John Leslie Mably was born on 21st May 1899, the only son to Elizabeth Janie Mably. Elizabeth lived with her widowed mother and two older brothers, in the Cornish parish of St Minver.
There is scant information available for John’s short life. The 1911 census showed that he was still at school, and when war broke out, he enlisted in the Royal Engineers, although the date for this happened is unclear. Sapper Mably was assigned to the 69th Division Signal Company, but records do not confirm whether he served overseas or on home soil.
At some point later in the conflict, John was in Yorkshire, as he was admitted to the general hospital in Sheffield. Again, details are sketchy, and it is not possible to identify if he was based in the area, or medically evacuated there from overseas. Either way, it was in the hospital that he breathed his last, passing away on 15th August 1918, at the age of just 19 years old.
John Leslie Mably’s body was taken back to Cornwall for burial. He was laid to rest in the picturesque setting of St Michael’s Churchyard in the village of Rock.
Charles Millson was born in Scullcoates, Yorkshire, in the summer of 1897. One of nine children, his parents were called Charles and Eliza. Charles Sr was a general labourer and while still at school, his son found work as a newsboy, hawking papers for a local newsagent.
Sadly, there is little more concrete information about young Charles’ life. When war broke out, he stepped up to enlist, although the exact dates of his service are lost to time. He joined the Royal Field Artillery and, as Driver, was assigned to the 107th Brigade.
By the summer of 1915, Driver Millson was based on Salisbury Plain, near Amesbury, Wiltshire. This is where he was to breathe his last. Charles died on 7th June 1915, through causes unknown: he was just 18 years of age.
It would seem that the Millsons were unable to bring their son back to Yorkshire for burial. Instead Charles was laid to rest in Amesbury Cemetery, not far from where he had passed away.
The early life of Henry George Preece is a challenge to piece together.
The Commonwealth War Graves Commission give his father’s name as Edwin Preece, and suggest that the was the landlord of the George Hotel in Milverton.
The Army Register of Soldier’s Effects give the sole beneficiary of Henry’s estate as his sister Bessie.
The census record of 1911 appears to link the three members of the family, but give only a tenuous connection to Somerset. Edwin was a Coachman from Nunney, but the family – including Edwin’s wife Elizabeth, and two children, Henry and Bessie – were all living in Bayford, Hertfordshire, where the siblings had been born in 1900 and 1902 respectively.
It seems likely that the Preece family moved to Somerset not long after the census was taken, and this is potentially when Edwin took up his new role in Milverton.
War broke out in 1914, and Henry stepped up to play his part. He enlisted in the Devonshire Regiment, and was assigned to the 2nd Battalion. Full service details are lost to time, but Private Preece had joined up by April 1918.
Henry’s trail goes cold again at this point. He was admitted to a military hospital in Chatham, Kent, in the autumn1918, although the reason for this is unclear. He passed away there on 29th October: he was just 19 years of age.
The body of Henry George Preece was taken back to Somerset for burial. He was laid to rest in the graveyard of St Michael’s Church in Milverton.
Charles Leigh Hall and his twin Maud, were born on 3rd April 1878 in Clifton, Gloucestershire. Two of eight children, their parents were Pedro and Anne Hall. Pedro, whose full name was Pedro Henrique Sinclair Hall, was better known as Henry, and was a mathematics tutor and Assistant Master at Clifton College, and it goes without saying that the Hall children had a educated upbringing.
Charles was always to be destined for great things. By the time of the 1901 census, when he was 22 years of age, he was a Lieutenant in the Royal Marines Light Infantry. Based on the cruiser HMS Amphion, he travelled the Pacific and, on the night the return was taken, was moored in Vancouver, Canada.
On 15th June 1910, Charles married Sophia Elinor Veale. Born in Caledon, South Africa, the couple wed in the village of Littleham, Devon. They set up home in Gosport, Hampshire – presumably as the now Captain Hall’s work was based from the docks there – and went on to have two children, Anthony and Nicholas.
By September 1915, Charles had been promoted again, this time to the rank of Major. His wartime service included a lot of work in Africa, including in Cameroon in 1914 – for which he was mentioned in Dispatches – German East Africa (Burundi, Rwanda and Tanzania today) in 1915 and Saadani (Tanzania) in 1916.
In October 1916, he was invalided out of the Royal Marine Light Infantry for reasons that are unclear, and returned to Britain from Simonstown, South Africa. While Charles seems not to have gone to sea any more, his experience was still respected, and, on 15th January 1917, he was promoted to Brigade Major.
