Category Archives: illness

Commonwealth War Graves, Corporal, Dorset, Dorset Yeomanry, Great War, history, illness, photography, Somerset, story, war

Corporal Frederick Short

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Corporal Frederick Short

Frederick Short was born in Sturminster Newton, Dorset, in the spring of 1894. The oldest of five children, he was one of three sons to John and Martha Short. John was the caretaker of the village’s cemetery, and the family lived in a cottage on site.

When Frederick completed his schooling, he found work as a groom and, by the time of the 1911 census, he was boarding with John and Clara Binning in the village of Weare, Somerset.

War came to Europe in the summer of 1914, and Frederick was called upon to play his part. Full details of his military service have been lost to time, but it is clear that he enlisted in the Queen’s Own Dorset Yeomanry. By the end of the conflict, he had risen to the rank of Corporal.

Frederick survived the conflict, and returned home. At the start of 1919, he married Mabel Heritage, a soldier’s daughter from Somerton, Somerset. Her father, George, had died by the time of the 1901 census, and Mabel moved with her mother to Milborne Port, on the Somerset-Dorset border. The 1911 census found her working as a leather glove machinist, in a four-roomed cottage on Paddock Walk, to the north of the town centre.

The war had had a negative impact on Frederick’s health. The 1921 census shows him and Mabel visiting his parents in Sturminster: his occupation was given as unfit (formerly a groom). It was only a matter of weeks later that his condition worsened. Frederick passed away from a combination of malaria and heart disease on 28th June 1921: he was 27 years of age.

The body of Frederick Short was laid to rest in Sturminster Newton Cemetery, close by, and in the care of, his caretaker father, John.

Commonwealth War Graves, Corporal, Dorset, Farrier, Great War, history, illness, photography, Royal Army Service Corps, story, war

Farrier Corporal John Watts

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Farrier Corporal John Watts

John William Watts was born in the summer of 1869, the youngest of six children to Reuben and Maria Watts. Reuben was a sawyer from Haselbury Brian, Dorset, and it was her that the Watts family were born and raised.

John seemed keen to progress himself, and found employment as a police constable. The 1891 census recorded him as living at the station in Blandford Forum. Three years later, he married Elizabeth Hallett, a shoemaker’s daughter from Lyme Regis. The couple would go on to have eight children before Elizabeth’s untimely death in 1912.

By this point, John’s career had taken a sharp turn: in 1901, when the family were living in Sturminster Newton, he was working as a blacksmith. The next return, taken in 1911, found them at 19 Church Street in the village, where John was employed as a journeyman shoeing smith.

With young children to raise, John took a new wife, marrying widow Rose Yeatman on 3rd August 1914. His oldest daughter, Elsie, and her father, Tom Bleathman, acted as witnesses. John and Rose would go on to have a daughter of their own, Muriel, the following year.

When war broke out, John stepped up to play his part. His service papers have been lost to time, but it is clear that he enlisted in the Royal Army Service Corps, and, presumably because of his age and experience, was assigned the rank of Farrier Corporal There is no indication that he served time outside of Britain, and it seems likely that he would have overseen the preparation of horses and training of blacksmiths for the Western Front.

Farrier Corporal Watts survived the conflict, but was medically discharged with malaria on 16th May 1919. The 1921 census found him living with Rose and five of his children and step-children in their Church Street home. He was employed as a bricklayer’s labourer, and was working for builder and contractor Mr J Silverthorne.

John’s health was suffering now, though, and he would only last until the summer. He passed away at home on 9th August 1921: he was 52 years of age.

The body of John William Watts was laid to rest in Sturminster Newton Cemetery, a short distance from his grieving family’s home.

Commonwealth War Graves, Dorset, Dorsetshire Regiment, Great War, history, illness, photography, Private, story, war

Private Albert Rose

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Private Albert Rose

Albert William Rose – who was better known by his middle name – was born in the spring of 1876. One of eight children, his parents were Thomas and Amelia Rose. Thomas was a farm labourer from Sturminster Newton, Dorset, and this is the village in which the Rose family were born and raised.

