Category Archives: Devon

Commonwealth War Graves, Devon, Duke of Cornwall Light Infantry, Great War, history, illness, Lieutenant, photography, story, war

Lieutenant Hugh Lorimer

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Lieutenant Hugh Lorimer

Hugh Cowan Lorimer was born on 27th November 1886 in Totnes, Devon. The oldest of four children, his parents were Scots-born draper Robert and his Devonian wife, Susan.

This was a family business, with Robert’s father – also called Robert – running the drapery at 59 Fore Street since the 1871 census. By 1891, Hugh’s father had taken over, and the family remained there until at least the time of the 1911 census return.

Hugh, by this point, had also taken on the mantle of draper. With the Lorimer business firmly set up in Totnes, he moved to Paignton, and opened a shop on the central Victoria Street. By 1911 he was listed as being the main employer, with his sister Muriel at his side, and a live-in servant, Bella Loram, helping to manage the household.

In the spring of 1914, Hugh married Gwendoline Pridham. Little information about her is available, but she had been born in Newton Abbot, and was a year younger than her new husband.

When war came to Europe later that year, Hugh was called upon to play his part: “He joined the Army in June, 1915, and received a commission in the 1/5th [Duke of Cornwall’s Light Infantry] with whom he served in France for 15 months prior to March 30th, where he was severely wounded, with the result that he had to undergo several operations, and only recently rejoined his Regiment.” [Western Times: Monday 2nd December 1918]

Lieutenant Lorimer was not fully out of harm’s way, however. As the summer moved to autumn, he fell ill, contracting influenza, which became double pneumonia. Admitted to hospital in Eastbourne, East Sussex, he succumbed to the condition on 27th November 1918: his 32nd birthday.

Hugh Cowan Lorimer was brought back to Devon for burial. He was laid to rest in Paignton’s sweeping cemetery, on the outskirts of the town he had made his home.

Gwendoline was pregnant when she was widowed: the couple’s child, Joyce, was born on 29th June 1919, never to know her father.

Hugh’s younger brother Kenneth was also caught up in the Great War. He had emigrated to Canada at some point after the 1911 census, but volunteered for army duty in 1915.

Lieutenant Lorimer was attached to the 4th Battalion of the Canadian Machine Gun Corps, and was entrenched on the Western Front. “He was in command of a section that was in a tank taking part in an attack north west of Le Quesnel. The tank was put out of action by enemy shell fire, and Lieutenant Lorimer was wounded by a splinter from a shell. He was removed from the tank and received First Aid but died shortly afterwards.” [Canadian War Graves Registers (Circumstances of Casualty)]

Kenneth Lorimer died on 8th August 1918, days short of his 30th birthday. He was laid to rest in Beaucourt British Cemetery in Picardie.

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

Private Percy Light

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Private Percy Light

Percy Light was born on 19th September 1898, and was one of seven children. His parents were groom-turned-motor bus driver Harry Light and his wife, Mary. Harry had been born in Hartlepool, County Durham, while Mary hailed from Penzance, Cornwall. However, the couple raised their family in Paignton, Devon.

Percy’s trail is a challenge to follow. He enlisted in the army around the time of his mother’s death, early in 1914. He was assigned to the Devonshire Regiment and, as a Private, was attached to the 3rd (Reserve) Battalion. His unit was stationed in Britain throughout the First World War, and there is no evidence that he spent any time overseas.

In the spring of 1917, Private Light fell ill, contracting tuberculosis. The condition was serious enough for him to be medically discharged from the army and he was officially stood down on 22nd February.

Percy’s trail goes cold at this point: he returned to Paignton, and it seems that his poor health got the better of him. He passed away at home on 18th November 1917: he was just 19 years of age.

Percy Light was laid to rest in the sweeping ground of Paignton Cemetery, not far from where his father still lived.

Commonwealth War Graves, Devon, Great War, Hampshire, history, Kent, killed in action, photography, Royal Navy, Stoker, story, war

Stoker 1st Class Frederick Carder

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Stoker 1st Class Frederick Carder

Frederick Albert Carder was born on 2nd March 1893 in Dartmouth, Devon. The youngest of ten children, his parents were shipwright Samuel Carder and his wife, Julia. Frederick lost both of his parents in 1909, when he was just 14 years of age. He was taken in by his older brother, Ernest – who was better known as James – and his family and, by the time of the 1911 census was working as a porter for the local Co-operative Stores.

