Frederick Batson was born in Sherborne in 1888, the eighth child of Cornelius and Mary Ann Batson.
Far too young, Frederick was an orphan as Cornelius died when he was just a year old; Mary Ann passed away in 1906, when he was 18.
There was positive news on the horizon, however; in January 1909, Fred married Elsie Frances Marshallsea and by the time of the 1911 census, the couple were living in Sherborne and had a year old daughter, Eveline. Fred was working as a carpenter and journeyman and the young couple went on to have three further children.
Rifleman Batson enlisted in the Prince of Wales Volunteers (South Lancashire Regiment) in 1916. This battalion fought on the Western Front during the Great War, and was involved in both Ypres, the Somme and Passchendaele.
It is not clear whether Frederick was involved in these battles. Back on home soil, he was admitted to a military hospital in Newport, South Wales, and passed away on 22nd March 1918, following an illness.
Rifleman Frederick Batson lies at rest in Sherborne Cemetery, reunited with his parents.
Augustus Kenneth Seymour Dodge was born in September 1898 to shoe and furniture dealer Augustus William Dodge and his wife Mildred. The elder of two children, Augustus and his family lived on Cheap Street, the main retails thoroughfare of his home town, Sherborne.
Augustus William had been plying his trade for a number of years, having been apprenticed to his father – another Augustus – in Frome and Devizes.
Augustus Kenneth joined the 7th Battalion of the Dorsetshire Regiment, a territorial reserve, which was trained in North Wales and based on a camp in Wool, near Bovington, Dorset. Sadly, I have been able to find little else of his military life, but it is unlikely that he was involved on the front line.
Private Dodge died on 31st March 1917, aged just 18. Nothing in the newspapers of the time suggest an unusual or violent passing, so it can only be assumed that he died from an illness, possibly influenza or pneumonia.
Augustus Kenneth Seymour Dodge lies at peace in the cemetery of his home town, Sherborne.
I was intrigued that Augustus Kenneth’s gravestone also commemorates his father – Augustus William Dodge – and so I did a bit more research. I found that the 1910s were not a good time for the Dodge family.
Augustus Dodge Sr (Augustus William’s father) died in 1912, at the age of 88. He left his estate – totalling more than £500,000 in today’s money – to his widow, Mary Ann, and two of his sons, including Augustus William.
Mary Ann Dodge passed away in April 1916, as the local newspaper reported:
Mrs Dodge, widow of the late Mr Augustus Dodge [Sr] died unexpectedly at her residence at Butts-hill on Thursday last. Mrs Dodge, who was in her 82nd year, walked down to St John’s Church in the morning and attended a service, and then walked up the hill to her home. She was taken ill at noon and passed away two hours later. On Saturday morning, the family received the news that Mr Hubert Dodge, bootmaker, or Warminster (brother of the late Me Augustus Dodge) had died.
Somerset Standard: Friday 28th April 1916
By this point, and within six years, Augustus William Dodge had lost both of his parents and his uncle Hubert. He had also lost his daughter, Ethel, who had died in 1910.
Another of Augustus William’s uncles, Albion Dodge, died in 1917, as did Private Augustus Kenneth Dodge, his son, and the protagonist of this post.
The effect of these losses – particularly that of his eldest son – cannot be underestimated and may well have contributed to his own passing, a year later.
Augustus William Dodge died on 17th June 1918, aged 51.
The Somerset Standard show how much of a businessman he had been, however, with an announcement of the sale of his estate, which included:
LARGE SHOP AND DWELLING-HOUSE, with extensive Premises in the rear, No 3 Stony-street, Frome, in the occupation of Mr Arthur Dodge, at £40 per annum.
SHOP AND PREMISES, No 4 Stony-street, Frome, in the occupation of the Argentine Meat Co. Ltd’, t £25 per annum.
SHOP AND PREMISES, No 13 Market-place, Frome, in the occupation of the National Party, at £18 per annum.
Substantially-built and Commodious TWO-STOREY WAREHOUSE, with Accommodation for Motor Car or Van, situate in the Blue Boar Yard, Frome. The top story is in the occupation of the Frome Town Band, at £12 per annum. The bottom storey is void.
DWELLING-HOUSE AND PREMISES, No 25 King-street, Frome, in the occupation of Mrs Thomas at £13 8s 8d per annum.
