Category Archives: Kent

accident, Cadet, Commonwealth War Graves, Corporal, Glamorganshire, Gloucestershire, Great War, Hampshire, history, illness, Isle of Wight, Kent, Lance Corporal, photography, Private, Royal Artillery, Sergeant, Somerset, South Africa, South Wales Borderers, story, Wales, war, Wiltshire, Wiltshire Regiment, Yorkshire

Serjeant Fred Maynard

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Serjeant Fred Maynard

Details of Fred Maynard’s early life are a challenge to piece together. His First World War service records give his age as 44 years old when he enlisted in September 1914, and confirm his place of birth as Melksham, Wiltshire.

A newspaper report of his funeral gives the name of three brothers – Charles, Frank and Arthur – while only one census return, from 1881, provides a potential match for the family. This suggests Fred’s parents were iron fitter Alfred Maynard and his wife, Deborah, and gives the family’s address as Waterworks Road in Trowbridge.

Fred joined the army in the autumn of 1888. Initially assigned to the Gloucestershire Regiment, he had transferred to the Wiltshire Regiment by the following spring. Private Maynard showed a commitment to duty: in December 1890 he was promoted to Lance Corporal, rising to Corporal in the summer of 1893.

Fred was stood down to reserve status after his seven years’ active duty, but was recalled to the army in December 1899, when war broke out in South Africa. Promoted to Serjeant, he was sent to fight in the Boer War, and was mentioned in dispatches on 2nd April 1901 for special and meritorious service in South Africa. He was stood back down to reserve status in October 1901.

On 21st November 1895, Fred had married Louisa Card. The couple set up home in Trowbridge, but soon moved to London. They went on to have six children: Ernest, Nora and Leslie, who were all born in the London; and Arthur, Martha and Stuart, who were born in Cardiff, the family having moved to Wales by 1910.

The army was not finished with Fred, however, and, within weeks of war breaking out in the summer of 1914, he was called back into service. Given the rank of Serjeant again, he was attached to the South Wales Borderers. Fred was 44 years of age by this point, his service records confirming that he stood 5ft 8ins (1.73m) tall, weighed 164lbs (74.4kg) and had brown hair and hazel eyes.

Attached to one of the regiment’s depots, it seems unlikely that Fred saw service overseas this time around. He was discharged from the army on 1st September 1916 and this seems to have been on medical grounds. Later documents suggest that Serjeant Maynard had been diagnosed with carcinoma of the pylorus, or stomach cancer.

Fred returned to Cardiff, but his time back home was to be short. He was admitted to the Lansdown Road Military Hospital, and passed away on 23rd November 1916. He was 46 years of age.

It seems that Fred’s brother’s had some sway in his funeral. Instead of being laid to rest in Cardiff, where Louisa and the children were living, he was, instead, buried in the Locksbrook Cemetery, Bath, Somerset. His sibling Charles, who was a sergeant in Bath City Police, lived in the city, as did another brother, Frank.

Fred’s headstone also commemorates his and Louisa’s son, Leslie. He had joined the army in the 1920s and, in the summer of 1943, was in Yorkshire, undergoing officer training.

The death of an officer cadet through the accidental discharge of a rifle whose bolt had jammed was described at an inquest…

Captain WH Price said he was in charge of an exercise on the moors which involved the used of small arms and the firing of live ammunition. A squad of cadets lay on the ground in front of a trench firing over a range. All finished firing except Cadet Frank Holroyd, who said his bolt had hammed while firing a second round. [Price] told him to release the bolt by knocking the cocking piece up and back.

This attempt failed, and he told Holroyd to get back into the trench, turn the rifle magazine upwards, place the butt on the side of the trench, and kick the bolt down with his foot. While Holroyd was doing this he noticed Maynard standing in the trench about 4ft away from Holroyd and on his right-hand side.

Captain Price said he saw the rifle was pointing down the range when Holroyd kicked the butt. The cartridge suddenly exploded and Maynard dropped into the trench, shot in the head, and was dead when they reached him.

[Bradford Observer: Saturday 19th June 1943]

Officer Cadet Leslie Maynard was 36 years of age when he was killed. His body was taken back to Somerset for burial: he was laid to rest in the same grave as Fred, father and son reunited after 27 years.

Louisa remained somewhat elusive as time wore on. Fred’s military records confirm that she had moved from Cardiff to the Isle of Wight by 1922. By the time of her son’s death, she was living in Sidcup, Kent.

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, Great War, history, illness, Kent, Lance Corporal, London, Middlesex, Middlesex Regiment, photography, Private, Somerset, story, war

Lance Corporal Ernest Pond

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Lance Corporal Ernest Pond

Ernest Charles Pond was born in the autumn of 1889 in Bath, Somerset, and was the younger of two children. His father, Charles, who worked as a wheelchairman, died in 1904, leaving his mother, Eliza, to raise the Ernest and his older sister, Daisy, on her own.

The 1911 census shows the determination the Pond family had in the wake of Charles’ death. Eliza had opened up a tea room in River Street Place, and was living above the business with Daisy and two servants. Daisy, meanwhile, was employed as a school teacher, something she had been doing for at least ten years. Ernest had left Bath, and headed for London: he had taken a room in a house in Tufnell Park, and was working as a furniture designer.

