The funeral took place on Friday last, at Bath, of Paul Vandermersch, second son of Paul Vandermersch, Divisional Chief, Provincial Administration, Western Flanders. Deceased passed away the previous Tuesday at 86, Shakespeare-avenue, Bath, at the early age of 22. He had served in the Belgian Army, but suffering from phthisis, he was invalided out.
Catholic Times and Catholic Opinion: Friday 14th January 1916
Paul Pierre Arnold Joseph Vandermersch was born on 11th April 1893 in Bruges, Belgium. Details of his early life are scarce, but it is clear that he was the son of Paul and Louise Vandermersch.
During the First World War, Paul served as a Korporaal (Corporal) in the Belgian Army, and was assigned to the 2 Linie 1/1 (second line). Full service records are not available, but having contracted tuberculosis, and with the influx of Belgian refugees to Britain during the conflict, it is likely that, having been medically discharged from the army, he was sent to Somerset to recuperate.
Korporaal Paul Pierre Arnold Joseph Vandermersch died on 4th January 1916, and was laid to rest in the Roman Catholic Cemetery in Bath.
Charles Edward Hoare Hales was born in Bournemouth, Dorset, in the summer of 1886. The fourth of five children, his parents were Arthur Hales – a Major General in the Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers – and his wife, Maria.
Arthur’s career stood the family in good stead: the 1891 census records the Hales living in a house in Crystal Palace Park, South London, with five servants supporting their – and their two visitors’ – every need. Arthur also believed in education for this two sons: Charles was dispatched to Hartwood House School in Hartley Wintney, Hampshire.
Arthur died in 1904 and at this point the Hales family disappears – there is no record for Maria or her five children in any of the 1911 census returns.
When war came to Europe, Charles and his older brother Arthur, stepped up to play their part. Both joined the Wiltshire Regiment, both being attached to the 1st Battalion. Sadly, neither of the brothers’ service records remain, so it is difficult to piece together their military careers.
Arthur achieved the rank of Captain, gained a Military Cross for his dedication and service. He was caught up in the Battle of Albert – one of the phases of the fighting at The Somme – in 1916. He was initially reported killed in action, then, to the elation of Maria, this was changed to missing. Tragically, he was subsequently confirmed as dead, having passed away on 6th July 1916, aged 34 years of age. He is commemorated on the Thiepval memorial in Northern France.
A further tragedy was to strike the Hales family the following year, when Charles, who had risen to the rank of Second Lieutenant, also passed away.
The internment took place in Bathwick Cemetery on Monday, of Mr Chas. Edward Hoare Hales, 2nd-Lieutenant Wiltshire Regiment, who died on Thursday, after a long illness contracted on active service. He was the last surviving son of the late Major-General A Hales, Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers, Commandant of the Straits Settlements, and of Mrs Hales… The young officer, whose body was brought from Buxton, was buried in the same grave where rest the remains of his father, who died in April 1904.
Bath Chronicle and Weekly Gazette: Saturday 1st December 1917
Details of Charles’ illness, from which he passed on 22nd November 1917, are unclear. He was 31 years old when he died. He left his estate – which amounted to £6524 18s 1d (the equivalent of £579,000 in today’s money) to his youngest sister, Sophia.
Maria Hales passed away in 1924, at the age of 74. She was buried in the family ploy, reunited with husband and younger son once more.
Second Lieutenant Charles Hales (from findagrave.com)
Details of the lives of those who fell during the Great War can be limited by the documentation that is available more than a century later. Based on what remains, the life of George Collins would have been technical and sparse.
From the formal documents that remain, it is possible to determine that he was born in Bath, Somerset, in 1870 or 1871, and his father was farmer Oliver Collins.
George married Florence Lydyard on 25th January 1896 at the parish church in Bathampton. George was listed as a cellarman, while Florence was noted as being the daughter of George Lydyard, an agent.
The 1901 census found the couple living at the Liberal Club in Bath, which they were both managing. The couple had had a son, George Jr, who was born in 1898, and were employing a servant to help with the daily chores.
