Category Archives: Devon

Commonwealth War Graves, Devon, Great War, history, illness, New Zealand, New Zealand Engineers, photography, Sapper, story, war, Wiltshire

Sapper Charles Salisbury

Leave a comment
Sapper Charles Salisbury

Charles Salisbury was born in Helensville, New Zealand, on 23rd June 1885. The fifth of six children, his parents were James and Sarah Salisbury.

Little information is available about Charles’ early life, but by his 20s he had found work as a linesman, working his way up to foreman. In April 1914 he married Nora Fiori: the couple settled in Onehunga, and had two children: Pauline had been born in 1907, and sister Catherine followed in 1911.

When war broke out in Europe, the British Empire called upon its own to step up and serve. Charles enlisted on 9th April 1916, joining the 15th Division of New Zealand Signallers, itself part of the New Zealand Engineers. His service records show that he was 31 years of age, 5ft 9ins (1.65m) tall and weighed 154lbs (69.9kg). He was noted as having dark hair, blue eyes and a dark complexion.

Sapper Salisbury’s unit left Wellington for Britain on 28th July 1916. The voyage on board the ship Waitemata took ten weeks, Charles setting foot on solid ground again in Devonport, Devon, in October. From there the battalion moved to its base near Codford, in Wiltshire.

Charles would spend the next six months in camp, presumably in preparation for a move to the continent. Sadly for Charles, however, he was not to see any action away from Britain. On 27th May 1917 he was admitted to the camp hospital, suffering from a cerebral haemorrhage: he died the following day. Sapper Salisbury was 31 years of age.

Charles Salisbury was laid to rest in the newly consecrated ANZAC extension to St Mary’s Churchyard in Codford, not far from the troops encampment.

Sapper Charles Salisbury
(from findagrave.com)
Commonwealth War Graves, Devon, Great War, history, Kent, killed in action, photography, Royal Navy, Staffordshire, Stoker, story, war

Stoker 1st Class Joseph Ward

Leave a comment
Stoker 1st Class Joseph Ward

Joseph Ward was born in Wednesbury, Staffordshire, on 13th January 1890. The four of five children – all boys – his parents were William and Caroline. William was a coal miner-turned-weighman, but Joseph found work as a riveter when he completed his schooling.

It seems that Joseph sought any employment to avoid going down the mines, and, on 26th August 1910, he enlisted in the Royal Navy. His service records show that he was 5ft 3ins (1,6m) tall, with brown hair, grey eyes and a sallow complexion. He was also noted as having a dot or mole on the back of this left forearm and another on the back of his left hand.

Joseph was given the rank of Stoker 2nd Class, and was sent to HMS Vivid, the Royal Naval Dockyard in Devonport, Devon, for training. This would be his base of operations, and he would return there a number of times in the coming years.

On 4th January 1911, Stoker Ward was given his first posting, on board the armoured cruiser HMS Cumberland. he remained on board for more than two-and-a-half years, and gained a promotion to Stoker 1st Class during this time.

In October 1913, Joseph returned to Devonport, remaining on shore for more than three months. His service record notes he was confined to the Dockyard Sick Quarters for three days, although the cause is not given. In January 1914, he returned to sea again, on board another cruiser, HMS Highflyer. This would prove another lengthy assignment, and Stoker Ward would not return to HMS Vivid for more than three years.

During his short spell ashore, Joseph returned to Staffordshire. He married Lily Wright, a tailoress from Wednesbury. Their honeymoon was brief, however, and he was given a new assignment.

Stoker Ward was attached to HMS Valkyrie, a newly commissioned destroyer attached to the Harwich Force. On 22nd December 1917, she was escorting a convoy to the Netherlands when she struck a mine. Twelve of the crew – including Joseph – were killed, while a further seven subsequently succumbed to their injuries. The Valkyrie was towed to the Royal Naval Dockyard in Chatham, Kent, for repairs.

