In a quiet spot in Cannington Cemetery, Somerset, is the burial plot for Anthony Charles James Gardner. His headstone confirms that he was a Private in the Tank Corps, and that he died on 18th October 1918.

Private Gardner’s service number provides only one army document: the British Army Register of Soldiers’ Effects. Sadly, this sheds little more light onto his life, confirming only that he died in the Military Hospital in Wool, the village connected to Bovington Camp in Dorset. No next of kin is evident.

Another record suggests that he may have served in the Somerset Light Infantry before transferring to the Tank Corps, but no records remain to confirm this stage of his military career.

There are no census birth or baptism records for an Anthony Gardner. While there are numerous Somerset documents connected to Charles and James Gardners, without any confirmation of his age, or whether he actually came from the county, it is impossible to identify ones relating to the soldier buried in Cannington.

Parish details confirm that Anthony worked at the Blue Anchor Inn in Cannington. The 1911 census recorded him as working there under Charles and Ann West. It confirms that Anthony was 24 years of age, and was born in Gloucester. Tantalising though this fact is, there are no earlier documents to confirm his upbringing in Gloucestershire.

There are no reports in contemporary newspapers about Anthony’s passing or his funeral, so no light can be shed down that route either.

The life of Alfred Charles James Gardner, therefore, is destined to remain lost in the mists of time. His story hidden in the cemetery in Cannington, Somerset.

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My thanks to Tina at Cannington Parish Council for her help in uncovering a little of Anthony’s life.

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