Frank Rice Reid was born on 1st September 1898 in Toronto, Canada. One of four children, his parents were Nova Scotians George and Annie Reid. George was a commercial traveller, and the family had moved back to Nova Scotia by the time of Frank’s youngest sibling’s birth in 1910.
When Frank finished his schooling, he found work as a clerk, but was drawn to the excitement of flight and, soon became an aviation cadet. War was raging across Europe by this point, and, on 9th October 1917, he enlisted in the Royal Flying Corps. At 19 years and one month old, his service papers show that he was 5ft 7ins (1.7m) tall.
By the spring of 1918, Frank was in Britain, and had been a commission to Second Lieutenant. Assigned to the newly-formed Royal Air Force’s No. 1 Training School in Beaulieu, Hampshire, within a matter of months he was working as an instructor, flying Sopwith Camels.
On the morning of the 30th September 1918, Second Lieutenant Reid was flying his aircraft, when it crashed into the ground and he was killed. He had not long turned 20 years of age. The report of the incident noted that “the cause of the accident was an error of judgement on the part of the pilot in doing a half-roll too near the ground and not having enough height to come out of the dive.”
The body of Frank Rice Reid was laid to rest in the graveyard of St Paul’s Church, East Boldre, not far from the base he had called home.
Malcolm Gifford Boggs was born on 14th August 1894 in Brooklyn, New York. The second of four children, his parents were Seth and Anna Boggs. Seth died in 1905, and Anna married again, to widower lawyer Charles Vande Water: her children took his name.
The next record for Malcolm is that of his Royal Flying Corps service records. Interestingly, they note that he enlisted on 10th September 1917, and did so in Toronto, Canada. While the United States had entered the First World War by this point, it may have been easier for him to join via a colonial route.
Malcolm’s papers show that he was 5ft 11ins (1.81cm) tall, and was a student aviator at the time he joined up. He was recorded as being an Air Mechanic 3rd Class, but that came to an end when, on 2nd February 1918, he was accepted for a commission.
Second Lieutenant Vande Water was attached to the 29th Training Depot Station in Hampshire. There is little information about his time there, but a later American newspaper provided details of what happened to him:
Intelligence reaching relatives of Lieutenant Malcolm G Vande Water, of the Royal flying corps, a former Passaic newspaper man, is that he was killed in a fall while testing a new airplane at the British airdrome in Beaulieu, France. Wande Water was the first member of the Pica club to pay the supreme sacrifice. He was on leave in England, after six months’ active service at the front, having operated a machine across the English channel to France on the day before his fatal fall. His machine gun shot off a propellor blade while he was flying 100 feet in the air and the airplane dove to the earth.
[The Morning Call: 17th December 1918]
The accuracy of the information included in the article is variable to say the least. Malcolm may have enlisted in the Royal Flying Corps, but, by the time of the accident on 26th October 1918, that had become the Royal Air Force. The Beaulieu aerodrome mentioned was in Hampshire, not France. The RAF’s records for the incident do confirm, however, that the propellor of his Sopwith Camel was indeed shot through, causing the aircraft to fall to the ground.
Second Lieutenant Vande Water was taken to the Forest Park New Zealand General Hospital in Brockenhurst, Hampshire, for treatment, but his injuries would prove too severe. He died later that day, at the age of 24 years old.
The body of Malcolm Gifford Vande Water was laid to rest in the graveyard of St Paul’s Church in East Boldre, Hampshire, not far from the base he had called home.
The life of a WW1 pilot was notoriously dangerous. On the same day of Malcolm’s death, and at the same airfield, Flight Cadet Douglas Baker was also killed, in a separate incident.
Wesley Alexander Archibald was born in Flatlands, New Brunswick, Canada, on 19th October 1894. The oldest of ten children, his parents were Scottish-born couple James and Jane Archibald. It is unclear what employment James was in, but when he completed his schooling, Wesley found work as a telegraph operator.
When not working, Wesley was an active member of the Irish Fusiliers of Canada, and, by the time was broke out, he had been with the 11th Regiment for a year.
Wesley enlisted in the Canadian Expeditionary Force on 29th November 1915. His service records show that he was 5ft 6.5ins (1.69m) tall, with black hair, brown eyes and a fresh complexion. He was also noted as having a large scar on the outer side of his right thigh.
