Category Archives: unknown

Commonwealth War Graves, Great War, history, photography, Private, Royal Gloucestershire Hussars, Shropshire, Somerset, story, unknown, Wales, war

Private John Payne

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Private John Payne

John Spencer Payne’s life is a bit of a challenge to piece together, as there is little documentation available. He was born in 1894 in the village of Overton-on-Dee, near Wrexham and was one of two children to Charles and Elizabeth Payne. John was christened in Tenby, Pembrokeshire, at which point, his father’s trade was ‘gentleman’.

The next available document for John is the 1911 census. This records him as living in Weston-super-Mare, Somerset, where he was working as a bank clerk. He was living in Severn Road, to the south of the town centre, with his now-widowed mother, his older sister and his maternal aunt.

War came to Europe in 1914, and, while there is limited information about John’s service, it is clear that he had enlisted by September 1915. He joined the Royal Gloucestershire Hussars as a Private and was assigned to the 2nd/1st Battalion.

The battalion was a second-line unit, that remained in England until late in the war, when it transferred to Ireland. By the spring of 1916, it had become a cyclist unit although, with no other documentation for Private Payne, it is impossible to determine how or when he served.

Sadly, too, the only other document about Private Payne’s life is the confirmation of his death. He passed away at home on 10th February 1916, although the cause of his death is not recorded. He was just 22 years old.

John Spencer Payne was laid to rest in the Milton Road Cemetery in Weston-super-Mare.

Private John Payne
(from findagrave.com)
Commonwealth War Graves, Corporal, Great War, history, injury, Lance Corporal, Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire Light Infantry, photography, Private, Somerset, story, unknown, war

Corporal George Budgett

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Corporal George Budgett

George Edgar Budgett was born in Frome, Somerset in the autumn of 1894, and was one of ten children to Joseph and Annie Budgett. Joseph was a labourer on the roads, but Annie and their eight daughters all went into the town’s silk weaving industry. When they left school, George and his older brother Frederick both found labouring work – Frederick at a bell foundry, George in the silkworks.

Conflict was coming to Europe and, within weeks of the war being declared, George enlisted. He was assigned to the Oxfordshire & Buckinghamshire Light Infantry as a Private and his service records show that he stood 5ft 5ins (1.65m) tall, weighed 114lbs (51.7kg), had dark brown hair and brown eyes.

Private Budgett initially served on home soil, but by May 1915 he was sent to France as part of the British Expeditionary Force, receiving a promotion to Corporal in the process. He had been on the front line for a little over a month when he was wounded at Ypres. He received a shrapnel wound to his left hand and had to have his little finger amputated in the camp hospital. He was then medically evacuated back to England for further treatment and recovery.

George was admitted to the City of London War Hospital in Epsom, and needed a further operation, this time the amputation of the third finger. His health recovered, but the injury to his hand resulted in him being medically discharged from the army on 25th August 1916.

Sadly, at this point Corporal Budgett’s trail goes cold. He passed away at home, through causes unrecorded, on 1st May 1919. He was just 24 years of age.

George Edgar Budgett was laid to rest in the graveyard of Holy Trinity Church in his home town of Frome, Somerset.

George’s brother Frederick – Joseph and Annie’s only other son – also fought in the First World War. He was assigned to the 14th Battalion of the Gloucester Regiment, and was missing in action, presumed dead on 4th April 1918 – possibly during the Battle of the Avre. He was commemorated at the Pozières Memorial in northern France.

Commonwealth War Graves, Great War, history, India, Mesopotamia, photography, Private, Somerset, Somerset Light Infantry, story, unknown, war

Private Charles Baily

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Charles Baily

Charles Baily was born in Frome, Somerset, in March 1879; he was the middle of three children to Charles and Sarah Baily. Charles Sr was a plasterer, and the family were raised in a small cottage to the south of the town centre.