DWELLING-HOUSE AND PREMISES, No 1 Willow Vale, Frome, lately occupied by Mr Clarke, a £15 12s per annum.
TWO Substantially-built RESIDENCES with large Gardens, Nos 1 and 2 Hythe House, Rodden Lake, Frome, together with PADDOCK adjoining, in the occupation of Messrs Webb, Golden and Haddrell, at the net annual rental of £37.
FIVE COTTAGES AND GARDENS, Nos 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 Rodden Lake, Frome.
A commodious 3-storey WAREHOUSE, with double-door entrance for vans and side entrance, situate and being No 22 Vicarage-street Frome, in the occupation of Mr E Glass at £8 per annum.
SHOP, with DWELLING-HOUSE AND GARDEN, in Cheap-street, Sherborne, Dorset, in the occupation of Miss Beedell, at £20 per annum.
William Henry Warne was born in Walworth, South London, in March 1892. His father is not named, but his mother was Ellen Warne (or Gould), who was “living on her own means”. He had two older siblings, Fred – whose surname is listed as Gould – and Gertie Warne.
By the time of the 1911 census, William was a law clerk in West Coker, near Yeovil in Somerset. The record shows him living with his mother and sharing her surname – which was now listed as Gould. Again, Ellen’s occupation was “private means”.
William’s full military service records are not available, but various sources produce a little information.
Private William Warne had enlisted in the Dorset (Queen’s Own) Yeomanry by April 1915, as this is when he was dispatched to Egypt. August 1915 saw his battalion shipped to Gallipoli; William survived this horrendous battle and returned to Egypt by the end of that year. As a result, he earned the 1915 Star medal.
When the Dorset Yeomanry was retitled, Private Warne became part of the Corps of Hussars. After Egypt, the battalion moved to Palestine, where they saw out the war. He was appointed Lance Corporal at some point during this time.
The exact details of his passing are lost to time; he passed away on 9th October 1918 at the British Red Cross Hospital in Netley, and his records suggest that he died of wounds. He was 26 years old.
Lance Corporal Warne’s life was an intriguing one from start to finish.
The Army Register of Soldiers’ Effects is a document that shows how much was paid out to the relatives of soldiers who have passed away in service; in the research I have carried out over the last few months, this amount has generally ranged between £2 and £8, rarely reaching double figures.
William’s mother and sister, however, received a significant amount. The initial payment was £31 13s 8d, and this was followed by a second figure of £19 10s. There may be various reasons for this – the campaigns William fought in, the prestigious regiment, the appointment to Lance Corporal – but again this is another mystery that will remain such.
Lance Corporal William Warne lies at rest in Sherborne Cemetery.
Dorothy Louise Stacey was born in 1893, the eldest child of Alfred Stacey, a farmer, and his wife Mary.
The family lived at Middle Farm in Charlton Horethorne, a small village midway between Sherborne and Wincanton. Alfred Stacey ran the farm, and by the time of the 1901 census, the family of four had a live-in domestic servant, Beatrice Baker.
Things had moved on by the next census return of 1911. Alfred and Mary had moved the young family 150 miles east, where they were now running Buttons Farm in Wadhurst, East Sussex. I can find no familial link for what would have been a significant move in the early 1900s, but it may be that Alfred was headhunted. The records show that Mary and Dorothy were assisting Alfred in running the farm, along with new domestic servant Mary Hide. The family were joined by Marjorie Anderson, a live-in governess for younger daughter Mollie.
Dorothy Stacey joined the Queen Alexandra’s Imperial Military Nursing Service Reserves (QAIMNS) during the war. The official female unit for medical services in the British Army, those joining had to come from ‘good families’ and be qualified nurses. It can only be assumed, therefore, that Dorothy undertook additional training after 1911, presumably in order for her to be able to join up.
Staff Nurse Stacey was based at Worgret Camp, on the outskirts of Wareham, Dorset. Full details of her time there are no longer available, but she would have been exposed to a variety of illnesses while attending the soldiers under her care. Sadly, this was to prove to be her undoing. She passed away in the facility where she worked on 5th October 1918, having contracted a combination of bronchitis and nephritis. She was just 25 years of age.
