Sidney John Warren was born in January 1890, one of eleven children to shipwright George Warren and his wife Elizabeth. The family lived in Salmon Parade, on the riverside in Bridgwater, where George would have plied his trade. By the time of the 1911 census, Sidney had found work as a grocer’s assistant, and was living with his parents and the youngest of his brothers, Edward.
While exact details of Private Warren’s military career are not available, documents confirm that he enlisted in the Somerset Light Infantry. Assigned to the 4th Battalion, he was based in India and Mesopotamia during the conflict. No details are available of his time there, but at some point, he transferred to the Labour Corps back in Somerset.
And there Sidney’s trail goes cold. He survived the war, but passed away on 27th November 1918, suffering from pneumonia. He was just 28 years old.
Sidney John Warren lies at rest in the family grave at St John’s Cemetery in his home town of Bridgwater in Somerset.
Charles Lang Dibble was born in 1890, one of nine children to Evan and Eliza Dibble from Bridgwater in Somerset. Evan was a labourer in a brickyard, and clay must have been run through the family’s veins, as Charles found employment as a kiln hand in a local tile maker when he left school.
By the 1911 census, Charles was boarding with William Rainey and his family in Bridgwater; whether there was a connection before he moved in or not, I don’t know, but the following year he married one of William’s daughters, Constance. The young couple wed on Christmas Day 1912 and went on to have one child, Charles, who was born in 1915.
Full details of Charles’ military service are not available. However, when he enlisted, he initially joined the Somerset Light Infantry, before transferring to the Devonshire Regiment and finally the Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire Light Infantry. During his service, he was awarded the Victory and British Medals, but there is little further information about Private Dibble.
Charles survived the war, but his pension records confirm that he passed away on 7th May 1921; the cause of death was noted as exhaustion and sarcoma of the rectum. He was 31 years old.
Charles Lang Dibble lies at rest in St John’s Cemetery in his home town of Bridgwater.
Oliver Job Chubb was born on 3rd December 1884 in the village of Smallbridge in Devon. He was one of six children to Job Chubb, who was an agricultural labourer, and his wife Louisa. Oliver did not seem to be one for settling down; after his parents had moved the family to Ilminster in Somerset when he was just a child, by 1901 he was living in Lyme Regis, working as a carter in a market garden.
In 1902, at the age of 17, Oliver enlisted in the Somerset Light Infantry. Eighteen months later he transferred to the Royal Navy, serving as a Stoker on a number of ships during what would become twelve years’ service, including the Royal Oak, Skirmisher and Newcastle.
In 1906 he married Rosina Keirle, a brickmaker’s daughter from Somerset. The wedding was in Bridgwater, and the couple went on to have three children, Olive, Albert and Cecil.
There is a sense that Oliver either had perpetually itchy feet, or that he was always running from something. The 1911 census found him aboard HMS Suffolk in the Mediterranean, where he listed himself as single. By the end of his naval service in November 1915, however, Stoker Chubb disembarked in the port of Victoria, British Colombia, and immediately signed up for military service with the Canadian Expeditionary Force.
Again, however, indecision seems to have set in. He listed his marital status as ‘single’ and confirmed his next of kin as his sister Elsie, but on his military will, he left everything to Rosina.
Private Chubb was assigned to the 29th Battalion of the Canadian Infantry; they served on the Western Front from early in 1915 through to the end of the war. He was involved in the fighting at Ypres, and, in September 1916, was treated in England for an inguinal hernia. After three months’ recover, he returned to the front.
While Private Chubb seems to have had a good overall manner, there were blips in his character. In May 1917, he was sentenced to three days’ field punishment for being absent without leave for 21hrs. In March 1918, he was sentenced to another five days’ field punishment for going AWOL for 48 hours. On 11th April 1918, Private Chubb received 14 days’ field punishment for drunkenness on duty.
In December of that year, Oliver was invalided back to England for medical treatment; he was admitted to the Fort Pitt Military Hospital in Chatham with lymphatic leukaemia. Sadly, Private Chubb passed away shortly after being admitted, dying on 17th December 1918. He was 34 years old.
Oliver Job Chubb lies at rest in St John’s Cemetery in Bridgwater, where his family still lived.
William Alfred Woodbury was born in the Somerset village of Nether Stowey in April 1899, the oldest of four children to Alfred and Nellie Woodbury. Alfred was a farm labourer, and, by the time William was a couple of years old, he had moved the family to the town of Bridgwater to work as a carter.
