Joseph Symes was born in May 1876, and was the youngest of ten children to Joseph and Caroline Symes. Joseph Sr was a shoemaker who had been born in Shepton Mallet, Somerset, but who had moved to Bristol for work in the late 1860s.
As with some of his older siblings, Joseph Jr followed in his father’s shoemaking footsteps. He worked as a boot clicker, punching the eye holes in footwear, and cutter, taking the shaped pieces out of large leather hides.
In June 1905, he married Emily Delling, who was also from Bristol, and the couple went on to have a son, Douglas, a year later. The couple moved into a two-up-two-down terraced house in a cul-de-sac to the north east of the city centre.
War was coming to the British Isles. Full details of Joseph’s military service no longer exist; however, his gravestone confirms that he enlisted in the Royal Field Artillery.
There is no documentation to confirm whether Gunner Symes saw active service abroad; he certainly survived the war, but in February 1919 was discharged on medical grounds, suffering from myalgia. He was granted a pension, and the family soon replaced the busy city life for a quieter one down the coast in Weston-super-Mare.
Joseph’s trail goes cold for a couple of years, and he passed away on 4th March 1921, at the age of 44 years old. Sadly, there is nothing to confirm the cause of his death; it seems likely that his ongoing medical condition got the better of him.
Joseph Symes was laid to rest in the Milton Cemetery in Weston-super-Mare.
John Frederick Dyer was born in Crediton, Devon, on 3rd July 1864. He was one of twelve children to William Dyer, a shoemaker, and his wife Sarah.
When he left school, John initially found work as a tanner – presumably helping with his father’s business. He soon moved on from this, however, and worked as a labourer and then a stone mason.
In 1888, aged 24, he married a woman called Emily; they went on to have four children. By the time of the 1901 census, John was a fully fledged mason, and the family had moved to Weston-super-Mare in Somerset.
From this point in, there is little information available relating to John’s life. The 1911 census records him as living in the centre of Weston-super-Mare, in a six-room house with his wife, two of his children and his niece.
Storm clouds were on the horizon in Europe, but not much documentation records his military service. He was 50 years old when war was declared, and he was old enough to be exempt from volunteering or conscription. However, he did put his name forward, and enlisted at some point at the beginning of 1915.
Private Dyer joined the 4th Battalion of the Somerset Light Infantry. This was a primarily territorial force, that served in India and the Middle East, although there is no confirmation that he was anywhere outside of the UK during his time in the army.
In fact, Private Dyer’s service was not destined to be a long one; the next available record shows that he died on 9th July 1915 at the 2nd Southern General Hospital in Bristol. He had just turned 51 years old. Sadly, no details of the cause of death exist.
John Frederick Dyer’s body was brought back to Somerset for burial. He lies at rest in the Milton Road Cemetery in his adopted home town of Weston-super-Mare.
William Alister Flower was born in 1887, one of five children to Joseph and Annie Flower. Joseph was a platelayer for the local railway, and brought the family up in Weston-super-Mare, in his home county of Somerset.
When he left school, William worked as an errand boy for a local greengrocer; he stuck with it, and, by the time of the 1911 census, he was employed as a van driver for the grocer.
War was on the horizon and, while William enlisted in the army, it is difficult to get a complete handle on his military service. There are a number of servicemen with similar names, but the documentation that is available is not easy to directly connect them with the gravestone in the Weston-super-Mare cemetery.
What is clear is that William enlisted as a Private in the Army Service Corps at some point before May 1918. He was assigned to the Motor Transport division (this was likely on the back of his van-driving experience). His time seems to have been spent on home soil, although he was awarded both the Victory and British Medals for his service.
At some point, he had married a woman called Mabel. Exact details again are unclear – ancestry.com confirms the marriage of a William Flower and Mabel Richardson in December 1909, but as this took place in Northamptonshire, it is unlikely to be the Somerset Flowers researched here.
Details of Private Flower’s passing are also scarce. He died on 8th November 1918, in the Military Hospital in Croydon, Surrey, but the is no information as to the cause of his death. He was just 31 years old.
William Alister Flower’s body was brought back to Somerset; he lies at rest in the family grave, in the Milton Cemetery of his home town.
While I was researching William Flower, I was taken by the note of the accidental death of the first name on the family grave.
Edward Thomas Flower was two years William’s senior who, after leaving school, had gone on to be an errand boy for a local butcher.
Edward had decided to follow in his father’s footsteps and join the railways, leaving his home town in 1905 to work in Cornwall. After initially working as an engine cleaner, he progressed to be a fireman, helping to stoke the engine with coal. The local newspaper of the time picked up the story of the accident.
