Category Archives: illness

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

Private Francis Holland

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Private Francis Holland

Francis Arthur Holland was born in Maryborough, Victoria, Australia, the fifth of seven children to Matthew and Elizabeth. Details of his early life are lost to time, although a later document confirms his date of birth as 19th July 1887.

Matthew died in 1901, and the New South Wales Police Gazette of 16th February 1910 included a request seeking a missing person:

Francis Arthur Holland, 22 years of age, 6feet high, about 13 stone weight, dark complexion; a sleeper-getter or labourer. Inquiry at the instance of his brother, James Holland, Bradshaw’s College, 250 Flinders-street, Melbourne, Victoria.

The 2nd March edition of the same publication noted that Francis had been found.

By 1916, Francis had moved to New Zealand, and was working as a bushman at the Grosvenor Hotel, New Plymouth. It was while here that he was called upon to serve in the war, and he enlisted on 29th June 1916 in Trentham, North Island. His service records confirm his height, and give his weight as 174lbs (78.9kg). It also noted that he had brown hair, hazel eyes and a fair complexion. He had a scar across the based of his right foot, and another on the left side of his throat.

Private Holland was assigned to the New Zealand Auckland Regiment, and his unit spend the next few months training. On 22nd September 1916, Francis was promoted to the rank of Lance Corporal, but reverted to his previous rank just a matter of weeks later. On 11th October, his unit boarded a ship and set sail for Europe.

Francis arrived in Plymouth, Devon, on 29th December, and set off for France just over a month later. His unit would serve on the Western Front, and, within a matter of months, Private Holland was admitted to field ambulance hospitals twice, for an undisclosed illness in May 1917, and a sprained ankle in June.

This second injury led to a transfer to Britain, and from here on in Francis’ health become more and more impacted. Admitted to hospital in London, he developed tonsillitis and, as he was recovering from this, he was moved again, this time to the ANZAC military camp near Codford, Wiltshire.

While in the camp hospital, it was determined that Private Holland was suffering from a heart infection, endocarditis. Sadly, his health had been tested to the limits by this point, and this was the condition to which he would succumb. Francis passed away on 6th September 1917, at the age of 30 years old.

Having been born in Australia, emigrated to New Zealand and fought on the Western Front, Francis Arthur Holland was now thousands of miles from wherever he might call home. He was laid to rest in the extension to St Mary’s Churchyard in Codford, not far from the camp in which he had spent his last days.

Private Francis Holland
(from findagrave.com)
Commonwealth War Graves, Driver, Egypt, Great War, Hampshire, history, illness, New Zealand, New Zealand Army Service Corps, New Zealand Canterbury Regiment, photography, Private, story, war, Wiltshire

Driver William Protheroe

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Driver William Protheroe

William Protheroe was born in Rangiora, New Zealand, on 3rd January 1878. One of eleven children, his parents were Welsh-born Alexander Protheroe and his English wife, Mary.

There is little concrete information about William’s early life, but later documentation gives his trade as ‘traveller’, and confirms his marriage to Elizabeth Marshall in 1906, although she had passed away by the summer of 1915.

When the Empire was called upon to support Britain in the First World War, William stepped up to play his part. He enlisted on 14th June 1915, and was initially assigned to the Canterbury Infantry Regiment. His service records confirm that at 36 years of age, he was 5ft 9.5ins (1.77m) tall, and weighed 156lbs (70.8kg). William had brown hair, grey eyes and a fair complexion.

After his initial training, William was sent to Europe. On 18th November 1915, he arrived in Suez, and it was here that he transferred to the New Zealand Army Service Corps as a Driver. By the following spring he was on the move again, and he arrived in France in May 1916.

Driver Protheroe was dispatched to a field hospital, as he had contracted influenza, but was well enough to re-join his unit after a few weeks. December 1916 proved eventful for William. He was admitted to hospital in Wimereux, France, the records for the time confirming that he was suffering from rheumatism. Intriguingly, a corresponding entry advises that ‘Soldier was on duty at time of accident and in no way to blame.’

Medically evacuated to Britain, William was admitted to the No. 1 New Zealand General Hospital in Brockenhurst, Hampshire. He spent the month of January 1917 there, before moving to the ANZAC camp near Codford, Wiltshire.

Driver Protheroe would remain in Codford for the next few months. His health was still causing some concern, however, and he was admitted to the camp hospital on 30th June. William was suffering from nephritis, and this was the condition to which he would ultimately succumb. He passed away on 15th July 1917, at the age of 39 years old.

