George Watts was born in the autumn of 1892, one of ten children to James and Caroline. The family were raised in Ottery St Mary, Devon, but by the time of the 1911 census, they had moved to Williton, Somerset, where James was running the Railway Hotel. At this point George is noted as being a grocer’s assistant.
Little further information is available for George. He courted a Withycombe farm labourer’s daughter called Ellen Gould, and the couple had a son together in 1917, but there is no evidence that the couple got married.
When war broke out, George stepped up to play his part. He listed in the Somerset Light Infantry and, while his service record has been lost to time, other evidence confirms that he had joined the 2nd/5th Battalion long before the conflict finished. Private Watts’ troop spent the conflict in India, although there is no evidence that he left Britain’s shores.
The next record for George shows that he was admitted to a military hospital in Devonport, Devon, suffering from nephritis, a form of kidney disease. Sadly, he was to succumb to the condition, and passed away on 22nd November 1919, at the age of 27 years old.
George Watts was taken back to Somerset for burial. He was laid to rest in the peaceful graveyard of St Decuman’s Church in Watchet, not far from where his family still lived.
Richard William Gale was born in the autumn of 1897 in the Devon village of Sidbury. The third of six children, he was the son of George and Emma Gale. George was a bricklayer and labourer, and the family had moved to Burnham-on-Sea, Somerset, by the time Richard was ten, as this is where he had found work.
When Richard finished his schooling, he found employment as an errand boy for a school outfitters. By the time oft he 1911 census, there were four wages coming into the Gale household. Besides Richard and his father, his older brother, Frederick was working as a grocer’s apprentice, and his sister, Laura, was a dressmaker.
War was declared in the summer of 1914, and Richard was called upon to play his part. His service records no longer exist, so it is not possible to fully track his time in the army. However, he initially joined the 2nd/1st Battalion of the West Somerset Yeomanry and was sent for training in East Anglia.
As some point, Private Gale transferred to the Labour Corps, and became attached to the 949th Employment Company. Based in the London area, Richard’s duties are unclear, and his troop would have taken on any of a wide range of roles, from cooking and store work, to salvage, traffic control and telephone operating. Whether his previous work at the outfitters came into play is unclear, although Employment Companies were also involved in tailoring, shoemaking and laundry work.
Private Gale survived the conflict, and seems to have been based in the the Nottingham area after the Armistice. By March 1919, he had become unwell and, having contracted pleurisy, he was admitted to the Berridge Road Military Hospital. The condition took its toll on Richard, sadly, and he passed away on 19th March 1919. He was just 21 years of age.
Richard William Gale’s body was taken back to Somerset for burial. He was laid to rest in the cemetery of Burnham-on-Sea, a short walk from where his family lived.
Alan Harold Martin was born on 24th May 1899 in Burnham-on-Sea, Somerset. The oldest of six children, his parents were bricklayer Clifford Martin and his wife, Augusta. The 1911 census found the family living at 64 Abingdon Street in the town, a terraced house not far from the seafront.
When war broke out, Alan was not long out of school. He had found work as a painter’s mate, but with adventure waiting for him, he had an obvious need not to miss out. He enlisted in the Royal Navy on 28th August 1915 and, as he was too young to be formally inducted into the service, he was given the rank of Boy 2nd Class.
Alan was sent to HMS Impregnable, shore-based establishment in Devonport, Devon, for his training. His service records show that he was 5ft 3.5ins (1.61m) tall, with brown hair, blue eyes and a fresh complexion.
Tragically, Boy Martin’s time in the Royal Navy was not to be a long one. Billeted in tightly-packed barracks, with new recruits from across the country, he quickly fell ill. Contracting pneumonia, he was admitted to the Royal Naval Hospital in Plymouth. The condition was to get the better of him, and he passed away on 16th December 1915, at the age of just 16 years old.
Alan Harold Martin’s body was taken back to Somerset for burial. He was laid to rest in Burnham-on-Sea Cemetery, a short walk from where his grieving family lived.
