Category Archives: Devon

Cheshire, Commonwealth War Graves, Devon, Great War, history, illness, London, photography, Private, Royal Army Ordnance Corps, story, war

Private Frank Perryman

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Private Frank Perryman

Frank Harry Tom Perryman was born in Axminster, Devon, on 16th October 1889. The third of six children – and the only boy – his parents were Barnabas and Emily. Barnabas was a carpenter and joiner, and the family lived in the centre of the town: first next door to the Red Lion Inn on Lyme Street, then around the corner on South Street.

By the time of the 1911 census, an opportunity had arisen to take Frank away from Devon. The document records him as one of four servants (in addition to a maid, butler and cook) for Eumenia Hime and her law student son, Stanley. Eumenia’s husband, Edward, was a merchant in Brazil, and their son had been born in Rio de Janeiro. Ste Georgian Croyland House on Cornwall Gardens in South Kensington, was the family’s London residence, and this is where young Frank was employed.

When war came to Europe, Frank was called upon to play his part. Sadly, his service records have been lost to time, but it is evident that he enlisted in the Royal Army Ordnance Corps. Private Perryman’s Medal Roll suggests that he served on home soil, and certainly by the end of the war – presumably while waiting to be demobbed – he was based in Cheshire.

In November 1919, Frank was admitted to the War Hospital in Warrington. Details are unclear, but it is likely that he had contracted one of the many lung conditions prevalent at the time. He passed away while still admitted on 19th November: he had not long turned 30 years of age.

The body of Frank Harry Tom Perryman was taken back to Devon for burial. He was laid to rest in Axminster Cemetery, on the outskirts of the town that had been his childhood home.

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

Gunner Colin Rough

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Gunner Colin Rough

Colin Thomas Frazer Rough was born in the autumn of 1896, and was the oldest of seven children to Thomas and Zelia. Thomas was a dairyman from Devon, and the family were initially raised in Charmouth. Thomas took up work as a farmer in 1911, and this meant a move to to Axminster: having finished his schooling, Colin helped his father on the farm.

Colin was still working with his father when war broke out across Europe. He stepped up to play his part, and enlisted in the Royal Garrison Artillery 11th December 1915. His service records show that he was 19 years and three months old, and stood 5ft 8ins (1.72m) tall.

Gunner Rough was not formally mobilised until May 1916. He would spend the next two-and-a-half years on home soil, and was based in Catterick, Yorkshire.

On 31st July 1918, Colin was sent to France with his unit. Full details of his service overseas have been lost to time but it would seem that he was back on home soil by the beginning of 1919.

Gunner Rough had contracted influenza and pneumonia, and returned home to recuperate. The conditions were to prove too severe, however, and he passed away on 8th February 1919, at the age of 22 years old.

Colin Thomas Frazer Rough was laid to rest in the family plot in Axminster Cemetery. Tragically, his younger brother Alan had passed just three weeks earlier: the two were buried alongside each other.

Boy, Buckinghamshire, Bugler, Commonwealth War Graves, Devon, Devonshire Regiment, Drummer, Egypt, Great War, history, illness, London Regiment, Malta, photography, Private, Rifle Brigade, Royal Marines, story, war

Private Francis Chick

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Private Francis Chick

Francis Frederick Chick was born in the spring of 1886 in Axminster, Devon. One of eight children, his parents were brickmaker Edwin (or Edward) Chick and his wife, Elizabeth.

When he completed his schooling, Francis found work as a sawyer’s apprentice. However, he wanted bigger and better things and, on 19th November 1900, he enlisted in the army. At 14 years of age, he was just short of 5ft (1.52m) in height, and had fair hair, blue eyes and a fresh complexion.

Initially enlisting in the Royal Marine Light Infantry, Boy Chick was to serve three years in the naval division. The 1901 census found him based at the East Stonehouse Barracks in Devonport, Devon, where he was a Bugler.

In September 1903, Francis transferred across to the Devonshire Regiment, remaining within the band structure. He came of age in March 1904, and, as a Private, he took on the role of Drummer. By the start of 1909, his unit had moved overseas, and the next census, taken in 1911, found Private Chick billeted in St George’s Barracks in Malta.

Francis remained in Malta for three years, and moved to Egypt with his unit in January 1912. By this point, having completed nearly twelve years’ service, he elected to stay on and renewed his contract. While serving in North Africa, he completed his induction into the Camel Corps, although by the end of the year, he was back on home soil after nearly four years abroad.