Private Archibald’s initial training was completed on home soil. His unit – the 121st Battalion – left Halifax on 14th August 1916, and arrived in Liverpool, Lancashire, ten days later. His dedication to the role was clear: his unit moved to Bramshott, Surrey, and he had been promoted to Corporal by the time he arrived there, and Sergeant just two months later.
In January 1917, Wesley was assigned to the 7th Battalion of the Canadian Expeditionary Force and sent to the Front Line. Over the next few months, his unit saw some fierce fighting at Arras, Vimy and Hill 70. On 9th July Sergeant Archibald was awarded the Military Medal for his actions.
By the end of 1917, Wesley was seeking more adventure, and, on 10th December, he transferred to the Royal Flying Corps. Attached to the 29th Training Depot Station, he was based near Beaulieu in Hampshire when the Royal Air Force was created. Over the next year he learnt his new trade and, on 7th November 1918, he was appointed Second Lieutenant.
The following day, Wesley was preparing for a flight in his Sopwith Dolphin. The aircraft took off, but the engine stalled, and the plane crashed. Second Lieutenant Archibald was killed instantly. He was 24 years of age.
The body of William Alexander Archibald was laid to rest in the graveyard of St Paul’s Church in East Boldre, not far for the airfield he had called home.
Much regret has been felt… at the death of Rev. JD Dathan MA, chaplain to the Royal Marines, at the age of 50 years. His death was due to pneumonia, caused by catching a chill while doing temporary duty… at the [Royal Naval Hospital, Chatham, Kent]. The eldest son of Captain JC Dathan RN, the deceased gentleman was educated at Christ’s Hospital and Cambridge, where he obtained the degree of MA. He entered the Royal Navy as a chaplain in 1896, and served on the China Station during the Boxer riots. For five years he was chaplain of Bermuda Dockyard and Hospital. He also served commissions in HMS Monmouth, Goliath and Russell. He was posted to the Royal Marine Barracks in July 1914, but on the outbreak of war he was appointed to HMS Formidable, and was transferred from the ship a week before she was lost. He was subsequently sent tot he Dardanelles for service in the Implacable at the first landing in April 1915. Later he joined the Italian Fleet, and was subsequently recalled to the Royal Marine Barracks. Three of the deceased officer’s brothers – Paymr.-in-Chief Ellis Dathan, Com. Hartley Dathan, and Eng.-Com. William Dathan – are serving in the Royal Navy.
[Naval & Military Record and Royal Dockyards Gazette: Wednesday 16th January 1918]
Joseph Duncan Dathan was born in 1866 in Halifax, Nova Scotia. The second of seven children, his parents were Joseph and Emma Dathan.
By the time of the 1891 census, the Dathan family had moved back to Britain. Joseph Sr and Emma were living in Portsea, Hampshire, while the younger Joseph was studying at Christ’s Hospital. The next return, taken in 1901, found him having taken up a role as curate at St John’s Church in Ipswich, Suffolk. He was, by this point, living on Foxhall Road on the western edge of the town.
On 25th February 1904, Joseph married Alicia Cane. The daughter of a vicar, she lived in Ipswich, and the couple married in the local parish church. By this point, Joseph was based in Portsmouth, Hampshire, and this is where the young couple set up home. Alicia gave birth to their first child, John, that November. The couple’s second son, Joseph, was born in 1906 and their third, daughter Alicia, was born in Bermuda while the family were stationed out there with Reverend Dathan’s work.
Joseph’s connection to the navy continued much as the newspaper reported. He died from pneumonia on 7th January 1918: he was 51 years of age.
Reverend Joseph Duncan Dathan was laid to rest in the naval section of Woodlands Cemetery in Gillingham, Kent, a place he would have known well, given its proximity to the Royal Naval Dockyard in Chatham, Kent, where he had been based.
George Arthur Mote was born on the 25th August 1888 in Islington, Middlesex. The oldest of three children, his parents were Arthur and Norah Mote. The 1891 census recorded Arthur as a shoemaker’s finishing ink maker and the family had taken rooms at 45 Wyatt Road in Islington.
The next census return, taken in 1901, found that Arthur had been promoted, and was now a foreman or a leather dyer. The family had moved around the corner from the old address, and were living in rooms at 193 Blackstock Road.
At this point, George’s trail goes cold. By the autumn of 1914, he had emigrated to Canada, and was working as a corset cutter in Quebec. With war having broken out in Europe, it was here that he enlisted to serve his empire.