The death of Capt. James Wilson Pettinger has taken place in a military hospital at Aldershot. Captain Pettinger came to Kingsbridge [Devon] in 1903, entering into partnership with Dr D de Courcy Harston… He made a wide circle of friends, and was appreciated for his professional skill. Previously to coming to Kingsbridge, he was house surgeon at St George’s Hospital, London. In July 1915, Dr Pettinger volunteered for service in the Royal Army Medical Corps, being appointed Lieutenant to the Plymouth Military Hospital. He quickly gained promotion to captain, and was appointed to a hospital ship, and served in the Mediterranean for several months. He contracted blood poisoning in the arm, and was sent to Netley Hospital [Hampshire]. On recovery he was placed in charge of an infections hospital for several months at Salisbury. He was later ordered to France, and being taken ill was transferred to an Aldershot hospital, where he died from pneumonia. He leaves a widow and one son. Dr Pettinger was 43 years of age.
Western Times: Tuesday 16th October 1917
James Wilson Pettinger was born in the spring of 1874 in Moss Side, Lancashire. The youngest of four children, his parents were doctor and surgeon George Pettinger and his wife, Sarah.
James may have been a sickly child: the 1901 census recorded him as being a patient in community hospital in North Meols, near Southport, Lancashire. The oldest of only three patients, the facility was overseen by caretaker John Carr and his matron wife, Susan.
Having gone on to study at Cambridge University, James was carving a career for himself. By the time of the next census he was living in Shaftesbury, Dorset, he was recorded as being a medical practitioner, living on his own in a house near the centre of town.
As the Western Times was to report, James moved to Devon in 1903. On 8th January, he married Clara Risdon, a nursing sister seven years his senior. She came from the Somerset village of Old Cleeve, and the couple married in her local parish church. The couple set up home in Ewart House in Kingsbridge, and went on to have a son, Geoffrey, who was born that November.
James’ career continues to flourish. The 1910 medical directory noted that he was the Honourable Medical Officer for Kingsbridge & District Cottage Hospital, and noted that he had previously worked as an Honourable Physician, Honourable Surgeon, Ophthalmologist, Aural, Obstetric and Dental Assistant and Assistant Surgical Registrar at St George’s Hospital in London.
Little information relating to James’ time in the armed forces is available, and so it falls to his obituary in the Western Times to fill in the gaps. It would seem that Clara and Geoffrey moved to Minehead, Somerset, while James was serving overseas. The town was not far from where she had been born, and family connections may have helped with her husband’s absence.
When James Wilson Pettinger died, on 6th October 1917, his body was brought to Minehead for burial. He was laid to rest in the town’s sweeping cemetery, and was joined there by Clara when she passed away in 1945: a husband and wife reunited.
Theodore Slade was born early in 1885 in Buckfastleigh, Devon and was the second of two children to Frederick and Mary Slade. The 1891 census recorded the family four living with Frederick’s widowed mother and younger sister in Minehead, Somerset, where he had himself been born. Frederick was listed as a schoolmaster, while Mary was working as an organist.
Music definitely ran through the Slade family. The next census, in 1901, found Frederick now working as a gunsmith. Mary, meanwhile, was now noted as being a professor of music, while Theodore and his older brother, appropriately named Beethoven, were both employed as music teachers.
Ten years further on, and Beethoven had moved out of the family home, for a life with his wife and her widowed mother. Frederick was still working as a gunsmith, while Mary and Theodore were still teaching music. All three were self-employed, Theodore also working as an organist at St Andrew’s Church, Minehead, for more than a decade.
An interesting side note to the three document is how the census takers relied fully on the information they were given by residents. In 1891, Frederick gave his age as 41 and Mary 40; ten years later, Frederick was noted as being 56 and Mary 53; the 1911 census gave their ages as 71 and 63 respectively.
When war broke out, Theodore enlisted early on. He joined the Somerset Light Infantry, and was initially attached to the 4th (Reserve) Battalion. Private Slade was transferred across to the 1st Battalion, and soon found himself ensconced at Ypres.
Towards the end of 1915 Theodore came down with tuberculosis, and was medically evacuated to Britain for treatment. He was admitted to St John’s Hospital in Penarth, Glamorganshire, and remained in hospital over the winter months. His lungs weakened, he contracted pneumonia, passing away from the condition on 23rd March 1916, at the age of 31 years old.
Theodore Slade’s body was brought back to Somerset for burial. He was laid to rest in the family plot in the sweeping vista of Minehead Cemetery.
