Category Archives: illness

Commonwealth War Graves, Great War, history, illness, photography, Private, Somerset, Somerset Light Infantry, story, war

Private Lawrence Sweet

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Private Lawrence Sweet

Lawrence Allen Sweet was born on 28th May 1895, one of fourteen children to Thomas and Caroline Sweet. Thomas was a farm labourer from Somerset, and the family were raised in the village of Norton-sub-Hamdon, near Yeovil.

Lawrence found work on the farm – the 1911 census shows him living with his now-widowed mother, where he was employed as an ‘improver to poultry house and building’. Three of his older brothers were also living there, and all were employed in farm work.

War was coming to Europe, and Lawrence played his part. Full details of his military service no longer remain, but those that remain confirm that he enlisted in the Somerset Light Infantry in the spring of 1915, and was assigned as a Private to the 6th (Service) Battalion of the Somerset Light Infantry.

Sent to France on 21st May, Private Sweet saw action on the Western Front. His regiment was involved in the Battles of the Somme, Arras and Ypres and he earned the Victory and British Medals and the 1915 Star for his service.

Towards the end of 1917, Lawrence contracted pleurisy; invalided home, he was ultimately discharged from the army on medical grounds the following January.

At this point, Private Sweet’s trail goes cold. The next document confirms that he passed away on 15th December 1920, at the age of 25 years old. No cause of death is evident, but is seems likely to have been connected to his previous lung condition.

Lawrence Allen Sweet was laid to rest in the graveyard of St Mary’s Church in his home village of Norton-sub-Hamdon.

Lawrence Sweet1
Lawrence Allen Sweet
(from ancestry.co.uk)
Commonwealth War Graves, Great War, Gunner, history, illness, India, Mesopotamia, photography, Royal Field Artillery, Somerset, South Africa, story, war

Gunner William Hann

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Gunner William Hann

William Hann was born towards the end of 1871, the son of Harry Hann, who was a stonemason, and his wife Susan. Born in Stoke-under-Ham (now Stoke-sub-Hamdon), he was one of nine children, although sadly five of his siblings passed away at a young age.

Sadly, little of William’s early life remains documented. A newspaper article that reported on his passing, however, confirms that he served in the Royal Field Artillery, and was based in India for four years, before being shipped to South Africa to fight in the Boer War.

Back in Somerset in the early 1900s, he married a woman called Ellen, and the couple went on to have four children – Hilda, Herbert, Kate and Louisa.

At the outbreak of the [First World War], though under no obligation, [Gunner Hann] responded to the call of duty and was among the first to volunteer from Stoke. He was attached to the Indian Expeditionary Force and sent to France, and it is interesting to know that he saw some of the native soldiers whom he had bet while serving in India many years ago.

After serving in France for some time, he was transferred to Mesopotamia, and it was there that his health became impaired, which made him an easy victim of the disease which caused his death.

Western Chronicle: Friday 1st June 1917

Gunner Hann had contracted cellulitis in his right arm, which turned septic. He returned home on sick leave on 22nd May 1917, but died at home from blood poisoning just two days later. He was 48 years of age.

William Hann was laid to rest in the graveyard of St Mary’s Church, in his home village of Stoke-sub-Hamdon.

Commonwealth War Graves, Essex, Great War, history, illness, photography, Private, Royal Army Service Corps, Somerset, story, war

Private William Eglon

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Private William Eglon

William Ernest Eglon (also known as Ernest William Eglon) was born in the Somerset village of Stoke-under-Ham (or Stoke-sub-Hamdon), in the spring of 1898. One of five children, his parents were stonemason Arthur Eglon and his glovemaker wife Sarah Elizabeth Eglon (who was better known as Bessie).

Unfortunately, little information on William’s early life remains documented. When war broke out, he was working at the Co-operative Bakery in the village. He was keen to do his bit, however, and enlisted in the Royal Army Service Corps as a Private not long after his eighteenth birthday.

Private Eglon was sent to serve in Essex, working as a baker in the Supply Section there. Within a couple of weeks of arriving, however, he was admitted to the Field Hospital in Chelmsford. He was suffering from an ear infection, and this turned out to be significant enough for him to be transferred to the Horton County of London War Hospital in Epsom.

William developed an abscess in the temporo sphenoidal region of his skull (in front of his right ear), which was operated on on the 27th May 1917. By this time meningitis had set in and, despite a second operation just over a week later, the conditions took hold.

