William Clements Bray was born on 14th October 1900. One of six children, his parents were Frederick and Annie. Frederick was a Private in the Wiltshire Regiment, and was based out of Trowbridge, Wiltshire. His work took him away from home a lot, however, and so Annie was left to raise the children on her own.
By the time of the 1911 census Frederick had left the army, and had instead found work as a canal labourer for the Great Western Railway. The family of eight were living in a four-roomed cottage at 22 Prospect Place, to the north of the town centre. William was still at school, but two of his siblings – brother Frederick Jr, and sister Florence – were both employed and bringing a wage into the houshold.
War broke out in the summer of 1914, and it seems that William was keen to play his part. He enlisted on the 12th April 1918, joining the Royal Navy. As he was under age, he was given the rank of Boy 2nd Class, and sent to HMS Powerful, a training ship based in Portsmouth, Hampshire. His service papers note that he was 5ft 4ins (1.62m) tall, with brown hair, brown eyes and a fresh complexion. He was also noted as having a large scar across his chest.
Boy Bray’s time in the navy was to be tragically short. After just a few weeks he was admitted to hospital in Plymouth, Devon, with scarlet fever, and developed emphysema. He passed away on 25th November “after a long and painful illness” [Wiltshire Times and Trowbridge Advertiser: Saturday 14th December 1918] He was just 18 years of age.
The body of William Clements Bray was taken back to Wiltshire for burial. He was laid to rest in Trowbridge Cemetery, not far from where his parents were living.
Thomas Fisher was born in Lyminge, Kent, on 7th October 1876. One of eleven children, his parents were agricultural labourer William Fisher and his wife, Frances.
William moved the family to where the work was. The 1881 census found them living away from the coast to Crundale, Kent; they had moved to Rough Common near Canterbury by 1891.
Thomas followed in his father’s footsteps, and by the time of the 1901 census, he was the oldest of three of the Fisher siblings to still be living at home. Frances died in 1910, and William moved in with his son Albert’s family in Rough Common. Albert was employed as a stoker with the Royal Navy, so presumably this gave his wife, Daisy, and their children, Albert Jr and Esther, some support.
Thomas, meanwhile, was boarding with his sister, Harriet, and her children, also in Rough Common. Again, this was probably to provide her with some financial support while her husband Charles, who was a Stoker Petty Officer in the navy, was also away at sea.
When war broke out, Thomas was called upon to play his part. He enlisted on 22nd March 1916, joining the Royal Navy as a Stoker 2nd Class. His service records show that he was 5ft 4.5ins (1.63m) tall, with brown hair, blue eyes and a fresh complexion.
Thomas was sent to HMS Pembroke, the Royal Naval Dockyard in Chatham, Kent, for his training, but his time there was not to be lengthy. By the end of April, he had been admitted to the naval hospital in the town, suffering from pneumonia. The condition would prove his undoing: he passed away on 4th May 1916, at the age of 39 years old. He had been in the Royal Navy for just six weeks.
The body of Thomas Fisher was laid to rest in Woodlands Cemetery, Gillingham, Kent, not far from the base at which he had spent his naval career.
Frederick Russell was born in Woolwich, Kent, on 8th August 1868, and was the younger of two children to Elizabeth Russell. Of Frederick’s father there is no trace, and it is likely that he passed away soon after his son’s birth. Only Elizabeth’s name appear on her son’s baptism record, the ceremony carried out at St Nicholas’ Church, Plumstead, Kent, on 1st August 1869.
The 1871 census found Elizabeth and her children – Caroline and Frederick – living in rooms at 1 Armstrong Place, Plumstead. She was employed as a hat trimmer, and the document confirms that she had been born in Matlock, Derbyshire.
Money must have incredibly tight, and by the 1881 census, Frederick was one of 115 students at the South Metropolitan Schools Branch in Herne Bay, Kent. The former Pier Hotel on the seafront, this had been set up as a convalescent home for pauper children from the Woolwich area.
The next record for Frederick shows the start what would become a thirty year naval career. He enlisted as a Boy 2nd Class on 10th January 1884, and was assigned to the Royal Navy’s school ship, HMS Impregnable. She would remain his home for the next eighteen months, and he was promoted to Boy 1st Class during his time on board.