At the moment of the accident, a goods train was standing in the Redruth station, shunting having been temporarily suspended to admit the passage of the down motor rail car.
It appears that the flap of one of the cattle trucks in the goods train… had been allowed to remain down, and the folding doors above it had been insecurely fastened, with the result that as the motor rail car ran into the station the doors of the truck suddenly flew open outward and one of them struck deceased on the side of the face and head, inflicting terrible injuries.
There was a very extensive fracture of the skull, the whole of the left side of the face was driven in and there was also a formidable wound at the back of the head, death occurring within a few moments.
It appears that the rail motor was not proceeding at a greater rate than some five or six miles an hour, according to the statement made at the inquest by the driver, and the latter noticed that when the doors of the goods truck swung open they struck one of the handles on the fore part of the car. He applied the brake immediately, but did not know that Flower had been struck until afterwards.
Weston Mercury: Saturday 7th October 1905
The inquest found that there had been some neglect on the part of the porter and guard in not ensuring that the goods truck’s doors had been secured, and it seems that this was something that had been highlighted previously.
Edward had shortly been due to marry, leaving a fiancée, as well as a family, bereft. He was just 20 years old.
His body was brought back to Weston-super-Mare, and was the first to be buried in the family grave.
In a quiet corner of a cemetery in Somerset stands a gravestone to Private HJ Cowles. It confirms that he passed away on 26th April 1920, and that he was in the Bedfordshire Regiment during the First World War.
Little additional information on HJ Cowles is available. One document, the Medal Roll Index Card, confirms his first name as Henry, and that he had initially joined the Somerset Light Infantry. He was awarded the British Medal for his war service.
Cowles is a fairly common name in the Somerset area, and, without any additional information – date of birth, familial connections – it is impossible to narrow down the name on the gravestone to a specific Henry Cowles from the area or beyond.
There is also nothing in any contemporary newspapers to suggest that Private Cowles’ passing was anything out of the ordinary.
Sadly, therefore, he remains a name lost to history. Henry J Cowles, whoever he was, and however he died, lies at rest in the Milton Cemetery in Weston-super-Mare, Somerset.
In a corner of the Milton Cemetery in Weston-super-Mare, Somerset, stands the gravestone of Edward Sams. It gives little information away, other than the fact that he passed away on 5th April 1916, and that he served as a Private in the Somerset Light Infantry.
There is no documentation – military or otherwise – that can be concretely connected to Private Sams. None of the available documents for Edward Sams include the service number on his gravestone, and there is nothing to provide a definite date of birth or familial connections.
Sams was not an uncommon Somerset name at the start of the twentieth century, and there are a number men by that name called Edward in the area at the time. Again, however, the information is lacking that allows us to directly connect any of these names with the gravestone in the Weston-super-Mare cemetery.
There is nothing in any contemporary newspapers to suggest that Private Sams’ passing was anything out of the ordinary.
Sadly, therefore, he remains a name lost to history. Edward Sams, whoever he was, and however he died, lies at rest in a Somerset cemetery.
In the Milton Cemetery in Weston-super-Mare is a gravestone to Alfred Harry Howe. He seems destined, sadly, to be one of those servicemen whose stories are lost to time. The stone confirms that he died on 6th April 1916 and that he was a Private in the Gloucestershire Regiment. Further research adds that he was assigned to the 3rd/4th Battalion.
The UK Army Register of Soldier’s Effects gives his father’s name as William. It also confirms that he was not eligible for a war gratuity, as he had insufficient service; given the date of his death, it is likely, therefore, that he enlisted on or after October 1915.
Beyond this information, however, there is little documentation to confirm exactly who Alfred was. As there is no date or place of birth, it is difficult to get an exact match. There are at least three William/Alfred matches in the Somerset/Bristol area, but nothing to connect them to the headstone in Weston-super-Mare, and nothing to even confirm that Alfred was from the South West.
There is nothing in any contemporary newspapers to suggest that Private Howe’s passing was anything out of the ordinary.
Sadly, therefore, he remains a name lost to history. Alfred Harry Howe, whoever he was, and however he died, lies at rest in a Somerset cemetery.
Charles Wood is destined to be one of those servicemen whose lives remain shrouded in mystery.
He was laid to rest in the Milton Cemetery in Weston-super-Mare, and his widow, Ellen, is buried with him. There are two headstones on the site – a family one, and a more recent war grave.
The Commonwealth War Graves Commission website give his age – 48 years old when he died – and states that he was a Private in the 263rd Company of the Royal Defence Corps and gives his service number. This was a territorial force, so it is probable that he served on home soil.
