George William Sandell was born on 13th August 1902, the oldest of five children to William and Mary Sandell. While George was born in Chichester, William raised the family in Worthing; he was a carpenter and joiner by trade, and came from a local building family.
When George left school, he found work as a porter on the railways. Too young to be directly involved in the 1914-1918 conflict, he was definitely for adventure, and, on 5th February 1919, he enlisted in the Royal Navy.
Assigned the rank of Boy – because of his age – he was sent to HMS Ganges II, a training establishment in Suffolk. His decision to enlist was set to be young George’s undoing; within weeks he had contracted pneumonia, and he passed away on 10th March 1919. Tragically, he was just 16 years old.
William and Mary brought their boy back to Worthing; he was buried in the Broadwater Cemetery there, within walking distance of their home.
For me, a huge coincidence to this story is that I lived in the house George was brought up in. He was raised at 27 Southfield Road, in Worthing, up until he was sent for training in 1919. I lived at the same address for a number of years in the early 2000s.
James Butcher was born in the village of Durrington, West Sussex, on 12th April 1880. He was one of seven children to agricultural labourer Henry Butcher and his laundress wife, Sarah. The family were dedicated to the countryside life; by the time of the 1891 census, James was listed as a cowboy, as was his older brother, so at 10 years old, his time would have been spent up on the South Downs, tending a farmer’s bovine herd.
In 1904, James married Eleanor Andrews, the daughter of a publisher’s packer from London. The couple would go on to have six children: William, Thomas, George, Walter, Ernest and Gladys. By the time of the 1911 census, the family were living in Broadwater, to the north of Worthing, and James was listed as a general labourer for the town council.
When war arrived on England’s shores, James was keen to to his bit. He initially joined the Royal Sussex Regiment, although subsequently moved to the Agricultural Company of the Labour Corps. Sadly, Private Butcher’s military service records are no longer available, so it’s impossible to confirm exact dates for his time in the army.
James survived the conflict, but the next record for him is the Army Register of Soldiers’ Effects. This confirms that he was admitted to the Swandean Isolation Hospital on the outskirts of Worthing, and subsequently passed away there. There’s nothing to confirm his cause of death, although, based on the nature of the hospital, it is likely to have been one of the lung conditions prevalent at the close of the war.
James Butcher died on the 22nd March 1919, at the age of 38 years old. He was laid to rest in the Broadwater Cemetery, not far from his home.
Frederick John Slaughter was born in around 1878, one of eight children to Stephen and Frances (who was better known as Fanny) Slaughter. Stephen was a brewer’s drayman, who had gotten himself in trouble with the law the year before Frederick was born.
Stephen Slaughter charged with feloniously embezzling five several sums of 10s each, which he had received for and on account of his masters, Octavius Coope and others, at Worthing, on the 7th September 1876, was sentenced to six calendar months’ hard labour.
Sussex Advertiser: Saturday 14th April 1877
Stephen was imprisoned in Petworth Jail, but took ill there. Two months later, a further newspaper report shed further light on him:
ANOTHER DEATH IN THE GAOL
On Thursday another inquest – the second within a week – was held at Petworth Gaol… on the body of Stephen Slaughter.
Mr Linton, the governor, said the deceased was about 36 years of age, was a brewer’s drayman and was sentenced at the April Quarter Sessions to six months’ imprisonment with hard labour for embezzlement. He was a very quiet, industrious, and well-conducted prisoner.
On admission he was put to a labour machine, which consists of turning a handle, weighted to 10lbs, and making 14,000 revolutions daily as a maximum. About a fortnight after he was reported to the surgeon. He was looking pale, and was put in the open air to work at the pumps.
About the middle of June he was put to spinning wool, a very light description of work, and on the 18th June witness again reported him to the surgeon. He continued wool spinning until taken ill on Sunday morning last. Warder Daughtery then reported his illness and witness at once sent for Dr Wilmot, and at that gentleman’s request Dr Hope was also called in consultation.
From that time till his death, early on Wednesday, he was under the care of the surgeons, in his cell, which was a roomy, airy one. The Infirmary was occupied by another case.
On Sunday witness wrote to deceased’s brother, and two of them visited him on Monday. (Witness produced a letter, since received from one of deceased’s brothers, in which he said “In conclusion I beg to thank you and all the officials connected with the prison for your kindness to my brother during his illness, as he told me on Monday when I saw him he was treated with the greatest kindness.”)