At this point, Francis seems to fall off the radar. It is unclear whether his move back to Britain was because he had been placed on reserve status, or due to medical reasons. To add to the mystery, when war broke out, he did not re-join the Devonshire Regiment, but enlisted in the London Regiment instead. He was assigned to the 22nd (County of London) Battalion, but later records note a connection to the 22nd (Wessex and Welsh) Battalion of the Rifle Brigade.

Private Chick was in Buckinghamshire by the winter of 1915/16, and it was here that he became unwell. Admitted to hospital in Aylesbury, he died of pneumonia on 4th January 1916: he was 29 years of age.

The body of Francis Frederick Chick was taken back to Devon for burial. He was laid to rest in the cemetery of his home town, Axminster.

Commonwealth War Graves, Corporal, Devon, Devonshire Regiment, Great War, history, illness, Lance Corporal, Lance Serjeant, photography, Private, story, war

Lance Serjeant Ralph Page

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Lance Serjeant Ralph Page

Ralph William Page was born in the autumn of 1889, and was the second of five children to William and Elizabeth. William was a brush maker from London, but the family were initially born and brought up in Ottery St Mary, Devon.

By the time of the 1901 census, the family had upped sticks and relocated to Kilmington, near Axminster. Three of the family – William, Elizabeth and Ralph’s older sister Ethel – were all working in bone brush making, William as a maker, and his wife and daughter as drawers.

Ralph initially followed in the family trade, but this was not to be enough for him. He was already volunteering for the Devonshire Regiment, and he took the opportunity to join full-time. He enlisted on 11th September 1907. His service records show that he was exactly 18 years of age, and that he had black hair, brown eyes and a fresh complexion. Ralph stood 5ft 4ins (1.62m) tall and weighed 10st 9lbs (67.6kg).

Private Page initially enlisted for five years on active service. During that time he remained on home soil and, by the autumn of 1911, he was promoted to Lance Corporal. The following spring, he extended his term of service, in advance of being placed on reserve status later in 1912.

Away from army life, romance had also blossomed. On 2nd September 1912, he married Beatrice White at St Mary’s Church in Axminster. She was the daughter of a carpenter, who had also follower her widowed mother into lacemaking. The couple would go on to have three children: Florence, Ralph and Frederick. A fourth child, Peggy, passed away when she was just a matter of weeks old.

When war was declared in the summer of 1914, Ralph was sent with his unit – the 1st Battalion – to France. He saw action at Mons, Messines and Armentières in the next few months alone. In October, Ralph was promoted to Acting Corporal, and just two months later he was made Acting Serjeant.

In March 1915, things seem to have changed for Ralph. He was transferred to a Depot unit on home soil, and reduced in rank to Private. Nothing in his service records suggests any misdemeanour leading to his transfer.

Private Page remined on home soil until the end of 1916. Attached to the 3rd (Reserve) Battalion, he made his way back up through the ranks again, and was a Corporal by the time he was reassigned to the 2nd Battalion and sent off to France once again that December.

Ralph was to be firmly entrenched on the Western Front over the next five months. It was during the German retreat back to the Hindenburg Line in the spring of 1917 that he received the injury that would remove him from the war. On 23rd April, the now Lance Serjeant Page was shot in the abdomen. He was medically evacuated to Britain for treatment, and did slowly recover. Ralph’s need for an abdominal belt meant that he was no longer fit to serve and he was ultimately discharged from the army on 29th November 1917.

Ralph returned home to Devon, but the war had taken its toll on his health. When pandemic spread around the world as the conflict drew to a close, he was to succumb. He passed away from a combination of the influenza and pneumonia on 5th November 1918, at the age of 29 years old.

Ralph William Page was laid to rest in Axminster Cemetery, Devon, not far from where his widow and children lived.

Captain, Commonwealth War Graves, Cornwall, Devon, Great War, Greece, history, illness, India, Kent, Mesopotamia, photography, Powys, Royal Army Medical Corps, story, Surrey, war

Captain William Mence

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Captain William Mence

William Charles Mence was born in Blackheath, Kent in the spring of 1877. He was the oldest of five children to William Cookes Mence and his wife, Susanna.