War came to Europe in the summer of 1914, and, two years later, Frederick stepped up to play his part. He enlisted in the Royal Navy on 4th July 1916, and was given the rank of Stoker 2nd Class. He was sent to HMS Victory – the Royal Naval Dockyard in Portsmouth, Hampshire – for his initial training.

By the end of August, Stoker Carder was assigned to HMS Broke, a destroyer that formed part of the Dover Patrol, monitoring the waters off the Kent coast. He remained attached to the patrol and was promoted to Stoker 1st Class in January 1917.

On 20th April 1917, the Broke and another ship, HMS Swift, took on six German torpedo boats who were attacking the Dover Barrage – a network of nets and mines in the English Channel, designed to stop U-boats. The Broke rammed the torpedo boat SMS G42, and the two ships became locked together. Enemy sailors boarded the Broke, and hand-to-hand combat ensued. Eventually Broke managed to break free, and the G42 sank.

HMS Broke was towed back to shore, but 21 of her crew had died in the Battle of Dover Strait, including Stoker 1st Class Carder. He was 23 years of age.

The body of Frederick Albert Carder was taken back to Devon for burial. He was laid to rest in Paignton Cemetery, close to his brother, James, who had died in the summer of 1916. Read more about him by clicking here.

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

Private Ernest Carder

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Private Ernest Carder

Ernest James Triggs Carder was born early in 1880, the third of ten children to Samuel and Julia. Samuel was a shipwright from Devon and it was in Dartmouth that the family were born and raised.

Ernest – who went by his second name, James – found employment as a groom when he finished his schooling. In the spring of 1907, he married Elizabeth Seward. The couple wed in St Saviour’s Church, Dartmouth, setting up home in Gospel Lane.

James and Elizabeth went on to have three children – Samuel, Edward and Betty. The 1911 census found James working as a grocer’s waggoner, with his youngest brother, Frederick, living with them.

The times were trying for James and Elizabeth: both Samuel and Julia died in 1909; and Edward, their middle child, passed away in September 1911 at the age of just seven months. In the summer of 1915, Betty wad born, and the following April. James was called up to serve his King and Country.

On 14th June 1916, Private Carder was assigned to the Devonshire Regiment, and attached to the 3rd (Reserve) Battalion. The unit would remain on home soil throughout the conflict, but James was not to be part of it for long.

On 29th July 1916, Private Carder was found dead in a lavatory at the Granby Barracks in Devonport, with a razor near him. He had been complaining of eczema on his legs for a while, which made it difficult for him to sleep and had the knock-on effect of causing him headaches. His commanding officer, Corporal Stonelake, said that James “was not too quick, but was a man of good character and tried to do his best… each time he complained of his head he declined to see the doctor.” [Western Morning News: Tuesday 1st August 1916]

Private Carder had willingly enlisted, and appeared not to have any qualms about serving in the army. At the inquest following his death, the jury returned a verdict of taking his life while of unsound mind. He was 36 years of age.

Ernest James Triggs Carder was taken back to Paignton, where Elizabeth and the children were living. He was laid to rest in the town’s cemetery, having found peace at last.

Less than a year later, James’ youngest brother, Frederick, also died. Read more of his life here.

Commonwealth War Graves, Devon, Great War, history, illness, Ireland, Northern Ireland, photography, Private, Somerset, Somerset Light Infantry, story, war

Private Henry Weakley

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Private Harry Weakley

Henry Weakley was born in 1885 in Bath, Somerset. The second of six children, he was the eldest son to James and Fanny. James was a cab driver, and Henry – who was better known as Harry – followed suit, becoming a coachman by the time of the 1901 census.

In 1910, Harry married a woman called Jennie. There is little information available about her, but the following year’s census return found the couple living with his family at 1 Cork Street, Bath, not far from the city’s Royal Crescent. The census had two records for that address, which confirmed the family’s living arrangements. Harry and Jennie had one room, while the rest of the Weakleys – James, Fanny, four of their children and a grandson – took up four rooms.