The evidence of Mr Wilmot and Mr Hope, surgeon, showed that the nature of deceased’s illness necessitated an operation, which was performed with his consent, but that after it he gradually sank and died of exhaustion.
Horsham, Petworth, Midhurst and Steyning Express: 24th July 1877
Stephen died before Frederick was born, leaving Fanny, to bring him and the youngest of his siblings up alone. Fanny found work as a dressmaker and, according to the 1881 census, she lived in a small cottage just off Worthing seafront with her 15 year old daughter, Emily, and her three youngest boys, Walter (who was 8), Arthur (5) and Frederick (3).
When he left school, Frederick found work as a errand boy for the local fishermen; his two older brothers we employed by a local dairy, and the three of them were living with their mother, a paternal uncle and lodger in a cottage in the centre of the town.
Fanny died in 1902, at the age of 62. Seven years later Frederick, now working as a carman for a grocer, married Gertrude Lawrence, who had been born in Kent. The couple went on to have a son – also called Frederick – the following year.
When war came to European shores, Frederick was quick to enlist. He joined the Royal Sussex Regiment on 9th October 1914, and was assigned to the 7th (Service) Battalion as a Private. Full service details are not readily available, but he certainly served in France, having been posted there in June 1915.
While Private Slaughter’s military records are scarce, his medical ones are very detailed. In June 1916 he was treated in the field for scabies, in December that year, he received treatment for pediculosis, an infestation of lice. Eight months later, he was admitted to a hospital in Camiens with an inflamed knee, something which subsequently recurred two months later, when he was admitted for treatment in Etaples. Frederick was received treatment for a fifth time in January 1918, this time for a deformed toe, but after this, his overall health seemed to stabilise.
Private Slaughter was demobbed in March 1919, and returned to England. Sadly, it seemed that his health wasn’t as good as it might have seemed; on 17th July 1919, he died at home from heart failure, which was subsequently attributed to his was service. He was 41 years old.
Frederick Slaughter was laid to rest in the Broadwater Cemetery in his home town of Worthing, West Sussex.
The war years were particularly tragic for Stephen and Fanny’s children. Along with Frederick’s passing in 1919, his oldest brother Harry had died in 1914, two other brothers – Henry and William – had died in 1916, while a fourth brother, Walter, passed away in 1920.
William Henry Rhodes was born in the summer of 1886 and was the youngest of six children. His father Reuben was a gardener who, with his wife Ellen, raised their family in a small cottage near the central station in Worthing, West Sussex.
When he left school, William found work as an assistant in a bookshop. This was just a stepping stone, however, and his mind was on a life of adventures. In March 1908, he enlisted in the army, joining the Household Cavalry, and was assigned to the 1st Life Guards. William’s medical report showed that he stood at just under 6ft (1.83m) tall, and weighed 141lbs (64kg). He had a fresh complexion, grey eyes and brown hair.
Trooper Rhodes was initially based on home soil; his barracks were in London and he served in Hyde Park, Regents Park and at Windsor, where he would have been called upon to be involved in royal duties that would have taken place. This changed when the Great War broke out, however, and his division was sent out to northern France as part of the British Expeditionary Force.
The 1st Life Guards were involved in the First Battle of Ypres, and went on to fight in many of the fiercest battles of the conflict. His service record identifies that he was wounded in February 1915, when he received a gunshot wound to the head, although, surprisingly, there is nothing in his medical record that suggests any subsequent hospital admission.
In fact, Trooper Rhodes did receive hospital treatment during his military service; he was admitted for bronchial catarrh in April 1908 and May 1909 and headaches in June 1911. Four years later, he contracted tuberculosis while in action in France, and moved back to London for treatment.
William’s condition was serious enough for him to be medically discharged form the army; having spent more than a month in hospital, he was released from duty on 31st August 1915.
There is little further information about William’s life back home. The next document on him confirms that he died on 19th November 1917. While the cause is not noted, it seems likely to have been connected to the lung conditions he suffered during the war. William was 31 years of age.
William Henry Rhodes was laid to rest in Broadwater Cemetery in the town of his birth, Worthing, West Sussex.
