Category Archives: Hampshire

Commonwealth War Graves, Essex, Great War, Hampshire, history, Kent, killed in action, Leading Telegraphist, London, photography, Royal Navy, Stoker, story, Telegraphist, war, Wiltshire

Leading Telegraphist Leonard Wort

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Leading Telegraphist Leonard Wort

Leonard James Wort was born in the Wiltshire village of Woodfalls, on 28th September 1888. He was the second of eleven children – and the oldest son – to James and Annie Wort.

James was a sawyer, but Leonard sought a better life for himself. Initially finding work as a blacksmith’s mate when he completed his schooling, but took up a career in the Royal Navy at the start of 1907. Employed as a Stoker 2nd Class, documents show that he was 5ft 6.5ins (1.69m) tall, and that he had brown hair, hazel eyes and a fresh complexion. He was also noted as having scars on the thumb and finger of his left hand.

Leonard was sent to the training ship HMS Nelson for his initial induction. He remained there for four months, before being given his first sea-faring appointment, on board the cruiser HMS Spartiate. Over the next seven years, he would serve on nine ships in total, but his service took an unexpected route.

In February 1908, Leonard was promoted to Stoker 1st Class, and the next expected progression would have been to Leading Stoker. However, year later, while serving on HMS Hindustan, he took a different route, and became a Telegraphist. He appears to have enjoyed this role, and been more than capable of carrying it out: his annual reviews noted his superior ability on more than one occasion.

Over the next few years, Leonard spent time at HMS Victory – the Royal Naval Dockyard in Portsmouth, Hampshire – presumably to receive the training needed to undertake his role. At the start of 1911, he was promoted again, taking the rank of Leading Telegraphist.

Away from the sea, love was blossoming. Leonard had met Florence Bysouth, a casemaker’s daughter from Bankway, Hertfordshire. The couple exchanged their vows in Bromley, Kent, but had set up home in Poplar, East London.

In November 1912, Leading Telegraphist Wort was assigned to the pre-dreadnaught battleship HMS Bulwark. Part of the Channel Fleet, she was tasked with patrolling the southern coasts of Britain. On 26th November 1914, Bulwark was moored in the River Medway, close to Sheerness, and was being stocked with shells and ammunition. That morning, some of the cordite charges overheated, detonating the shells stored nearby. The resulting explosion ripped through the battleship, and more than 740 crew were killed. The body of Leading Telegraphist Wort was recovered: he was 26 years of age.

Those who were killed in the explosion were laid to rest during a mass funeral in Woodlands Cemetery, Gillingham, Kent. As his body had been identified, Leonard James Wort was laid to rest in a marked grave.

Leading Telegraphist Leonard Wort (from findagrave.com)

Leonard was not the only one of the Wort sons to sacrifice his life during the First World War. His younger brother, Alfred, also enlisted in the Royal Navy, giving up his role as footman and valet to serve as an Officer’s Steward.

Alfred’s service records show that he was attached to HMS Vivid – the Royal Naval Dockyard in Devonport – when, on 4th April 1918, he drowned. He was 26 years of age, and left a widow and son.

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

Boy 1st Class William Walters

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Boy 1st Class William Walters

William John Walters was born in Portsmouth, Hampshire, on 9th July 1898. The fifth of nine children, his parents were Charles and Sarah Walters. Charles was a licensed boatman, and, for William’s short life, the family lived on Grange Street, Portsea.

Young William found work as a shop boy when he finished school, but he was drawn to the sea like his father and, on 22nd November 1913, he joined the Royal Navy. Too young to full enlist, he was given the rank of Boy 2nd Class and sent to HMS Impregnable, the navy’s school ship in Devonport, Devon.

Boy Walters’ service records show that he was 5ft 3.5ins (1.61m) tall, with brown hair, brown eyes and a dark complexion. He was also noted as having tattoos on both of his forearms.

