In the middle of the military section of the Woodlands Cemetery in Gillingham, Kent, is a headstone commemorating the life of John David Roche.
Details of John’s life are a challenge to piece together, although a later document gives his next-of-kin as Mrs E Roche of 108 Osnaburgh Street, Regent’s Park, London. There is a baptism record from 1897 for John David Roche, whose mother’s name was given as Lizzie. John’s father is listed as David, and the christening took place in Chelsea. There are no other records or census returns to give any further family background.
John’s time in military service is also hard to determine. That he joined the Royal Marine Light Infantry is clear, although when he enlisted and where he served are sadly lost to time.
Details of Private Roche’s passing are also unclear. He is noted as having died of disease, although the specific cause is not detailed. Given the location of his burial, it seems likely that he passed either at the Royal Naval Dockyard in Chatham, Kent, or at the hospital in the town connected to it.
John David Roche passed away on 2nd June 1916. If the baptism was correct, he was a day short of his 19th birthday.
Charles Columbus Dorman was born on 21st October 1892, and was the middle of three children to James and Margaret Dorman. Charles’ parents both hailed from Belfast, Country Antrim, but the 1901 census records his and his older sister’s birthplace as America. No baptism documents are available and no later information supports this, so, while his unusual middle name may suggest the place of his birth, it seems destined to remain unclear.
When he left school, Charles found work as a printer’s apprentice. He sought more, however, and was drawn to a life at sea. On 29th November 1910, he enlisted in the Royal Navy as an Ordinary Seaman. His service records confirm that he was 5ft 3.5ins (1.61m) tall, with brown hair, hazel eyes and a fresh complexion.
Charles was sent to HMS Pembroke – the Royal Naval Dockyard in Chatham, Kent – for his training. In January 1911, he was assigned to the ill-fated HMS Bulwark, before moving to the battleship HMS Implacable three months later. He would remain on board until the summer of 1914, gaining a promotion to Able Seaman during his three year stint there.
Charles was serving on Implacable when war was declared. At the beginning of September, after a week back in Chatham, was assigned to the sloop HMS Cormorant. After six months aboard, the cruiser HMS Blenheim became his home, and he spent the next month supporting troops who were being sent to Gallipoli.
By this point, Able Seaman Dorman had become unwell. He had contracted the autoimmune disease pemphigus, resulting in blistering to his skin and body. He returned to HMS Pembroke, and was stood down from the service on medical grounds 9th July 1916.
It is unclear whether or not Charles was admitted to hospital for his condition. Either way, he succumbed to the illness on 31st August 1916. He was just 23 years of age.
Charles Columbus Dorman’s family appear to have been unable to bring their boy back to Ireland for burial. Instead, he was laid to rest in Woodlands Cemetery, Gillingham, not far from the Kent naval base he had come to call home.
Charles William English was born on 30th August 1895 in the Suffolk town of Southwold. According to his later naval service records, his parents were Ellis and Sarah English, although there is little other information available to back this up.
Charles evidently had a draw to the sea and, when he enlisted in the Royal Naval Reserve on 10th January 1914, he was working as a fisherman. His service records confirm that he was 5ft 9ins (1.75m) tall, with grey eyes and a fresh complexion.
Over the next few years, Seaman English served off the east coast, and was attached to HMS Mantua, a former cruise ship taken over by the Royal Navy to patrol the North Sea. In between trips, Charles made HMS Pembroke, the Royal Naval Dockyard in Chatham, Kent, his home and it was to here that he returned in the autumn of 1916 when he fell ill.
Charles was admitted to the Royal Naval Hospital in the town, tests showing that he was suffering from lymphatic leukaemia. This was to prove fatal, and Seaman English passed away on 26th September 1916, aged just 21 years of age.
It seems likely that Charles William English’s family were unable to foot the bill for bringing their son back to Suffolk. Instead, he was laid to rest in Woodlands Cemetery, Gillingham, not far from the base he had come to call home.