When Charles Jr left school, he found work as a carpenter and, on 17th March 1902, he married local woman Fanny Howell. Her father was a carter and she had not long returned from South Wales, where she had found employment as a parlour maid. Charles and Fanny set up home just three doors down from his parents, and went on to have five children.

War was coming to Europe, but the details of most of Charles’ military service are lost. He enlisted as a Private in the Somerset Light Infantry, and was assigned to B Company of the 1st/4th Battalion. The troop was sent to Bombay in the autumn of 1914; it then moved to Basra in the spring of 1916, remaining in Mesopotamia for the remainder of the conflict. Sadly, it’s not possible to know how much of this travel Private Baily undertook himself.

Charles survived the war, and was demobbed soon after the Armistice. He returned home, but his time back with his family was to be short: Private Baily died at home through causes lost to time on 2nd July 1919. He was 40 years old.

Charles Baily was laid to rest in the graveyard of Holy Trinity Church in his home town of Frome.

One sad aside to the story is that Charles and Fanny’s oldest child, daughter Frances Baily, had passed away in the summer of 1917. The cause of her passing is also lost to history, but she was just 16 years old when she died.

Commonwealth War Graves, Devon, Great War, history, Labour Corps, photography, Private, Somerset Light Infantry, story, unknown, war

Private Thomas Cornall

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Private Thomas Cornall

Thomas Cornall was born in Kingsteignton, Devon, early in 1879 and was the oldest of seven children to Thomas and Elizabeth Cornall. Thomas Sr was a clay cutter and, while the family were all raised in Kingsteignton, Thomas Jr appears to have been more wayward, and was farmed out to local relatives over time.

The 1881 census shows Thomas living with his parents; ten years later he was living with his maternal grandmother; in 1901 he was boarding with Elizabeth’s brother, John Withycombe, in Devonport; the 1911 census recorded him living with his sister and her family in the village of Chudleigh.

Thomas took on labouring jobs. He worked as a dockworker in Devonport, and a haulier in Chudleigh. War was coming to Europe, however, and Thomas was pulled in a different direction.

Full details of his military career are not available, but it is clear that he enlisted in the Somerset Light Infantry early on in the conflict. Whether Private Cornall saw active service overseas is lost to time, but he soon transferred over to the 696th Agricultural Company of the Labour Corps.

Thomas’ maternal uncle – John Withycombe – who had had lived with in 1901, had become manager of the Lion Hotel in Chudleigh and when he died in 1913, he left his wife, Bertha, with a son to raise and a business to run. At the end of 1916, Thomas and Bertha married in nearby Newton Abbot and took on the running of the Lion Hotel together.

Private Cornall was still serving at this point, and continued his work in the Labour Corps through until the end of the war. His trail at this point goes cold; all that is known is that he died at home on 8th January 1919, at the age of 40 years old.

Thomas Cornall was laid to rest in Chudleigh Cemetery. The family plot included John and Bertha, when she passed away in 1954.

Commonwealth War Graves, Devon, Great War, history, Kent, photography, Private, Royal Marines, story, unknown, war

Private Frederick Down

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Private Frederick Down

Frederick Francis Down is one of those servicemen whose life is destined to remain lost to time. Born in Chudleigh, Devon, most of the information available about his life comes from one document – his naval service record.

The document gives his date of birth as 15th November 1897 and confirms that he enlisted on 23rd November 1914. Frederick was 5ft 2ins (1.57m) tall, had a fresh complexion, brown eyes and dark brown hair.

Frederick signed up as a Private in the Royal Marine Light Infantry, and, at the time of joining up, had been working as a butcher’s boy, living in Fore Street in the village of his birth.

Private Down served at the regiment’s depot in Deal, Kent. But he was only there for a short time: he was invalided out of the service – for reasons unrecorded – on 9th June 1915.

At this point, Frederick Francis Down’s trail goes cold once again. His gravestone confirms that he died on 11th April 1916, at the age of just 18 years old. He was laid to rest in Chudleigh Cemetery.