Private Eglon passed away at 9:55am on 11th June 1917. He was just 19 years of age.

William Ernest Eglon’s body was brought back to Stoke-under-Ham for burial. He lies at rest in the family plot in the graveyard of St Mary’s Church in the village.

Commonwealth War Graves, Great War, history, illness, Labour Corps, photography, Pioneer, Royal Berkshire Regiment, Royal Engineers, Somerset, story, war

Pioneer Charles Churchill

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Pioneer Charles Churchill

Charles Churchill was born towards the end of 1883, in the Somerset village of West Chinnock. One of six children, his parents were Isaac Churchill and his wife Elizabeth. Isaac was an agricultural labourer, and the family lived in a cottage on Eastfield Farm, where he worked.

When he left school, Charles also found work on the farm. He knew the owners well and, in 1909, married their servant, Ellen Mary Young, in the parish church. The couple moved in with Ellen’s widowed mother, Harriet, and went on to have two children, Florence, born in 1909, and George, who was born three years later.

By this time war was on the horizon. Full details of his military service are not available, but it appears that Charles initially enlisted in the Royal Berkshire Regiment. He subsequently transferred to the Labour Corps, before being reassigned again to the Royal Engineers.

There are no dates available for the transfers, so it’s impossible to know how quickly they took place. Charles’ record shows that he was awarded the Victory and British Medals while in the Royal Engineers, however, so it is likely that he spent most of his time in this regiment.

The medal record also confirms that Pioneer Churchill did not serve in a theatre of war, so would have spent his time on home soil.

Sadly, this is where information on Charles seems to dry up. He survived the war, but contracted pneumonia late in 1919 and passed away on Christmas Day that year. He was just 36 years of age.

Charles Churchill was laid to rest in the graveyard of St Mary’s Church in his home village of West Chinnock, the place where he and Ellen had been married ten years earlier.

Commonwealth War Graves, Corporal, Driver, Great War, history, illness, India, Ireland, Kent, Lance Corporal, Mesopotamia, photography, Private, Royal Engineers, Royal Navy, Stoker, story, Wales, war

Stoker 1st Class Patrick Tynan

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Stoker 1st Class Patrick Tynan

Patrick Tynan was born in Roscrea, Southern Ireland, on 9th June 1893. He was the eldest of four children to John and Anne Tynan, but sadly, there is no further information available for his early years.

Patrick’s story really picks up on 14th December 1915, when he joined the Royal Engineers as a Private. His service record states that he was living in Bangor, Gwynedd, and that he was a stall keeper at a fairground – a subsequent document noted his trade as a showman. He was noted to be 5ft 8ins (1.72m) tall, weighed 151lbs (68.5kg), and had numerous scars on his back.

Private Tynan did not stay in the UK for long. Assigned the new role of Driver, he was attached to the GHQ Signal Company and sailed from Devonport on 30th June 1916, bound for Mesopotamia. Arriving in Margil – the port connected to Basra – he was based here for more than a year, before moving north to Baghdad.

By this time, Patrick had risen to the rank of Lance Corporal, and was obviously a trustworthy member of the company. Towards the end of 1917, he had again been promoted, this time to Corporal.

During his time in modern day Iraq, Patrick was admitted to hospital a handful of times; there is little information on the conditions he suffered, but none appear to have been life threatening, as they were only for short periods. It’s also interesting to find that his service records confirm a month’s leave in May 1918, spent in India.

When the war came to a close, Corporal Tynan was still in the Middle East. Ready to be demobbed, his company moved to India and boarded the SS Chupra in Calcutta on 26th February 1919, bound for home.

Back in the UK, however, Patrick was not ready to give up the formal military life. Having returned to Gillingham in Kent, where the Royal Engineers were based, he initially found work as a tram conductor, but soon signed up for a five year term with the Royal Navy as a stoker.

He was based on HMS Pembroke II, the shore-based establishment at Chatham Dockyard, but sadly, his time in the navy was to be a short one. Admitted to the Royal Naval Hospital in the town with pneumonia, he passed away form the condition on 1st October 1919. He was just 26 years old.

Patrick Tynan was laid to rest in the Woodlands Cemetery in Gillingham. He had a short but full life, something his modest gravestone doesn’t begin to hint at.

Able Seaman, Commonwealth War Graves, County Durham, Great War, Hertfordshire, history, illness, Ireland, Kent, London, photography, Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve, Royal Navy, Scotland, story, war

Able Seaman Michael Goulding

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Able Seaman Michael Goulding

Michael Joseph O’Neill Goulding was born on 5th May 1884, the oldest of six children to Michael and Ellen Goulding (née O’Neill). Michael Sr worked for the inland revenue and his job took him around most parts of the British Isles.