William followed in his father’s footsteps, and was a farm labourer by the time he turned 14. The 1881, 1891 and 1911 census records all show him living with his parents: in 1901 he was a boarder with the Brown family at The Stables in Bryanstone, Dorset. He was employed as a stable keeper, one of eleven live-in employees at the stud.

Alongside his farm work, William was also an active volunteer in the local militia. When war broke out in the summer of 1914, he was quick to enlist, joining the 3rd Battalion of the Dorsetshire Regiment. His service papers show that he was 5ft 7ins (1.7m) tall and weighed 160lbs (72.6kg). He is recorded as having brown hair and grey eyes.

During the next four months, Private Rose undertook training on home soil. In December 1914, his unit was moved to France, and he would remain on the Western Front through to the Armistice and beyond. His time overseas was not without incident, and his age and health would be against him.

Over the next four years, William would he hospitalised at least a dozen times, for rheumatism, myalgia, a recurring heart condition and, in May 1915, from the effects of a gas attack and subsequent issues with catarrh. In December 1918, he returned to Britain with atherosclerosis, a clogging of the arteries, and was medically discharged from service the following month.

At this point, William’s trail goes cold. It is likely that he returned home, as , when he passed away, his death was registered in Sturminster.

Albert William Rose passed away on 6th June 1919: he was 43 years old. His body was laid to rest in Sturminster Newton Cemetery, not far from his family home.

Commonwealth War Graves, Devon, Great War, history, illness, photography, Royal Navy, Stoker, story, war, Wiltshire

Stoker 2nd Class George Mead

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Stoker 2nd Class George Mead

George Mead was born on 18th September 1900 in the Wiltshire village of Semley. The youngest of eleven children, his parents were police sergeant George Mead and his wife, Rebecca.

The 1911 census recorded the Mead family as having moved to Chapmanslade, near Westbury. George Sr and Rebecca were set up in a five-room cottage, Forest View, with George Jr and two of his older sisters – Edith and Margaret – also living there.

Rebecca passed away when her youngest was just sixteen years of age and, on 12th March 1917, George Jr’s older brother Charlie, a Private in the Worcestershire Regiment, was killed in action while fighting in France. It seems that his younger sibling was keen to prove his mettle before peace was declared and, on the day after his eighteenth birthday, he gave up his job as a carter and enlisted in the Royal Navy.

Stoker 2nd Class Mead’s service records show that he was 5ft 10.5ins (1.79m) tall, with brown hair, blue eyes and a fresh complexion. He was sent off to HMS Vivid – the Royal Naval Dockyard in Devonport, Devon – for his training.

Tragically, George Jr’s time in the navy was to be short. He contracted pneumonia and as admitted to the naval hospital in Plymouth. The illness was to prove too severe, and he passed away on 7th October 1918: he was eighteen years of age, and had been in the Royal Navy for just 18 days.

The body of George Mead Jr was taken back to Wiltshire for burial. He was laid to rest in the extension to St Mary’s Church, Corsley, not far from where his grieving father still lived.

Commonwealth War Graves, Great War, history, illness, Lance Corporal, photography, Rifle Brigade, Somerset, story, war, Wiltshire, Wiltshire Regiment

Lance Corporal Alfred Newman

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Lance Corporal Alfred Newman

Alfred James Newman was born in around 1874 in Westbury, Wiltshire. One of six children, his parents were coke burner and agricultural labourer James Newman and his wife, Virtue.

Alfred followed his father into farm work, and would remain living with his parents until they were in their seventies. The 1911 census found the family living in Westbury Leigh, to the south of Westbury itself, James and Virtue as pensioners and Alfred as a general farm labourer. Also living with them was adopted child James Ellery, although it isn’t clear who had adopted him, and whether he had any other familial connection to them to the Newmans.