Goegre’s service records confirm the young man he had become. Standing 5ft 8ins (1.72m) tall, he had black hair, blue eyes and a dark complexion. A number of scars were also noted on his left forearm, the middle finger of his right hand, and on the left side of his neck.
While back in Britain, George had volunteered for the Middlesex Regiment, and this experience stood him in good stead, as he enlisted with the rank of Sergeant.
Attached to the 3rd Battalion of the Canadian Infantry, Sergeant Mote arrived in St Nazaire, France, on 11th February 1915. His unit was thrown into the deep end from the start, and George’s actions at the Second Battle of Ypres that spring won him the DCM. By the autumn, he had been promoted to Company Sergeant Major.
George continued to serve on the Western Front, but his luck was to change. On 5th June 1916, he was badly injured, receiving gunshot wounds to his right shoulder and back. Medically evacuated to Britain, he was admitted to Fort Pitt Hospital in Chatham, Kent. His medical records noted than he was paralysed, and, in October 1916, he was transferred to the Duchess of Connaught Hospital in Taplow, Berkshire.
Company Sergeant Major Mote spent the next four months admitted to the hospital, but his wounds would prove too severe to overcome. He passed away on 6th February 1917 at the age of 28 years old.
George Arthur Mote’s body was taken back to Middlesex for burial. He was laid to rest in the majestic Highgate Cemetery.
In Mere Cemetery, Wiltshire, is a headstone dedicated to JE Chalk, who served as Private J McKinnon in the Canadian Army Veterinary Corps. He died on 25th June 1920, and gives his age as 53 years old.
Private McKinnon’s service records suggest, however, that he was born on 14th October 1874 in Inverness, Scotland, and give his army name as John. The Commonwealth War Graves Commission give his other name as James Edward Chalk. James seems to have been keen to disguise his background, and it is only with some digging that the real story comes out.
James was the youngest of five children to Edward and Mary Chalk. Edward was a carpenter from Mere, and this is where the family were born and raised.
When he finished his schooling, James found work as a booking clerk. Edward died in the 1880s, and the 1891 census found James living at home with his mother, who had taken on laundry work to help with their finances.
By 1901, Mary and James were living on Water Street, to the south of the town centre. There’s was now an extended household, and included James’ sister Olive. James is noted as being married, and while no marriage records exist, it would seem that his wife, Mary, and their daughter, Ivy, were also living there.
The next census, taken in 1911, suggests James’ life had taken a different turn. Employed as a railway foreman, he was now living with his older sister, Olive, in her home. He is noted as being married with a child, but neither Mary nor Ivy appear in the same census.
At some point in the next five years, James took the decision to move overseas, and create himself a new identity.
John McKinnon was living in Montreal when the call came to join up. He enlisted on 29th April 1916, by which point he was 41 years of age. Assigned to the Canadian Army Veterinary Corps, his service records confirm that he was 5ft 9ins (1.75m) tall, with greying brown hair, grey eyes and a sallow complexion. He was noted as having scars on both legs, and another on the second toe of his right foot.
Private McKinnon’s unit were quick to be dispatched to Britain, and he arrived in Shornecliffe, Kent, on 29th June. He spent the next five months at the army base, and had two spells of a month each in hospital during that time: the first for asthma, the second for bronchitis.
In November 1916, John moved along the coast to Shoreham, West Sussex. His health was badly impacted, though, the medical report stating that ‘his chest is of the emphysematous type but at present free from bronchitis. He will not do well in England.’ John was formally discharged from the army on 15th November 1916.
At this point, John’s already sparse trail goes cold once more. It is possible that he moved to Wiltshire to be nearer to family, although nothing can be confirmed.
James Edward Chalk, who serves as Private John McKinnon, died on 26th June 1920: His service records suggest that he was 45, but he was, in fact, 53 years of age. He was laid to rest in Mere Cemetery, on the outskirts of the town he had called home for so long.
Arthur Henry Shute was born on 13th February 1893 in Buckfastleigh, Devon. The younger of two children, he was the only son to Henry and Elizabeth Shute. Henry was a baker, and this trade soon took the family to Cirencester, Gloucestershire, where they had set up home by the time of the 1901 census.
Cirencester certainly suited the Shute family, and they remained at 107 Dyer Street for at least ten years. Arthur was set on learning the business, and the 1911 census found him as one of four apprentices to George Cox, a flour confectioner based in Hastings, Sussex.