After leaving school, William found work at Barham Brothers’ Brickworks in the town. When war broke out, he enlisted in the Somerset Light Infantry almost as soon as he was able to, at the beginning of 1916.
Assigned to the 6th (Service) Battalion and Private Woodbury was sent out to the Western Front in April. He would almost certainly have seen action at the Battle of Delville Wood – part of the Somme offensive – and was wounded in the shoulder and arm on 18th August 1916.
Shipped back to the UK for treatment, William was admitted to the Western General Hospital in Cardiff, but tragically died from his wounds less than a fortnight later on 30th August 1916. He was just 17 years old.
His funeral was reported in both the Shepton Mallet Journal and the Central Somerset Gazette; his father, who had been serving in France as part of the Army Veterinary Corps, managed to return home for his son’s funeral.
William Alfred Woodbury lies at rest in the St John’s Cemetery in his home town of Bridgwater.
Samuel Roberts was born in April 1875, one of seven children to William and Harriet Roberts from Bridgwater in Somerset. William worked as a labourer in a timber yard, though sadly he died young, when Samuel was only a child.
In the spring of 1899, Samuel married Rosina (or Rose) James, and the couple went on to have six children. Samuel was supporting his family working as a wicker chair maker, a roaring trade in a part of the county where reed beds were in plentiful supply.
Samuel’s war grave suggests that he enlisted in the Somerset Light Infantry, and that this must have been early in the First World War, given that he passed away in October 1914. His pension records paint a slightly muddier picture, however. They give the cause of Private Roberts’ death as Hodgkin’s disease and mania, but suggest that:
As is has not been possible to establish that Private S Roberts actually joined for service or was paid as a soldier during the war, Mrs Roberts’ claim to [a] pension cannot be admitted.
WW1 Pension Ledger: Private Samuel Roberts
Whether Samuel ever enlisted, or whether he only told Rose that he had, or whether, through his mania, he believed that he had, will likely never be uncovered. Either way, what can be established is that he passed away on 19th October 1914, at the age of 39 years old.
He lies at rest in the St John’s Cemetery in his home town of Bridgwater.
William Henry Pearn was born in January 1896, one of two children to Richard and Selina Pearn from Bridgwater in Somerset. Selina had been married previously, and had been widowed, and so William had a further four half-siblings. Richard was a lath renderer – a plasterer in today’s terms – and he was not the only one of the household to be working. According to the 1901 census, Selina was a collar maker and William ‘s two older half-brothers were a landscape gardener and a bookshop assistant.
When William left school, he went to work for a local coal yard as a porter. The next census finds him living with his mother and his older brother, Wallace, who was a labourer in a brickyard. Richard is noticeable in his absence, but Selina is having been married for 18 years.
Sadly, though, at this point William’s trail goes cold. His military records are sparse, but we know that he enlisted as a Gunner in the Royal Field Artillery, although I have been unable to identify when he enrolled. The only other information I have I have been able to locate for him are his pension records, that confirm that he passed away from pneumonia on 19th October 1918. Gunner Pearn was just 24 years old.
William Henry Pearn lies at rest in St John’s Cemetery in his home town of Bridgwater in Somerset.
Edward Britton was born in Bridgwater in 1870, one of nine children to Edward and Eliza Britton. Edward Sr was a mariner, and the family lived on the main road from the town to Bath.
There is a gap in the documentation for Edward Jr; when we next meet him on the 1911 census he is married with children of his own. His wife is Ada Olive Martin, the daughter of a bricklayer from Topsham in Devon. They had eight children, six of them girls, and, according to the document, Edward was working as a ‘deal carrier’, moving wood from the ships arriving in Bridgwater to the timber yard.
A Gloucestershire deal carrier (from gloucesterdocks.me.uk)
Sadly, Edward’s service records are also sparse. He enlisted in the Royal Engineers as a Sapper and, given his age, it is likely that this was not early in the conflict. He was involved in the Inland Water Transport division – given his father’s work as a mariner, this doesn’t come as a surprise.
The Army Register of Soldiers’ Effects provides a surprising insight into Sapper Britton. It gives the date of his death, but notes the cause as “Drowned, River Stour, Kent”.
An inquest was held on Monday by Dr Hardman at the Military Hospital, Stonar, respecting the death of Sapper Edward Britton… who was drowned through the capsizing of a boat… It appeared that Britton was ferrying Lance-Corporal Griggs to a barge which was in tow with three others when a collision occurred, the boat overturned and Britton was drowned.
[Kentish Gazette: Saturday 7th September 1918]
Sapper Britton passed away on 26th August 1918, at the age of 48.