When war came to Europe, Ernest was called upon to play his part. Sadly, full details of his service have been lost to time, but it is clear that he had enlisted by the summer of 1918. He joined the Middlesex Regiment, and was assigned to the 6th (Reserve) Battalion. His unit formed part of the Thames and Medway Garrison, and there is no evidence that Ernest spent any time overseas.

By the autumn of 1918, Ernest had risen to the rank of Lance Corporal. With the war coming to an end, he fell ill, however, and was admitted to a military hospital in Chatham, Kent. Details of his illness are unclear, but it was severe enough that he succumbed to it: he passed away on 2nd November 1918, at the age of 28 years old.

The body of Ernest Charles Pond was taken back to Somerset for burial. He was laid to rest in Bath’s sweeping Locksbrook Cemetery, not far from where his father was buried.

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.

accident, Commonwealth War Graves, Cook, Cook's Mate, County Antrim, Great War, history, Kent, killed in action, photography, Royal Navy, story, war

Ship’s Cook Walter Griffin

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Ship’s Cook Walter Griffin

Walter Griffin was born on 15th December 1886 in Woolwich, Kent. Details of his early life are lost to time, but, by the time of the 1901 census, he was working as a cooper’s mate at a cement factory in Higham, Kent.

Walter sought bigger and better things for himself, and, on 19th June 1907, he enlisted in the Royal Navy as Cook’s Mate 2nd Class. His service records confirm that he was 5ft 4ins (1.62m) tall, with brown hair, grey eyes and a fresh complexion.

Walter was initially sent just down the coast to the Royal Naval Dockyard in Chatham, Kent, for his training. He remained there for nine months, and was promoted to Cook’s Mate 1st Class for his service.

In January 1908, he was given his first posting, on board HMS Wildfire, and, over the next nine years, he served on a further four ships, returning to Chatham in between postings. Walter was obviously dedicated to the work he was doing: in January 1910 he was promoted to Leading Cook’s Mate, and by 1917, he was promoted again, to the ran of Ship’s Cook.

This promotion coincided with a transfer to what would be his last assignment, on board HMS Racoon. This Beagle-class destroyer patrolled the waters between Scotland and Northern Ireland, and he spent the winter of 1917/18 on board.

On 9th January 1918, there were storm conditions off the Irish coast: high seas and blizzard limited limited vision. At 2am, the Racoon struck rocks, and foundered: in the treacherous conditions, all hands were lost. Shio’s Cook Griffin was 31 years of age.

Walter Griffin’s body washed ashore near the village of Ballintoy, Country Antrim, the following day. He was laid to rest in the parish church, next to two other crew members, Ordinary Seaman Frank Green and Stoker 2nd Class Frederick Sarell.

accident, Commonwealth War Graves, County Antrim, Essex, Great War, history, Ireland, Kent, killed in action, Northern Ireland, Ordinary Seaman, photography, Royal Navy, story, Surrey, war

Ordinary Seaman Frank Green

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Ordinary Seaman Frank Green

Frank Ernest Green was born in Stratford, Essex on 14th November 1889. One of nine children, his parents were printer’s compositor John Green and his wife, Susan. The family were raised in Leytonstone and, by the time of the 1911 census, they were living in a house in Elsham Road.

Frank found work as a clerk for a financial company when he finished his schooling. On 31st August 1912, he married sailor’s daughter Charlotte Greenland, who was four years his senior. The couple settled in Gibbon Road, Peckham, Surrey, where Frank continued his work.

When war broke out, Frank was called upon to play his part. On 3rd January 1917, he enlisted in the Royal Navy for the duration of the war. His service records show that he was 5ft 6.5ins (1.69m) tall, with brown hair, blue eyes and a fresh complexion.

Ordinary Seaman Green was initially sent to HMS Pembroke, the Royal Naval Dockyard in Chatham, Kent, for training. He spent short periods of time on two ships before being assigned to HMS Racoon, a Beagle-class destroyer,

Initially patrolling the Mediterranean, by the time Frank joined the crew the Racoon she was part of the Second Destroyer Flotilla, based from Northern Ireland. In January 1918, she struck harsh weather:

HMS Racoon, Lieut. George LM Napier RN, in command, struck some rocks off the north coast of Ireland at about 2am on the 9th [January], and subsequently foundered with all hands.

Nine of the crew had been left behind at her last port of call, and these are the sole survivors.

Seventeen bodies have been picked up by patrol craft, and are being buried at Rath Mullan. Five more bodies have been washed ashore, and are being buried locally.

All the next of kin have been informed.

Exeter and Plymouth Gazette – Monday 14 January 1918

Ordinary Seaman Frank Ernest Green was one of those to be washed ashore. He was just 28 years of age. He was laid to rest in the peaceful and picturesque graveyard of Ballintoy Church, County Antrim, not far from where he had come to land. He was buried next to two other crew members, Ship’s Cook Walter Griffin and Stoker 2nd Class Frederick Sarell.