The only remaining military document relating to him is the Army Register of Soldier’s Effects. This confirms that he died in the Red Cross Hospital in Portishead on 12th November 1917, and that his belongings passed to his widow. It does highlight that he received a war gratuity, which was only applicable to soldiers who had completed at least six months’ service, so we know that he enlisted before May 1917.
There are a number of censuses available for the Weston-super-Mare area, but there at least two men called Charles Wood who married women called Ellen, so it is a challenge to identify which is the man buried in this grave.
A usual source of information would be his service record – which, in addition to his military activity, would give an address as well as other family members. However, this document is not available for Private Wood.
There is no mention of his passing in any of the contemporary newspapers, so it seems unlikely that his death was anything out of the ordinary.
Charles Wood is, sadly, lost to time, one of the countless men and women who gave up their lives for King and Country.
Cecil William Beresford was born in June 1875, the oldest of five children. He shared the same first name as his father, so became known as William. Cecil Sr was a barrister in London and he and his wife, Caroline, brought the family up in Kingsbury, London.
Things certainly went well for the Beresford family. By 1901, Cecil was a county judge, and had relocated the family to Devon. William, by this time, was training to be a barrister, and lived with his parents, siblings and four servants in Weare Hall, overlooking the village of Weare Giffard, near Bideford.
From this point on, information about William is a bit sketchy. He does not appear on the 1911 census – by this time Cecil and Caroline had moved to Weston-super-Mare, where Cecil died a year later. It is likely that William had enlisted in the army by this point, and was posted overseas.
William’s military records are not available, but when war broke out in 1914, he joined the Royal Defence Corps and, through his service, had attained the rank of Major.
In October 1917, a number of the local newspapers ran this brief report:
The death has occurred in a military hospital at Weymouth of Major Cecil William Beresford (RDC), eldest son of his Honour, the late Judge Beresford and Mrs Beresford, late of Wear Gifford Hall, and subsequently of Penquarry, Weston-super-Mare. He was 42 years old.
Western Times: 17th October 1917
Sadly, this is all that remains to document Major Beresford’s passing. There is nothing to confirm whether he had been wounded or had fallen ill, and there are no newspaper reports around his funeral.
Cecil William Beresford was laid to rest in the Milton Cemetery in his mother’s adopted home town of Weston-super-Mare.
Ralph Henry Edwards was born in December 1883, the oldest of six children to Charles and Emma. Charles was a house painter from Somerset, and raised his family in the coastal town of Weston-super-Mare.
When he left school, Ralph followed in his father’s footsteps, taking over the business when Charles passed away in 1909. By the time of the census two years later, Ralph was living with his mother Emma, his two younger brothers and Emma’s brother Harry. Harry was also a house painter, while Ralph’s siblings were working a grocer’s assistants. The family were living in a five-room, semi-detached house within walking distance of the town centre.
War was on the horizon, and Ralph was keen to do his part. Full details of his service are no longer available, but what is certain is that he enlisted in the Gloucestershire Regiment and was assigned to the 8th (Service) Battalion. Initially formed in Bristol, the battalion spent the first year of the war on home soil, before being sent to France in July 1915.
By the middle of the war, Ralph had been promoted to the rank of Corporal. He transferred over to the Labour Corps and was attached to the 106th Prisoner of War Company. Initially, German POWs had been shipped to England, but by 1916 those with useful skills were retained in France and drafted into the Forestry Companies, Army Service Corps and Royal Engineers. Corporal Edwards’ role would have been to oversee such men. (Whether this was in France or back in England is unclear.)
At this point, Ralph’s trail goes cold. He served out the war, passing away back at home on 11th March 1919, although the cause of his death has been lost to time. He was 35 years of age.
Ralph Henry Edwards lies at rest in the Milton Cemetery in his home town of Weston-super-Mare.
Percy Prince was born in 1890, one of seven children to John and Eliza Prince. John was an agricultural labourer and coal merchant, and brought his family up on the Somerset/Wiltshire border, near Bruton.
Percy followed in his father’s line of work when he left school, eventually moving to Frome. He met and married a woman called Florence Stickler in July 1909, setting up home in Water Lane, to the south of the town centre.
War was soon beckoning, and Percy enlisted in the Somerset Light Infantry as a Private. Sadly, his service records are lost to time, and so details of him time in the army are not available. What we do know is that he was assigned to one of the depots, although which one is not clear.
Sadly, that is about the limit of information available about Private Prince. He died on 11th April 1918, at the Military Hospital in Taunton. There is nothing to confirm a cause of death, but he just was 28 years old.
Percy Prince was buried in St James’ Cemetery in Taunton.
Death and Service 