Harry was still employed as a coachman as this point, but, with war on the horizon, things were to change. Full details of his military service are lost in the mists of time, but it is clear that he enlisted in the Somerset Light Infantry, and that he was assigned to the 3rd (Reserve) Battalion.

Private Weakley’s unit was a territorial battalion and it remained on UK soil throughout the war. Initially based in Devonport, Devon, the 3rd moved to Londonderry, Northern Ireland, in November 1917, and Belfast the following April. Sadly, the little that remain of Harry’s records do not confirm where he served.

Harry was demobbed on 13th May 1919: his pension ledger notes that he had received gun shot wounds to his neck and back, although no further records identify when or how these injuries occurred. He returned home – 5 St George’s Buildings, Upper Bristol Road, Bath – and seems to have settled back into his pre-war life, although his health was still impacted.

Harry passed away at home on 27th March 1921. He was 36 years of age, and had died of heart failure. Despite his wartime injuries, the war office determined that his condition had been contracted after his army service: Jennie was denied a war pension.

Henry “Harry” Weakley was laid to rest in Bath’s sweeping Locksbrook Cemetery, not far from where his widow still lived.

Able Seaman, Boy, Commonwealth War Graves, Devon, Dorset, Great War, history, illness, Ordinary Seaman, photography, Royal Navy, Somerset, story, war

Able Seaman Walter Brett

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Able Seaman Walter Brett

Walter Brett was born in Batheaston, Somerset, on 12th July 1896. The fourth of seven children, he was the second son of George and Louisa Brett. George was a groom and coachman from Norfolk, and his work took the family around the country. Louisa had been born in Staffordshire, their oldest child, daughter Florence, had been born in South Wales. By 1893, the family had settled in Somerset, but the next census, taken in 1901, found them in Branksome, Dorset.

When Walter finished his schooling, he found work as an errand boy for a hairdresser. By now the Bretts had moved back to Somerset, where George – and his widowed father, John – were working as coachmen for a Mr Page. There were seven in the household – George, Louisa, Walter and three of his siblings, and George Sr – and the family were living at 1 Nelson Terrace, on Walcot Street, Bath, in a six-roomed cottage.

Walter sought bigger and better things for himself. His older brother, Frederick, had left home, and was working as a grocer’s assistant in Brislington – now a suburb of Bristol – and he too wanted a career. On 23rd January 1912, he enlisted in the Royal Navy. As he was only 15 year of age, he was given the rank of Boy 2nd Class, and was sent to HMS Impregnable, a training ship based in Devonport, Devon, for his induction.

Obviously showing signs of ability and commitment to the role, Walter was promoted to Boy 1st Class just seven months later. His first assignment was on board the battleship HMS Cornwallis, and he spent the remainder of 1912 serving with her.

After a brief period back in Devonport – this time at HMS Vivid – and six weeks aboard HMS Lancaster, Boy 1st Class Brett was assigned to the ship that would become his home for the next three years. HMS Lion was a battlecruiser, and she was to serve as the flagship of her class of ships during the First World War.

Walter came of age while serving on Lion, and was given the rank of Ordinary Seaman on his eighteenth birthday. His service records show that he was 5ft 6ins (1.68m) tall, with brown hair, blue eyes and a fresh complexion. He was also noted as having a mole on his stomach.

Walter was promoted to Able Seaman in the summer of 1915, and remained on board HMS Lion until the end of April the following year. His ship had been involved in a number of skirmishes by this point, including the Battle of Heligoland Bight, the defence of the raid on Scarborough and the Battle of Dogger Bank. In June 1916, she would be caught up in the Battle of Jutland, but Able Seaman Brett was back on terra firma by this point, and was billeted in Devonport.

On 1st August 1916, Walter was given a new posting, when he was assigned to the dreadnought battleship HMS Ajax. Acting as support to the Norwegian convoys in the North Sea, he was to remain on board until the closing weeks of the war.

Walter’s brother Frederick, meanwhile, was also caught up in the conflict. He had enlisted in the Gloucestershire Regiment, and was assigned to the 12th Battalion. By the spring of 1917, his unit was based in Arras, and was Private Brett was heavily involved. Following an attack on 8th May, he was declared missing, presumed dead. He was 24 years of age, and is commemorated on the Arras memorial.