When war broke out, Alfred stepped up to play his part. Full details of his military service have been lost to time, but it is clear that he joined the Wiltshire Regiment, and was attached to the 4th Battalion. He was then transferred to the 22nd (Wessex and Welsh) Battalion of the Rifle Brigade. It is unclear whether he spent time overseas, but, by the spring of 1916, he had been promoted to the rank of Lance Corporal.

On Tuesday last week, Mr James Newman… received a telegram from the military authorities stating that his son, Lance-Corporal Alfred James Newman had died the same day in the 2nd Southern General Hospital at Bristol… He, having obtained leave, went to Bristol to pay a visit to some friends and evidently caught a chill. His death took place on Tuesday morning. He was conveyed to his home on Friday, and the funeral took place on Saturday afternoon.

[Wiltshire News: Friday 14th April 1916]

Alfred’s Pension Ledger Index Card suggests that, rather than a chill, he had, in fact, died following the rupture of an aortic aneurysm. He passed away on 4th April 1916, and was 47 years of age.

The body of Alfred James Newman was laid to rest in the peaceful setting of the Provident Baptist Chapelyard in Penknap, to the south west of Westbury.

Commonwealth War Graves, Egypt, Essex, Great War, history, illness, injury, New Zealand, New Zealand Canterbury Regiment, photography, Private, story, war, Wiltshire

Private Thomas Kearse

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Private Thomas Kearse

Thomas Walker Kearse was born in Westport, New Zealand, on 15th December 1891. One of seven children, his parents were British emigrant Thomas Kearse and his local-born wife, Rosanna.

There is little information available about Thomas’ early life. He found work as a general labourer when he finished his schooling, by which time his mother had passed away. By his mid-20s, he had relocated to Kaikohe, on North Island.

When war broke out, Thomas stepped up to play his part. He enlisted in Trentham on 16th February 1915, and was assigned to the New Zealand Canterbury Regiment. Private Kearse’s medical examination noted that he was just over 5ft 6ins (1.68m) tall, and weighed 139lbs (63kg). He had light hair, blue-grey eyes and a fair complexion. He was also noted as having a scar on his right shin.

Private Kearse would be in the army for two-and-a-half years, but would experience enough warfare for a lifetime. On leaving New Zealand his unit made for the Dardanelles, arriving there on 16th August 1915. He was wounded early on, and medically evacuated to Malta. His injuries would need further treatment, however, and he was shipped to Britain, and sent to hospital in Birmingham.

Thomas spent time recuperating at a base in Hornchurch, Essex, and it would seem that, while here, he met Catherine Goodwin. A romance started, but Thomas was sent to re-join his unit, who were barracked in Egypt. Within a month, however, he was on the move again, arriving in France in April 1916. While there, he went absent without leave for two days, and forfeited a month’s pay as a result.

In October, Private Kearse was wounded in the head and arm by gunfire, and, after initial treatment in Rouen, he was medically evacuated to Britain. Admitted to the 3rd Southern General Hospital in Oxford, he would remain here for the next month. He was then sent to the ANZAC base in Codford, Wiltshire, again to recuperate, but, while there, he was admitted to the camp’s venereal unit for a fortnight.

Discharged again, his condition had not cleared up: Thomas was back in hospital on 5th December 1916, and he spent a further two weeks admitted.

On his latest discharge, Private Kearse was marched to Sling Camp, near Bulford, where he took up a role as cook. He would remain there for the next four months and, during this time, he and Catherine exchanged vows. She had given birth to a daughter, Ivy, the previous October, and this helped formalise their family unit.

Over the next few months, Thomas’ life repeated itself. He was admitted to hospital in Codford again in June 1917, and went AWOL for 26 hours on 27th/28th July (for which he was docked four days’ pay). Discharged from hospital on 4th September, he was marched back to the Sling Camp.

Within six weeks, however, he was sent back to hospital in Codford, this time suffering from pneumonia. This time, Thomas would not be as fortunate. The lung condition got the better of his, and he passed away on 25th October 1917, at the age of 25 years old.