William Protheroe was laid to rest in the graveyard extension of St Mary’s Church, Codford, Wiltshire, alongside fallen colleagues from his regiment.

Commonwealth War Graves, Egypt, Great War, Hampshire, history, illness, New Zealand, New Zealand Otago Regiment, photography, Private, story, war, Wiltshire

Private Andrew Wishart

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Private Andrew Wishart

Andrew Anderson Wishart was born in Mokoreta, New Zealand, on 9th July 1896. The fourth of eight children, his parents were George and Agnes Wishart.

There is little information available about Andrew’s early life, but when he completed his schooling, he found work in the local sawmills, not an uncommon trade for the rural southern part of the country. In his spare time, he enlisted in the cadets, and had spent a year with them when he stepped up to join the war effort.

Andrew signed up on 19th November 1915, and was assigned to the 1st Battalion of the New Zealand Otago Infantry Regiment. His service records show the mad he had become: he gave his age as 20 years old (he was, in fact, only 19), he was 5ft 10.5ins (1.79m) tall and weighed 166lbs (75.3kg). He was initially trained near Wellington, and seemed to enjoy his freedom, as he spent a month in hospital in Trentham, suffering from gonorrhoea.

Private Wishart’s battalion set out from Wellington on 1st April 1916, arriving in Suez a month later. After three weeks’ pause in Egypt, his unit continued on to France, disembarking in Etaples on 28th May, and heading for the Western Front. Andrew soon found himself in the thick of the action.

The 1st Battalion was heavily involved at the Somme in the summer of 1916, and Private Wishart was not to come out unscathed. He was wounded on 30th September, and evacuated for treatment, first to Rouens, then to Britain. Wounded in the left thigh, he was admitted to the 1st New Zealand Hospital in Brockenhurst, Hampshire, and would end up spending two months there.

In December 1916, Private Wishart moved to the ANZAC camp in Codford, Wiltshire. He remained on site for the next few months, although this time was not without incident, as he was admitted to the camp hospital for with venereal disease once more.

Andrew returned to camp on 10th April 1917, but his health seems to have been impacted. He became jaundiced, and was once again admitted to the camp hospital. Atrophy of the liver was identified, and the condition would prove too severe for his body to recover from. He died on 10th July 1917, the day after his 21st birthday.

Andrew Anderson Wishart was laid to rest in the extension to St Mary’s Churchyard in Codford, Wiltshire, not far from the base he had called his home.

Andrew’s younger brother James had also enlisted in the Otago Regiment when war broke out. As a Private, he was assigned to the 2nd Battalion, his path followed a similar one to that of his older sibling. He was killed in action on the Western Front on 15th November 1916, aged just 18 years old.

Private James Wishart is buried in the Cité Bonjean Military Cemetery in Armentieres.

Private James Wishart
(from findagrave.com)
Commonwealth War Graves, Devon, Great War, history, illness, New Zealand, New Zealand Engineers, photography, Sapper, story, war, Wiltshire

Sapper Charles Salisbury

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Sapper Charles Salisbury

Charles Salisbury was born in Helensville, New Zealand, on 23rd June 1885. The fifth of six children, his parents were James and Sarah Salisbury.

Little information is available about Charles’ early life, but by his 20s he had found work as a linesman, working his way up to foreman. In April 1914 he married Nora Fiori: the couple settled in Onehunga, and had two children: Pauline had been born in 1907, and sister Catherine followed in 1911.

When war broke out in Europe, the British Empire called upon its own to step up and serve. Charles enlisted on 9th April 1916, joining the 15th Division of New Zealand Signallers, itself part of the New Zealand Engineers. His service records show that he was 31 years of age, 5ft 9ins (1.65m) tall and weighed 154lbs (69.9kg). He was noted as having dark hair, blue eyes and a dark complexion.

Sapper Salisbury’s unit left Wellington for Britain on 28th July 1916. The voyage on board the ship Waitemata took ten weeks, Charles setting foot on solid ground again in Devonport, Devon, in October. From there the battalion moved to its base near Codford, in Wiltshire.

Charles would spend the next six months in camp, presumably in preparation for a move to the continent. Sadly for Charles, however, he was not to see any action away from Britain. On 27th May 1917 he was admitted to the camp hospital, suffering from a cerebral haemorrhage: he died the following day. Sapper Salisbury was 31 years of age.

