Joseph Frederick Yeoman was born on 28th December 1880, the sixth of eight children to John and Eliza. John was a brewer’s drayman from Harbertonford in Devon, but it was on the coast in Paignton that the Yeoman family were born and raised.
When he finished school, Joseph found work as a mason’s apprentice. The 1901 census found the family of seven living in a small terrace cottage on Hill Park Terrace, to the south of Paignton town centre, with all but Eliza bringing in a wage.
In 1906, Joseph married Lydia Gill. She was the daughter of a general labourer from Chudleigh, Devon, who was working as a domestic servant for an architectural surveyor and his wife. The couple went on to have two children – Joseph Jr, who was born the following year, and Lilian, who was born in 1910, but who died when just a babe-in-arms.
The 1911 census found Joseph and Lydia living at 20 Nuneham Terrace, Joseph Jr is missing from the document, and it seems likely that, with his sister’s death, he had been taken in by another relative to allow his grieving parents some space.
When war broke out, Joseph stepped up to play his part. Full details of his military service have been lost to time, and a clear chronology is a challenge to piece together. Lydia passed away in January 1915, but it is not clear whether Joseph had enlisted by this point. His entry in the Army Register of Soldiers’ Effects confirms that he had joined up by September 1915 at the latest, and that he was in the Royal Engineers.
Sapper Yeoman was assigned to the 1st/3rd (Wessex) Field Company. It is unclear from his records whether he served overseas, but by the spring of 1916, he was in Kent.
The news will be received with deep regret of the death of Sapper JF Yeoman… which took place on Sunday from enteric fever at Nackington Hospital, Canterbury. Deseased was in the employ of Mr WF Pearce before joining up, and frequently assisted the old Rugby Football Club.
South Devon Weekly Express: Friday 10th March 1916
Joseph Frederick Yeoman was 35 years of age when he died on 5th March. His body was brought back to Devon for burial, and he was laid to rest in Paignton Cemetery.
Joseph Yeoman Jr was just nine years old when his father, and had lost both of his parents within a space of just over a year. Emma Augusta Gill, possibly Lydia’s sister-in-law, was given guardianship of him, and he moved to East Brent, Somerset, for a new life.
Death and Service 