The body of Thomas Walker Kearse was laid to rest in the ANZAC extension to St Mary’s Churchyard in Codford, not far from the hospital he had visited so many times.

Commonwealth War Graves, Devon, Great War, history, illness, New Zealand, New Zealand Auckland Regiment, photography, Private, story, war, Wiltshire

Private Walter Bourke

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Private Walter Bourke

Walter Edward Bourke was born in Whangarei, New Zealand, on 6th May 1885. The fifth of six children, his parents were Patrick and Elizabeth Bourke, who had emigrated from Ireland in the 1870s.

Patrick died in 1911, at the age of 65. Walter, by this point, was working as a chamber hand in a freezing works. When war broke out, however, he was compelled to step up and serve his country. He enlisted on 22nd January 1917, and was assigned to the New Zealand Auckland Regiment.

Trained at Trentham, Private Bourke’s unit set sail for Europe on 12th June 1917. The voyage from Wellington to Devonport would take two months and, from there Walter was marched into a camp in Sling, near Bulford, Wiltshire.

Within a matter of weeks, Walter fell ill. He was sent to the No. 3 New Zealand Hospital near Codford, but his condition worsened significantly over the next month. His treatment would prove fruitless, and Private Bourke passed away on 25th October 1917: he was 32 years of age.

Thousands of miles from family, Walter Edward Bourke was laid to rest in the extension to St Mary’s Church graveyard, not far from the hospital in which he had passed.

Australia, Australian Infantry, Commonwealth War Graves, County Antrim, Great War, history, illness, Ireland, Lancashire, photography, Private, story, war, Wiltshire

Private William Cathcart

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Private William Cathcart

William Rea Cathcart was born in Ballymena, County Antrim, Northern Ireland, on 30th January 1887. The middle of five children, his parents were Thomas and Margaret Cathcart.

Little information is available about William’s early life, but he appears to have been a smart young man and, by his mid-20s was employed as a bookkeeper. Part of him sought a better life for himself and he took the decision to emigrate, arriving in Fremantle, Australia on board the SS Otranto on 14th November 1911.

William settled in Perth, but when war broke out, he was keen to step up and serve his King and Empire. He enlisted on 7th May 1915 but, for some reason, he wasn’t accepted for service at that time.

William did not give up, however, and he succeeded in enlisting on 30th May 1917. His service papers confirm that he was 5ft 8.75ins (1.74m) tall and weighed 150lbs (68kg). A Roman Catholic, he was noted as having brown eyes, brown hair and a fresh complexion.

Assigned to the 16th Battalion of the Australian Infantry, Private Cathcart’s unit set sail from Sydney on the troop ship A7 Medic, on the 1st August 1917. The voyage would take two months, and his unit arrived in Liverpool, Lancashire, at the start of October. It the then marched south to the ANZAC bases near Codford, Wiltshire.

It seems that the journey had exhausted William, and his health began to deteriorate. He was admitted to the camp hospital with diabetes, but moved to the No. 3 New Zealand General Hospital on 22nd November. He was emaciated and barely able to walk, constantly drinking, but eating very little.

Over the next few days, William’s condition worsened. He began getting pains in his arms and legs, was sluggish and restless. The treatment he was provided would ultimately prove too little, too late. Private Cathcart passed away at 1:05am on 25th November 1917: he was 30 years of age.

The body of William Rea Cathcart was laid to rest in the ANZAC extension to the graveyard of St Mary’s Church, Codford, not far from the hospital in which he had been treated.

Private William Cathcart
(from ancestry.co.uk)
Australia, Australian Infantry, Canada, Commonwealth War Graves, Great War, history, illness, Lancashire, Nova Scotia, photography, Private, story, war, Wiltshire

Private Oscar Cameron

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Private Oscar Cameron

Born in Shelburne, Nova Scotia, in around 1876, the early life of Oscar Cameron is a challenge to piece together. He was one of four children to ship’s carpenter Christopher Cameron and his wife Alice.