When the family had been living near Sherborne, Dorothy had attended the Convent of St Anthony’s school. It was to the convent’s chapel that she was taken following her passing.
After the funeral service was held there, Dorothy Louise Stacey was laid to rest in Roman Catholic section of Sherborne Cemetery.
Nelson Victor Pitman was born in April 1890, the fourth of eight children to George Pitman and Amy Roles Pitman (née Treasure). George was a butcher’s assistant, and the family lived in their home town of Sherborne in Dorset.
As with a number of the other servicemen I have been researching, Nelson’s military records are sparse, probably lost to time. He is not listed as living with his parents on the 1911 census and, in fact, is nowhere to be found.
On 2nd January 1915, Nelson marries Alice Moores at the parish church (Sherborne Abbey). His profession is listed as soldier, so we know that, but this point in the war, he had enlisted.
While there are no records of Private Pitman’s service, his battalion, the 1st Royal Warwickshire Regiment was involved in a number of the key battles of the war, including the second Ypres, Arras and Passchendaele. The battalion was also involved in the Christmas Truce, so there is a slight chance that Nelson played football with his German counterparts in one of the defining moments of the Great War.
Private Pitman survived the war to end all wars, but was discharged on 22nd February 1919 with a disability. He was suffering from bronchitis, and steadily went downhill.
Private Nelson Pitman passed away eighteen months later, on 21st November 1920. He was 31 years old.
It is often a challenge to find details of the fallen soldiers whose graves pepper the churchyards of the UK.
Sadly, Gunner Thomas Kelly is one of those names lost to time.
Born in 1893, he lived in Alsager, Cheshire and enlisted in the Royal Field Artillery. He served in the Balkans during the war and was wounded. Brought back home to the Yeatman Hospital in Sherborne, Dorset, he died of his wounds on 11th January 1918.
He was buried in the town’s cemetery on 16th January 1918; he was just 25.
Born in Lancashire in 1877, Nicholas Leadbetter was the eldest of the four children of fisherman and merchant Isaac and his wife Elizabeth. He was quick to follow in his father’s line of work and set up his own fish shop in St Anne’s-on-the-Sea (nowadays known as Lytham St Anne’s).
Nicholas married Alice Griffiths in 1900, and their first child – Isaac – was born that Christmas.
Living near the station in Lytham, the young couple took on boarders to supplement Nicholas’ work. By the time of the 1901 census they had Dionysius Howarth, a chemist’s assistant, and Edgar Charles Randolph Jones, a grocer’s assistant, staying with them.
The Leadbetters don’t appear on the 1911 census, but from later records it is evident that they moved from Lancashire to the South West, where Nicholas ran a fish, game and poultry store in Yeovil. By this time, they were a family of four, as a daughter – Alice – was born in 1906.
Nicholas moved his family across the border to Sherborne, where he continued to ply his trade as a fishmonger and poultry dealer.
War broke out and, at the age of 39, he enlisted in the fledgling Royal Air Force, serving in France for the remainder of the fighting.
Serjeant Nicholas Leadbetter was demobbed in February 1919 and returned home to his family on Valentine’s Day. A local newspaper picks up his story from there.
He was feeling unwell at the time and immediately went to bed. Double pneumonia set in, and, despite the best medical aid, he passed away on Tuesday, leaving a widow, one son, and one daughter to mourn their loss.
Western Gazette: Friday 21st February 1919.
Serjeant Leadbetter’s funeral was a fitting one:
[It] was of military character, members of the Sherborne detachment of the 1st Volunteer Battalion Dorset Regiment being present. The coffin, which was covered with the Union Jack, was borne by members of the detachment, and at the Cemetery a firing party fired three volleys over the grave, and the buglers of the Church Lads’ Brigade sounded the last post.
There were many floral tributes. Mrs Leadbetter wishes to return thanks for the many letters of sympathy received from kind friends, and which she finds it impossible to answer individually.
Western Gazette: Friday 28th February 1919.
Serjeant Nicholas Leadbetter’s records confirm he was 42 years old. He lies at peace in Sherborne Cemetery.
Samuel Cook was born in Bedfordshire, the eldest of two children to Alfred and Phoebe Cook.