Joseph Ward was 27 years of age when he was killed. He was laid to rest in the naval section of Woodlands Cemetery in Gillingham, not far from the Kent naval base.

Tragically, Lily was pregnant when her husband was killed. On 25th February 1918, she gave birth to their child, Flora, the daughter Joseph would never know.

Australia, Australian Infantry, Commonwealth War Graves, Cornwall, Devon, Gloucestershire, Great War, history, illness, photography, Private, story, war, Wiltshire

Private Harry Holder

Leave a comment
Private Harry Holder

Harry Holder was born in the village of Ludgvan, Cornwall, in the summer of 1885. The oldest of fourteen children, his parents were Harry and Grace Holder. Harry Sr was a market gardener, and his oldest son was to follow in his footsteps.

By the time of the 1911 census, the Holders had moved to Cheltenham, Gloucestershire. Settling in a seven-room house in Leckhampton Road, the household of eleven people had six wages coming in, split between market gardening for the men and floristry for the women.

The following year, Harry Sr took his family on the long journey to Australia for a new life. They found work on a farm near Perth, and Harry Jr was employed as an agricultural labourer when war broke out. When the call came, he stepped up to play his part and his service records suggest that he had spent four years in the territorial army back in Britain. Harry had been turned down for service because of the state of his teeth just a month before trying to enlist again. The second time, however, he was successful, and he joined the Australian Imperial Force on 13th September 1916.

Private Holder’s medical report confirmed the man he had become. At 31 years of age, he was 5ft 10.5ins (1.79m) tall, and weighed 140lbs (63.5kg). A Roman Catholic, he had brown hair, blue eyes and a fresh complexion.

Assigned to the 16th Battalion of the Australian Infantry, Private Holder’s unit departed from Fremantle on 21st January 1917, travelling no board the ship Miltiades. Just under two months later, on 27th March, Harry arrived back in Britain, docking at Devonport, Devon, before moving with his battalion to a camp on the outskirts of Codford, Wiltshire.

A significant proportion of the ANZAC troops became unwell within weeks of arriving at the camp, and Harry was not to avoid illness. On 27th April he was admitted to the barracks’ hospital with cerebrospinal meningitis, but the treatment was to prove too little, too late. Private Holder died on 28th April 1917: he was 31 years of age.

Harry Holder was laid to rest in a new extension to St Mary’s Churchyard in Codford, close to the base where he had breathed his last.

Private Harry Holder
(from findagrave.com)
Australia, Australian Infantry, Commonwealth War Graves, Devon, Great War, history, illness, photography, Private, South Africa, story, war, Wiltshire

Private Thomas Bickley

Leave a comment
Private Thomas Bickley

Thomas George Bickley was born in Fremantle, Australia, in 1881, and was the second of six children to Absolom and Mary Bickley. May had been married and widowed twice before wedding Thomas’ father, and so he had eight half-siblings as well.

Thomas’ early life is a challenge to piece together, but his service records from the First World War fill in some of the detail. He confirms that he had served in the 1st Imperial Light Horse for eleven months, and that he fought in South Africa – presumably as part of the Boer War of 1899-1902.

At the time of enlisting on 13th September 1916, he was working as a carpenter, and had completed a five-year apprenticeship. He married Rose Buck in 1907, but they did not have any children.

Private Bickley was assigned to the 16th Battalion of the Australian Infantry, and his medical report confirms the man he had become. He was 5ft 10ins (1.77m) tall and weighed 170lbs (77.1kg). At 34 years of age, he had light brown hair, blue eyes and a fresh complexion.

Thomas’ unit left Fremantle on the Argyllshire. The troop ship arrived in Devonport, Devon, two months later, and his battalion was sent to their base near Codford in Wiltshire. The journey impacted a lot of soldiers, and Thomas was not to be immune from this.

On 12th February Private Bickley was sent to the camp hospital as he was suffering from bronchitis. The severity of his condition meant he was immediately transferred to an army hospital in nearby Sutton Veny, but it was to prove too late. Thomas died from the lung condition on 23rd February 1917: he was 35 years of age.