William Sr was a chemist-turned-dentist, and by the time of the 1881 census, the family had moved to prestigious lodgings on the corner of Claremont and Victoria Roads in Kingston-upon-Thames, Surrey. William had set up practice in the building, and employed two servants to assist him with the practice, and two more to help Susanna with the family.

Dentistry would keep William Sr occupied for at least the next thirty years, a move to nearby Surbiton in the late 1890s being the only change tot he business.

William Jr, meanwhile, was making his own way in the medical world. The 1901 census recorded the 24-year-old Mr Mence visiting a possible mentor, physician and surgeon Charles Gallie, in Camberwell. William was also noted as being a physician and surgeon, and this was to become the career in which he forged his way.

On 9th August 1906, William married Dorothy Mytton in the Saint Aelhaiarn’s Church in Guilsfield, Powys, Wales. Dorothy was the daughter of a retired army captain, Devereaux Mytton. She had been born in Guilsfield and, at the time of the 1901 census, was living with her family and ten servants at Garth Hall, close to the village.

The young couple’s marriage certificate also sheds some light on William’s career. It confirms that he was working as a medical practitioner, and was living in the village of Perranzabuloe in Cornwall.

William and Dorothy went on to have five children, and named them to reflect their combined family histories. Daughter Evaline Dorothy Cookes Mytton Mence was born first, in 1907, followed by sons John Herbert Myttone Cookes Mence, Devereaux Mervyn Mytton Cookes Mence and Godfrey Powis Mytton Cookes Mence. Their fifth child, daughter Myfanwy Susan Mence, was born in 1914.

When war broke out in Europe, William was drawn to play his part. While full details about his service are not available, his public standing meant that he took a commission as Captain in the Royal Army Medical Corps. His Medal Roll Index Card confirms that he was awarded the 1914-1915 star, so he joined early in the conflict. It also outlines that he served in Mesopotamia from 4th February 1916, in France in 1917 and in Salonika from 1917 to 1919.

Ill health seemed to have dogged him in later years, and by the summer of 1919, Captain Mence had returned to British shores, and to Devon, where his practice had moved to shortly before the conflict.

Dr William Charles Mence, of Axminster, who died in Axminster Cottage Hospital on Friday night, recently returned from active service… He was a medical officer under Axminster Board of Guardians…

Western Morning News: Monday 28th July 1919

William Charles Mence died on 25th July 1919 as a result of an ongoing illness: he was 42 years of age. He was laid to rest in Axminster Cemetery, not far from the family home.

Commonwealth War Graves, Devon, Devonshire Regiment, Great War, history, illness, Labour Corps, photography, Private, story, Surrey, war

Private John Richards

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Private John Richards

John Henry Richards was born in Sutton, Surrey, on 3rd June 1896. The third of four children, his parents were John and Harriet Richards. John Sr was an engine driver and stoker, while his son found employment as a greengrocer’s assistant when he finished his schooling.

When war came to Europe, John Jr stepped up to serve his King. Full details of his military service have been lost to the annals of time, but he had certainly enlisted by the end of 1917. Initially joining the Devonshire Regiment, he subsequently transferred to the Labour Corps, and was assigned to the 385th Coy.

Private Richards seems to have been based in Kennington near Lambeth, Surrey. He married Dorothy Ford on 23rd December 1917, at which point, both bride and groom were living at 47 Hartington Road.

The family’s geographical locations become a bit confused at this point: Dorothy had been born in Bristol, Gloucestershire, but the 1911 census found her living in Ottery St Mary, Devon, with her paternal grandparents. John seems to have served some time in Devon as well, but it is unclear whether the couple met in the South West or London.

By the autumn of 1918, Private Richards’ unit was certainly in Devon: it was here that he contracted pneumonia, and he was admitted to the No. 1 Section Hospital in Devonport for treatment. This was to prove ineffectual, however, and he passed away on 2nd November 1918. He was 22 years of age.

Dorothy’s family appears to have been living in Axminster by this point, and it is certainly somewhere he would return to in later years. The town’s cemetery is where she would bury her late husband: John Henry Richards at peace again.

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

Lance Corporal John Channing

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Lance Corporal John Channing

John Samuel Channing was born in Axminster, Devon, in 1884, the oldest of four children to John and Elizabeth. John Sr was a bricklayer’s labourer, and, when Elizabeth died in the late 1890s, he struggled to look after the whole family.