John Henry Saunders was born at the end of 1899, in the West Sussex village of East Preston. One of five children, his parents were agricultural labourer John and his wife Louisa. John Sr sadly passed away in 1904, when his son was just 4 years old.
Louisa went on to marry again in 1909, to a man named Charman. While no marriage records remain, it seems that he might have been a widower. The 1911 census finds Louisa living in Worthing with her four surviving children (her eldest, Lilian, having passed away earlier in the year), a stepson of 16 and new babe-in-arms.
With the outbreak of war in 1914, John looked to do his part. Sadly, his military records are not available, but what is clear is that he joined the Cavalry Regiment at some point after September 1917. He was assigned to the 3rd Reserve Regiment, which trained men for the Dragoon Guards, and Northamptonshire, Surrey and Sussex Yeomanry units.
Sadly, Private Saunders’ time in the armed forces was limited. He was admitted to the Military Isolation Hospital in Aldershot and, while it is not clear what the admission was for, it seems likely that he was moved from the main hospital because of a contagious condition like tuberculosis or pneumonia.
John Henry Saunders’ time in hospital was brief. He passed away on 16th March 1918, aged just 18 years of age. His body was brought back to Worthing, and he was buried in the Broadwater Cemetery to the north of the town.
Albert Sydney Farrell was born in Mayfield, East Sussex, in the summer of 1899. One of four children his parents were gardener and coachman Arthur Farrell and his wife, Sarah Ann. Arthur had been born in Findon, a village to the north of Worthing, and is was to this town that he returned with his family. By the time of the 1911 census, when Albert was listed as a schoolboy, they were living in a small cottage within spitting distance of the sea.
Because of his youth, there is little further documentation on Albert’s early life. The war was coming, however, and he wanted to do his part. Dates cannot be confirmed, but he enlisted later in the conflict, at east before June 1918.
Private Farrell joined the Suffolk Regiment, and was assigned to the 1st (Reserve) Garrison Battalion. He would have carried out guard, escort and other similar duties from where he was based on the Isle of Grain in Kent.
Towards the end of the conflict, Albert fell ill; he was admitted to the Military Hospital in Sheerness, but sadly passed away on 3rd December 1918. He was just 19 years of age.
Albert Sydney Farrell was brought back to Worthing; he lies buried in the Broadwater Cemetery to the north of the town.
Henry Samuel Rowe was born in Shoreditch, London, on 18th August 1873. He was one of three children to Henry and Amelia Rowe. Henry Sr was a stonemason, who died in 1876, when Henry was only three years old.
Amelia moved her and her children to the Sussex Downs, and married again in 1883. Her new husband was John Herrington, and the couple went on to have three further children, Henry’s half-siblings. John was a farm labourer, and his stepson followed in his footsteps when he left school.
Henry soon sought other accomplishments, however, and, in October 1895, he joined the King’s Royal Rifles. During his twelve years’ service, he travelled the world, from Mauritius, to India, South Africa to Sri Lanka. He returned home in December 1903 serving on home soil until the end of his contract in 1907.
On 23rd April 1905, he married a widow, Amelia Routledge, in Brighton. There is no confirmation of the couple going on to have children.
Once demobbed, Henry found employment with the railways, and, by the time of the 1911 census, was working as a signalman. The document records him as boarding in a house in the village of Rudgwick, near Horsham; Amelia, meanwhile, was lodging with a family in South East London.
War was on the horizon, and, in August 1914, Henry volunteered. His time with the King’s Royal Rifles, stood him in good stead; after initially enlisting as a Private in the Royal Sussex Regiment, he was quickly promoted to Corporal and, by November 1914, had transferred to the Royal Engineers and attained the role of Sergeant.
Henry had spent just over a year in France, when he was shot in the right arm on 18th July 1916. Medically evacuated to England, he spent three months recuperating, before heading back into the fray in October the same year.
Henry served another eighteen months on the Front Line, before being admitted to hospital. His medical admission records show that he was suffering from “tremulous speech, confused… conversation, transitory admissions [sic?] of a grandiose type, outbursts of excitement, says he is a man of importance, childish, facile, simpleminded…” His condition was recorded as General Paralysis of the Insane (GPI), more commonly known these days as shellshock, and he was medically discharged from the Army on 4th September 1918.