Back at sea, in October 1918, Able Seaman Walter Brett became unwell, contracting a combination of influenza and pneumonia. He was transferred to the Hospital Ship Garth Castle, but the conditions were to get the better of him. He passed away on 27th October, at the age of 22 years old.

Walter Brett was brought back to Somerset for burial. His parents had lost both of their sons, but were able to lay their youngest to rest in Locksbrook Cemetery, Bath.

Cambridgeshire, Commonwealth War Graves, Devon, Great War, history, injury, Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire Light Infantry, photography, Private, Royal Fusiliers, story, war

Private Edward Vale

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Private Edward Vale

Edward Charles Vale was born in the spring of 1890, one of ten children to William and Ellen. Born in Cambridgeshire, William was employed by the local railways, becoming a signalman by the time of the 1901 census. The family were raised in Great Shelford, before moving to the Ely area in the early 1900s.

By the time of the 1911 census, Edward was the oldest of three of his siblings to still be living at home. The Vales were living at 12 Granta Terrace, Stapleford, and Edward was employed as a domestic gardener.

When war broke out, Edward volunteered to serve his country. Full service details are lost to time, but he had enlisted in the Royal Fusiliers by the spring of 1915. By June of that year, Private Vale was fighting in the Balkans.

At some point during the conflict, Edward transferred to the Oxfordshire & Buckinghamshire Light Infantry. He remained in the Easter Mediterranean, but was badly wounded in the summer of 1917.

Medically evacuated to Britain, Private Vale was admitted to the Voluntary Aid Detachment hospital that had been set up at Knightshayes Court, Devon. While details are unclear, Edward’s injuries were to prove too severe. He passed away on 9th October 1917, at the age of 27 years old.

Edward Charles Vale was laid to rest in the peaceful graveyard of St Thomas’ Church in Chevithorne, not far from the hospital in which he had passed.

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

Pioneer Richard Crook

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Pioneer Richard Crook

Richard Crook was born in the spring of 1883 in the Devon village of Locksbeare. The youngest of three children, his parents were Richard and Ann Crook. Richard Sr was a general labourer, and his son followed suit when he completed his schooling.

On 5th November 1904, Richard married farmer’s daughter Elizabeth May. The couple went on to have four children, and moved around Devon to wherever his farm work took them. Ann died in 1910, and by the time of the following year’s census, they had settled in Burlescombe, near Sampford Peverell.

By the start of 1917, Richard was called upon to serve his King and Country. He enlisted on 30th January and joined the Royal Engineers. His service records show that he was attached to the Inland Water Transport Corps, and given the rank of Pioneer.

Richard was sent to Kent for training, but within a matter of weeks he was admitted to a military hospital in Canterbury. He had contracted German measles, and it was so severe that he quickly succumbed to it. He passed away on 8th March 1917, at the age of 34 years old. He had been in the army for less than five weeks.

Richard Crook’s body was brought back to Somerset for burial. He was laid to rest in the graveyard of St Peter’s Church, Uplowman, Devon, not far from where his widow and children were living.

Able Seaman, Boy, Commonwealth War Graves, County Antrim, Devon, Devonshire Regiment, Great War, Greece, history, illness, killed in action, Lance Corporal, photography, Royal Navy, Scotland, story, war

Boy 1st Class Ernest Hewett

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Boy 1st Class Ernest Hewett

Ernest Roye Hewett was born on 18th April 1898 and was the third of twelve children to Alfred and Ada. Alfred was a coachman and groom and, while both he and Ada were born in Cornwall, it was in Budleigh Salterton, Devon, that the family were born and raised.

When he finished his schooling, Ernest found work as a butcher’s boy, but when sought bigger and better things. His oldest brother, Ralph, had enlisted in the army by the time of the 1911 census and, by that October, his next oldest brother, Leslie, had enlisted in the Royal Navy. Ernest felt a career in the military was his destiny and, on 12th September 1913, he also joined the navy.

As he was under age at this point, he was given the rank of Boy 2nd Class, and sent to HMS Impregnable, the training establishment in Devonport, for his induction. His service records show that he was 5ft 2.5ins (1.59m) tall, with brown hair, hazel eyes and a fresh complexion.

