Bertram or ‘Bertie’ Figg was born on the 10th of April 1889 to Caroline Figg [born 1850] and George Figg [born 1841] . He had many siblings: Caroline Figg [born 1870], Ellen Figg [born 1873], Elizabeth Figg [born 1876], Robert George Figg [born 1878] who was a coal miner, John Figg [born 1880] who was a coal miner, Charles W. Figg [born 1885] who worked as a groom, Arthur A Figg [born 1888] who was a plough driver and farm labourer, Alfred Figg [born 1892] who was also a farm labourer and Lillie Figg [born 1895]. By the time he was 11, Bertie’s eldest four siblings were no longer in the household. Some of the children attended Orwell School and West Hallam School.

Bertie’s father George was employed as a gamekeeper at Mapperley Pond. He had been born in Sussex, to George Figg [born 1796] and Jamima Figg [born 1800] and was one of six siblings. His father George was an agricultural labourer and his mother Jamima worked as a launderess after she was widowed. Bertie’s mother Caroline was born in Bramshot in Hampshire, her maiden name was Massingham. She was the daughter of Thomas [born 1812] and Lucy Massingham [born 1821] and was one of eight children. Her father Thomas was also an agricultural labourer. Caroline and George married on the 20th of July 1872.

The first three of Caroline and George’s children were born in Sussex, their first child Caroline having been born 2 years before their marriage. The family had then moved to Cambridge where Elizabeth, Robert and John were born. The rest of the children were born around Shipley and Mapperley in Derbyshire, where the family settled. Robert George Figg also went to war, he enlisted in the Labour Corps of the Nottingham and Derbyshire Regiment.

Prior to the war Bertie had worked as a Pipe Moulder at Stanton Ironworks. Stanton Ironworks was one of the biggest employers in the area, during the war the factory manufactured shell casings. Bertie was 5ft 10, he had light brown hair and brown eyes.

Bertie signed up to become a 2nd Class Stoker in 1916, serving first aboard the HMS Victory II. Whilst on the Victory he was promoted to Stoker 1st Class. Bertie then was assigned to the Q-10 Sloop HMS Begonia. This was one of 12 sloops, part of the Azalea Flower Class of ships, which were minesweeping boats, built as part of the Emergency War Programme for the Royal Navy. Bertie served on the Begonia from August 1916 to November 1917 when the ship was sunk after a collision with a German submarine off the coast of Casablanca. Bertie died in the accident.

Bertie’s obituary in the Ilkeston Pioneer 25th October 1917 read:

“Mr. and Mrs. Figg of Derby Road Risley have been officially informed by the Admiralty that the mine sweeper “Begonia” on which their son Bertram Figg was a first-class stoker, has been lost with all hands. He was 28 years and single, being the sole supporter of his aged parents. He was the fifth son, but all his brothers are married. He had been in the navy about two years and was a moulder at Stanton Ironworks when he enlisted. He was at home on furlough three months ago, when he said his boat had been in action six times, but he made very lightly of the dangers of the deep”.

Bertie’s war gratuity was paid to his mother, who was by this point a widow.

Bertie’s brother Robert George also served in the army during the war as a Private in the Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire Regiment.