Name
Norman Marion Howard Keep
Conflict
First World War
Date of Death / Age
Rank, Service Number & Service Details
Awards: Service Medals/Honour Awards
Not Yet Researched
Cemetery/Memorial: Name/Reference/Country
Headstone Inscription
Not Researched
UK & Other Memorials
Biography
Norman Keep was born at Birmingham in the winter of 1899. He was the youngest of three sons and one daughter born to John and Agnes Keep. All three sons served in the Great War, and his brothers Leslie and Douglas had distinguished careers serving as senior officers with the Bedfordshire’s and were awarded Military Crosses and Distinguished Service Orders. After a period in New Zealand and Australia in the 1880’s and 1890’s the family moved to Birmingham in the late 1890’s before moving to St Helens in Lancashire which is where they were living at the time of the 1901 Census. John was employed as the Secretary for Collieries. By 1911 the family had moved to Abbots Langley, and lived at “Broomfield”, Gallows Hill Lane. At that point John Keep was recorded as living on Private Means, and employed four servants. Whilst Norman was at Hildenham House Boarding School, High Street, St Peters at Broadstairs in Kent.
Norman was first recorded in the Abbots Langley Parish Magazine Roll of Honour in December 1918, at which point his Unit was not given, however his Medal Roll Card noted that he served as a Gunner in the Royal Field Artillery.
Norman survived the War, as did his brother Leslie. Leslie reached the rank of Major, and commanded both the 2nd and 7th Battalions of the Bedfordshire Regiment. He fought with his brother, Douglas, attacking the Schwaben Redoubt, near Thieval on the Somme, where both brothers were awarded the Military Cross. Leslie survived the War but died in 1922 in a skiing accident, however Douglas was killed in action on the night of 14/15th July 1917, near Zillebeke Lake, Ypres.
All three brothers were mentioned in the Langleybury Parish Magazine throughout the War and were also included in the Langleybury Roll of Honour which was compiled at the end of the War.
Acknowledgments
Roger Yapp - www.backtothefront.org
