Derrick Henry Earrey was born in Benhall on 4th June 1887 and in 1911, he was working as a gardener at “The Royal Eastern Counties Institution for Idiots, Imbeciles and the Feeble Minded” in Colchester. On 1st September 1914, he became a nursing attendant at St Audry’s Hospital, Melton.

He enlisted into the 4th (Territorial) Battalion, Suffolk Regiment on 6th March 1915 and was later transferred to the 1st Cambridgeshire Regiment. On leaving the services at the end of the war, Derrick re-applied for his post at St Audry’s, resuming work there on 1st March 1919. In 1920, he married Eva Constance Tomkins in London and they returned to Woodbridge, where they had two children, Joyce and Bernard.

Derrick continued to work at St Audry’s, training towards certification from the Medico-Psychological Association. He became a registered nurse on 23rd November 1923. In 1926, Eva died leaving Derrick to bring up their children alone. Nine years later, Derrick married his second wife, Annie Wiffen, in Colchester. In 1939, Derrick and his family were living at Vale Farm in Ufford and he continued to work at St Audry’s. His daughter, Joyce, also worked there as a nurse. Derrick died in 1961 and is buried with his first wife Eva in Woodbridge Cemetery.