The family settled back down in Portsmouth, Hampshire, and remained there for the next eighteen months. By the summer of 1918, Charles was in Bristol – either based at the docks there, or hospitalised in the city – and passed away on 29th July 1918. He was 40 years of age.
Sophia and her boys were still in Portsmouth, but Charles Leigh Hall was laid to rest in the graveyard of St George’s Church in Easton-in-Gordano, Somerset. The headstone incorrectly gives the month of death as June. Charles’ will divided his estate – £4467 (£318,000 in today’s money) – between his brother, Arthur, and Charles Garnett, a barrister, possibly as a trust for his sons.
Russell David Smith was born in Shoreditch, London, in the summer of 1877. The second of four children, his parents were tailor Richard Smith and his wife, Emma.
When he finished his schooling, Russell found work as a bookbinder: by the time of the 1901 census, the family had moved to a small terraced house in Cassland Road, Hackney.
On Christmas Day 1902, Russell married Alice Stretch. A year younger than her new husband, she had been born in Islington, and was the youngest child to cabman Edwin Stretch. When the couple married, she was working as a mantle maker’s assistant, making elements for gas lamps.
The newlyweds settled in a cottage in Walthamstow, and went on to have three children. The 1911 census recorded the young family living at 39 Ritchings Avenue: they had taken in a lodger, Alice Carter, to help pay the bills.
War came to Europe in the summer of 1914 and Russell was called upon to play his part. Details of his military service are sketchy, but from the documents available, it is evident that he had enlisted by the summer of 1917 joining the Labour Corps. Private Smith was attached to the 119th Labour Coy. which seems to be been based in Somerset.
It is impossible to trace Russell’s trail any further. The next record for him is that of his passing, on 17th October 1917. The cause of his death is not readily apparent, but he was 40 years old at the time.
Finances seem to have prevented Alice from bringing her husband home. Russell David Smith was, instead, laid to rest in Locksbrook Cemetery, Bath, probably as this might have been the closest burial ground to where he had passed away.
Hélier Carré was born in April 1900, on the Channel Island of Sark. He was the second of two children to Hélier and Henriette (also known as Harriet) Carré. Hélier Sr was a fisherman, and the family, including siblings Hélier Jr and Harriet Jr, lived in a four-roomed cottage, La Collinette, with Henriette’s widowed mother, also called Henriette/Harriet.
Hélier Jr was just 14 when war broke out but, with France just 25 miles (39km) across the water, he was obviously keen to play his part. It was not to be until the summer of 1918 that he enlisted, and he joined the Royal Guernsey Light Infantry as a Private. His service records confirm that he had become a fisherman like his father, and they he was 5ft 3ins (1.6m) tall.
Little additional information is available about Private Carré. He was sent to Guernsey for training, and it was there, on 13th November 1918 – just two days after the Armistice was signed – that he passed away. The cause of his death is not freely available, but he was just 18 years of age.
The body of Hélier Carré was taken back to Sark for burial. He was laid to rest in the graveyard of the island’s church, St Peter’s.
John Leslie Martyn was born in Egloshayle, Cornwall, on 15th February 1888. He was the youngest of five children, and was the third son to John and Mary Martyn. John Sr was a general merchant, and the household had a couple of live-in servants to help both with the household and the business.
When John Sr died in 1904, William, his middle son, took over the running of what was a decent family business.
John Jr, however, had sought another way of life and, was set on a life at sea. He enlisted on the training ship Conway in 1902. Based on the River Mersey, by the time of the 1911 census, he was boarding in the Sailor’s Home in Liverpool. The document confirms that he held the rank of Ship’s Mate in the merchant service, and it would seem that he was doing what he could to build on his skills.
On 26th August 1912, John received his certificate of competency to be the Master of a foreign-going ship. He received a commission in the Royal Naval Reserve, before joining the New Zealand Shipping Co. two years later. When war came to Europe, however, he was called back into naval service.
After serving a few months on the air defences in the Thames Estuary he sailed on his Majesty’s ship Laconia for the coast of German South-West Africa, where he remained. He became a Lieutenant in 1915, and in 1917 was given his first command of HMS Prattler. It is not too much to say that most promising young life has been given to his country.
Cornish Guardian: Friday 8th November 1918
In the summer of 1918, John came home on leave. On 25th July he married Lucy Dudfield in Stanway, Gloucestershire. Tragically, their married life was not to be a lengthy one.