Thomas George Bickley was laid to rest in the ANZAC extension to St Mary’s Churchyard, Codford, not far from the based that had so briefly been his home.

Commonwealth War Graves, Devon, Great War, Gunner, history, photography, Royal Field Artillery, story, unknown, war

Gunner Arthur Putt

1 Comment
Gunner Arthur Putt

Arthur Sidney Putt was born on 22nd October 1895 in Paignton, Devon. The youngest of five children, his parents were James and Elizabeth. James died when his son was jest five years old, leaving Elizabeth to raise the family in her own. By the time of the 1901 census, they Putts were living at 22 Roundham Cottages (four doors down from the fellow future soldier Charles Baker and his family), where Elizabeth was working as a charwoman to bring in the rent money.

When he finished his schooling, Arthur found employment as a wood chipper. At 15 years of age, he and his older brother, Frederick, were both bringing a wage into the household, and were the only two of Elizabeth’s children to still be living at home.

War broke out in the summer of 1914, and Arthur was one of the first to step up and play his part. He enlisted on 16th August, giving up his new job as a hairdresser, with the view of better prospects in the army. He joined the Royal Field Artillery, and was assigned to the 2nd Devon Depot Battery.

Gunner Putt’s initial medical report showed that he was 5ft 7ins (1.7m) tall, with good vision and normal physical development. He was sent for training, but a later, fuller, medical found that he was, in fact, not physically fit for army service. The report of the medical board of 27th April 1915 found that he had both rheumatism and valvular heart disease. He was dismissed from military service on 10th May 1915, after 267 days’ duty.

At this point, Arthur’s trail goes cold. It seems likely that he returned to Paignton, and to the life he had before the war, and the next record for him is that of his passing. He died on 14th May 1919, at the age of 23 years old.

Arthur Sydney Putt was buried in Paignton Cemetery, overlooking the town in which he had been born and raised.

Commonwealth War Graves, Devon, Great War, Gunner, history, illness, Mesopotamia, photography, Royal Garrison Artillery, story, war

Gunner Charles Baker

1 Comment
Gunner Charles Baker

Charles Baker was born on New Year’s Day 1884, the youngest of six children to Henry and Mary Baker. Henry, was 64 when his son was born, and 21 years his wife’s senior, was a fisherman from Dartmouth, Devon. By the 1870s, however, the family had settled in Paignton, and this is where Charles had been born and raised.

The 1901 census found Henry, Mary, Charles and the oldest Baker daughter, Emma, living at 25 Roundham Cottages, to the south of Paignton town centre. He would have known the Putt family at No. 22, being of a similar age to Arthur Putt, another future soldier. Charles’ father Henry, now 81, was living off his own means, while Charles had completed his schooling, and was employed as a house painter.

In the spring of 1905, Charles married Helen Davey. Born in Hayle, Cornwall and six years her husband’s senior, there is little information about the new Mrs Baker, other than her father’s name, Thomas. The 1911 census found the couple living in a 5-roomed house on Norton Terrace, Paignton. At this point Charles was still employed as a house painter.

When war came to Europe, Charles stepped up to serve his King and country. Initially enlisting on 11th December 1915, he was not formally mobilised until the following September, when he was assigned to the Royal Garrison Artillery as a Gunner. His service records show hat he was 5ft 8ins (1,73m) tall and weighed 159lbs (72.1kg).

As part of the 257th Siege Battery, Gunner Baker was sent to Mesopotamia on 10th March 1917. He would remain in the Middle East for the next couple of years, returning home in March 1919. Charles returned to Devon, and was placed on furlough, awaiting to be demobbed.

Within a matter of weeks, however, Charles had fallen ill, contracting pneumonia. The condition was to prove his undoing, and he passed away on 7th May 1919. He was 35 years of age.

Charles Baker was laid to rest in Paignton Cemetery, overlooking his home town.

