Walter Adams and Emma Read, married in 1879 and began their life together at an address near Leeks Hill Stile, close to Turnpike Lane in Melton. It was here their first child Isabel was born; Walter was working as a house painter.
By 1901 the Adams were living at 8 Hackney Terrace, Melton, and five more children had joined the family; a girl, Alice, and four boys, Arthur, Alfred, Ernest and Walter. In 1911, the family was still residing at the same house but only three of the children, Alice, Ernest and Walter, were living with their parents.
Walter died at the end of 1911 and was not to see three of his four sons join the services at the outbreak of war. Only one of the three who served, Walter, returned; Ernest and Alfred were both killed within four days of each other in July 1916. Click on their names below to find out more.