In August 1885, Boy Russell was given his first sea-going assignment, on the battleship HMS Ajax. The following spring, he transferred to the corvette HMS Comus, and she would become his home for the next six years. During this time, he came of age, and was formally inducted into the Royal Navy as an Ordinary Seaman. His papers show that he was 5ft 1in (1.55m) tall, with brown hair, grey eyes and a fresh complexion. They also note an abscess scar under his jaw and a dog bite on his right arm.
Frederick was a determined young man, and his commitment to the navy paid off. Over the ten years of his contract, he would serve on three ships after Comus, and was promoted three times – to Able Seaman in April 1888, Leading Seaman in 1894 and Petty Officer 2nd Class on 1st January 1895.
In August 1896, Frederick’s contract with the navy came to an end, but he immediately re-enlisted. Over the next decade he added a further six vessels to the list of those he had served on, and had been promoted again, to Petty Officer 1st Class, taking the rank in August 1897. As time wore on, more and more of his service was spent on shore, and he spent the last two years of his second contract based at HMS Pembroke, the Royal Naval Dockyard in Chatham, Kent.
Petty Officer Russell’s contract came to an end in August 1906 and his trail goes cold for a few years. An entry on the 1911 census suggests that he may have found work as a servant in the St Aloysius School on Hornsey Lane, Upper Holloway, Middlesex.
Frederick had also met someone by this point, and on 7th January 1911, he was due to marry Elizabeth Stone at Holy Trinity Church on Haverstock Hill. The nuptials did not take place, however, the vicar noting that the entry was cancelled, ‘the parties not having presented themselves at the time appointed.’ The couple were still very much together, however, and went on to have four children: Frederick, Gladys, Ernest and George.
When war broke out, Frederick was called back into service in his previous role of Petty Officer 1st Class. Over the course of two years, he spent six months on board the battleship HMS Duncan. The rest of the time he served at his former base HMS Pembroke, and is seems likely that this was so that he was closer to his family.
By the summer of 1916, Frederick’s health was starting to fail. He contracted pneumonia, and the condition would get the better of him. He passed away on 29th July 1916, a few days short of his 48th birthday.
The body of Frederick Russell was laid to rest in the military section of Woodlands Cemetery, Gillingham, Kent, not far from the base he had called home for a lot of his navy career.
William Bruce was born in Chatham, Kent, on 3rd July 1873. The oldest of fourteen children, his parents were David and Sarah Bruce. David worked as a blacksmith in the local dockyard, and this is a job that William also followed when he finished his schooling.
For the early part of William’s life, the Bruce family lived on Fort Pitt Street, initially at No. 29, then, as the family grew, No. 42. Working as a blacksmith brought in a salary, but the navy offered William more of a career and, on 20th June 1893, he signed up.
Stoker 2nd Class Bruce’s service papers show that he was 5ft 4ins (1.63m) tall, with dark brown hair, brown eyes and a fresh complexion. He would spend a total of 13 years with the Royal Navy and, unsurprisingly, given where he was living, he would be based out of HMS Pembroke, the Royal Naval Dockyard in Chatham.
William spent six months at HMS Wildfire – the dockyard in Sheerness, Kent – during the summer of 1893, before returning to Pembroke. She would remain his home for the next three years, during which time he was promoted to Stoker 1st Class. His time back at Pembroke was not without incident, however, and he spent three days in the cells for an unconfirmed misdemeanour in August 1894.
On 14th January 1896, Stoker Bruce was given his first sea-going posting, on board the cruiser HMS Endymion. Over the remaining nine years of his initial contract, he would go on to spend time on three further ships. William’s commitment to the role was now becoming evident: he was promoted to Leading Stoker 2nd Class in October 1900, and Leading Stoker 1st Class less than four years later.
Away from the sea, love was blossoming for William. On 12th February 1900, he married Nellie Benster, a dressmaker and lady’s companion from Chatham. The couple took rooms at 145 Thorold Road, a home for the new bride while her husband was away at sea.