Anyone who attended the funeral of Captain George Lee, IMT (late Rifle Brigade), held in the churchyard of his old home, Yetminster, on Wednesday could not but have been impressed by the wonderful sense of peace and rest that pervaded the place. After a life of unique adventure in Africa, India, America, and Canada his worn and suffering body was laid to rest beside his beloved father. The solemn service was taken by his uncle, Red. EHH Lee (vicar of Whitchurch Canonicorum) and his cousin, Rev. E Hertslet (vicar of Ramsgate), and Rev. MJ Morgan (vicar of Yetminster), there being also present his old schoolfellow, Rev. J Lynes, and Rev. Hall, curate of Yetminster. Besides the chief mourners Captain Lee’s mother, sister and brother-in-law, there were many friends present and numerous villagers who had known him from boyhood. The coffin was attended throughout the service and for many hours before by his most faithful servant and friend, Rajab Ali Khan, who was with his master through India, Persia, Beluchistan, and Afghanistan, and came to England as his personal attendant when Captain Lee was sent home on sick leave. After the service in the churchyard Rajab, through the kindness of Mr Hall, who translated for him, was able to tell everybody what his master had been to him.
Dorset County Chronicle: Thursday 9th September 1920
George Johnston Lee was born in the summer of 1886, the second of four children to Reverend Robert Lee and his wife, Elizabeth. Robert was the vicar of St George’s Church in Fordington, Dorset, when George was born, but moved west to Toller Porcoram not long after he was born.
Tantalisingly little information about George’s early life remains. He does not appear on the 1901 or 1911 census records, and it is likely that he was already away travelling the world by this point. It seems clear that he followed a military, rather than a clerical, career and, by the end of the First World War he was serving in the Indian Army Reserve of Officers. Attached to the Rifle Brigade, George had reached the rank of Captain.
George’s father had become ill in the early 1910s, and having moved to St Andrew’s Church in Yetminster, he retired from the post in 1912. He and Elizabeth moved to Dorchester, but when he passed away in 1916, at the age of 59, his last wishes were to be buried in Yetminster, the village having held a special place in his heart.
Captain Lee survived the First World War, but, as the newspaper report suggests, he became unwell. George had contracted amoebic dysentery, and returned to England to recuperate. The condition was to prove too severe, and he passed away in London on 29th August 1920, at the age of 34 years old.
In accordance with the family’s wishes, George Johnston Lee’s body was taken back to Dorset, and he was laid to rest next to his father, in the tranquil St Andrew’s Churchyard, Yetminster.
The early life of James Payne is a challenge to piece together. The first document that can be properly attributed to him is his marriage certificate from 27th May 1901.
This confirms that he was 21 years old, and working as a labourer. His father’s details are noticeable by their absence. The document also gives his wife’s name, Kate Bessie Warr, and information about her father – labourer Sydney Warr. James was also working as a labour at this point, and the two of them were living in Pulham, Dorset.
By the time of the 1911 census, the newlyweds had moved to the village of Yetminster. James was working as domestic gardener, and the couple had two children – Cyril and Louis. James’ place of birth is given just as Somerset, further clouding his past.
When war came to Europe, James stepped up to play his part. Full details of his time in the army are lost to time, but documents suggest that he had enlisted by October 1917 at the latest. Private Payne joined the Bedfordshire Regiment, and was attached to the 1st Battalion. His unit service on the Western Front throughout the conflict, although there is no evidence that James spent any times overseas himself.
Piecing the sparse number of documents together suggest that in March 1918, James was admitted to the 3rd Western General Hospital in Cardiff, Glamorganshire. He was suffering from nephritis and pneumonia, but it is unclear whether he was serving in Wales at the time, or was taken there for treatment. Either way, his condition was to prove too severe. Private Payne passed away on 20th March 1918: he was 38 years old.
James Payne’s body was taken back to Dorset for burial. He was laid to rest in the peaceful graveyard of St Andrew’s Church in his adopted home of Yetminster.
Robert Edwin Dawe Pollard was born on 8th April 1894 in Bath, Somerset. The youngest of three children, his parents were Joseph and Elizabeth Pollard. Joseph was a gardener from Banwell, but it seems that Robert had his sights on bigger and better things.