Charles Salisbury was laid to rest in the newly consecrated ANZAC extension to St Mary’s Churchyard in Codford, not far from the troops encampment.

Sapper Charles Salisbury
(from findagrave.com)
Commonwealth War Graves, Great War, history, illness, Kent, Petty Officer, photography, Royal Navy, Ship's Steward, story, Victualling Assistant, war

Chief Petty Officer John Henley

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Chief Petty Officer John Henley

John Henley was born on 4th September 1878, and was the second of five children to William and Frances. William was a navy pensioner from Maidstone, Kent, but it was in the nearby village of Loose that John was born and the family raised.

Given his father’s background, it was inevitable that John would go to sea as well. The 1891 census recorded him as being one of nearly 1000 pupils of the Royal Hospital School in Greenwich, and just three years later he formally enlisted in the Royal Navy. Just sixteen years of age, he was given the rank of Ship’s Steward Boy. His service records confirm that he was 5ft 4ins (1.63m) tall, with dark brown hair, light blue eyes and a fresh complexion.

Initially based at HMS Pembroke, the Royal Naval Dockyard in Chatham, Kent, over the next eighteen months, John spent time on five ships. This gave him enough grounding so that when he came of age in September 1896, he could be formally inducted into the navy, with the rank of Ship’s Steward Assistant.

Over the next decade, John’s career flourished. He was promoted to Acting Ship’s Steward in January 1901, and full Ship’s Steward fifteen months later. He had spent time on a further ten ship by this point, returning to HMS Pembroke in between postings.

In July 1905, John married Maud Norton, a carpenter’s daughter from his home village. While her husband was away at sea, she set up home at 88 Kingswood Road, Gillingham, Kent, and the couple went on to have three children: John, William and Lionel.

Back at sea, and by the time war broke out, Ship’s Steward Henley had completed more than twelve years in the role. In February 1918, he received a further promotion, this time to Victualling Chief Petty Officer, but this new role was to be cut tragically short. The following month, he was admitted to the Royal Naval Hospital in Chatham, Kent, suffering from a gastric ulcer. This haemorrhaged, and he passed away while still admitted. John died on 14th March 1918: he was 39 years of age.

We regret to announce the death of Mr John Henley, Victualling Chief Petty Officer (Ship Steward)… Deceased was a native of Loose and… had served 25 years in the Royal Navy, having commenced his career in the Royal Hospital School, Greenwich, at the age of eleven years. He took part in the battle off the Falkland Islands, and also in the operations in the Dardanelles whilst serving on HMS Inflexible. He leaves a widow and three sons.

[Kent Messenger & Gravesend Telegraph: Saturday 30th March 1918]

John Henley was laid to rest in the naval section of Woodlands Cemetery, Gillingham, walking distance from where his widow still lived.

Chief Petty Officer John Henley
(from britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk)
Able Seaman, Boy, Commonwealth War Graves, Great War, Hampshire, history, illness, Kent, Leading Seaman, London, Ordinary Seaman, Petty Officer, photography, Royal Navy, story, war

Able Seaman Thomas Jago

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Able Seaman Thomas Jago

Thomas Henry Jago was born on 3rd June 1872 in Romney Marsh, Kent. The second of ten children, his parents were James and Elizabeth. James was a coastguardman, and his son was destined to be connected to the sea.

Thomas joined the Royal Navy on 19th December 1887. Given the rank of Boy 2nd Class, his records show that he was just 5ft (1.52m) tall, with dark brown hair, grey eyes and a fresh complexion. He was sent to HMS St Vincent, the training ship based in Haslar, Hampshire, and would remain there until June 1889. During this time, he was promoted and given the new rank of Boy 1st Class.

Thomas’ first ocean assignment was on board the corvette HMS Active. She would be his home for the next three years. In June 1890 he came of age, and was formally inducted into the Royal Navy as an Ordinary Seaman. By November 1890, he had proved his worth again, and was promoted to Able Seaman.

Over the next seventeen years, Thomas would serve on 21 ships. Frustratingly, the dates on his service records become a little muddled as time goes on, but it was while he was on board the RMS Empress of India in the late 1890s that he was promoted to Leading Seaman, then Petty Officer 2nd Class and Petty Officer 1st Class, all within a matter of three years.