Alfred was a forester, which saw the family move around the country; the 1881 census found them living in Rutland, ten years later the family was recorded in Northamptonshire and by the 1911 census, they were in Dorset.
Samuel was quick to follow in his father’s footsteps, supporting his mother and sister after Alfred died in 1906.
The war was underway when Samuel was called up. His Devonshire Regiment service records show that he enlisted on 11th December 1915. His fitness seemed to have determined the path his military career would take.
Initially Private Cook was classified as C1 (free from serious organic diseases and able to serve in garrisons at home, able to walk 5 miles, see to shoot with glasses, and hear well), but was upgraded to B2 within six months. This identified that he was free from serious organic diseases, able to stand service on lines of communication in France, or in garrisons in the tropics and able to walk 5 miles, see and hear sufficiently for ordinary purposes.
Samuel was first enrolled in 13th (Works) Battalion of the Devonshire Regiment, before being transferred to the 311th (HS) Labour Company in Plymouth.
Private Cook was one of the thousands of soldiers who contracted influenza and subsequently died of pneumonia on 1st November 1918.
There seems to be some dispute over how and when Samuel fell ill. A request for a detailed medical report was sent, “as he appeared to have contracted the disease from which he died whilst on leave for the purpose of getting married”. The same request confirms that he was never admitted to hospital while in the company. (There are no records oh Samuel having married, so I am assuming that his leave may have been for wedding preparations, of normal leave.)
The report came back confirming that he has died from “pneumonia complicating influenza which was contracted whilst on service at Beaulieu”.
However and wherever it happened, the disease claimed Private Samuel Cook’s life; he lies at rest in Sherborne Cemetery, Dorset.
Born in 1871, Thomas Daines was one of fourteen children. His parents, Charles and Sarah, worked on a farm a few miles from Halstead in Essex.
After leaving school, Thomas followed in his father’s footsteps and, by the time of the 1891 census was also listed as an agricultural labourer. He married Kate Rawlinson in the spring of 1893, and they had two children – Matilda and Lewis – before relocating to South East London in around 1898.
The reason for the move was, more than like, job opportunities, and Thomas was soon working at the Royal Arsenal in Woolwich.
Settling into their new city life, Thomas and Kate had five further children: Annie, Thomas, Alfred, Charles and Beatrice. Thomas continued as a labourer, before enlisting in the army within three months of war being declared in October 1914.
Sadly, Private Daines’ service was not to be a long one. Having suffered a bout of influenza, Thomas was admitted to a Red Cross Hospital in Sherborne, Dorset. He died of pneumonia on 22nd February 2015.
Private Thomas Daines lies at peace in the Sherborne Cemetery.
As a sad aside to Thomas and Kate’s story, their eldest son, Lewis, enlisted in the 16th Battalion of the Lancashire Fusiliers. He fought on the Western Front, and was killed in action in Pozières on 26th March 1918.
Sidney Herbert Stagg was born in 1901. The eldest child of bootmaker Sidney Stagg and his wife Frances, Sidney Jr was too young to fight in the when war broke out.
He enlisted in the Royal Navy at the beginning of 1919, and was assigned to HMS Powerful, a training vessel based in Plymouth.
Boy Petty Officer Stagg’s time in the navy was heartbreakingly short. Within a few weeks he had contracted pneumonia and succumbed to the disease on 27th February 1919. He was just 17 years old, and had been in service for 36 days.
The Western Gazette reported on his funeral:
[He] left Sherborne just over a month ago to join the Royal Navy, a career for which he had expressed a great liking, and was attached to HMS Powerful, being made Boy PO within a fortnight of his joining that ship. A short time afterwards he contracted influenza, and pneumonia supervening, he died on Thursday at the Royal Naval Hospital, at Plymouth.
A service was held in the Congregational Church, and continued at the graveside, where three volleys were fired by a firing party of the Volunteers [the Sherborne Detachment 1st Volunteer Battalion, Dorset Regiment], and buglers sounded the last post. The Rev. W Melville Harris (uncle of the deceased) officiated, and the principal mourners were Mr Stagg (father), Miss Joyce Stagg (sister), Mr H Hounsell (uncle), and members of the business establishment.
Western Gazette: Friday 7th March 1919.
Sidney Herbert Stagg lies at peace in the cemetery in his home town of Sherborne.
Death and Service 