Thomas Charles Slade was born in Bristol, Gloucestershire, on 13th March 1880. One of twins, he and his sibling Ernest were two of nine children to Charles and Elizabeth Slade. Not long after the twins were born, the family had moved to Minehead, Somerset, where both Charles, who was a mason and bricklayer, and Elizabeth had hailed from.
Whilst Ernest seemed content to remain in Somerset – going on to become a poultry farmer – Thomas sought a life of adventure. Foregoing his gardening job, he enlisted in the Royal Navy, setting his sights on a life at sea.
Thomas’ service records show that he joined up on 12th November 1895. He stood just 5ft 2ins (1.57cm) tall, with brown hair, blue eyes and a ruddy complexion. As he was to young to formally join up, he was give the rank of Boy 2nd Class, and sent to HMS Impregnable, the shore-based training establishment in Devonport, Devon.
Boy Slade seemed to create a good impression. He was promoted to Boy 1st Class in July 1896, and the follow February was given his first posting, on board the battleship HMS Benbow. This was the ship he was serving on when he turned 18 and, having come of age, he was officially inducted into the navy, and given the rank of Ordinary Seaman.
And so began a glittering career for young Thomas. Over the twelve years of his contract, he served on nine different ships, returning to HMS Vivid – the Royal Naval Dockyard in Devonport – between voyages.
Small in stature, Thomas appears to have been a dedicated young man. His annual reviews noted his character was ‘very good’ every year, and his ability was either ‘very good’, ‘superior’, or ‘excellent’. He was promoted to Able Seaman in September 1898, just eighteen months after becoming an Ordinary Seaman. By June 1906 he rose in rank again, ending his initial term of service as a Leading Seaman.
Thomas was not done with the navy yet, however. He immediately re-enlisted and, over the ensuing years served on a further four vessels. He spent more and more time on board HMS Defiance, the torpedo and mining school ship in Devonport. Whether this was because he was being taught, or was supporting incoming students is unclear, but by September 1912, he had been promoted again.
In November 1915, the now Petty Officer Slade had moved to the depot ship HMS Dido. His new posting supported the Tenth Destroyer Flotilla in the North Sea, patrolling the waters off the East Anglian coast. In February 1917 he moved to another of the support vessels, HMS Sturgeon.
In June 1917, a mine exploded on board, injuring a number of the crew, including Petty Officer Slade. The wounded were transferred to a hospital near Ipswich, and it was here that Thomas was to pass away. The only one of those caught up in the incident to die, he was 37 years of age.
Thomas Charles Slade was brought back to Somerset for burial. He was laid to rest in the sweeping Minehead Cemetery, close to the grave of his mother, Elizabeth, who had passed away nine years before.
Thomas’ headstone also includes an inscription to Roy Thomas Allen, who died six months after him. Roy was the young son of Thomas’ younger sister Emily: an uncle and nephew reunited.
Amos William Cornish was born on 16th August 1887 in Dunster, Somerset. One of five children, his parents were George and Elizabeth Cornish. George, who was a brickmaker, died in 1893, and at this point the family relationships seemed to have broken down.
By the time of the 1901 census, Elizabeth had remarried, and was living with her new husband and Amos’ youngest sibling, sister Lily. Two of Amos’ brothers, Walter and George, were living with his maternal grandparents, while Amos himself was one of three hundred inmates at the Horton Kirby Home for Homeless Boys in the Dartford area of Kent.
Amos’ schooling would have finished by the time he was 14 years old, and he quickly sought work that allow him to support himself as a young man with no home to go to. A career in the Royal Navy seemed to provide that regular pay and, on 4th June 1902, he enlisted.
As he was under age, Amos was given the rank of Boy 2nd Class, and sent to the shore-based training ship HMS Impregnable in Devonport, Devon. His service records show that he stood just 5ft 4ins (1.63m) tall, had brown hair, brown eyes and a fresh complexion. He was noted as having a scar in the centre of his forehead, and a tattoo of clasped hands over a heart on his right forearm.
Boy Cornish transferred to another training vessel – HMS Lion – after a month or so, and it was here, in February 1904, that he was promoted to Boy 1st Class.
Over the next eighteen months, Boy Cornish served at two more training bases – HMS Boscawen and HMS Vivid. He was given his first sea-going posting in April 1905, aboard the cruiser HMS Blake. It was on his next assignment, however, that he came into his own.