By the summer of 1914, William has been promoted to Boy 1st Class. He returned to Hampshire, and was based at HMS Victory, the Royal Naval Dockyard in Portsmouth. This was just a staging post, however, as, on 26th August, he was assigned to the pre-dreadnaught battleship HMS Bulwark.

Part of the Channel Fleet, Bulwark was tasked with patrolling and defending Britain’s southern coast. On 26th November 1914, Bulwark was moored in the River Medway, close to Sheerness, and was being stocked with shells and ammunition. That morning, some poorly stowed cordite charges overheated, detonating the shells stored nearby. The resulting explosion ripped through the battleship, and more than 740 crew were killed. The body of Boy 1st Class Walters was among those to be recovered: he was 16 years of age.

Those who were killed in the explosion were laid to rest in the naval section of Woodlands Cemetery, Gillingham, Kent. As his body had been identified, William John Walters was laid to rest in a marked grave.

William’s headstone gives his name as IWJ Walters. There are no records to suggest that his forenames were anything other than William John, however.

William’s mother Sarah died around the same time as him. It is unclear whether she passed knowing her son had lost his life or not.

accident, Commonwealth War Graves, Great War, Hampshire, history, Lieutenant, photography, Royal Air Force, Second Lieutenant, story, Surrey, war

Second Lieutenant Ernest Hargrave

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Lieutenant Ernest Hargrave

Ernest Lawton Hargrave was born in the spring of 1899 in Clapham, Surrey. One of three children, his parents were Ernest and Ada Hargrave. Ernest Sr was a letterpress machine mender from Leeds, Yorkshire, but when he died in 1910, Ada was left to raise her children alone.

The 1911 census found Ada working as a boarding house keeper. The property she ran – a seven-roomed property at 65 Elspeth Road, Battersea, Surrey – was home to her and her two surviving children. Alongside them lived five boarders – Walter Bland (of no employment), William Gray (a clerk at the Scottish Office), Norman Pierce (an engineer’s draughtsman), William Henderson (a temporarily unemployed government clerk) and Maria Baugh (living on her own means). Edgar Gray – possibly William Gray’s father – was also visiting at the time the census was taken.

When war broke out, Ernest was 15 years of age. Too young to enlist straight away, his Medal Roll Index Card notes that he took a commission as a Second Lieutenant. Initially added to the General List, he was soon assigned to the Royal Flying Corps and sent to 79 Squadron in Hampshire.

Training to be a pilot, Second Lieutenant Hargrave practiced in an Avro 504J biplane. By 22nd September 1917, he had completed six solo flights, totalling 16 hours. That day he was under instruction, when the accident that was to take his life occurred. A later report reached the verdict that an error of judgement on Ernest’s part caused the aircraft to crash:

[He was] climbing too steeply with an insufficient bank, thus stalling the wash. As the wash was only 175ft from the ground he failed to recover and struck the ground practically nose-on. Passenger met his death through being jammed between the engine and petrol tank.

Ernest Lawton Hargrave was just 18 years of age when he was killed. His body was laid to rest in the peaceful graveyard of St Paul’s Church, East Boldre, not far from the airfield he had so briefly called home.

While the Commonwealth War Graves Commission records give Ernest’s rank as Lieutenant, other documents suggest he held the rank of Second Lieutenant when he died.

accident, Canada, Commonwealth War Graves, Great War, Hampshire, history, photography, Royal Air Force, Second Lieutenant, story, war

Second Lieutenant Joseph Wood

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Second Lieutenant Joseph Wood

Joseph Clark Wood was born in Horning Mills, Ontario, Canada, on 26th October 1897. The second of six children, his parents were farmers Richard and Bella Wood.

Details of Joseph’s early life are sketchy, and the information that is available contradictory.

By the end of 1917, however, Joseph had stepped up to serve his King and Empire, and had joined the Royal Flying Corps. His service papers no longer exist, so it is not clear how and when he joined, or came over to Britain. As the new year took over the old, Second Lieutenant Wood was attached to the No. 1 Training Squadron, and based in East Boldre, Hampshire.