Oscar appears to have followed his father in a sea-faring life, and his later army service records confirm that, by 1917, he was a ship’s officer. When the call came to serve the Empire, he took a discharge from his ship in Australia, and joined up.

Enlisting on 20th February 1917, Oscar’s service records show that he was 5ft 6.5ins (1.69m) tall, and weighed 128lbs (50.1kg). He had fair hair, blue eyes and a fresh complexion, with a tattoo on his right forearm and a vaccination scar on his left upper arm. His age was given as 36 years and 6 months, although he was, in fact 41 by this point.

Assigned to the 59th Battalion of the Australian Infantry, Private Cameron’s unit left from Sydney on board the HMAT A16. The two-month voyage was not uneventful: Oscar spent three days in hospital with an undeclared ailment, and also forfeited two days’ pay for being absent without leave for 34hrs during the ship’s layover in Cape Town, South Africa.

The 59th Battalion disembarked in Liverpool, Lancashire, on 16th September 1917. From there it made the journey to the ANZAC camps in Wiltshire, and this is where Oscar would have continued his training.

At the start of 1918, Private Cameron’s health was suffering again. He was admitted to the No. 3 New Zealand General Hospital in Codford, Wiltshire, suffering from nephritis. Ultimately, the condition was to prove fatal: Oscar passed away at 4:45pm on 24th January 1918, aged 40.

Thousands of miles from home, it wasn’t possible for the remains of Oscar Cameron to be taken back to Canada. Instead, he was laid to rest in the ANZAC extension to St Mary’s Churchyard in Codford, not far from the base where he had received treatment.

Commonwealth War Graves, Great War, history, illness, Northamptonshire, photography, Royal Army Service Corps, Sergeant, story, war

Serjeant George Twiselton

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Serjeant George Twiselton

George Twiselton was born in Milton Malsor, Northamptonshire, in the spring of 1878. The third of nine children, he was the second of two sons to Reuben and Eliza Twiselton. Reuben was a general labourer, working for the local railway and brewer, and his son was to follow suit, taking up employment as a drayman.

In 1903, George married Annie Branson. She was a cooper’s daughter from Northampton, and it seems likely that George and his future father-in-law knew each other through their combined work. By the time the young couple married, Annie was working as a domestic servant for the Burnham family, and was living at 50 Middle Street, Bradwell, Buckinghamshire (now part of Milton Keynes).

The 1911 census found George and Annie living in Milton Malsor. They had four children by this point: Edith, Doris, Reuben and Clara. George was still employed as a brewer’s drayman, and this would stand him in good stead when war broke out a few years later.

Details George’s time in the army have been lost to time, but it is clear that he had enlisted by 1916, and was assigned to the Royal Army Service Corps. His previous time with horses led him to be attached to the 381st Mechanical Transport Company, and he spent time in France, eventually rising to the rank of Serjeant.

George survived the war, and returned home after the Armistice. However, he contracted influenza early in 1919, and would succumb to the condition on 9th March: he was 40 years of age.

The body of George Twiselton was laid to rest with full military honours in the graveyard of Holy Cross Church, in his home village of Milton Malsor.

Serjeant George Twiselton
(from miltonmalsorhistory.org.uk)

With her husband dead, and six children to raise, Annie had to find the strength to continue. The 1921 census found her living with her four youngest – including her only son, Reuben. She was employed on home duties, while her 13-year-old boy was working as a farm servant.

Reuben’s story is a testament to his father’s determination:

At the outbreak of WW2 Reuben, the only son of George, joined his father’s old RASC regiment and went to France as an ambulance driver with the British Expeditionary Force. Along with many others, he withdrew to the Dunkirk beaches but turned down evacuation back to the UK, choosing instead to stay behind and give assistance to the many wounded. He was later taken prisoner and held a Prisoner of War for 5 years until released by American soldiers in 1945. He died in 1988 aged 81 years.

[Milton Malsor History website]