Michael Jr had been born in Limerick – both of his parents came from Ireland – but his subsequent three siblings (Patrick, Margaret and William) had all been born in Scotland. His second youngest sibling, Lily, was born in County Durham, the youngest back in Scotland, while, by the time of the 1901 census, the whole family were living in Forest Gate, East London.

The census also shows that Michael Jr, having left school, was working at Customs House (presumably where his father was employed), as a boy copyist on tea accounts. The inland revenue at that time was a career for life; by the next census in 1911, the family had moved to Hertford, where Michael Sr was a customs and excise supervisor, and Michael Jr was an assistant clerk at the same place of employment.

War was on its way, but Michael seems not to have enlisted immediately. While specific dates for his joining up are not available, it appears that he was still working for the Inland Revenue when he got married in Shoreditch, in April 1917. His wife was called Bridget Mary Gough (known as Bryde), and she had also been born in Ireland. The couple went on to have a daughter, Ellen (or Eileen), the following year.

By this time, Michael had definitely enlisted. He joined the Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve, and was based at HMS Pembroke, the shore-based establishment in Chatham, Kent. This was the location for the Navy’s main accounting base, so it is likely that he was employed for financial, rather than his military, skills.

Able Seaman Goulding served through to the end of the war and beyond, and it was while he was based in Kent that he became unwell. Admitted to the Royal Naval Hospital in Chatham, he succumbed to a combination of bronchitis and pneumonia on 22nd February 1919. He was 34 years of age.

Michael Joseph O’Neill Goulding was laid to rest in the Woodlands Cemetery in nearby Gillingham. His family were still in Hertford, while his widow and daughter moved back to Ireland.

Michael Joseph O’Neill Goulding
(courtesy of ancestry.co.uk)
Commonwealth War Graves, Devon, Great War, history, illness, Kent, London, photography, Royal Navy, Stoker, story, war

Stoker 1st Class Cornelius O’Brien

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Stoker Cornelius O’Brien

Documentation on the early life of Cornelius Edward O’Brien is pretty scarce, so it is impossible to build a picture of him before the First World War. He was born in the late 1890s in Whitechapel, East London and was working as a carman when he received his enlistment papers.

Cornelius joined the Royal Navy as a stoker on 27th November 1915 and was sent to HMS Vivid II, the shore-based establishment in Devonport that served as the Stokers and Engine Room Artificers School. He trained there for a couple of months before being assigned to HMS Drake, where he spent most of 1916.

Returning to Devonport, Stoker O’Brien spent a further year on board HMS Vivid II, gaining the rank of Stoker 1st Class. By the end of 1917, however, he was back at sea, having been sent to HMS Vixen, a naval destroyer that served in the Thames Estuary, performing anti-submarine patrols and counter mining operations there.

In mid-November 1918, with the war officially over, Cornelius was admitted to the Royal Naval Hospital in Chatham, suffering from influenza, pneumonia and pleurisy. Sadly these were to prove too much of a challenge for him and he passed away on 21st November 1918.

Cornelius Edward O’Brien was laid to rest in the Woodlands Cemetery in Gillingham, not far from the Naval Dockyard in Chatham.

Able Seaman, Boy, Commonwealth War Graves, Great War, history, illness, Ireland, Kent, Ordinary Seaman, photography, Royal Navy, story, war

Able Seaman George Davies

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Able Seaman George Davies

George Herbert Davies was born in Rosses Point, County Sligo, Ireland on 28th September 1872. One of eight children, his parents were naval man Robert Davies and his wife Catharine.

George was obviously drawn to the sea, and enlisted in the Royal Navy in February 1888. Too young to be an active member of the crew, he was initially given the rank of Boy, before rising to Ordinary Seaman when he came of age in September 1890.

Over the duration of his initial twelve years’ service, George was assigned to a total of eight ships, with time between each spent at the shore-based establishment HMS Pembroke in Chatham, Kent. He rose to the rank of Able Seaman and, in February 1903, volunteered to continue his time in the Royal Navy.

At the start of 1914, having served for a further ten years, Able Seaman Davies was stood down to the Royal Fleet Reserve. He did not remain on reserve status for long, however, as, in August 1914, he was called again into active service as war was declared.