A newspaper report outlined what became of him:

The Hampshire County Coroner… held an inquest on Monday into the circumstances attending the death of Second-Lieutenant Joseph Clark Wood… which occurred as the result of a flying accident on the previous day.

Lieut. Alexander Gibson Gilroy, RFC, who gave evidence of identification, said that the deceased was a pilot under advanced instruction, quite capable of flying alone.

AM Cecil Bryant spoke to testing the machine just before deceased flew and finding everything in order, Rigger Mechanic Henry Williams, giving similar evidence.

Second-Lieutenant Oswald George Brittorous RFC, told how he was just getting out of another machine when he heard a crash in the air, and looking up saw a machine without wings, the latter having evidently folded back. It hung for a few seconds and then went into a spinning nose-dive. The machine seemed between 1,500 and 2,000 feet up , and it crashed to hearth half a mile away from where witness was. Witness went to the scene after deceased had been removed, and found the machine practically matchwood. The crash he heard in the air was caused by the wings folding back and breaking. There was no collision.

Capt. William Ramsay Nasmyth, RAMC, spoke to the removal of the body. Death was instantaneous and was caused by severe injuries to the head.

The jury returned a verdict of accidental death.

[Hampshire Advertiser: Saturday 19th January 1918]

Second Lieutenant Joseph Clark Wood was just 20 years of age when he died on 13th January 1918. He was laid to rest in the graveyard of St Paul’s Church in East Boldre, Hampshire, not far from the airfield at which he had been based.

accident, Air Mechanic, Canada, Commonwealth War Graves, Great War, Hampshire, history, photography, Royal Air Force, Second Lieutenant, story, war

Second Lieutenant Richard Wood

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Second Lieutenant Richard Wood

Richard Shaw Wood was born in London, Ontario, Canada, in 1891. The middle of three children his parents were Bermudan Benjamin Wood and his Canadian wife, Mary. Benjamin was a farmer, but his son would seek out bigger and better things for himself.

On 12th November 1913, he married Alice Duggan. There is little specific information about her early life, but she had been born and raised in Toronto. They wend to to have a son, Richard Jr, the following year.

With war raging across Europe, Richard felt compelled to play his part. He gave up his job as a car salesman and, on 30th July 1917, he enlisted in the Canadian Royal Flying Corps. As an Air Mechanic 3rd Class, he was soon sent to Britain, but took a commission in the Royal Flying Corps in December of that year.

The now Second Lieutenant Wood was attached to No. 1 Training Squadron and was based in East Boldre, Hampshire. On 17th March 1918, after just a few months in the unit, he was flying a Sopwith Camel from the Hampshire airfield, when disaster struck. His aircraft nosedived and crashed to the ground. A subsequent inquest concluded that: ‘the smash was caused by the Pilot losing control of the machine… 2nd Lt R Shaw Wood was a steady [skilful] and reliable pilot. He had performed the manoeuvre… on previous occasions. The Court are of opinion that the Pilot [must have] fainted thus losing control.’

Richard Shaw Wood was 27 years of age when he died on 17th March 1918. He was laid to rest in the tranquil graveyard of St Paul’s Church, East Boldre, not far from the airfield that hat become his home.

Second Lieutenant Richard Wood
(from findagrave.com)
accident, Air Mechanic, Canada, Commonwealth War Graves, Essex, Flintshire, Great War, Hampshire, history, photography, Royal Air Force, Second Lieutenant, story, United States of America, Wales, war, Yorkshire

Second Lieutenant Arthur Taylor

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Second Lieutenant Arthur Taylor

Arthur Rowland Taylor was born on 21st March 1896 in Ilford, Essex. He was the third of five children – all of them boys – to land agent Robert Taylor and his wife, Edith. Robert’s work took the family around the country: the 1901 census found them living in Connah Quay, Flintshire, and this is where Arthur’s two younger brothers were born.