The 1911 census shows that George had left the club behind, and was employed as a gymnastic instructor. He and Florence now had four children: Mona, who was 14 (and who didn’t appear on the previous census); George; and twins Marjorie and Dorothy, who were born on 5th July 1904.
The limited military documentation confirms that George enlisted in the North Somerset Yeomanry by October 1917. He was assigned to the 2nd/1st Battalion, which was a mounted division that became a cyclist unit. The troop was based on home soil throughout the war and, depending on when he joined, George could have served anywhere from Northumberland to East Anglia or Southern Ireland.
These details, while uncovering something of George’s life, remain as clinical as the engraving on his headstone. With Serjeant Collins, it is a newspaper article on his passing that adds humanity to his life:
Many friends in Bath will regret to hear that Sergeant George Collins died on Saturday at the Bath War Hospital, where he had been an inmate for seven weeks, suffering acutely from gastritis. Deceased, who was a Bathonian by birth, when a youth joined the Welsh Regiment, and served for seven years in the 1st Battalion… He returned to Bath 21 years ago, and became a drill and physical instructor to several schools… whilst he also instructed evening classes at Guinea Lane and St Mary’s Church House. Being a Reservist he was called upon for the South African War, and Sergeant Collins rejoined his old regiment in 1899. He was wounded and invalided home… When he recovered from his wounds, Sergeant Collins resumed his work as an instructor at schools, and continued to act in that capacity until 1915. Though 44 years of age and not liable for military service, he very patriotically rejoined; he entered the North Somerset Yeomanry and became a drill instructor. He had not been abroad in this war, but had served in several places with the 2/1st NSY. The fatal illness became very pronounced in January when on leave, and he was not able to rejoin his unit. Sergeant Collins was a fine boxer, and became middle-weight champion of the Army when serving with the 1st Welsh. His experience as a trainer was often in request locally, and he had acted in that capacity to the most successful Avon Rowing Club crews. Deceased leaves a widow, one son, and three daughters. His only boy, Sapper George Collins, Wessex [Royal Engineers], has been serving at Salonika since 1915.
Bath Chronicle and Weekly Gazette: Saturday 13 April 1918
Beyond the staid, formal documents is a life well lived. Serjeant George Collins was 47 or 48 years old when he passed on 5th April 1918; the army record noted the cause of his death as a cerebral haemorrhage. His body was laid to rest in the graveyard of St Mary the Virgin Church, Bathwick, overlooking the city he loved.
John Francis Fox was born early in 1898 in the village of Alkerton, Oxfordshire. One of eight children, he was the only son to miller-turned-butcher George Fox, and his wife, Ann. The family remained in Oxfordshire until at least the outbreak of war, when George and Ann appeared to have moved to Somerset.
When John left school, he took up an apprenticeship at Stothert & Pitt’s engineering works in Bath and in May 1918, with the First World War entering its last few bloody months, he was finally old enough to enlist. He joined the Royal Air Force as a Flight Cadet and was based at the 13th Training Depot Station near Market Drayton, Shropshire.
On 21st December 1918, Flight Cadet Fox was undertaking his first solo flight, on board an Avro 504K. His aircraft collided with another, which was piloted by a Captain Edgar Beamer. Both were killed in the accident: John was just 20 years of age.
An inquest into the crash, which also involved a third man, Captain Harrison, who was a passenger in Beamer’s plane, returned verdicts of accidental death.
John Francis Fox’s body was brought back to Somerset for burial. He was laid to rest in the graveyard of St Mary the Virgin’s Church, Bath.
George Astley Callaghan was born in London on 21st December 1852, the third of six children to Frederic and Georgiana Callaghan. Frederic was born in Ireland and was the son of MP and landowner Daniel Callaghan. He built a career for himself as a magistrate and set up home in Bath, Somerset with Cheltenham-born Georgiana.
The family had means and the 1861 census records them living at a five-storey Georgian house in Catharine Place, Bath, with five live-in servants: a butler, cook, housemaid, nursemaid and nurse.
George enlisted in the Royal Navy in January 1866, and was assigned to the training ship HMS Britannia. From here, his career was to prove meteoric. He was promoted to the rank of Midshipman in October 1867 and by 1870 he was serving in the East Indies. On 15th April 1872 he gained the rank of Sub-Lieutenant, and was promoted to full Lieutenant exactly three years later.
