Levi Matthew Noakes

This is the story of "Matthew Levi Noakes" or that was, at least, how it seems he was christened but, from various documents, he appears to have preferred the name "Levi" to "Matthew", which, eventually, became his middle name.

Because there were four brothers from the Noakes family who fought in the Great War, I have repeated thefollowing small family history for each man.

The four men were William, Thomas, Matthew Levi, and Walter Noakes but only one died in action and that was Thomas. Matthew Levi and Walter both won medals in the same action. Later on in the war, Walter was wounded and, then, later on still, was gassed being finally discharged as being medically unfit in 1919.

The first I knew of the Noakes brothers was when I came across the following in the Bexhill Chronicle dated 30th September 1916. In spite of the report talking of "a family so well remembered", his name doesn′t appear on the memorial, which I would have thought it should, and I wouldn′t have known of him, or his brothers, except for this newspaper article.

The following is from the "Bexhill Chronicle" dated:–

"News has been received from Australia of the death of Thomas Noakes, formerly of Hooe, but who enlisted in Australia. It occurred in the Dardanelles, but under what circumstances it actually took place is not known."

"Thomas Noakes was the son of Mr. and Mrs. Frank Noakes, who lived at Glebe Cottage, Hooe, for very many years, and who ended their lives there. Three of their sons – Levi, Walter, and Thomas – emigrated to Australia, and had been there for some time when the war broke out. They at once responded to the call of the Mother Country, joining the Australian contingent. Another brother, William, is with the North Sea Fleet at the present time."

"The deceased soldier, was about 27 years of age at the time of his death, and had been associated before he enlisted with gold mining in the great Southern colony. The news of his death has travelled from the Dardanelles to Australia, and thence to his relatives in England. While thoroughly sympathising with the family in the death of Thomas Noakes, it is satisfactory at the present juncture to find that a family so well remembered at Hooe is represented in this great struggle by three other sons of an old resident."

The Noakes Family:

None of the Noakes family came from Hooe but they must have moved there between the census of 1891 and 1901.

1891 Census of Mayfield - RG 12/783 Folio 67, Page 3
Address: Little Broadhurst

1901 Census of Hooe – RG13/888 Folio 64 Page 15
Address: Glebe Cottage

The two "Mercys" are NOT the same people but, from the 1881 census of Burwash, Mercy Pankhurst appears to have been Caroline′s illegitimate daughter. Whatever the relationship, Frank Noakes married Caroline Pankhurst late in 1882 and they had six sons before Caroline died in 1898.

The sons were: Henry Charles (who died in 1892, at the age of 9), William, Thomas, Matthew Levi, Frank, and Walter.

In 1904, their father Frank, died at the age of 44, leaving the children orphans - but it seems that there was a connection with the Pont family of Ninfield and this connection was one of marriage – a Matthew Pont married Sarah Noakes, back in 1861 and, then, in 1869, they had a daughter, Mercy Ann Pont - and she was the 32 year-old sister-in-law listed in the 1901 census of Hooe – and aunt to William, Thomas, Matthew Levi, and Walter. This relationship is important because of what happened after Frank Noakes died.

I can only guess at the moment, but around 1908, the Pont family, with the Noakes children, except, it seems for William, emigrated to the Perth area, in Western Australia.

And this is where the stories of the four sons, William. Thomas George, Matthew Levi, and Walter split up.