The 1901 census found John Sr and his two youngest children living with his widowed mother, while John Jr and his sister Sarah were sent to live with their maternal grandmother, widow Mary Telford. Both were of age to leave school, and both were employed: Sarah as a lace mender, John Jr as a nail brush finisher.

John Jr married a woman called Elizabeth in 1910. There is little additional information available about her, but by the time of the following year’s census, the young couple were boarding with an Eliza Banks in Silver Street, close to the centre of the town. John was employed as a toilet brush maker, adding that they were bone nailbrushes. Within the year, Elizabeth gave birth to their only child, son Leslie.

In addition to his brushwork, John had also enlisted in the local militia. He joined the Devonshire Regiment on 1st April 1908, although his service details are lost to time. Private Channing’s unit – the 4th Battalion – were based around Exeter, but, when war was declared, they moved to India. There is no evidence, however, that John went with them: promoted to the rank of Lance Corporal, it is likely that his experience was better used on the Home Front, training new recruits.

John’s wartime experience was not to be a lengthy one, however. By 1st April 1915, he had been medically discharged from service, having contracted tuberculosis. At this point, Lance Corporal Channing’s trail goes cold, but it is likely that he returned home to Elizabeth and Leslie.

The next record for John is that of his passing. He died from tuberculosis at home on 29th December 1918: he was 34 years of age.

John Samuel Channing was laid to rest in Axminster Cemetery, a short walk from where his widow and son still lived.

Commonwealth War Graves, Devon, Dorset, Great War, Gunner, history, illness, photography, Royal Field Artillery, story, war, Wiltshire

Gunner Eli Trenchard

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Gunner Eli Trenchard

Eli Trenchard and his twin Reuben were born on 29th December 1889 in Axminster, Devon. Two of nine children, their parents were George and Mary Trenchard. George was a gamekeeper turned farmer, and the family were brought up at Uphay Farm on the outskirts of the town.

The whole family helped out on the farm and, by the time of the 1911 census, when the twins were 20, seven of the Trenchards – George, Mary, Eli, Reuben and three of their siblings – were all living in the farmhouse and employed in the business.

On 25th March 1913, Eli married Lily Gillingham. Born in Dorset, she was the daughter of the landlord of the Lamb Inn in Axminster, and working as a dressmaker in her own right. The couple moved to the village of Chardstock in Devon, and went on to have a daughter, Lilian, who was born later that year.

In 1915, Eli found himself brought to the Petty Sessions in Axminster, charged with “moving pigs from Dorset to Devon without the necessary license” [Western Times: Wednesday 27th October 1915]. Eli stated that he had purchased the pigs from his brother, Reuben, at Uphay Farm. Despite Reuben confirming this, it was subsequently determined that they had, in fact, been bought from a Mr Wells of Penn in Dorset. Eli have been convicted of a similar offence before, and was fined £10.

War was raging across Europe by this point, and Eli was called upon to play his part. He enlisted in the Royal Field Artillery in January 1917. Assigned to the 23rd Reserve Battery, Gunner Trenchard was sent to a camp near Sutton Veny in Wiltshire.

Eli’s time in the army was not to be a long one, however, and he was soon admitted to the camp hospital, suffering from pneumonia. The lung condition was to get the better of him, and Eli passed away on 23rd February 1917. He was 27 years of age.

The body of Eli Trenchard was taken back to Devon for burial. He was laid to rest in Axminster Cemetery, not far from where his widow and family still lived.

The Trenchard family were soon back in the court, however, with Lily bringing a lawsuit against her father-in-law, George, in December 1917. The widow said that Eli and his father had agreed her late husband’s immediate tenancy of two fields the month before Eli had been called up for to serve.

However, the month after his death, when she had gone to the fields to sow them for the coming season, the gates had been locked and her entrance barred. George responded by saying that he had agreed to pass the fields to his son, but only on the event of his own death. He subsequently sold the land to another farmer.

The judge in the case found that Lily had “failed to prove that an agreement had been made between [George] and his son” [Western Times: Thursday 6th December 1917] and found in the defendant’s favour.

Berkshire, Commonwealth War Graves, Devon, Great War, Gunner, history, injury, Lincolnshire, Middlesex, photography, Royal Garrison Artillery, story, war

Gunner Victor Evans

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Gunner Victor Evans

Victor George Evans was born in the autumn of 1882, one of eleven children to George and Charlotte Evans. George was a woodsman from Aldworth in Berkshire, and it was here that he and Charlotte raised their growing family.