When Leading Stoker Bruce’s 12-year contract came to an end, he immediately renewed it. In August 1905, he was assigned to the battleship HMS Resolution, and he remained on board for the next nine months. William’s next assignment was another battleship, HMS Triumph, and he would be attached to her for nearly six years.
On 1st July 1906, William was promoted to Stoker Petty Officer. He retained this rank until December 1910, when he reverted to Leading Stoker. His papers hint at the cause for this demotion: his annual review had dropped from very good to merely good after he took the new role.
Over the next two years, Leading Stoker Bruce went on to serve on three further ships: the depot ship HMS Aquarius, the cruiser HMS Talbot and the sloop HMS Cadmus. By December 1912, William seems to have proved his mettle once more, and was promoted to Stoker Petty Officer again.
William remained on Cadmus for more than three years, returning to Chatham in the spring of 1916. Over the next few months, his health began to suffer and he was admitted to the town’s Royal Naval Hospital with pneumonia. The condition would get the better of him, and he passed away on 20th October 1916, at the age of 43 years old.
The body of William Bruce was laid to rest in the naval section of Woodlands Cemetery, Gillingham, Kent.
Thomas Charles Adams was born on 18th April 1891 in Ilfracombe, Devon. The oldest of four children, his parents were Thomas and Amanda Adams. Thomas Sr was a mason turned builder, but his son seemed keen to carve his own path in life.
On 5th October 1905, Thomas Jr enlisted in the Royal Navy. His papers show that he was 5ft 6ins (1.67m) tall, with dark hair, hazel eyes and a dark complexion. His time with the navy seems to have been brief, he was sent to HMS Impregnable for training, but was discharged on 9th November 1905, the reason given being “Invd”. Later documents suggest that he was dismissed because he was under the regulation chest measurement, but it was likely due to the fact that he had added two years to his age in order to be accepted.
Thomas returned home, and found employment as a fitter. He was not to be deterred, however, and joined the Dorsetshire Regiment as a volunteer. On 30th January 1907 he gave up his job, and enlisted in the army full time. Thomas’ papers give similar physical descriptions to his naval record, but also include his weight, 123lbs (55.8kg).
Private Adams was assigned to the 3rd Battalion, and spent the next two years on home soil. On 5th January 1909, however, the life of adventure he had wanted truly began. His unit was sent to India, and he would remain overseas for more than six years. His time overseas was not without incident, however, and he had four separate admissions to hospital with neuralgia (in April 1909), gonorrhoea (1910 and 1912) and malaria (in 1914).
By May 1915, Thomas was back in Britain. He was still having health issues, however, and he was admitted to Netley Hospital, Hampshire, suffering from tuberculosis. The condition would lead to his discharge from the army, and he was formally stood down on 15th June 1915.
At this point, Thomas’ trail goes cold. It is likely that he returned to his family, who were now living in Combe Martin, Devon. This is where he passed away, on 14th October 1915, at the age of 24 years old.
The body of Thomas Charles Adams was laid to rest in the graveyard of St Peter’s Church, Combe Martin.
The funeral of Pte. Augustus Hines, of the Australian Imperial Forces, took place on Monday in Combe Martin Parish Churchyard. Wounded in Northern France, he was sent to a hospital in Middlesex, and when convalescent was granted leave to pay a visit to Mr and Mrs John Dovell, of Glen Cottage, whose two sons, Corpl. Herbert Dovell and Pte. Lewis Dovell, were his comrades in Western Australia, and also in the field of battle. Unfortunately he developed pneumonia, and passed away on August 16th… The coffin was followed by the members of the Parish Council, convalescent soldiers, and a large number of friends, the late soldier’s genial and frank disposition having made him popular during his brief stay in the parish.
[North Devon Journal: Thursday 24th August 1916]
Augustus Hines was born in 1874 in the town of Concord, New South Wales. Details of his early life have been lost to time, but he was the son of Allen and Elizabeth Hines, and had at least one sibling, a sister called Lily.
By the time war was declared, Augustus had moved to the outskirts of Perth, and was employed as a timber worker. He enlisted in the army on 27th September 1915, his service records showing that he was 5ft 6.5ins (1.68m) tall, and weighed 10st 4lbs (65.3kg). He had fair hair, blue eyes and a fair complexion.