While primarily based on HMS Pembroke this time, George did service two tours on sea-going vessels: he spent two years on board HMS President from October 1914, and then six months on the General Greenford. By January 1917, however, he was back at HMS Pembroke.

Within a couple of months, Able Seaman Davies had been admitted to the Royal Naval Hospital in Chatham, suffering from pancreatitis. Sadly, this haemorrhaged, and he passed away on 27th March 1917; he was 44 years old.

George Herbert Davies was laid to rest in the Woodlands Cemetery in Gillingham; walking distance from the Naval Dockyard that had been his base for so long.

Able Seaman, Boy, Coastguard, Commonwealth War Graves, County Durham, Devon, Great War, history, illness, Kent, Ordinary Seaman, Petty Officer, photography, Royal Navy, story, war, Yorkshire

Petty Officer James Green

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Petty Officer James Green

James Henry Green was born in Brixham, Devon, on 13th April 1868, the only child to Isaac and Sarah Green. Isaac was the son of a miller from Essex, who found work as a miner in the south west; he sadly died in 1871, when James was just a toddler.

Sarah had been married before she met Isaac; she had had two children, both daughters, with her first husband, William Tozer, so James had two half-sisters. William had died in 1865, and Sarah had gone on to marry James’ father later that year.

The 1881 census found Sarah and the children living in a cottage in the middle of Brixham; she was listed (somewhat uncharitably by current standards) as a mangle woman. She had taken in a couple of lodgers and James – then aged 13 – was listed as a scholar.

James was evidently keen to make a place for himself in the world. In 1885 he enlisted in the Royal Navy, working as a Boy on a number of ships until, on his 18th birthday, he was given the rank of Ordinary Seaman. His naval records show that he had a dark complexion, brown eyes and brown hair and stood as just 5ft 1in (1.55m) tall.

During his initial ten years’ service, James served on nine ships as well as shore-based establishments, working his way up to the rank of Able Seaman. One the initial period of enlistment was up, he extended his time in the navy voluntarily, eventually serving on a further five vessels and reaching the rank of Able Seaman before transferring to the Coastguard in South Shields. James was stood down form active naval duties in January 1908 and transferred to the Royal Naval Reserve, based in Chatham, Kent.

It was while he was in County Durham that he met Edith Hansford (or Handforth), a horse keeper’s daughter from Whitburn. The couple married in the spring of 1901, and settled down in Sculcoates, to the north of Hull.

When war was declared, those in the Royal Naval Reserve were called into immediate action, and James was no exception. Given the rank of Petty Officer, he was initially assigned to HMS Pembroke, the shore establishment in Chatham, before a brief tour on HMS Columbine, and a longer term on the gunboat HMS Britomart.

In July 1916, Petty Officer Green returned to HMS Pembroke; he remained based there for six months, before being admitted to hospital, suffering from phlebitis (an inflammation of the veins in the legs). Sadly, the condition got the better of him; he passed away in the Royal Naval Hospital in Chatham on 19th February 1917, at the age of 48.

James Henry Green was laid to rest in the Woodlands Cemetery in his adopted home town of Gillingham, Kent.

Commonwealth War Graves, Cook, Great War, Hampshire, history, illness, Kent, Malta, Officer's Cook, photography, Royal Navy, story, war

Officers’ Cook Carmelo Ellul

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Officer’s Cook Carmelo Ellul

Carmelo Ellul was born in Valetta, Malta, on 26th May 1889. There is little information about his early life, other than the fact that he worked as a baker.

He came to England at some point in the early 1900s, and was living in Portsmouth. It was here that he met Selina Southcott, who had been born on the Isle of Wight, and the couple married in 1904. The couple would go on to have three children, all boys: Maurice, who was born in 1911; Alva, who was born in 1912, but who died as a toddler; and Edwin, who was born in 1916.

Carmelo seemed to want a life of adventure: in the summer of 1912, he enlisted in the Royal Navy. Over the next eight years, Officer’s Cook Ellul served on a number of naval vessels, including HMS Bacchante, which toured the North Sea, and was involved in the Battle of Heligoland in August 1914.

Carmelo’s naval life continued after the war ended, although he seems to have been more shore-based than before. He was serving on HMS Waterhen on 24th January 1920, when he collapsed with an epileptic fit, and died of heart failure. He was just 32 years old.

Carmelo Ellul was laid to rest in the Woodlands Cemetery in Gillingham, Kent, presumably as his ship was moored in the nearby Naval Dockyard in Chatham.