Category Archives: Australia

Australia, Australian Army Medical Corps, Commonwealth War Graves, Devon, Driver, Great War, history, illness, Lance Corporal, photography, Somerset, story, war, Wiltshire

Driver Ernest Smith

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Driver Ernest Smith

Ernest John Smith was born in 1883, one of seven children to John Smith and his wife Sarah Jane. John was a coal merchant, and the family lived in the Somerset town of Bruton. When Ernest initially left school, he worked as a farm labourer, but at some point, a sense of adventure caught him, and he emigrated to Australia. Sadly, details of his travels are not available, but he left England at some point before 1915.

When war broke out, however, he was still keen to do his bit. He was living in Queensland when he enlisted on 26th October 1915, and was assigned to the Australian Army Medical Corps.

Driver Smith’s battalion left Australia for Europe in March 1916, and served in France for the duration. He was dogged by ill health, catching pleurisy a couple of times, and had a number of fibromas operated on.

In October 1918, he was appointed Lance Corporal, but was shipped back to England later that year with ongoing fibroma issues. He was admitted to Torquay Hospital as dangerously ill in December of that year, and spent most of the next nine months in hospital, initially in Torquay, but then when he was able to be moved, he was transferred to the 1st Australian General Hospital near Warminster.

Sadly, the cysts Driver Smith has developing were malignant, and he passed away on 8th October 1919. He was just 36 years old.

Ernest John Smith was brought back to his home town for burial, and lies at rest in the graveyard of St Mary’s Church in Bruton.

Australia, Australian Machine Gun Corps, Commonwealth War Graves, Great War, history, injury, photography, Private, Somerset, story, war

Private Henry Morgan

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Private Henry Morgan

Henry Morgan was born in 1892 in Bridgwater, Somerset. He was the oldest of two children, both boys, to Charles Morgan and his wife Ellen. Charles managed the local collar works, making collars for shirts.

While Henry’s younger brother, Herbert, followed his dad’s business, according to the 1911 census, Henry was learning the farming trade. This was to stand him in good stead, and in 1912, he emigrated to Australia, to become a farmer.

Henry settled in Gunnedah, New South Wales, but was called up when war broke out. He enlisted in May 1916 and joined the Australian Machine Gun Corps. His troop left Australia on the ship Borda in November 1916, arriving in Plymouth two months later, and he finally reached France in March 1917.

Initially part of the 9th Machine Gun Battalion, Private Morgan transferred to the 3rd Machine Gun Corps in April 1918. Involved in the Allied defence of the German Spring Offensive, he was caught up in a gas attack and injured.

Wounded on 17th April 1918, Henry was evacuated back to England and admitted to the Voluntary Aid Detachment Hospital in Cheltenham. Sadly, Private Morgan was not to recover, and he died from his injuries on 8th May 1918. He was just 25 years old.

Henry Morgan lies at rest in the Wembdon Road Cemetery in his former home town of Bridgwater, Somerset.