New things were on the horizon, however, and Henry was evidently set on a better life for his family. On 10th May 1912, the family boarded the SS Victorian, destined for a fresh start in Canada. The Shutes eventually set up home at 118, 4 Avenue West in Calgary, Henry becoming a chef, and Arthur a baker.
Within a few years, the world was at war, and Arthur would step up to play his part. He enlisted on 13th September 1915, and wold be assigned to the Canadian Army Service Corps. His service records show that he was 6ft 0.5ins (1.84m) tall, with dark brown hair, brown eyes and a dark complexion. The document also highlighted three years’ voluntary service with the 5th Gloucestershire Regiment.
Private Shute’s unit arrived back in Britain on 6th November 1915. Sent to a base in Shorncliffe, Kent, Arthur was transferred to the 3rd Field Bakery, taking up a role suited to his skills. In March 1916, his unit was sent to France, and he remained there for the next five months.
Arthur’s time in the army seems to have been beset by illness. He was admitted to hospital on 12th August 1916, having come down with influenza, and he was medically evacuated to Britain to recuperate. Arthur would not be discharged for another six weeks, and only returned to the base in Shorncliffe on 3rd October.
From this point on, Private Shute remained on British soil, and he would remain in Shorncliffe for the remainder of the conflict and beyond the Armistice. In January 1919, he was admitted to the No. 14 Canadian General Hospital in Eastbourne, again suffering from influenza, but this time the condition would prove to be fatal. He passed away on 5th February 1919, a week short of his 26th birthday.
With his immediate family living thousands of miles away in Canada, Arthur Henry Shute’s body was taken back to the town of his birth for burial. He was laid to rest in the graveyard of Holy Trinity Church in Buckfastleigh.
James Gard was born on 8th March 1889 in the Devon village of Rose Ash. One of fourteen children, he was the fourth of six sons to George and Mary Gard. George was a poultry dealer, but when both he and Mary died within two months of each other in 1897, their children were suddenly left as orphans.
The 1901 census found 12-year-old James visiting the Cole family, farmers who lived a few miles away in Bishops Nympton. James’ older brother Philip had plans, however, and in 1907, the two of them set out for a new life in Canada.
Boarding the SS Saxonia in Liverpool, they arrived in Boston with 50s (approx. £390 in today’s money) between them. Their final destination was to be Winnipeg in Manitoba, but the soon moved further north, setting up neighbouring homes in the town of Fisher Branch.
Both siblings found farming work, but when war broke out in Europe, James stepped up to play his part. On 24th February 1916 he enlisted in the Canadian Expeditionary Force, and was assigned to the Canadian Infantry. His service records show that he was 6ft (1.83m) tall and weighed 155lbs (70.3kg). He had dark brown hair, blue eyes and a ruddy complexion.
Private Gard set sail for Britain within a matter of weeks, arriving in Shorncliffe, Kent, on 12th May 1916. His unit – the 44th Battalion – moved to their base in Bramshott, Hampshire, and this is where he would receive his training.
James’ unit was involved in the fighting at the Somme and Ancre, and his commitment was rewarded when, on 20th January 1917, he was promoted to the rank of Sergeant. Just days later, however, he was badly injured.
A high explosive shell exploded near Sergeant Gard that day, bursting both of his eardrums. Initially treated on site, he was medically evacuated to Britain for treatment, and was admitted to the Military Hospital in Tooting, Surrey. He developed mastoiditis in both ears, and this, combined with septicaemia, lead to his ultimate death. He passed away on 1st April 1917, at the age of 28 years of age.
The body of James Gard was taken back to Devon for burial. He was laid to rest in the graveyard of St Peter’s Church in his home village, Rose Ash.
John Alfred Gaunt was born on 15th October 1893, the fourth of five children to John and Jane Gaunt. John Sr was a cattle dealer from St Ives in Huntingdonshire, and it was in the nearby village of Needingworth that the family were born and raised.
John Sr sought out opportunities to support his wife and children and, in 1902 he moved the family to Canada, settling in Pincher Creek, Alberta. There isn’t a great deal of detail available about the Gaunts’ time in North America, but it is likely that farming became their way of life.
Tragedy struck the family in October 1912, when John Sr died, at the age of 61. By this point it seems that they had moved on to British Colombia. Just six months later, Jane also died, John Jr was left an orphan while still a teenager.
Most of the family seemed to remain on the west coast – a later document shows John’s older sister Julia living in Cranbrook, British Colombia – but John was working as a farmer by this point and had either returned to Pincher Creek after his parents’ deaths, or had remained there when they went west.