Commonwealth War Graves, Great War, history, Middlesex, Middlesex Regiment, photography, Private, Somerset, story, unknown, war

Private Hector Parks

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Private Hector Parks

Hector Joseph Parks was born in the spring of 1885, the youngest of five children to William Jacob and Mary Ann Parks. William was a ship’s steward who, when Mary died in 1895, remarried, giving Hector a further two half-siblings.

With William employed at sea, Hector spent a lot of time with his paternal grandparents and, in fact, both the 1891 and 1901 censuses recorded him as living in East London with them. That later document shows that Hector had left school, and was working as a carman for a delivery company.

The next available record for Hector comes thirteen years later, when it is evident that he was among the first to volunteer for war service. He enlisted in the Middlesex Regiment and, while full details of his army career are not available, he soon found himself in the thick of things, arriving in France on 14th August 1914.

Private Parks’ battalion – the 4th – was caught up in skirmishes from the outset of war, fighting at Le Cateau, Marne, Aisne and Hooge. Over the next few years, the Middlesex Regiment found itself at The Somme and Ypres and, while it is not possible to place Hector directly in these conflicts, it seems likely that he would have been involved in a lot of them.

In January 1918, Private Parks was back on home soil, having been admitted to the Auxiliary Hospital at Ashcombe House in Weston-super-Mare, Somerset. Sadly, the cause of his return to England is lost to time, but he was to succumb, passing away on 20th January 1918, at the age of 32 years old.

Hector Joseph Parks was laid to rest in Somerset – he is buried in the Milton Road Cemetery in Weston-super-Mare.

Clerk, Commonwealth War Graves, Great War, history, photography, Queen Mary's Army Auxiliary Corps, Somerset, story, unknown, war

Clerk Mary Harris

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Clerk Mary Harris

Mary Edith Harris was born in the autumn of 1895 and was the oldest of five children to Walter and Ellen Harris. Walter was a linesman for the railway, and was based in Taunton, Somerset, which is where the young family were initially raised.

By the time of the 1911 census, Walter and Ellen had moved the family to Weston-super-Mare, and were living to the south of the town centre. Walter’s mother – who had been widowed a number of years by this point – was also living with them.

Mary had left school and found work as a clerk in a local steam laundry. Her younger sister, Sarah, was also employed at the laundry, but as a golfering machinist.

War was beckoning, and Mary obviously wanted to play her part. Her work in the laundry stood her in good stead, and she found herself enlisted in the Women’s Army Auxiliary Corps – later Queen Mary’s Army Auxiliary Corps – as a laundry clerk.

While full details of her time in service are scarce, Mary’s death certificate reveals that she passed away at her home in Weston-super-Mare on 7th November 1918, at the age of just 23 years old. She had been suffering from pulmonary tuberculosis for two years, and had contracted pneumonia just a few days before she died.

Mary Edith Harris was laid to rest in the Milton Road Cemetery in her home town, Weston-super-Mare.

Commonwealth War Graves, Corporal, Devon, Devonshire Regiment, Egypt, Great War, history, India, Lance Corporal, photography, Private, story, unknown, war

Corporal Bruce Chapple

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Corporal Bruce Chapple

Bruce Chapple was born in the autumn of 1893, the youngest of four children to Frederick and Elizabeth Chapple. Frederick was born in Newton Abbot and ran the managed a public house in the town (now the Locomotive Inn), although the 1901 census also listed him as a tobacco pipe manufacturer.

According to the next census – in 1911 – Bruce had taken over the pipe making, which meant that Frederick was devoting his time to being a publican. By this time, Bruce had another interest; military service. He had volunteered for the Devonshire Regiment in October 1909 and, over the next few years, the 5ft 3.5ins (1.61m) tall teenager received training in and around the county.

When war broke out in 1914, Private Chapple was formally enrolled and, as part of the 1st/5th Battalion, he set out for India that October. Initially based in Multan – in what is now Pakistan – he subsequently moved on to Lahore.