In March 1903 he was demoted to Petty Officer 2nd Class, but the higher rank was reinstated eighteen months later. In September 1907, while serving on HMS Magnificent, Thomas seems to have been in some sort of trouble. This resulted in the removal of his ranking, and he was downgraded to Able Seaman once more, a rank that he would then hold until the end of his naval career.

In between voyages, Able Seaman Jago would have a shore base to return back to. His most common port seems to have been Chatham, and HMS Pembroke, the town’s Royal Naval Dockyard, features on his records more and more as time goes by.

In June 1912, after 22 years of service, Thomas was stood down to reserve status. Over the next few years his trail goes cold, although a later document suggests that he had moved to Sandgate, Kent, where he was renting rooms at 18 High Street.

War was soon raging across the world, and Able Seaman Jago was called upon to serve again. Assigned to London’s HMS President in December 1915, he quickly returned to Chatham Dockyard again. Over the next couple of years, Thomas serves on two further ships – HMS Diligence and HMS Mars – but HMS Pembroke definitely became a home from home.

In February 1918, Able Seaman Jago returned to the Royal Naval Dockyard in Chatham one last time. He was unwell by this point, and was admitted to the the town’s Royal Naval Hospital for an operation on his mouth. Thomas was suffering from carcinoma of the tongue, and the condition was to prove fatal. He passed away on 26th March 1918, at the age of 45 years old.

Thomas Henry Jago was laid to rest in the naval section of Woodlands Cemetery in Gillingham, Kent, not far from the base he had called home for so many years.

Artificer, Commonwealth War Graves, Great War, Hampshire, history, illness, Kent, photography, Royal Navy, story, war

Engine Room Artificer 4th Class Leonard Bentley

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Engine Room Artificer 4th Class Leonard Bentley

Leonard Bentley was born in Strood, Kent, on 6th December 1896. One of six children, his parents were John and Emma Bentley. John was a barge captain, transporting ship-loads of cement from the local works to where it was needed.

The 1911 census found an extended Bentley family living at 85 Cliffe Road in Strood. John and Emma shared their home with Leonard, his older brother Arthur, and Arthur’s wife and son. Eleven years younger than Arthur, who was his next oldest sibling, Leonard was still at school by this point.

Education was obviously important to Leonard, and by the end of the year, he had enrolled in the Royal Navy as a Boy Artificer. He would spend the next few years at HMS Fisgard, the training establishment in Woolwich, Kent, learning his trade.

When he came of age in December 1914, Leonard was officially inducted into the Royal Navy, taking on the rank of Engine Room Artificer 5th Class. He remained at Fisgard until January 1916, when he transferred to HMS Victory, the Royal Naval Dockyard in Portsmouth.

This was a temporary move, however, and on 11th April Leonard was assigned to HMS Africa, and a few weeks later, he was promoted to Engine Room Artificer 4th Class. A battleship, the Africa would become his home for the next eighteen months and he would travel with to the Mediterranean and Adriatic Seas.

In January 1918, Engine Room Artificer Bentley would return to solid ground. He transferred to HMS Pembroke, the Royal Navy’s base in Chatham, Kent. The reason for his move appears to have been health related, and he was soon moved the the town’s Naval Hospital, suffering from pulmonary tuberculosis. The condition was to prove fatal. Leonard died on 15th April 1918: he was 21 years of age.

Leonard Bentley was laid to rest in the naval section of Woodlands Cemetery, Gillingham, Kent, not far from his family home, or his final naval base.

Commonwealth War Graves, Great War, history, illness, photography, story, war

Private Harry Gurd

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Private Harry Gurd

Harry John Gurd was born in the Wiltshire parish of Berwick St John in the spring of 1881. He was one of three children to dairyman Ebenezer Gurd and his wife, Elizabeth.

Details of Harry’s early life are fragmented, but by the time of the 1911 census, he had moved to West Sussex, and was working as a gardener. The document confirms that he had married Alice three years before, and that they were living in North End, Findon. By this point, the couple had three children: Alice, Ronald and Walter, and they would go on to have another daughter, Hester, in 1913.

Harry stepped up to play his part when war was declared. Full details of his service have been lost, but it is evident that he enlisted by December 1917 at the latest and, as a Private, joined the Army Veterinary Corps. He was initially attached to the 15th Veterinary Hospital, but transferred across to the Labour Corps, joining the 695th Company.

In the summer of 1918, Private Gurd fell ill. He was admitted to hospital, but his condition – a duodenal ulcer – was to prove fatal. He passed away on 25th June 1918, at the age of 37 years old.