In 1877, Lieutenant Callaghan received a commendation for saving the lives of sailor whose boat had capsized in the Irrawaddy River. George was assigned to HMS Excellent, a gunnery school, in 1880, and formally joined the staff there in 1882. Back on the open seas by 1885, he was promoted to Commander on 31st December 1887 and given control of the battleship HMS Bellerophon. By 1894, George had been promoted again, to the rank of Captain, and took on the additional duties of naval advisor to the War Office.
As the new century dawned, George was mentioned in dispatches for his support during the Boxer Rebellion. Further commands followed, including HMS Edgar and HMS Caesar, both in 1901. He was made Captain of Portsmouth Dockyard and then naval aide-de-camp to the King in 1904. By the following year, he was given the rank of Rear Admiral, became Second-in-Command of the Channel Fleet in 1906, Second-in-Command of the Mediterranean Fleet in 1908. In December that year he was awarded Knight Commander of the Royal Victorian Order for the aid he provided to survivors of the Messina earthquake.
In April 1910, George was knighted and promoted to Vice Admiral, and within eighteen months he was made Commander-in-Chief of the Home Fleet, gaining the rank of Admiral in November 1911.
During this time of military promotion, George had also had his own family. On 2nd February 1876, he had married Edith Grosvenor in St Andrew’s Church, Walcot, Bath. The couple went on to have four children: Dorothy, Cyril, Noël and Stella.
A naval officer’s wife was destined to be a lonely life, and the census records seem to reflect this. In 1881, Edith and Dorothy were visiting a curate and his family in Wiltshire. Ten years later, Edith and her four children were living at the family home in Bathwick, with one visitor and three servants. The 1901 census found Edith, Cyril (who was now a midshipman himself) and Noël living in Devonport with a cook and two other servants. By 1911, Edith had moved again. She was 54 by this point, and based at a house in Havant, Hampshire, with a cook and two maids. All of this time, of course, George was away at sea, performing his duties.
George, by this point, had spent years preparing for the war he knew was coming. However, in July 1914, the First Lord of the Admiralty, Winston Churchill, commanded Sir John Jellicoe to relieve George of his position as Commander-in-Chief of the Home Fleet. Whether Churchill believed that Sir Callaghan was now too old to successfully carry out the duties the advancing conflict would impose upon him is unclear. It must have disappointed the 62-year-old George, however.
His work continued, however: he was appointed First an Principal Naval Aide-de-Camp to the King in September 1914, and became Commander-in-Chief of The Nore in three months later. He was promoted again, to Admiral of the Fleet, in April 1917, but subsequently retired less than a year later.
George’s life over the next couple of years goes a little quiet. Indeed it is only in November 1920 that further information is available.
The death occurred in London yesterday afternoon of Admiral of the Fleet Sir George Callaghan KCB. He had been ill for some months, and the immediate cause of death was an affection of the heart.
The Scotsman: Wednesday 24th November 1920
Sir George’s passing at his London home was reported in most of the press, highlighting his military achievements and decorations. His funeral was held at Westminster Abbey, and he was then laid to rest in the graveyard of St Mary’s Church in Bathwick, not far from his and Edith’s main home.
Samuel Inkerman Bailey was born in the summer of 1861 in Bath, Somerset. The youngest of five children, his parents were James and Mary Bailey. James was an ostler, or groom, but he died in August 1862, when his son was barely a year old.
Mary was left a widow, with a young family to raise and, as so many women in her position did in Victorian Britain, she remarried. She wed tailor Robert Lankesheer, a widower with four children of his own. The couple went on to have three further children – three half-siblings to Samuel.
While the 1871 census suggests that Robert welcomed Mary’s youngest into the family home, it seems that things were not so comfortable for Samuel. On 22nd May 1878, he enlisted in the Royal Navy, destined for a life at sea. He was only 16 years old at this point – although, interestingly, his service records give his date of birth as 27th March 1862. They also note that he was 5ft 2.5ins (1.59m) tall, with light brown hair, blue-grey eyes and a fair and fresh complexion.