Ernest spent nine months training, moving from Impregnable to HMS Powerful, and gaining a promotion to Boy 1st Class in the process. In June 1914, he was assigned to the cruiser HMS Edgar, remaining on board for six months, by which point war had broken out.

On 18th December 1914, Lance Corporal Ralph Hewett was killed in action, aged just 20 years old. Attached to the 2nd Battalion of the Devonshire Regiment, he was caught in fighting in Northern France, and is commemorated on the Le Touret Memorial.

Ernest, by this point, had been assigned to another ship, the armed merchant cruiser HMS Viknor. Patrolling the seas off Scotland, towards the end of the month, she was tasked with locating and detaining the Norwegian ship Bergensfjord, on board which was a suspected German spy.

The vessel was located and escorted to Kirkwall in the Orkneys, and the suspect and a number of other prisoners, were taken on board the Viknor to be transported to Liverpool. The ship and crew were never to reach their destination. On 13th January 1915, she sank in heavy seas off the Irish Coast: no distress signal was made and all hands were lost.

BODY WASHED ASHORE – Another body has been washed ashore at Pallntoy Port, about six miles from Ballycastle. The body was that of a man of about 5ft 10in. in height. He was dressed in a blue jacket, and wore a service blue webbed belt, on which was the name E. F. Hewett. In the pocket of the trousers was a boatswain’s whistle.

Freeman’s Journal: 24th February 1915

Already in mourning for Ralph, Alfred and Ada were unable to bring 16-year-old Ernest Roye Hewett back home. Instead, he was laid to rest in Ballintoy parish church, County Antrim.

The heartbreak was to continue for the Hewett family. Leslie’s career had gone from strength to strength and, by the time of his older brother’s death, he had been promoted to Able Seaman. In the summer of 1915, he was assigned to the cruiser HMS Europa, remaining aboard for the next year as it patrolled the Mediterranean. In July 1916 he fell ill, having contracted malaria. This was to prove his undoing: he passed away from the condition on 21st July, at 20 years old.

Able Seaman Leslie Hewett was laid to rest in the Mikra British Cemetery in Greece. His parents had now lost their three oldest sons, and had no way to reach their final resting places.

Commonwealth War Graves, Cornwall, Devon, Great War, history, illness, photography, Royal Navy, Stoker, story, war

Stoker 1st Class John Stone

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Stoker 1st Class John Stone

John Edward Stone was born on 10th April 1894 in Torquay, Devon. The oldest of seven siblings – of whom three survived childhood, his parents were John and Hannah Stone.

John Sr was a masons labourer, but when his son finished his schooling, he found work initially as a grocer’s errand boy, then as an outdoor porter. John Jr sought bigger and better things, however, and, in February 1913, he enlisted in the Royal Navy.

Stoker 2nd Class Stone’s service records show that he was 5ft 5ins (1.65m) tall when he joined up, and that he had brown hair, grey eyes and a fresh complexion. He was based at HMS Vivid, the Royal Naval Dockyard in Devonport, and this is where he spent the first six months training.

John’s first sea-going posting was on board the armoured cruiser HMS Defence and she was to be his home from 2nd September 1913 to May 1916, when she was sunk during the Battle of Jutland. During his month aboard, he was placed in the brig for 14 days due to ‘absence’. This imprisonment seemed to have refocused John’s priorities, however, and he was promoted to Stoker 1st Class on 26th February 1914.

Rescued from the lost Defence, John was taken back to Devonport, and he remained there until the end of August 1916. From here he transferred to the depot ship, HMS Blake, which was to be his home until the end of the war.

In the spring of 1917, John married Sarah Juliff in St Columb, Cornwall. The couple went on to have a daughter, Christiana, a few months later.

Stoker 1st Class Stone fell ill towards the close of the war, contracting pneumonia. He passed away while still on board HMS Blake, on 15th November 1918. He was 24 years of age.

Sarah was living in Middle Street, Padstow when her husband passed. He was brought back to the county, and was laid to rest in the town’s cemetery.

The official documents go on to say that Sarah moved to the Caerwilliam Hotel in Cabres Bay. However, there are no records for the hotel or location, although it could refer to Carbis Bay in St Ives, Cornwall.