The body of Harry John Gurd was brought back to Sussex for burial. He was laid to rest in the graveyard of St John the Baptist Church, Findon, the village that had become his home. When Alice died in the summer of 1958, she was buried alongside Harry: husband and wife reunited after forty years.

Commonwealth War Graves, Great War, Hampshire, history, illness, photography, Private, Royal Sussex Regiment, story, Sussex, war

Private Richard Hollingdale

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Private Richard Hollingdale

Richard Hollingdale was born at the start of 1887, and was one of nine children to Richard and Elizabeth. Richard Sr was a farm labourer from Lancing, but his namesake son was born in the Sussex village of Washington.

By the time of the 1901 census, the family had moved to Findon, a village to the north of Worthing. Attached to Muntham Farm, they lived in New Barn, a workers’ cottage on the estate. Richard Jr and his brothers all helped out on the farm and, according to the next census return, Richard Sr, now 75 years of age, was a labourer, while the three sons still living at home – William, Richard Jr and Charles – were all waggoners.

When war consumed Europe in the summer of 1914, Richard Jr stepped up to serve his country. Sadly, full details of his service have been lost to time, but it is clear from what remains that he joined up early in the conflict, and certainly no later than October 1914.

Private Hollingdale was attached to the 7th (Service) Battalion of the Royal Sussex Regiment and in the spring of 1915 his unit moved to the Ramillies Barracks in Aldershot, Hampshire. Richard had only been there for a couple of weeks, when he fell ill. He was admitted to the local Isolation Hospital with scarlet fever, and the condition was to prove fatal. He passed away on 23rd March 1915, at the age of 28 years old.

The body of Richard Hollingdale was taken back to Sussex for burial. He was laid to rest in the family plot in St John the Baptist Churchyard, Findon.

Commonwealth War Graves, Crete, Great War, history, illness, India, Malta, photography, Private, Royal Sussex Regiment, story, Sussex, war

Private Wilfred Bridger

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Private Wilfred Bridger

Wilfred Percival Bridger was born on 20th January 1885, the middle of three children to William and Emma. William was a groom from Albourne in Sussex, but, after a spell in Newmarket, the family had settled in Findon near Worthing.

William passed away just two years after Wilfred’s birth, and Emma remarried. The 1891 census found her and her new husband, George Lish, living with William and his siblings in a house on Findon Street.

When he completed his schooling, William found work as a shepherd: the next census return, taken in 1901, found the extended family living at 1 Brazil Cottages, next to the Black Horse Inn in Findon Village. George and Emma now had three children of their own, and Emma’s widowed mother, Martha, completed the household.

Shepherding was not a permanent career option for Wilfred and, on 28th April 1902, he enlisted in the army. He gave his occupation as groom, and his medical report confirmed he was 5ft 7ins (1.7m) tall and 120lbs (54.4kg) in weight. He was noted as having brown hair, grey eyes and a fresh complexion.

The Royal Sussex Regiment would definitely provide Private Bridger with the globe-trotting adventures that he may have wished for. After two years on home soil, his unit – the 2nd Battalion – moved to Malta, where he would spend close to twelve months. In May 1905 he moved to Crete, and from there to India in January 1907.

By the start of 1910 Wilfred had returned to Britain, and he was stood down to reserve status when his contract came to an end that April. He returned to Sussex, and the family home. 1 Brazil Cottages was crowded by this point, with Wilfred sharing the five-roomed house with his mother, stepfather, half-brother, niece. There were also two lodgers, widowed farm labourer Alfred Newman and his son, William.

Things were to change for Wilfred, however. In September 1911 he married Florence Herrington, a carter’s daughter from Henfield, Sussex. When the couple wed, she was working as a servant in a boarding house in Ambrose Place, Worthing. The young couple set up home in Nepcote, near Findon, and went on to have four children – William, Albert, Henry and Lilian.

When war broke out, Wilfred was called upon to play his part again. He re-joined the Royal Sussex Regiment on 31st August 1914, but when his medical was carried out the following March, he was found to have tuberculosis, and deemed not fit for service. After further tests, Private Bridger was medically discharged on 28th May 1915.

At this point, Wilfred’s trail goes cold. He returned to Findon and, it seems this is where he passed away on 13th September 1918. He was 33 years of age.

Wilfred Percival Bridger was laid to rest in the quiet surroundings of Findon’s St John the Baptist Churchyard.

Private Wilfred Bridger
(from ancestry.co.uk)