Edward Britton lies at rest in St John’s Cemetery in his home town of Bridgwater, Somerset.
Albert James Adams was born in Somerset in September 1878, the fifth of ten children to Robert and Mary. Robert was a mason, who sadly passed away when Albert was only 11 years old. Mary lived on as the head of the household, and by the 1901 census, she had four of her five sons living with her, three of them also stone masons.
Albert had taken a different route in life, and found work as a postman. He married Annie King, a young woman from Taunton, in 1910, and they set up home in the village of Selworthy near Minehead. Albert was the village postman, and the young couple lived there with their sons – Albert and Robert – and Mary.
When war came, Albert enlisted, joining the 6th Battalion of the Devonshire Regiment. While his military records are scattered, his battalion served in India and Mesopotamia; during their three years in the Middle East, the 6th Battalion lost twice as many men to illness – influenza, pneumonia, malaria – as to enemy action.
Lance Corporal Adams was not immune to sickness; while I have been unable to unearth exact dates for his military service, his cause of death is recorded as malaria and pneumonia. He passed away on 9th February 1919, at the age of 40 years old.
Albert James Adams lies at rest in St John’s Cemetery in Bridgwater, Somerset.
Sidney Joseph Turner was born in 1888, the oldest of four children to Sidney and Matilda Turner from Bridgwater in Somerset. Sidney Sr was a carter, while his son became a labourer in a local cement works. Sadly, Sidney Sr died in 1903, when Sidney Jr was 15, leaving Matilda with three other children, one of whom was only 18 months old.
Sidney Jr travelled to get work, and had moved to South Wales to work as a miner by 1909. Here he married Rose Shattock, who was born in Bristol, although within a couple of years the young couple had moved back to Somerset.
Sidney and Rose had a son, also called Sidney, although sadly he died when he was only a couple of months old. Tragically for Sidney, the records seem to suggest that Rose may have died in childbirth, or shortly after, as her passing was registered in the same quarter as her son’s birth.
By this time, Sidney was living in Bailey Street, Bridgwater, a short distance from some railway sidings. This might have driven some determination in him as, by the following year, he was listed as an engine driver. In December 1913 he married his second wife, Bessie Sharman. She was the daughter of a mariner, who had become a machinist in a shirt factory by the time of their marriage. The couple went on to have a son, also called Sidney, in April 1914.
When war broke out, Sidney enlisted in the Highland Light Infantry, initially in the 12th (Service) Battalion. They landed in France in July 1915 and were there for the remainder of the war. At some point, Lance Corporal Turner transferred to the 53rd (Young Soldier) Battalion. Very much a training brigade, it seems that Sidney’s experience of the front line may have proved useful for the upcoming recruits.
Lance Corporal Turner was demobbed on 21st March 1919; his pension record shows that, during the course of his service, he had fractured his tibia and had contracted bronchitis. The 1921 census found Sidney back in Bridgwater. He was listed as being a gas engine driver for John Board & Co., although he was, at that point, out of work. He, Bessie and Sidney Jr were living at 1 Price’s Buildings.
Sidney’s health conditions were to prove his downfall, as, within a months of the census return, he had succumbed to pulmonary tuberculosis and exhaustion. He died on 2nd July 1921, aged just 32 years old.
Sidney Joseph Turner lies at rest in St John’s Cemetery in his home town of Bridgwater, Somerset.
William Edward Parsons was born in 1890, one of six children to John and Prudence Parsons. John found work in a number of fields, working as a blacksmith, porter, dock labourer and a hobbler (towing boats along the River Parrett) in his time. Throughout this, he lived with his family in the Somerset town of Bridgwater.
William found work as a collar cutter in a local shirt factory, and went on to marry Matilda Mary Temblett on Christmas Day 1913. The young couple went on to have a son – Leslie William – who was born in February 1915. William was teetotal, and played full back for the local rugby football club, Bridgwater Albion.
Sadly, Lance Corporal Parsons’ military records are sparse; he had enlisted in the Royal Army Service Corps and was based in Fovant, to the west of Salisbury.
It was while he was on leave that William met his sad fate. On the evening of 5th February 1916, he had seen his parents and had set out to organise a football match in the town. He was walking over the town bridge, when a passer-by heard a splash. He saw a man in the water, who was crying for help, and then disappeared.
William’s body was found in the river a fortnight later close to a local brickyard. He was just 25 years old.
William Edward Parsons lies at rest in St John’s Cemetery in his home town of Bridgwater.
Death and Service 