By 1911, the family had moved again, to the 15-roomed Bagle Gate House in Bridlington, Yorkshire. Robert and Edith were living with their three youngest children – including Arthur – and two servants: cook Sarah Leatham and housemaid Lucy Patchett.

At some point after leaving school, Arthur was also drawn to a new adventure. By the time war broke out, he had moved to America and settled in Denver, Colorado.

In June 1917, with war raging across Europe, Arthur had stepped up to play his part. He crossed the border to Toronto, Canada, and enlisted in as an Air Mechanic 3rd Class in the Canadian Royal Flying Corps. Sent to Britain, just three months later, he accepted a commission, taking the rank of Second Lieutenant in the British Royal Flying Corps.

Arthur was based in East Boldre, Hampshire, and was attached to the 79th Training Squadron. On 19th January 1918, he had taken off in his Sopwith 5F1 Dolphin, when the engine stalled. He did not have enough height to try and restart the engine, and the aircraft crashed to the ground, bursting into flames on impact. Second Lieutenant Taylor was killed: he was 21 years of age.

The body of Arthur Rowland Taylor was laid to rest in the peaceful graveyard of St Paul’s Church in East Boldre, not far from the base at which he had served.

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

Private Bertie Doe

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Private Bertie Doe

Bert Doe was born in Working, Surrey, in 1881. One of twelve children, his parents were France and Louisa Doe. Francis – who went by his middle name, John – was a general labour and, over the years, his work took the family across the south of England. The 1891 census found the Does living in the village of Sopley, Hampshire, and this is where they seemed to settle.

There are large gaps in Bert’s early life, On 19th April 1916, he married Ellen Lackey. She was a broom maker’s daughter from Lyndhurst, Hampshire, and the couple had a son, Francis, who had been born a few weeks before they exchanged vows.

By the summer of 1918, Bert had enlisted in the army. He was attached to the Hampshire Regiment, but at some point had transferred over to the 441st Agricultural Company of the Labour Corps. Moves of this nature were often a way to rehabilitate injured or sick servicemen, and it is apparent that Private Doe fell into the latter category.

In October 1918, Bert had fallen ill with a combination of influenza and pneumonia. He was admitted to the Union Infirmary in Winchester, Hampshire, but the conditions were to prove too severe. He died on 22nd October 1918, at the age of 37 years old.

It would seem that Ellen was living in the East Boldre area of the New Forest by this point, and it was in the village’s St Paul’s Churchyard that her husband was laid to rest.

With a young son to raise, Ellen moved back in with her parents, Silas and Anna Lackey. The 1921 census found them living in Warsash Road, Sarisbury, Hampshire. Silas was employed as a labourer, while two of Ellen’s brothers were working as hawkers. Shockingly to today’s mindset, the census document records the family as ‘gipsies’.

Commonwealth War Graves, Dorset, Essex, Great War, Hampshire, history, illness, Leading Stoker, photography, Royal Navy, Stoker, story, war

Leading Stoker Percy Curtis

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Leading Stoker Percy Curtis

Percy John Curtis was born on 2nd January 1889, the second of twelve children to Tom and Sabina Curtis. Tom was a general labourer from Todber, Dorset, and this is where the family were born and raised.

Much of Percy’s life is a mystery. He found work at sea when he finished his schooling, and in October 1911 he enlisted in the Royal Navy as a Stoker 1st Class. His service papers show that he was 5ft 3ins (1.6m) tall, with brown hair, hazel eyes and a fresh complexion.

Stoker Curtis was initially assigned to the cruiser HMS Pathfinder, and remained on board until the summer of 1912. After a short sting at HMS Victory – the Royal Naval Dockyard in Portsmouth, Hampshire – he was given another posting, aboard the battleship HMS King George V. She would become his home for the next four years, during which time Percy was promoted.