Australia, Australian Infantry, Commonwealth War Graves, Devon, Great War, history, illness, photography, Private, story, war, Wiltshire

Private Thomas Gorman

Leave a comment
Private Thomas Gorman

Thomas Michael Gorman was born on 6th April 1887 and was the seventh of ten children. Both of his parents – Patrick and Mary Gorman – were Irish, and had followed Patrick’s work around the world as an army Quartermaster Serjeant. By the time Thomas came along, the family had settled in Australia, and he was born in Brisbane.

There is little information about Thomas’ early life. When he completed his schooling, his father took him on as an apprentice and, by the time war broke out, he was working as a mechanic.

Thomas enlisted in the Australian Imperial Force in March 1916. His service records show that he was 5ft 8ins (1.72m) tall, and weighed 138lbs (62.6kg). A Roman Catholic, he was recorded as having dark hair, light blue eyes and a fair complexion. It was also noted that he had two scars – one relating to his appendix, and another to a hernia operation.

Private Gorman’s unit – the 15th Battalion of the Australian Infantry – set sail for Europe on 8th August 1916. After just over two months on board the Itonus, they arrived in Plymouth, Devon, from where they were sent to Codford, Wiltshire, which is where several of the ANZAC battalions were based.

Thomas’ service was a mixed one, and his record is not without blemish. In October 1916, he was confined to barracks for seven days for going absent without leave. The following month, the same thing happened, and he we detained for a further seven days.

In December 1916, Private Gorman was admitted to a military hospital in Fovant, near Salisbury, suffering from jaundice. By February 1917 he was back in Codford, and was held in detention for two weeks, for going absent without leave, being drunk in the lines and for urinating in the lines.

Thomas’ jaundice had returned, and he was admitted to the camp hospital again. This time, however, he luck was to run out. He passed away on 14th March 1917, at the age of 29 years old.

Thomas Michael Gorman was laid to rest in the graveyard extension to St Mary’s Church in Codford, Wiltshire.

Australia, Australian Infantry, Commonwealth War Graves, Devon, Great War, history, illness, photography, Private, story, war, Wiltshire

Private James McGrath

Leave a comment
Private James McGrath

James Charles Patrick McGrath was born in June 1895 in the town of Marlborough, Queensland, Australia. He was the only child of Patrick and Margaret McGrath.

Little information is available about James’ early life. His father died in 1912, and he found work as a station hand when he completed his schooling.

When war broke out in Europe, James stepped up to play his part. Seeking adventure, and a reliable wage, he enlisted in the Australian Imperial Force in August 1916.

Private McGrath’s service records suggest he must have cut quite a figure, being 5ft 11.5ins (1.81m) tall, and weighing 172lbs (78kg). A Roman Catholic, he had hazel eyes, fair hair and a fair complexion.

James’ unit – the 15th Battalion of the Australian Infantry – departed Australia on 25th November 1916. Leaving from Sydney, his ship, the Beltana, took just under two months to reach its destination, Devonport, Devon. From here, Private McGrath’s battalion made the 130 mile (210km) journey to their base on the outskirts of the Wiltshire village of Codford.

James arrived in Codford on 30th January 1917, but soon fell ill. He was admitted to the camp hospital with influenza on 17th February, but his condition worsened. He passed away from pneumonia on 2nd March 1917: he was just 21 years of age.

Thousands of miles from home, James Charles Patrick McGrath was laid to rest in the cemetery extension to St Mary’s Church in Codford.

Private James McGrath
(from findagrave.com)
Australia, Australian Infantry, Commonwealth War Graves, Devon, Great War, history, illness, photography, Private, story, war, Wiltshire

Private Percy Connelly

Leave a comment
Private Percy Connelly

Percy Francis Connelly was born in October 1892 in Goulbourn, New South Wales, Australia. One of nine children – eight boys and one girl – his parents were Francis and Emily.

There is little information available about Percy’s early life. When he completed his schooling, he found work as a labourer and this is what he was doing when war was declared.