In May 1905, Amos boarded HMS Carnarvon, an armoured cruiser that had been launched a couple of years before. He was to spend the next two years as part of her crew, gaining the rank of Ordinary Seaman when he came of age in August 1905, and Able Seaman a year later.
When his time on board Carnarvon came to an end, Amos returned to shore, to HMS Pembroke, the Royal Naval Dockyard in Chatham, Kent, which was to be his base on and off for the next eight years. During that time, he served on six more ships, and rose to the rank of Leading Seaman in December 1911. This new rank, however, seemed not to suit Amos, and he reverted back to his previous rank eight months later.
Able Seaman Cornish’s longest posting was on board the cruiser HMS Antrim. He joined her crew in September 1913 and, over the next three-and-a-half years he travelled far and wide. Initially patrolling the North Sea – particularly around the Scottish Isles – Amos was on board for a journey to Arkhangelsk in Russia. The ship then transferred to the Western Atlantic, patrolling around America and the West Indies.
Able Seaman Cornish returned to British shores in April 1917, to be based at HMS Vivid, the Royal Naval Dockyard in Devonport, for the nest nine months. During this time, he became ill and was admitted to the Royal Naval Hospital in Truro with double pneumonia. Tragically, this was something he was not to recover from: Amos passed away on 4th February 1918, at the age of 30 years old.
While somewhat stretched, Amos’ family bond still remained. Elizabeth was living in Minehead by this point, with husband Alfred and their two children. It was to the Somerset town, therefore, that Amos William Cornish’s body was brought. He was laid to rest in the town’s sweeping cemetery.
George’s death in 1893, and Elizabeth’s remarriage a few years later split the family, and Amos’ siblings all followed separate paths.
The oldest of his siblings, Walter, also followed a military path. He joined the Royal Garrison Artillery as a Gunner and, by the time of the census, was based in Gibraltar. On completing his service, he returned to Somerset, marrying Florence Peddle in 1925. The 1939 Register found the couple living with his cousin, Amelia, while he worked as a gardener. Walter died in Weston-super-Mare in 1962, at the age of 74.
Amos’ next sibling, brother Harold, seems to have had a less fortunate time of things. Absent from the 1901 census, he appears in prison records four years later. He was incarcerated for six months’ hard labour in Brecon Prison, having been found guilty of “Gross Indecency with another male person”. Harold was 14 years and three months old at the time. A newspaper report from around this time suggests that the other party was a George Williams, but there is no further information about him. Harold seems to have come out the other side of his experience, however: the 1911 census recorded him as living and working with draper and grocer James Ridler and his family in Dunster, Somerset.
Amos’ third sibling, sister Lily, found work as a servant to bakers Joseph and Minnie Bagley in Minehead. She married painter and decorator William Whitting in 1916 and the couple went on to have a daughter, Kathleen, eight years later. The family settled in Weston-super-Mare, Lily passing away in 1968, at the age of 75.
The youngest of the Cornish siblings was George. He remained living with his maternal grandparents in Dunster, and found work as a printer. In the spring of 1921, he married Clara Govier and, by the time of the 1939 Register, they couple were living in Aylesbury, Buckinghamshire, where George was working as a printer and compositor. He died in 1957, at the age of 62 years old.
Harold Cane was born in Minehead, Somerset, on 10th August 1898. One of nine children, his parents were Henry and Mary Cane. Henry was a stone mason from Minehead, but he was working in Ireland when he met his future wife. The couple married in 1891, only moving back to Somerset the mid-1890s, by which time they had two children, Harold’s oldest siblings.
The 1911 census recorded Henry and Mary living with their children at 3 Church Steps in Minehead, a short row of houses leading to St Michael’s Church. Henry was a mason and his oldest son, also called Henry, has working with him.
Harold, meanwhile, dreamed of a bigger and better life. When he finished his schooling, he joined the Royal Navy, looking for a life of adventure on the high seas. He signed up on 22nd September 1914, just a month after the declaration of war, and was sent to the shore-based training ship, HMS Impregnable, based in Devonport, Devon.
As he was just 16 years of age, Harold was given the rank of Boy 2nd Class. However, his commitment to the role was evident and led to a promotion – to Boy 1st Class – after just three months. In September 1915, Harold as assigned to the dreadnaught battleship HMS Iron Duke, where he served as an Ordinary Seaman. He spent just under a year on board, during which time the Iron Duke was caught up in the Battle of Jutland. She was involved in the sinking of the German destroyer SMS S35, after which she and the rest of the fleet moved on.
