Category Archives: Devon

Commonwealth War Graves, Devon, Devonshire Regiment, Great War, Hampshire, history, illness, photography, Private, story, war

Private Gilbert Nott

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Private Gilbert Nott

Gilbert Charles Nott was born in the autumn of 1895, and was the older of two children to William and Eleanor. William was a plumber and ironmonger from Bampton in Devon, and this is where the family were born and raised.

For the whole of Gilbert’s life, the Notts lived on Brook Street in the centre of the town. The 1901 census found the family at numbers 9 and 10, while the 1911 record confirmed they had moved up the road to number 7 Brook Street. At this point, however, Gilbert was recorded as living with his widowed maternal grandmother, Eleanor Besley. At 15 years of age, he was working, and was employed as a bookkeeper at the Bampton Lime & Stone Company.

When war broke out across Europe, Gilbert was called upon to play his part. He enlisted after December 1915, and was assigned to the 3rd/4th Battalion of the Devonshire Regiment. Sent to Hursley Park near Winchester, Hampshire, for training, his time in the army was to be brief.

In the spring of 1916, he was admitted to the Victoria Hospital in Winchester, passing away there on 3rd May. The cause of his death is not readily confirmed, but his sparse service records suggest that he died from ‘disease’. He was just 20 years of age.

At the family’s request, the body of Gilbert Charles Nott was taken back to Devon for burial. He was laid to rest in the graveyard of St Michael’s Church in Bampton, the church in which he had been baptised just two decades before.

Commonwealth War Graves, Devon, Great War, history, illness, New Zealand, New Zealand Rifle Brigade, photography, Rifleman, story, war, Wiltshire

Rifleman Frederick Keys

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Rifleman Frederick Keys

Frederick Charles Keys was born in Dunedin, New Zealand on 15th January 1882. The third of eight children, his parents were Benjamin and Annie Keys.

There is little information about Frederick’s early life. When he finished his schooling, it is likely that he found work as an agricultural labourer, and this is the job he was doing when war broke out.

As so many of his countrymen were to be, Frederick was called upon to serve his empire. He signed up in Christchurch on the country’s South Island, enlisting on 27th July 1916. He have his job as a farm hand, and his address as Silver Grid, a boarding house and billiard saloon on the city’s Manchester Street.

Frederick’s medical report confirms that he was 5ft 6ins (1.68m) tall and weighed 136lbs (61.7kg). He had fair hair, blue eyes, and a fair complexion. He was noted as being a very suitable man for the army.

Assigned to the New Zealand Rifle Brigade, Rifleman Keys embarked for Europe from Wellington on 15th November 1916. Two-and-a-half months later, his ship – the Tahiti – arrived in Devonport, Devon, and the New Zealand troops marched on to their final destination, the ANZAC camps just outside Codford, Wiltshire.

Frederick would spend the next few months training in the camp, although his time there was not without incident. On 31st March 1917, he was docked two days’ pay for ‘being in a crowd some members of which were gambling’. It is not clear whether Frederick himself was gambling, but given his last residence in New Zealand, it is unlikely that he wasn’t immune to chancing the odds.

Two weeks later, Rifleman Keys was admitted to the 3rd New Zealand General Hospital near the camp. He was suffering from pleurisy, but any treatment was to prove too late. He passed away from the condition on 15th April 1917: he was 35 years of age.

Frederick Charles Keys was laid to rest in St Mary’s Churchyard, Codford, in a new extension added for the fallen ANZAC troops.

Australia, Commonwealth War Graves, Devon, Great War, history, illness, London, New Zealand, New Zealand Auckland Regiment, photography, Private, story, war, Wiltshire

Private Francis Holland

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Private Francis Holland

Francis Arthur Holland was born in Maryborough, Victoria, Australia, the fifth of seven children to Matthew and Elizabeth. Details of his early life are lost to time, although a later document confirms his date of birth as 19th July 1887.

Matthew died in 1901, and the New South Wales Police Gazette of 16th February 1910 included a request seeking a missing person:

Francis Arthur Holland, 22 years of age, 6feet high, about 13 stone weight, dark complexion; a sleeper-getter or labourer. Inquiry at the instance of his brother, James Holland, Bradshaw’s College, 250 Flinders-street, Melbourne, Victoria.

The 2nd March edition of the same publication noted that Francis had been found.

By 1916, Francis had moved to New Zealand, and was working as a bushman at the Grosvenor Hotel, New Plymouth. It was while here that he was called upon to serve in the war, and he enlisted on 29th June 1916 in Trentham, North Island. His service records confirm his height, and give his weight as 174lbs (78.9kg). It also noted that he had brown hair, hazel eyes and a fair complexion. He had a scar across the based of his right foot, and another on the left side of his throat.

Private Holland was assigned to the New Zealand Auckland Regiment, and his unit spend the next few months training. On 22nd September 1916, Francis was promoted to the rank of Lance Corporal, but reverted to his previous rank just a matter of weeks later. On 11th October, his unit boarded a ship and set sail for Europe.

Francis arrived in Plymouth, Devon, on 29th December, and set off for France just over a month later. His unit would serve on the Western Front, and, within a matter of months, Private Holland was admitted to field ambulance hospitals twice, for an undisclosed illness in May 1917, and a sprained ankle in June.

This second injury led to a transfer to Britain, and from here on in Francis’ health become more and more impacted. Admitted to hospital in London, he developed tonsillitis and, as he was recovering from this, he was moved again, this time to the ANZAC military camp near Codford, Wiltshire.

While in the camp hospital, it was determined that Private Holland was suffering from a heart infection, endocarditis. Sadly, his health had been tested to the limits by this point, and this was the condition to which he would succumb. Francis passed away on 6th September 1917, at the age of 30 years old.

Having been born in Australia, emigrated to New Zealand and fought on the Western Front, Francis Arthur Holland was now thousands of miles from wherever he might call home. He was laid to rest in the extension to St Mary’s Churchyard in Codford, not far from the camp in which he had spent his last days.

Private Francis Holland
(from findagrave.com)
Commonwealth War Graves, Devon, Great War, history, illness, New Zealand, New Zealand Engineers, photography, Sapper, story, war, Wiltshire

Sapper Charles Salisbury

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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.