Private Hines was assigned to the 28th Battalion of the Australian Infantry and, by the start of 1916, he was on his way to Europe. After a two-month stop in Egypt, Augustus’ unit travelled on to France. They disembarked in Marseilles on 21st March, and headed from there to the Front Line.
Private Hines’ unit was sent to the village of Marle, but he would not remain there for long. Within a matter of weeks he received a gun shot wound to his foot. Initially treated by the 7th Field Ambulance, he was transferred to a hospital in Etaples, then taken to Britain on board the Hospital Ship Brighton.
Augustus was admitted to the 1st Australian General Hospital in Harefield, Middlesex, where he remained for the next six weeks. From there, he was discharged to convalesce, and made his way to his friends’ family in Devon.
It was while he was here that Private Augustus Hines fell ill. He passed away on 16th August 1916, at the age of 42 years old. He was laid to rest in the graveyard of St Peter’s Churchyard, Combe Martin.
Alfred Bishop was born on 18th June 1892 in the Oxfordshire town of Burford. The oldest of eleven children, his parents were Samuel and Emily Bishop. Samuel was employed by a local tannery, and the 1901 census found the family living on Guildenford, to the east of the town centre.
Alfred would initially follow his father into the tannery, where he was employed as a harness maker. However, he had his sights set on bigger and better things and, on 24th January 1911, he enlisted in the Royal Navy. His service records show that he was just under 5ft 9ins (1.75m) tall, with brown hair, hazel eyes and a ruddy complexion. The document also noted a scar on his left groin following a varicocele operation.
Stoker 2nd Class Bishop was sent to HMS Pembroke, the Royal Naval Dockyard in Chatham, Kent, for his training. In August 1911 he was given his first posting, on board the cruiser HMS Black Prince. She would remain his home for the next nine months, during which he was promoted to Stoker 1st Class.
Over the next four years, Alfred would serve on five further vessels, returning to HMS Pembroke between each assignment. On 10th April 1916, he joined the crew of the cruised HMS Liverpool, and would remain with her for more than two years.
By this point Stoker Bishop’s annual reviews were increasingly positive, noting a very good character and a superior ability. This would pay off: in June 1916 he was promoted to Leading Stoker, with a rise to Stoker Petty Officer following two years later.
Alfred remained in the Royal Navy until 6th August 1919, when he was medically discharged with tuberculosis. By this point he had served for more than eight years, and had served on eight vessels.
Following his discharge, Alfred returned to Oxfordshire. The 1921 census found him living at 9a Market Square with his wife, Eliza, and their five-month-old daughter, Bertha. There is little information about Eliza, but it seems likely that the couple met after her husband had returned home.
At this point, Alfred Bishop’s trail goes cold. He passed away on 29th August 1921, at the age of 29 years old. His body was laid to rest in the graveyard of St John the Baptist’s Church, in his home town of Burford.
Albert Search was born in Burford, Oxfordshire, in the autumn of 1891. One of thirteen children, he was the third son to William and Fanny Search. William was a farm labourer, and this is work into which Albert followed.
The 1911 census found the family living on Guildenford, close to the town centre and St John the Baptist’s Church. Three of the household were employed, three of the children were still at school, and they had a lodger – 71-year-old widower Steven Lange, who was also working on the farm.
On 15th August 1915, Albert married Annie Pearse. The same age as her new husband, she was also from Burford, and was the son of a cowman, possible connected to the same farm as her father-in-law. The couple set up home in Lawrence Lane, and went on to have a child, Albert Jr, who was born the following year.
Albert was called upon to serve his country some time after the wedding, and he joined the Gloucestershire Regiment as a Private. Assigned to the 3rd (Reserve) Battalion, he was soon sent to the Eastern Mediterranean. Private Search would spend more than two years there, but contracted malaria.
He was in hospital six months, and was afterwards invalided home for a month. He then returned back to his unit in Bristol, was sent back to hospital, and was discharged in 1920.
