would be very grateful, and would be happy to communicate with them.
The Painter Arms is where Mary Alice may have lived, or Mr Entwisle may have been a proprietor. I understand that pub is now called “The Sweet Green Tavern” located in Crook Street, Bolton.
CANADIAN SOLDIER REVISITS BOLTON A warm tribute to the hospitality shown him in Bolton, is paid by Pte. Thomas Noon, of the Canadian Expeditionary Force, who is spending a few days’ leave with relatives in his native town. Pte. Noon was six years of age when he left Bolton, and this is his first visit to his native town.
He has come to England from Toronto to renew childhood acquaintances, and he is loud in praise of the people he has met and the kindness shown to him. His leave has been spent with his brother-in-law, Mr Fred Entwisle, of the Painters’ Arms, and his sister at 141, Westbrook-st. Pte. Noon also acknowledges assistance given to him by the police.
He is vice-president of the Operative Plasterers of America, and has travelled extensively in Canada, the United States, and Mexico.
Before emigrating to Canada with his family, his father served 21 years with the Royal Welch Fusiliers, and two of his brothers served with the 3rd Battalion of the Toronto Regiment in the last war, and another in a pioneer regiment, the 127th Battalion of Toronto.
Some idea of the enthusiasm of Canadians for the Allied cause is shown by the difficulty men in Canada have in enlisting. The rush was so great that it was five weeks before Pte. Noon could join up, and “there were thousands more like me,” he declared.
Accompanying Pte. Noon to Bolton is Pte. David Smith, who served in the last war and has vivid recollections of the hospitality shown to him at Fazackerley and New Brighton when he was in hospital there. Pte. Noon’s brother-in-law, who was killed in the last war, served in the same regiment as Pte. Smith.
Others of Pte. Noon’s relative who have served or are serving in the army were an uncle in the Grenadier Guards and a nephew now over in this country with the Canadian Expeditionary Force.
A coincidence was that his sister, a Bolton woman, married for her second husband a man from Bolton, Canada.
Both Pte. Noon’s mother and father were born in Bolton, and his grandmother, who lived to be over 80, was for many years a pensioner of the firm of Wm. Walker and Sons, tanners. Pte. Noon was born in Cromwell-st., and attended St. Edmund’s School.
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