Percy stepped up to serve his King in November 1916, joining the Australian Imperial Force. His service records show that he was 5ft 8ins (1.72m) tall and weighed 147lbs (66.7kg). A Roman Catholic, he was also noted as having brown eyes, cark brown hair and a dark complexion.

Private Connelly’s unit – the 49th Battalion of the Australian Infantry – departed from Sydney on 22nd December 1916. His ship – the Demosthenes – took ten weeks to reach Britain. During this time, Percy was admitted to the ship’s isolation hospital, as he was suffering with venereal disease.

Percy’s unit arrived in Plymouth, Devon, on 5th March 1917. They were sent to their base near Codford in Wiltshire, for further training and preparation for a move to the continent. Private Connelly, however, would not be going with them. Just a week after arriving at the camp he was admitted to hospital, having contracted bronchial pneumonia.

The lung condition was to prove Percy’s undoing. He took his last breath on 19th March 1917: he was 24 years of age.

Percy Francis Connelly was laid to rest in the ANZAC section of St Mary’s Churchyard, Codford.

Percy’s younger brother, Francis, was also caught up in the First World War. Attached to the 42nd Battalion of the Australian Infantry, he had arrived in Britain more than a year before his older sibling.

Sent to France in November 1916, Francis was wounded just a couple of months later. He was medically repatriated to Britain for treatment, and eventually re-joined his unit in September 1917. He would spend most of the next year on the Western Front, and was killed in action on 29th September 1918. He was just 23 years of age.

Commonwealth War Graves, Devon, Great War, history, illness, Kent, photography, Royal Engineers, Sapper, Somerset, story, war

Sapper Joseph Yeoman

Leave a comment
Sapper Joseph Yeoman

Joseph Frederick Yeoman was born on 28th December 1880, the sixth of eight children to John and Eliza. John was a brewer’s drayman from Harbertonford in Devon, but it was on the coast in Paignton that the Yeoman family were born and raised.

When he finished school, Joseph found work as a mason’s apprentice. The 1901 census found the family of seven living in a small terrace cottage on Hill Park Terrace, to the south of Paignton town centre, with all but Eliza bringing in a wage.

In 1906, Joseph married Lydia Gill. She was the daughter of a general labourer from Chudleigh, Devon, who was working as a domestic servant for an architectural surveyor and his wife. The couple went on to have two children – Joseph Jr, who was born the following year, and Lilian, who was born in 1910, but who died when just a babe-in-arms.

The 1911 census found Joseph and Lydia living at 20 Nuneham Terrace, Joseph Jr is missing from the document, and it seems likely that, with his sister’s death, he had been taken in by another relative to allow his grieving parents some space.

When war broke out, Joseph stepped up to play his part. Full details of his military service have been lost to time, and a clear chronology is a challenge to piece together. Lydia passed away in January 1915, but it is not clear whether Joseph had enlisted by this point. His entry in the Army Register of Soldiers’ Effects confirms that he had joined up by September 1915 at the latest, and that he was in the Royal Engineers.

Sapper Yeoman was assigned to the 1st/3rd (Wessex) Field Company. It is unclear from his records whether he served overseas, but by the spring of 1916, he was in Kent.

The news will be received with deep regret of the death of Sapper JF Yeoman… which took place on Sunday from enteric fever at Nackington Hospital, Canterbury. Deseased was in the employ of Mr WF Pearce before joining up, and frequently assisted the old Rugby Football Club.

South Devon Weekly Express: Friday 10th March 1916

Joseph Frederick Yeoman was 35 years of age when he died on 5th March. His body was brought back to Devon for burial, and he was laid to rest in Paignton Cemetery.

Joseph Yeoman Jr was just nine years old when his father, and had lost both of his parents within a space of just over a year. Emma Augusta Gill, possibly Lydia’s sister-in-law, was given guardianship of him, and he moved to East Brent, Somerset, for a new life.