At some point Robert emigrated to Canada, and, by the time war was declared in Europe, he was working as an insurance clerk in Winnipeg. He felt a duty to serve his country, however, and on 2nd August 1915, he enlisted in the Canadian Expeditionary Force.
Private Pollard’s service records confirm he was 5ft 6ins (1.69m) tall, with dark brown hair, brown eyes and a fair complexion. He was also noted as being a Presbyterian.
Robert’s commitment to the cause is underlined by his rise through the ranks. Attached to to the 8th Battalion of the Canadian Infantry (also known as the 90th Winnipeg Rifles), he arrived in France on 27th February 1916.
The 8th Battalion was involved in some of the fiercest fighting of the war, and, on the 1st June 1916, he was wounded in his left arm. Admitted to a hospital in Camiers, he was moved to Etaples, before returning to his unit before the month was out.
For good or for bad, this was just before the Battle of the Somme and, over the next few months, Private Pollard fought bravely and hard. Moving from the Somme, his unit fought at Passchendaele and Ypres. On 1st October 1916, Robert was promoted to Corporal, and made Sergeant just three months later.
In April 1917, Robert was admitted to hospital again, this time with an infected foot. Within six weeks he was back with his unit, though, and on 7th November 1917, he was promoted to Company Serjeant Major. He was obviously good at what he did, and this was recognised. On 28th December 1917, he was mentioned in despatches, and the following June he was awarded the Meritorious Service Medal.
As the war entered its closing months, Company Serjeant Major Pollard, still led from the front. He returned to Britain at the end of November 1918, and was attached to the 18th Reserve Battalion in Seaford, Sussex ahead of being demobbed.
It was here that Robert contracted influenza. Whether at his family’s request is unclear, but he was admitted to Bath War Hospital for treatment but, after everything that he had been through, it was a combination of the flu and toxaemia, or blood poisoning, that was to prove his undoing. Company Serjeant Major Pollard died on 23rd December 1918, aged just 24 years old. His mother, Elizabeth was by his side.
Robert Edwin Dawe Pollard was laid to rest Bath’s sweeping Locksbrook Cemetery, not far from where his family lived. His headstone recognises the Military Medal he was posthumously awarded.
Company Serjeant Major Robert Pollard (from findagrave.com)
Alexander Bertram Cain was born on 31st July 1885 in Ormskirk, Lancashire. He was the ninth of eleven children to concert promoter Robert Cain and his wife, Sarah.
By 1901, Robert and Sarah had moved the family to Jersey, setting up home in St Saviour’s. Robert was noted as living off his own means, but Alexander, who would have been 15 by this point, is noticeable by his absence and, in fact, does not appear on that year’s census return.
Robert died in 1909, and on 26th January 1911, Alexander married a woman called Hilda Bedford. They settled down in St Helier, and went on to have two children, daughters Yvonne and Elizabeth. The census taken three months after the couple’s wedding recorded Alexander as living on his own means, so money appeared not to be an issue for the young family.
When war came to Europe, Alexander was called upon to play his part. On 12th March 1917, he enlisted in the Royal Jersey Militia, and was attached to the regiment’s Garrison Battalion, stationed on the island. His service records confirm that he was 5ft 7ins (1.7m) tall, and that he had a scar on his left cheek. The document also suggests that he had spent time in the Gloucestershire Regiment, but no further information about this is available.
Private Cain spent the next two years in the army. Towards the end of this time, however, his health appears to have been impacted, to the point that, on 6th May 1919, he was medically discharged from the Royal Jersey Militia.
Whatever his condition, it was to prove fatal. Alexander passed away at home on 31st May 1919: he was 33 years of age.
Alexander Bertram Cain was laid to rest in the family plot in La Croix Cemetery in Grouville, Jersey, Hilda left widowed and with two children – Elizabeth just four months old – to raise.