As he was too young to formally enlist, Samuel was given the rank of Boy 2nd Class and sent to HMS Impregnable for training. Just over a year later, he was promoted to Boy 1st Class and, on 10th January 1880 he was given his first posting, on board the sloop HMS Dryad.
It was while Samuel was on board the Dryad that he came of age, and was officially inducted into the Royal Navy. He signed up for ten years service, and was given the rank of Ordinary Seaman 2nd Class. Samuel was certainly a dedicated young man: within three months he was again promoted, this time to Ordinary Seaman. He remained on Dryad until February 1884, by which time he had been promoted again, to Able Seaman.
Samuel ended up serving until 31st March 1900. During his time with the Royal Navy, he continued to distinguish himself, his character being noted as Very Good on each of his service reviews. He served on thirteen vessels, and was promoted through the ranks, to Leading Seaman (in August 1885), Petty Office 2nd Class (in January 1894) and Petty Officer 1st Class (in September 1897).
When he was stood down to the naval reserve, Samuel returned to Somerset. He found a job as a superintendent at the public baths in Bathwick and, on 15th April 1901, he married former housemaid and agricultural labourer’s daughter, Alice Clarke. As Samuel’s house came with his job, the couple set up home there, and went on to have five children: Samuel Jr, Emma, James, Alice and Joseph.
When war broke out, Samuel has been stood down from reserve status for more than two years. This did not stop him from stepping up to play his part again, however, and as Petty Officer 1st Class, he took up a training role at HMS Victory, the Royal Naval Dockyard in Portsmouth. He served for just over fourteen months, before he became ill, passing away from intestinal disease – which an inquest identified as ptomaine poisoning – at the city’s Royal Naval Hospital. He was 54 years of age.
Reporting on his death, the local newspaper recognised his fifteen years’ service at the public baths, as well as picking up on the fact that his unusual middle name was given to him in recognition of the death of his great uncle in the battle of that name during the Crimean War.
The same report outlined his dedicated naval career, although not always being correct with all of the details. It did note, however “two years or more on the Royal Yacht ‘Victoria & Albert,’ when used by Queen Victoria, a testament to the reliance placed in his trustworthiness.” [Bath Chronicle and Weekly Gazette: Saturday 16th October 1915] The then Able Seaman Bailey’s service records do note that he served aboard the Victoria & Albert, from 18th March to 11th May 1885, although whether the Queen sailed on her during this time is not known.
Samuel Inkerman Bailey was brought back to Somerset for burial. He was laid to rest in the Smallcombe Vale Cemetery in Bathwick, the community he had served for so long.
Petty Officer 1st Class Samuel Bailey (from ancestry.co.uk)
William Ernest Fey was born in Harburton, Devon, in the spring of 1889. The oldest of eight children, his parents were John and Margaret Fey. John was a farm labourer and, when he left school, William also took up work on the farm. By the time of the 1911 census he was listed as a horseman.
When was came to Europe, William was one of the first to step up and play his part. He enlisted in the Devonshire Regiment in the autumn of 1914, and was assigned as a Private in the 10th (Service) Battalion.
For part of his training, he was billeted in Bath, Somerset, and it was here, in April 1915, that he contracted meningitis. Private Fey was admitted to the city’s Red Cross Hospital, but the condition was to prove too much. He passed away on 24th April 1915, aged just 26 years of age.
Financial restraints may have limited John and Margaret’s ability to bring their boy back to Devon. Instead, William Ernest Fey was laid to rest in the quiet and picturesque Smallcombe Vale Cemetery on the outskirts of the city where he died.
The death occurred on Thursday of Mr Eric Cyril Guillebaud. Deceased was the youngest son of the late Rev. ED Guillebaud, Rector of Yatesbury, near Calne. On the outbreak of war he joined the Army, and was given a commission in the 11th (Service) Battalion of the Worcestershire Regiment. His physical strength not being equal to his patriotic zeal, he broke down under the strain of military duty. He came to rest at Combe Royal, Bathwick Hill, where his brother, Mr H Guillebaud, resides, but on medical advice entered a nursing home. Mr Guillebaud was 22 years of age. He was officially invalided from the Army six weeks ago. Deceased was a nephew of the late Mr Charles Marshall, of The Sycamores, Bathford, and the interment will take place in the churchyard there on Tuesday next.