Sadly, at this point Sergeant Rowe’s trail goes cold. He seems to have been hospitalised following his discharge, but the documents give conflicting suggestions about where he was admitted. Amelia was still living in South London, one record suggests Henry was in the Welsh Metropolitan Hospital in Whitchurch, near Cardiff. But, as he was buried in Worthing, West Sussex, it seems unlikely that he remained in Wales.
The cause of Henry’s passing is not evident either. There is no confirmation that GPI was to blame, but nothing to suggest it was not either. Whatever the cause, Sergeant Rowe died on 14th November 1918, three days after the conflict to which he had given so much had been brought to a close. He was 49 years old.
Henry Samuel Rowe lies at rest in the Broadwater Cemetery in Worthing, West Sussex.
William Percy Giles was born in the autumn of 1879, in the West Sussex town of Storrington. His father was also called William, and his mother was Esther. William Sr was a carpenter, and this was to be a trade that his son followed him into.
In 1905, William married a woman called Ellen; the young couple moved to the seaside town of Worthing, and went on to have a son, Frederick, two years later. William, by this time, was working full time as a carpenter.
War was on the horizon and, while full service details are not available, it is clear that William joined the Royal Sussex Regiment at some point before March 1918. He was assigned to the 4th Battalion, though no further details of his time in the army remain, other than the fact that he reached the rank of Corporal during the conflict.
In the autumn of 1918, Corporal Giles was admitted to the 2nd East General Hospital in Brighton, suffering from nephritis. Sadly, he was to succumb to the condition, and he passed away on 28th October 1918. He was 40 years old.
William Percy Giles’ body was brought back to Worthing for burial. He lies at rest in the Broadwater Cemetery, not far from where his widow and son were living.
Albert Andrew Heasman was born in 1890 or 1891, and, like his date of birth, much of his life remains a mystery. He was one of five children to William and Kate Heasman, who brought their family up in the West Sussex town of Worthing.
Documentation on Albert is scarce. He does not appear on census records until 1911, by which time he is working as a mate on a fishing boat, based out of Ramsgate, Kent.
Naval records are also patchy; he certainly enlisted during the war, and, by 1918 had joined the Royal Naval Reserve. He was assigned to HMS President III, a training ship based at the Royal India Dock in London.
The only other concrete information available on Leading Seaman Heasman is that he passed away from pneumonia on 21st October 1918. He was just 28 years old. His pension record confirms that his sister, Ethel, was listed as a dependent.
Albert Andrew Heasman’s body was brought back to Worthing, where he lies buried in the Broadwater Cemetery, to the north of the town.
Bertie Charles Bridger was born in the summer of 1876, one of nine children to William and Anne. William was a carman for the railway, and the family lived close to the central station in Worthing.
When Bertie left school, he followed in his father’s trade and, by the time of the 1901 census, was working as a groom and carman alongside his father and older brother, Arthur.
Bertie came to the notice of the local court when, in February 1900 he was called up to the Petty Sessions. He was fined for ‘cruelly ill-treating a horse by working it into an unfit state’ [Sussex Agricultural Express: Friday 9th February 1900], and ordered to pay a total of 18 shillings.
In the spring of 1904, Bertie married Ethel Gray, a carpenter’s daughter from Essex, who had found employment as a parlour maid for a Worthing solicitor. The couple would go on to have two children, Bertie Jr, who as born in 1905, and Leonard, born seven years later.
By the time of the 1911 census, the young Bridger family were living near the main railway station in a two-up, two-down property, where Bertie Sr was still plying his trade as a carman at the station.
War was coming, however, and in the summer of 1915, Bertie enlisted in the Royal Defence Corps. He was assigned as a Private to the 452nd Protection Company and, while his exact duties remain unclear, it is likely that he would have been involved with horses at some level, given his experience.
Private Bridger’s service appears to have mainly been spent on home soil, although, towards the end of the conflict he was sent to Ireland. It was while he was there, that he came down with influenza, which then turned into pneumonia. He was admitted to the Military Hospital in Curragh, but he died of the conditions on 14th November 1918, three days after the Armistice was signed. He was 42 years old.
The body of Bertie Charles Bridger was brought back to Sussex, and he was laid to rest in the Broadwater Cemetery to the north of Worthing. The local newspaper commented that:
Previous to his enlistment the deceased soldier was an outside porter at the Railway Station for nearly thirty years, and the sympathy of a wide circle of friends will be extended to his widow and two children.
Death and Service 