Ordinary Seaman Cane remained on board HMS Iron Duke until the summer 1916. He had fallen ill by this point, having contracted tuberculosis. The condition was enough for Harold to be invalided out of the navy, and he was stood down on 9th August 1916.
At this point, Harold’s trail goes cold. It seems that he returned home to Somerset, as this is where he passed away. He died on 14th November 1917, at the age of just 19 years old.
Harold Cane was laid to rest in the peaceful landscape of Minehead Cemetery.
Francis William Prescott – better known as Frank – was born on 17th March 1894, and was one of four children to William and Mary. William was an agricultural labourer from Somerset, and, by the time of the 1901 census, the family had settled in the village of Luccombe, in the western outreaches of the county.
Frank went to school in Allerford, before spending a year at Luccombe’s Church of England school – from 13th May 1907 to 29th May 1908. Now aged 14 years old, he was considered old enough to be earning his keep. He found work as a farm boy on a farm on the outskirts of the village, but with storm clouds brewing across the Channel, he was keen to play his part.
Little information is available about Frank’s military service, but it is clear that he enlisted in the first weeks of the war, as imperial fervour gripped the country. He enlisted in the Somerset Light Infantry and, as a Private, was assigned to the 3rd (Reserve) Battalion. Contemporary documents do not confirm either way, but as this particular troop was based at Devonport, Devon, for most of the war, it is unlikely that Private Prescott saw any action overseas.
Indeed, he was in barracks on 11th April 1915, when he passed away. Again, the cause is lost to time, but he was just 21 years of age when he died.
Francis ‘Frank’ William Prescott was taken back to Somerset for burial. He was laid to rest in Luccombe Church Cemetery, not far from where his family still lived.
Frank’s younger brother, Harold, also enlisted in the war. He joined the Royal Engineers as a Private and, unlike his brother, he did go to the Western Front.
Harold was caught up in the fighting, and received a gunshot wound to his arm. He recovered, but the injury dogged him. He was formally discharged on 14th May 1919, and found work as a lorry driver. Harold married Kathleen Peck in December 1929: the couple’s only child, Edward, was born just over a year later.
Harold spent his life in Somerset. He died in Exmoor in the spring of 1968, at the age of 71 years old.
Walter Hayes was born in Somerset in 1883. The oldest of seven children, his parents were William and Mary Hayes. William was an agricultural labourer, and the family lived and worked at Houndhill, to the south east of Stogumber.
Walter also fell into farm work and, in the spring of 1914, he married Emily Mary Tarr. The wedding took place in Tiverton, Devon, but the couple did not stay there for long as, just weeks after their wedding day, Emily gave birth to a daughter, Edith, over the Somerset border in Dulverton.
Storm clouds were brewing over European shores, and Walter was called upon to play his part. His service records are also sparse, but they confirm that he initially joined the Somerset Light Infantry, before moving across to the Devonshire Regiment.
Walter had either been in the army earlier in his life, or he worked his way up during the war, and at some point he reached the rank of Serjeant. He saw fighting overseas and, according to later documentation, was caught up in a gas attack. This was to have an impact on his health and he was discharged from army service sooner than he might otherwise have done. Officially stood down in March 1919, he returned home to his wife and family.
Emily and Walter had a second child, William, later that year, and the family were finally able to settle into a routine. Walter’s health, however, was severely impacted and, on 12th January 1921, he passed away from bronchitis. The lung condition was found to be directly attributable to his war service, and that gas attack, Walter was 38 years of age.
Walter Hayes was laid to rest in the quiet graveyard of All Saints’ Church in Dulverton.
Emily was pregnant when her husband died: she gave birth to their third child, a son she named Walter, just a few months later. She did not re-marry, and, according to the 1939 Register, she was boarding in a house in Dulverton and carrying out unpaid domestic duties.
Emily lived on until the autumn of 1973, passing away in Taunton at the age of 85.
Serjeant Walter Hayes (courtesy of Trevor Hayes)
The early life of Walter Hayes was a challenge to piece together, as his was not an uncommon name in the area at the time. My thanks go to his great nephew, Trevor Hayes, for his help in pulling together the story and for the image of his great uncle.
Death and Service 