Bruce spent a total of two-and-a-half years in India, receiving a promotion to Lance Corporal in the process. In March 1917, his battalion transferred to Egypt, and the now Corporal Chapple went with them.

On 23rd November, Bruce was wounded in action, receiving a gun shot wound to his left thigh; he was not medically repatriated for treatment, but appears to have recovered from his injury and remained in Egypt until July 1918.

Back home in England, Corporal Chapple remained in the army for a further couple of months, before he was discharged as being no longer medically fit for service in September. Sadly, the cause for his discharge is lost to time.

It is at this point that Bruce’s trail goes cold. The next available record is of his death, on 16th November 1919; he was 26 years old.

Bruce Chapple was laid to rest in the family plot in Newton Abbot Cemetery.

Commonwealth War Graves, Devon, Great War, history, illness, Leading Stoker, Petty Officer, photography, Royal Navy, Stoker, story, unknown, war

Stoker Petty Officer Oliver Marchant

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Stoker Petty Officer Oliver Marchant

Oliver Marchant was born in Beaminster, Dorset, on 21st September 1874. One of eight children, his parents were agricultural labourer William Marchant and his wife Hannah. Oliver’s parents had been born in Devon, and this is where they moved the family back to.

When he left school, Oliver and his older sister found work as a farm hands. They were employed at Compton Pool Farm, and were fortunate enough to be able to live in. Oliver ended up working on the farm for three years, becoming a groom in the process. A more secure career beckoned, however, and, on 11th January 1894, he enlisted as a Stoker 2nd Class in the Royal Navy.

Oliver’s service records show that he signed up for a period of twelve years. He was 5ft 4ins (1.62m) tall, had dark hair, brown eyes and a ruddy complexion. He was initially posted to HMS Vivid – the Royal Naval Base in Devonport – but soon found himself at sea on board HMS Endymion. He spent a year on board and, during this time, was promoted to Stoker 1st Class.

Over the remaining period of his service, Oliver served on five further vessels, returning each time to HMD Vivid as his base. His hard work paid off, and he was promoted to Leading Stoker and Petty Officer Stoker by the time he renewed his service contract in 1906.

During his time in between sea voyages, Oliver met Alice Honeywill; the couple married in August 1904 and set up home in Newton Abbot. They did not go on to have any children.

Back at sea, and over the next eleven years, Stoker Petty Officer Marchant served on a further eight vessels. In between times, he was based at the barracks in Devonport, and it was here that he returned in November 1917, when he fell ill.

Oliver had contracted tuberculosis and, after a short time in hospital, he was discharged from the Royal Naval on medical grounds, as the condition had rendered him no longer fit enough undertake his work. He returned home to Newton Abbot.

At this point, Oliver Marchant’s trail goes cold. He passed away at his home in Newton Abbot on 4th January 1919, at the age of 44 years old. While the cause is not recorded, it seems likely to have been the result of his lung condition. He was laid to rest in the town’s cemetery.

Commonwealth War Graves, Devon, Great War, history, photography, Private, Royal Marines, story, unknown, war

Private George Smale

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Private George Smale

George Henry Smale was born in 1899 and was the oldest of four children to George and Alice Smale. George Sr was born in Tavistock, Devon, and worked as a labourer in a tannery. The family were raised in Newton Abbot, which is where George Jr was born.

Sadly, little is documented on young George’s life. He would have been 15 years old when war broke out, but at some point during the conflict, he enlisted in the Royal Marine Light Infantry. Private Smale was based at the Stonehouse Barracks in Plymouth, but no other information about his service is available.

George’s trail goes completely cold at this point, and there is nothing to confirm how or when he left the army, or how he died. All that can be confirmed is that he passed away on 3rd November 1919, and that he was just 20 years old at the time.

George Henry Smale was laid to rest in Newton Abbot Cemetery.