Bath Chronicle and Weekly Gazette: Saturday 5th June 1915
Little further information is available on the life of Eric Guillebaud. The 1901 census confirms that he was living at The Rectory in Yatesbury, with an extended family: his parents, Reverend Erneste and Mabel Guillebaud; his maternal grandfather, William Marshall; his maternal uncle, Charles; and his cousin, William. The family also employed four servants: a nurse, cook and two housemaids.
There is no information relating to Eric’s military service, although it is clear from his headstone that he reached the rank of Second Lieutenant. His troop – the 11th Battalion of the Worcestershire Regiment – was based on Salisbury Plain and, from subsequent reports, uniforms and equipment were not provided until the spring of 1915: everything up to then was improvised.
The 11th Battalion did not leave for France until September 1915, three months after Eric’s passing: he would not, therefore, have seen any action overseas.
The only other document relating to Second Lieutenant Guillebaud is his probate record. This confirms that he died on 3rd June 1915 at 15 Somerset Place, Bath. His effects – totalling £5041 18s 10d – were left to his brother, Harold, who was listed as a gentleman.
Eric Cyril Guillebaud was 32 years old when he died. He was laid to rest in the graveyard of St Swithun’s Church, Bathford.
Percy Gerrish was born on 22nd August 1890 in Bath, Somerset. The youngest of three children – all boys – his parents were Alfred and Charlotte Gerrish. Alfred was painter and decorator by trade but, by the time of the 1911 census, the family had moved to Batheaston, and he was employed as a school attendance officer.
Alfred and Charlotte had raised their children well: the same census recorded their oldest son, also called Alfred, was employed as a clerk; their middle son, Reginald, was a printer; Percy, then 20 years old, was working as a draughtsman for an engineering company,
War came to Britain’s shores in 1914, and while he did not join up at once, when the Military Service Act of 1916 came in, Percy found himself conscripted. He enlisted on 24th November 1916 and, while he noted a preference for the Royal Field Artillery or Royal Garrison Artillery, his previous employment made him ideal for work as a clerk in the Army Service Corps.
Private Gerrish’s time in the army was spent on home soil. Full details are not available, but he certainly served in camps around Codford, Wiltshire. This may have been how he met a young woman called Ada Cox, who lived in Bemerton, on the outskirts of Salisbury. On 21st July 1917, the couple married in the new Mrs Gerrish’s local church.
Percy’s army career went well, although during 1918 illness was to dog him. He spent a week in a hospital in Fovant, near Salisbury in June, suffering from influenza, before being readmitted for a month just a week later, having contracted pharyngitis – an inflammation of the pharynx.
By the late summer of 1918, Private Gerrish had been moved to Newport Pagnell, Buckinghamshire. His ongoing health conditions were still an issue, however, and on 23rd October he was admitted to the Tickford Abbey Auxiliary Hospital. He had contracted laryngitis by this point, but, as the weeks in hospital progressed, he was soon also bogged down by tuberculosis.
Sadly, this was to prove Percy’s undoing. He passed away on 27th December 1918, aged just 28 years old.
Percy Gerrish’s body was brought back to Somerset for burial. He was laid to rest in the graveyard of St John the Baptist Church, in a plot next to his father, Alfred, who had died seven months before.
Theophilus Walter Burdock was born on 18th June 1871 in Whitminster, Gloucestershire. One of nine children, his parents were painter and decorator Nathaniel Burdock and his wife, Mary.
While he found labouring work when he left school, Theophilus – who went by his middle name, Walter – decided that he wanted bigger and better things and, on 30th December 1889, he enlisted in the Royal Artillery. His service records show that he was 5ft 5ins (1.65m) tall and weighed 115lbs (52kg). The document also records that he has a tattoo of a man, star and crown on his left forearm.
Initially assigned to the 1st Depot 2nd Battery as a Driver, over the next couple of years Walter made solid progress within the regiment. By September 1892, he was promoted to Gunner, within a couple of years he was raised to Bombardier, and by April 1895 he had made the rank of Corporal.