When war broke out in Europe in the summer of 1914, the Empire were called upon to serve, and John was to return to the country he had left more than a decade earlier. He enlisted on 20th January 1916, joining the Canadian Expeditionary Force.
Private Gaunt’s service records show that he was 5ft 8ins (1.72m) tall, 130lbs (59kg) in weight and had light brown hair, blue eyes and a fresh complexion. It was also noted that he had a fine scar, some 3.5ins (9cm) long, on his upper left arm and had a slight defect in his speech (although this is not elaborated on).
John departed for Europe on 21st August 1916, boarding the HMS Olympic for Liverpool, Lancashire. His unit was initially based in Witley Camps near Aldershot, Hampshire, and he would remain on base until the end of the year. This included eight weeks admitted to the Connaught Hospital, when he was suffering from a bout of syphilis.
By January 1917, John was transferred to the 21st Reserve Battalion, which meant a move to Seaford, East Sussex. He transferred again to the 50th Battalion on 19th March, a move which included being shipped off to France.
Over the next couple of months, things were to change dramatically for Private Gaunt. His service records note that he was wounded on 10th May, but that he remained on duty. On 21st July, he wad admitted to the No. 11 Ambulance Station in Rouen, suffering from jaundice.
He was medically evacuated to Britain for treatment, initially to the Auxiliary Hospital in Exeter, Devon, then to Uplyme Hospital, just to the north of Lyme Regis. By this point, John was severely ill. He passed away on 13th August 1917, at the age of 23 years of age.
With the majority of his family living on the other side of the Atlantic, John Alfred Gaunt was, instead, laid to rest in the churchyard of Ss. Peter & Paul Church in Uplyme, not fat from where he had breathed his last. He is also among those servicemen to be commemorated on the Pincher Creek War Memorial.
Edward Charles Brooke-Smith was born in Muizenberg, South Africa, on 2nd March 1892. The eighth of nine children, his parents were mariner Alfred Brooke-Smith and his wife, Louisa.
Little further information about Edward’s early life is available. The 1901 census recorded the family as having returned to Britain – where both Alfred and Louisa had been born. The family had set up home in a cottage in Woodbridge, Suffolk, but by the spring of 1911 Edward had moved again, emigrating to Canada to make a life as a farmer.
When war came to Europe, the empire was called upon to fight for peace. Edward, who was working as a merchant in Valcartier, Quebec, by this point quickly stepped up to play his part. He enlisted in the Canadian Expeditionary Force on 17th September 1914 as a Private.
Edward’s service record give an insight into the man he had become. He was noted as being 5ft 11ins (1.8m) tall, with dark brown hair, grey eyes and a dark complexion. Private Brooke-Smith was also noted as having vaccination scars on his left arm, a small scar on his right knee and two moles on the centre of his back.
Details of Edward’s travel back to Europe are lost to time, but he was attached to the 7th Battalion of the Canadian Infantry and, by the spring of 1915, he was in Northern France. In March he had a bout of bronchitis, which was quickly followed by influenza, and he was hospitalised in Rouen.
Private Brooke-Smith returned to his unit in May 1915, but he was dogged by flu for the next couple of months. Sadly, things were not to improve for him.
On 19th August 1915, Edward’s unit was fighting at Wimereux, France, when he was shot. The bullet shattered the top of his right thigh and pelvis, and, after treatment on site, he was evacuated to Britain for further medical support.
Edward was to spend the next sixteen months in hospital. He was initially admitted to the Cambridge Hospital in Aldershot, Hampshire, where his primary treatment took place. In November 1915, he was moved to the Duchess of Connaught Canadian Red Cross Hospital in Taplow, Buckinghamshire for ongoing recuperation.
On 13th March 1916, Private Brooke-Smith was moved to the Auxiliary Hospital in Torquay, Devon. Here further physiotherapy and recuperation took place, before an operation to correct the position of his thigh was undertaken 9th December. Despite the precautions that had been put in place, Edward did not come round from the procedure: he was 24 years of age.
Alfred and Louisa had settled in Paignton by this point – given the year their son had spent in the hospital, it seems likely that they had moved to be nearer to him. Edward Charles Brooke Smith was, therefore, laid to rest in the family plot in the town’s cemetery. When Alfred died nine months later, he was buried alongside his son.
Death and Service 