In September 1916, the now Leading Stoker Curtis returned to shore and to HMS Victory. He would remain at the base for the rest of his time in the navy.

On 5th November 1918, Percy married Kathleen Francis. She was the daughter of a Co-operative store manager from Dovercourt, Essex. She seems to have stayed with her family while her new husband was working, and a later census records confirms that she had returned (or remained) there after his death.

Percy’s service record gives a intriguing hint as to what happened, to him. By the end of the war he had been assigned to HMS Victory’s accounting branch. His papers simply state that he “Found dead on board 17 March 1919”. No cause of death is confirmed, although another naval document does confirm that it was due to illness, rather than any foul play. He was 30 years of age.

The body of Percy John Curtis was taken back to Dorset for burial. He was laid to rest in the family plot in Todber Churchyard, alongside his father, who had passed away the year before.

accident, Commonwealth War Graves, Driver, Great War, Hampshire, history, injury, photography, Royal Field Artillery, story, Surrey, war, Wiltshire

Driver Frederick Collier

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Driver Frederick Collier

Frederick William Collier was born in the autumn of 1891. The oldest of four children, his parents were weavers Frederick and Annie Collier. Annie died in 1899, and her widow re-married. The 1911 census found the extended family – Frederick Sr, new wife Rose, Frederick Jr, two of his siblings and his three half-siblings – living at 30 New Prospect Buildings, Westbury, Wiltshire, their home town.

When Frederick Jr completed his schooling, he found work as a grocer’s labourer. War broke out in 1914, however, and he felt drawn to play his part. Full details of his military service have been lost to time, but it is clear that he had enlisted early in the conflict, and certainly by the start of 1915.

Driver Collier was assigned to the Royal Field Artillery, and was attached to the 59th Brigade Ammunition Column. He was sent to Surrey for training, unbeknownst to his unit, in preparation for the Gallipoli campaign. Frederick, however, was not to get his chance to be involved.

Frederick William Collier… died on Wednesday last week from injuries received while attempting to stop horses which were stampeding in his camp, the Ammunition Column, 59th Brigade, at Milford (Surrey)… Collier… was well known in Westbury, and was popular amongst his comrades, and the greatest sympathy is extended to his parents in their bereavement. The young fellow died the same day the accident happened in the hospital at Aldershot.

[Wiltshire News: Friday 2nd July 1915]

Driver Frederick William Collier succumbed to his injuries on 23rd June 1915. He was 23 years of age. His body was taken back to Wiltshire for burial, and he was laid to rest in Westbury Cemetery, not far from where his grieving parents still lived.

Commonwealth War Graves, Great War, Hampshire, history, illness, Kent, photography, Plumber's Mate, Royal Navy, story, war

Plumber’s Mate William Hodge

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Plumber’s Mate William Hodge

William James Hodge was born on 23rd November 1896 in Portsmouth, Hampshire. The oldest of seven children, six of whom were boys, his parents were James and Edith Hodge. James was a carpenter and labourer and, when he finished his schooling, William initially found work as a grocer’s errand boy.

William went on to find work as a plumber’s mate and, when war was declared, he saw an opportunity to put his stills to good use. The Royal Navy offered career prospects and, on 14th December 1915, he enlisted. His service papers show that he was 5ft 6ins (1.67m) tall, with black hair, brown eyes and a dark complexion.

Initial training took place not far from home at the Portsmouth shore based HMS Victory and HMS Fisgard. In November 1916, however, Plumber’s Mate Hodge was given his first sea-faring assignment, on board the battleship HMS Zealandia. She would remain his home for the next six months.

In the spring of 1917, William came down with tuberculosis. He was admitted to the Royal Naval Hospital in Chatham, Kent, but the condition would prove too severe. He passed away on 19th April 1917, aged just 20 years old.

The body of William James Hodge was laid to rest in the naval section of Woodlands Cemetery, Gillingham, Kent.