Thomas Peter Ounan was born on 21st July 1894 in St Helier, Jersey. The oldest of three children, his parents were Thomas and Augustine Ounan. Thomas Sr was a groom from England, who had married his Jersey-born wife and settled on the island to raise their family.
There is, in fact, little documented information about young Thomas’ life. From his military service records, it would seem that he found employment as a steward when he left school. When war broke out, he was called upon to play his part and, on 10th June 1916, he enlisted in the Royal Navy as an Officer’s Steward 3rd Class.
Thomas was initially sent to HMS Victory – the Royal Naval Dockyard in Portsmouth, Hampshire – for training. After a month he was assigned to the steam ship HMS Lucia, spending the next few months on board. At this point, he became unwell, having contracted tuberculosis. and was admitted to hospital in Portsmouth for treatment.
On 30th August 1916, Officer’s Steward Ounan was medically discharge from naval duty due to the condition. He returned to Jersey, remaining in the family home for the next year.
Thomas’ condition was to get the better of him, though. He passed away from tuberculosis at home on 6th October 1917: he was 23 years of age.
Thomas Peter Ounan was laid to rest in the peaceful La Croix Cemetery in Grouville.
Albert John Richomme was born on 13th June 1885 and was one of eight children to Charles and Marie Richomme. Both were from France, but had moved to Jersey in the Channel Islands before Albert’s oldest sibling, Charles, was born. The couple farmed land near Grouville, the children helping out as they became old enough.
On 28th September 1904, Albert married Linda Rouland at St Thomas’ Roman Catholic Church. The couple set up home in Trinity, and went on to have six children. The 1911 census recorded Albert as being a jobbing gardener, with the family living in the four-roomed Sunny Side Cottage.
When war came to Europe, Albert stepped up to play his part. Initially enlisting in the Royal Jersey Militia, his unit was absorbed into the 7th (Reserve) Battalion of the Royal Irish Rifles. By the end of 1915, he found himself in France.
Full details of Private Richomme’s service are lost to time, but is seems that he was caught up in a gas attack and, after being medically evacuated to Britain to recuperate, he was transferred to the Labour Corps.
At this point, Private Richomme’s trail goes cold. He survived the war and returned home, but passed away from pneumonia on 14th May 1920, just short of his 35th birthday.
Albert John Richomme was laid to rest in the peaceful grounds of La Croix Cemetery in Grouville.
While meeting the appropriate criteria for his burial site to be granted a Commonwealth War Grave, Albert is not recognised by the Commission.
Joseph Marie Louis Gionta was born on 7th January 1897 in St Ouen, Jersey. He was the oldest of three children to Matthieu and Marie Gionta. Marie has been married before, and so her two children – Joseph’s older stepbrothers – made up the household.
Shoemaker Matthieu passed away when Joseph was just a teenager. By the time of the 1911 census, Marie was living in two rooms in St Ouen’s, supported by her five children. She was working as a charwoman, while her two children from her first marriage were farm labourers, bringing in three probably meagre wages to the family home.
When war broke out, Joseph stepped up to play his part. Initially enlisting in the Royal Jersey Militia, his unit was absorbed by the 7th (Service) Battalion of the Royal Irish Rifles shortly after he joined up. Rifleman Gionta’s service records confirm he was 5ft 3.5ins (1.61m) tall, and that he was 19 years old when he enlisted.
Joseph’s battalion served in France from December 1915, and he spent the next ten months overseas. In October 1916, he returned to the UK, and was transferred to the regiment’s 4th (Extra Reserve) Battalion, serving in Ireland.
Towards the end of 1917, Rifleman Gionta became unwell, contracting tuberculosis. This led to his medical discharge from the army on 29th January 1918, and he returned to the Channel Islands. At this point, his trail goes cold, and it is not until the autumn of 1920 that he resurfaces.
Joseph Marie Louis Gionta passed away on 24th September 1920: he was 23 years of age. A cause of death is unclear, although the likelihood is that it was related to the lung condition that he picked up while on active duty. He was laid to rest in the peaceful St Ouen’s Churchyard in Jersey.
Death and Service 