[Oxford Chronicle and Reading Gazette: Friday 9th September 1921]
Albert returned home to Annie and his son. When his health had recovered enough, he returned to farm work, and the 1921 census recorded him working on Tangley Farm. During that summer, however, his health deteriorated once more:
..on August 23 he was taken ill and died within eight days. Deceased was a native of Burford, where he was well known and highly respected.
[Oxford Chronicle and Reading Gazette: Friday 9th September 1921]
Albert Search was just 29 years old when he died. His body was laid to rest in the graveyard of St John the Baptist’s Church: this was where he had both been christened and married, and was at the end of the road from where his widow still lived.
In dying when he did, Albert became one of the last servicemen eligible for a Commonwealth War Grave.
Leslie Stanfield Long was born in Bradford-on-Avon, Wiltshire, on 15th November 1893. He was an only child, the son of Albert and Alice Long. Albert ran a building company and, at the time of the 1901 census, the young family were living at 46 Newtown, a terraced house to the west of the town centre.
Alice died in 1910, at the age of 35, and was laid to rest in the graveyard of Christ Church, Bradford-on-Avon. Albert remarried, to a woman called Emeline, and the next census found the family living at 8 St Margaret’s Villas, a large detached property to the south of the town. Also recorded on the census were Albert’s niece, Beatrice, and domestic servant Gladys Stone. Leslie had completed his schooling by this point, and was working as an apprentice motor care repairer.
When war broke out, Leslie was quick to step up and play his part. He enlisted on 14th September 1914, and was assigned to the Royal Engineers as a Sapper. His service records show that he was 5ft 11ins (1.8m) tall, with good vision and good physical development. He was attached to the 1st/1st Wessex Field Company, and found himself in France before the year was out.
Sapper Long would spend the next six months in France, but would be medically discharged from the army on 23rd June 1915. There is no evidence that he was injured, so the likelihood is that he fell ill with a contagious illness such as tuberculosis. He returned home, and would remain there until the following spring.
Leslie Stanfield Long’s health was obviously impacted: he passed away at home on 25th April 1916, at the age of just 22 years old. He was laid to rest alongside his mother in the family plot in Christ Church graveyard.
James Rees Cole was born in the spring of 1881, and was the oldest of four children to Thomas and Jane. Thomas was a groom from Pembrokeshire, Wales, and, at the time of James’ birth, he and Jane were living in the village of Chancery, to the south of Aberystwyth, Ceredigion, Wales.
The 1901 census recorded that the Cole family had relocated to England and had set up home at 15 Woolley Street, Bradford-on-Avon, Wiltshire. Thomas was employed as a domestic coachman, while James, now 19 years old, was an ironmonger’s assistant.
By 1911, James was boarding with widow Sarah Goodman in the Devon village of Withycombe Raleigh, now a suburb of Exmouth. His was engaged by this point, and just a couple of months later, on 5th July, he married his sweetheart, Bessie Livings, in Christ Church, Bradford-on-Avon. The couple went on to have two children, Irene and Dennis.
When war was declared, James stepped up to play his part. He enlisted in December 1915, by which point he and Bessie had moved to Reading, Berkshire. His service papers show that he was 5ft 9ins (1.75m) tall, and weighed 135lbs (61.2kg). He had blue eyes, brown hair and a fresh complexion.
Assigned to the Royal Garrison Artillery, Gunner Cole was not formally mobilised until June 1917. Initially sent to Plymouth, Devon, by the following spring, he had moved to Fareham, ahead of his unit being sent to France. James would spend the next six months in France, before being medically evacuated back to Britain.
Gunner Cole had crushed the metatarsals in his left foot, although his medical notes are difficult to read, it is clear that he was inconsiderable pain. He was admitted to the war hospital in Reading, Berkshire, and remained there for a couple of weeks. When he was discharged, he was transferred to the 2nd Siege Artillery Reserve Brigade in Catterick, North Yorkshire, while he recuperated.
James would only be out of hospital for a matter of weeks. He contracted influenza and was admitted to the camp hospital, but the condition would prove too severe. He passed away on 1st January 1919, at the age of 37 years old.
The body of James Rees Cole was taken back to Wiltshire for burial. He was laid to rest in the graveyard of Christ Church, Bradford-on-Avon, not far from where his widow and children were living.
Death and Service 