Joseph Frederick Staddon was born at the start of 1899, the oldest of seven children to John and Mary Ann Staddon. John was a farmer from Luccombe in Somerset, and it was in this small village that the family were born and raised.

There is little documentation to expand on Joseph’s life. He enlisted in the Duke of Cornwall’s Light Infantry when he turned 18, and was initially attached to the 95th Training Reserve Battalion.

Private Staddon was barracked in Chiseldon, Wiltshire, but his time in service was not to be a lengthy one. Admitted to a military hospital near the camp, he passed away from what was probably an illness on 6th May 1917. He was just eighteen years of age.

Joseph Frederick Staddon’s body was brought back to Somerset for burial. He was laid to rest in the cemetery extension to St Mary’s Church, Luccombe.

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Tragedy was to strike again when, ten months after his son’s passing, John also died. Mary was left picking up the pieces, while supporting her six remaining children, the youngest of whom, Dorothy, was not even two years old.

The family survived, Mary running the farm with her oldest boy, Edward. She passed away on 4th August 1937, at the age of 63 years old.

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