There is little concrete information about Victor’s early life. While his family were living on Bethesda Street in Basildon, Berkshire, at the time of the 1901 census, Victor is noticeable by his absence.

On 29th January 1910, Victor married Edith Rains in Kensington, Middlesex. She appears to have been a dressmaker’s apprentice, and had been born in Moulton, Lincolnshire. The next year’s census recorded Victor employed as a butler for the Clutton family. His boss, Ralph Clutton, was a lawyer, and the family resided at 5 Vicarage Gate, not far from Kensington Palace. This time, however, it is Edith who is missing from the census record and, given that she had given birth to their one and only child, Phyllis, the year before, it is likely that she was recuperating elsewhere, possibly with the support of her family.

When war broke out, Victor was called upon to serve his country. On 22nd December 1916, he enlisted, joining the Royal Garrison Artillery as a Gunner. His service records show that 34 years of age and stood 5ft 7.5ins (1.71m) tall.

Victor was recorded as being a messenger, and he and Edith were living with his older sister, Rachel, at 17 Adeney Road in Hammersmith, Middlesex. The document suggests, however, that Phyllis was in the care of Edith’s parents in Lincolnshire, possible to enable both her and Victor to work.

Gunner Evans was assigned to the 270th Siege Battery, and he was soon sent to France. While based near Rouen in April 1918, he was badly injured through a number of shrapnel wounds, and medically evacuated to Britain for treatment. Admitted to a hospital in Paignton, Devon, there was little that could be done, other than being made comfortable. Victor succumbed to his wounds on 28th April 1918: he was 35 years of age.

It is likely that Edith would not have been able to afford for her husband to be brought back to Middlesex for burial. Instead, Victor George Evans was laid to rest in the ground of Paignton Cemetery.

Commonwealth War Graves, Devon, Devonshire Regiment, Great War, history, injury, photography, Private, story, Surrey, war

Private Robert Kelway

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Private Robert Kelway

Robert Jenkins Kelway was born in the autumn of 1897 in the Devon town of Torquay. The oldest of four children, his parents were Robert and Rosina Kelway. Robert Sr had been born in Paignton and, when a job working as a carter for Hollicombe Gas Works came up in around 1900, he moved the family back down the coast.

By the time of the 1911 census, the Kelways were living at 3 Hollicombe Terrace, on Torquay Road: their home was one of a row of terraced houses build specifically for the gas works employees, and all of their neighbours were employed there in one form or another.

Robert Jr was 13 years old at this point, and seemed to have completed his schooling: his entry on the census confirms he was employed as a telegraph messenger for the Post Office.

Everything was to change when war was declared and, on 22nd April 1915, Robert Jr voluntarily stepped up to play his part. Lying about his age – he said he was 19, when he was, in fact, two years younger – he was nonetheless taken on his word. His service records show that he was 5ft 5ins (1.65m) tall and weighed 141lbs (64kg). He was noted as having brown hair, blue eyes and a fresh complexion.

Assigned to the Devonshire Regiment, Private Kelway was initially attached to the 3rd Battalion. At the end of October 1915, however, he was transferred to the 8th (Service) Battalion, and dispatched to France. His unit was caught up in the Battle of Loos, but it was at the Somme the following year that Robert would really have cut his teeth in fighting.

Private Kelway saw out the Somme relatively unscathed, but, on 27th December 1916 his luck was to run out. He was shot in the back, damaging one of his lower vertebra, and was medically evacuated to Britain for treatment.

Robert was admitted to King George’s Hospital in South London, and it was quickly ascertained that the damage to his spine was permanent. Paralysed from the waist down, he was, not surprisingly, no longer able to continue in the army in any capacity. His discharge papers noted that he was a ‘steady, sober and honest’ person.

From this point, details of Robert’s life are sketchy. It is unclear whether he was able to return home, although he was definitely back in Devon by the spring of 1919, as this is where he died. Admitted to the Royal Devon & Exeter Hospital, he passed away from pneumonia on 18th April, aged just 21 years old.

Robert Jenkins Kelway was laid to rest in Paignton Cemetery, a short distance from where his family lived, in the Preston area of the town.