By his last formal year in the ranks, things seemed to take a different turn. On 9th March 1896, Corporal Burdock received a contusion to his face. He was formally transferred to the Army Reserve when his contract of service ended in December 1896, but within eighteen months he re-enlisted.
At this point, however, Corporal Burdock’s conduct began to race downhill. In August 1898 he was tried for an undisclosed reason, and his rank was reduced to Bombardier. Within a couple of months, he was tried for a second crime, and reduced in rank again, back to Gunner.
For a time Walter kept his nose clean, and, in February 1900, he was promoted back to the rank of Bombardier. This was to be only a fleeting move, however, as he reverted back to Gunner less than two months later.
Over the next couple of years, Walter generally kept his head down. On 30th April 1901 he was injured by a kick in the eye, although, again, details are tantalisingly scarce. By April 1902, his contract came to an end and this time he was stood down and formally demobbed.
Civilian life seemed to be something to which Walter was not to be destined. He enlisted again almost immediately, joining the Imperial Yeomanry in May 1902. He lasted less than a year with the regiment, however, having served ten months in South Africa.
In January 1904, was recalled to the Royal Artillery for further service in South Africa. His medical report showed the man he had become in the fifteen years since he had first joined up: he was now 5ft 7ins (1.7m) tall, and weighed 141lbs (64kg).
Private Burdock served six months on home soil, but in July 1904, he was sent to South Africa, having never actually seen any overseas service before. He returned to Britain in September 1905, and was discharged from service, specifically so that he could re-enlist with the Royal Artillery and complete his fourteen years’ service with them.
Gunner Burdock remained with the Royal Artillery until February 1906, presumably as he had finished his fourteen years. Interestingly, his discharge papers noted his conduct as ‘indifferent’.
Walter’s trail goes at this point. His mother, Annie, passed away in Gloucestershire in the spring of 1908. His father, Nathaniel, died Bristol in 1912. The next evidence for their son comes in September 1914, in attestation papers for the Canadian Expeditionary Force.
Walter was, by this point, living in Victoria, British Colombia, and working as a lumberjack. He had been unable to completely leave his army days behind him, and his service records give his year of birth as 1876, five years younger than he actually was at the time.
Those service records give similar physical characteristics to his 1904 papers, and confirm the presence of some additional tattoos: a butterfly and pair of hands with the words true love.
Walter was assigned to the Royal Canadian Horse Artillery, and given the rank of Gunner. He arrived back in Britain in October 1914, but his previous indifference seems to have recurred. He was imprisoned for a week from 21st October for having been absent without leave, and was found to be absent again at reveille on the morning of 30th October.
Yesterday afternoon the body of a man was found floating in the Avon just below Bathampton Weirs, and close to the entrance to the back-water on the Batheaston side of the river.
The body was floating face downwards some yards from the bank, and only the top of the head was visible.
The body was recovered shortly before five o’clock. It appeared to be that of a middle-aged man of medium height. The trousers had something of the appearance of a mechanic’s overall and deceased was wearing a sleeve vest.
The conjecture naturally arises whether the body is that of the missing Canadian soldier Burdock, whose clothes were discovered on the bank at Batheaston on Saturday, October 31st, and of whom nothing has been heard since. Burdock was a member of the Canadian contingent now in training on Salisbury Plain. It is known that the missing soldier had several tattoo marks on his arms… so the question will not long remain in doubt when the body has been brought to the bank.
Bath Chronicle and Weekly Gazette: Saturday 14th November 1914
The body did indeed turn out to be that of Gunner Burdock. An inquest reached a verdict of suicide while temporarily insane. He was 43 years of age.
Theophilus Walter Burdock was laid to rest in the graveyard of St John the Baptist Church in Batheaston. Interestingly, while his next of kin was identified as his brother Frederick Burdock, Walter’s service records add a further dimension to his passing:
A maple tree has since been planted at the head of the grave by Miss Henderson, The Hill, Batheaston, who took a great interest in the case. Miss Henderson also sent a beautiful wreath when deceased was buried.
Death and Service 