Category Archives: Gloucestershire

Commonwealth War Graves, Gloucestershire, Gloucestershire Regiment, Great War, history, illness, Labour Corps, photography, Sergeant, Somerset, story, war

Sergeant William Gardner

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Serjeant William Gardner

William Gardner was born in Cirencester, Gloucestershire, in around 1877. While I have been unable to totally confirm this, his parents seem to have been William and Sarah Carpenter; William Sr was an agricultural labourer, and both he and his wife were from Cirencester.

It has been difficult to track down William’s early life, because of the potential variations of his surname and the number of William Gardner’s in the Gloucestershire area.

The first time I can definitively identify him is on the 1911 census; he was living in Cheltenham and working as gardener. While the census shows that he had been married for 16 years and had one child. However, William’s wife is not recorded on the census; instead a Lily Marie Denley is boarding with him, as is her daughter, Irina May Gardner Denley.

William’s military life also needs a little piecing together. His gravestone confirms that he was a Serjeant in the Gloucestershire Regiment, and it seems that he enlisted towards the end of the 1800s, as he is recorded as having served in South Africa.

Serjeant Gardner re-enlisted (or was called back up) when the Great War broke out; at the age of 39, he was sent to France, collecting the Victory Medal, the British Medal and the 1915 Star for his service. At some point, however, he transferred back to England, joining the 440th Agricultural Coy. Labour Corps.

While there is no evidence of why William transferred, his later records certainly seem to suggest there were some issues going on in his life. When he was demobbed in February 1919, this seems to have been for medical reasons; his pension records show that he was suffering from neurasthenia (or shell shock), and that this was directly attributable to his war service.

William’s suffering evidently continued: a further record shows that he was admitted to an asylum in March 1921 and the 1921 census corroborates this. William was noted as being one of nearly 900 patients at the Somerset and Bath Pauper Lunatic Asylum in Wells and this is where he died, just a month later. While there is no cause of death, he passed away on 14th July 1921, at the age of 45 years old.

William Gardner lies at peace in the Cemetery in Wells, Somerset.

One additional point for William’s story. Another part of his was pension records give Miss Lily Denley as his dependent, and that she was guardian of his child. No eyebrows raised now, but how must their relationship have been viewed in 1911?

Commonwealth War Graves, Gloucestershire, Great War, history, injury, Kent, photography, Private, story, Suffolk Regiment, war

Private Harry Pullen

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Private Harry Pullen

What I have discovered while researching the Commonwealth War Graves, is that, despite the general themes I find, the people behind the names always have an individual story to tell. Sometimes that story raises an eyebrow, or produces a gasp.

Such was the story of Private Harry Pullen.

What raised the eyebrow? Two words, written on the Army Records of Soldiers’ Effects.

Accidentally Drowned.

Harry Pullen was born in Shirehampton, Gloucestershire in 1886. His father, Robert Edward Pullen, was a carpenter; he and his wife Hannah Presulga Cissy Pullen had three other children, Gwendoline, Herbert and John.

By the time of the 1901 census, Robert is boarding in a house in Bristol with his three sons; Hannah and Gwendoline are not listed (nor do they appear on any other census records I have been able to locate).

Harry is listed as a Telegraph Boy, as is his brother Herbert, but he seemed to have wanted to take up a trade; by 1910 he had moved up to London.

In March of that year, Harry married Harriet Critchell, a spinster fifteen years his senior. On their marriage records for Christ Church, St Pancras, Harry lists himself as a tradesman. The census a year later confirms this – head of the household, he is an Agent for the Provident Clothing Supply Company. (Founded in Bradford, West Yorkshire, Provident’s mission was to help working-class families provide for themselves through the use of vouchers. These were exchanged for goods in local shops, and paid for in affordable instalments.)

Harry enlisted at some point after 1916. His regiment, the 1st (Reserve) Garrison Battalion of the Suffolk Regiment, was not formed until March of that year, and, after starting in Buckinghamshire, it moved to Tilbury in Essex and Gravesend in Kent. The battalion was finally settled in Grain, North Kent in 1918, and it was here that he served.

Here the trail goes frustratingly cold…

Private Pullen’s enlistment and service records are not available, so research is limited to the Army Register of Soldier’s Effects and the Pension Ledgers.

All we have about his death are those two words – Accidental Drowning. There are no contemporary news reports of his passing, which you might expect given the circumstances, so the circumstances surrounding his death are elusive.

Private Pullen died on 10th July 1918. He was 31 years old.

His records confirm that Harriet was entitled to a weekly pension of 15s for the duration of the war and twelves months after.

Harry Pullen is buried in the graveyard of St James’ Church in Grain, Kent, close to where he was stationed.