Lieutenant Martyn returned to Devon, and, for reasons undetermined, was admitted to the Royal Naval Hospital in East Stonehouse, Plymouth in October. Whatever the cause of his ailment, he was not to survive it. He passed away while still admitted, on 25th October 1918. He was 30 years of age.
John Leslie Martyn’s body was taken back to Cornwall for burial. He was laid to rest in the family plot in Egloshayle Cemetery.
Robert Carroll was born on 15th October 1874 in Ballymena, Co. Antrim. He was one of three children to Henry and Mary Ann Carroll.
There is little additional information about his early life, but, on 6th April 1896, he married a woman called Martha Keenan. Robert was a plasterer at the time of his wedding, and the couple went on to have four children. Tragically, the youngest, Robert Jr, was just five months old when he passed: even worse, Martha was to die just weeks later, in June 1908.
With three children to raise, the grieving Robert married again, wedding Sarah O’Hara in October 1909. They were to have a son together, another boy they called Robert, the following year.
When war came to European shores, Robert stepped up to play his part. He enlisted in the Royal Irish Regiment and was assigned to the 1st Battalion. By September 1915, Private Carroll was sailing for the Eastern Mediterranean, where he was to remain for more than a year.
Little further information is available for Robert’s life. He was discharged from the army on 27th April 1917. As his service records no longer remain, it is not possible to determine why he left the army, but is likely to be as a result of illness or injury.
Robert returned to Northern Ireland, and his trail goes cold. All that can be confirmed is that he passed away at home on 7th August 1919, at the age of 44 years of age.
Robert Carroll was laid to rest in Crebilly Cemetery, on the hills outside Ballymena.
Ivy Pretoria May Hibberd was born in the spring of 1900 in the Wiltshire village of Wylye. One of nine children, she was the daughter of bricklayer Edwin Hibberd and his wife, Elizabeth.
There is little information available about young Ivy’s life. She enlisted in the Women’s Royal Air Force on 14th October 1918, and was sent off to Handsworth College in Birmingham for training.
Member Hibberd’s time in service was to be tragically brief. Having contracted a combination of influenza and pneumonia, she died on 6th November 1918. She was just 18 years of age and passed away just over three weeks after signing up.
Ivy Pretoria May Hibberd’s body was taken back to Wiltshire for burial. She was laid to rest in the peaceful graveyard of St Mary’s Church in her home village, Wylye.
Robert Frederic Dodds was born in 1874 in Darlington, Country Durham. The third of nine children, his parents were Robert and Elizabeth Dodds. Robert Sr was a carter and furniture remover and, when he finished his schooling, Robert Jr joined his father in his work.
Robert Sr died in 1898, at the age of 61. Whether this was a catalyst for his son to move on is unclear, but by the following year, Robert Jr was working as a labourer in Weston-super-Mare, Somerset. On 16th September 1899, he married Elizabeth Counsell, a fisherman’s daughter from the town.
It seems that Robert was keen to build a life for his new wife: the next census, taken in 1901, found the couple living in Cardiff, Glamorgan, where he was employed as a stone mason. The Dodds remained in Wales for the next decade, having three children – Lily, William and Rosie – there. By the spring of 1911, however, they were back in Somerset, living in a three-roomed cottage in Castle Street. Elizabeth had had a fourth child just a month before the census, with a second son, Bertie, adding to the family.
When war came to Britain, Robert stepped up to play his part. He initially joined the Royal Army Veterinary Corps as a Private, and found himself in France on 6th March 1915. Elizabeth, meanwhile, remained at home in Somerset, seeking support from her family. With four children to look after, her workload was to increase again when, just a week after Robert arrived on the Western Front, she gave birth to their fifth child, the patriotically named Frederick Gordon Kitchener Dodds.
Robert remained in the Royal Army Veterinary Corps for the next four years, rising to the rank of Serjeant. Details of his time in the service are unclear, but he survived the war and, on 11th July 1919, he transferred to the Royal Army Service Corps.
Little further information is available about Robert’s life. By the winter of 1919/1920, he was based in Midlothian, Scotland. He was admitted to the 2nd Scottish General Hospital, Edinburgh, although his condition is unclear. Whatever it was, it was to be fatal: he passed away on 6th January 1920, at the age of 45 years old.
Robert Frederic Dodds’ body was taken back to Somerset for burial. He was laid to rest in Highbridge Cemetery.
Death and Service 