Commonwealth War Graves, Cornwall, Gloucestershire Regiment, Great War, history, illness, Kent, photography, Private, story, war

Private Richard White

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Private Richard White

Richard Ezra Baron White was born in the autumn of 1886 in the Cornish village of St Minver. The third of four children, his parents were Joseph and Zillah White. Joseph was a ship’s carpenter by trade, and Richard served an apprenticeship as a woodworker. By the time of the 1911 census, however, the Whites were working as farmers on the outskirts of the village.

When war was declared, Richard stepped up to serve King and Empire. It is unclear when he enlisted, but he joined the Gloucestershire Regiment, and was attached to the 3rd (Reserve) Battalion. Private White was based in Kent during the conflict, his unit being attached to the Thames and Medway Garrison.

Richard survived the conflict, but the winter of 1918/19 was to prove his undoing. He contracted pneumonia, and was admitted to the military hospital in Aylesford. The condition was to get the better of him: he passed away on 20th February 1919, at the age of 33 years.

The body of Richard Ezra Baron White was taken back to Cornwall for burial. He was laid to rest in the peaceful graveyard of St Menefreda’s Church in his home village, St Minver.

Commonwealth War Graves, Great War, history, illness, Kent, Lance Serjeant, photography, Royal Garrison Artillery, story, war, Wiltshire, Yorkshire

Lance Serjeant John Chapman

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Lance Serjeant John Chapman

There is little concrete information available on the life of John Henry Chapman. His headstone, in Amesbury Cemetery, Wiltshire, confirms that he was a Lance Serjeant in the Royal Garrison Artillery, and that he died on 19th December 1920.

John’s pension ledger gives his widow’s name, Caroline, date of birth, 25th August 1900, and her address, High Street, New Romney, Kent. It also gives a cause of death for John, who passed away from pneumonia.

The record for Lance Serjeant Chapman’s headstone gives his next of kin as Mrs C Chapman, c/o Mrs Savage, which would suggest that that was Caroline’s maiden name. The Civil Registration Marriage Index records the union of a John H Chapman to someone with the surname of Savage in the summer of 1920: the wedding took place in Richmond, Yorkshire, although there does not appear to be any direct connection between the Lance Serjeant, Caroline and the town.

There are no further clear documents relating to John Henry Chapman. He lies at rest in the peaceful anonymity of Amesbury Cemetery.

Commonwealth War Graves, Great War, history, Kent, photography, Private, Somerset Light Infantry, story, suicide, war, Wiltshire

Private Charles Hibbs

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Private Charles Hibbs

Charles James Hibbs was born in the summer of 1895 the fifth of nine children to James and Emily Hibbs. James was a groom from Dorchester, Dorset, but the family were first raised in Bere Regis, where Charles was born, before moving to Amesbury, Wiltshire, by 1900.

When he finished his schooling Charles found work as an under boot for a local hotel. When war came, however, he stood up to play his part. Unfortunately, full details of his service are lost to time, but he had joined the Somerset Light Infantry by January 1917. Assigned to the 11th Battalion, Private Hibbs soon found himself barracked in Tankerton, Kent.

While there, Charles seemed to keep himself to himself, rarely mixing with any of his colleagues. His seniors did not appear to think a great deal of him. Towards the end of May, things had come to a head for Private Hibbs:

Charles James Hibbs… was found at a quarter past three on Wednesday afternoon lying dead by the downstairs front door of his billet at Buena Vista, Tankerton Road, with his right hand under the breech of the rifle and the muzzle pointing to his right shoulder.

Whitstable Times and Herne Bay Herald: Saturday 2nd June 1917

The subsequent inquest shone a harsh light on the Edwardian attitude towards mental health. In the week leading up to Charles’ suicide, he was pulled off patrol a couple of times for absentmindedness.

Deceased’s manner was very strange and his companions complained of him and said he was very strange the whole time…

He would lean about over the bannisters and one could not get any sense of reason out of him. He would not associate with his comrades in any way. If I [Sergeant Edward Risden] asked him whether there was anything the matter he would pull himself together and say “I’m all right, sergeant.” He would then be all right for a few minutes and then wander away from his comrades.

The Coroner – Did you think he was not quite right in his mind? – That was my opinion.

Whitstable Times and Herne Bay Herald: Saturday 9th June 1917

Private Hibbs was sent to see the Medical Officer, but was sent back to his unit and advised to stick to light duties.

One of Charles’ colleagues, Private Harold Prosser, was billeted him the night before he killed himself:

At 1:30am… [Prosser] heard deceased moving about in the next bed to him and the he got up in bed. Witness got a match and lit the gas. Deceased put on his trousers, boots, and hat and told [Prosser] to get back to bed and put the gas out. [Prosser] left the gas on and deceased sat on the bed for about half an hour smoking and kept saying “Yes, sir.” The deceased mentioned by name his father and mother and all his relations an then got up and said “Yes, this time I am going to do it.” Deceased went to the rifle rack and [Prosser’s colleague, Private Middleton] awoke then and told him to let the rifles alone or he would report him. Deceased then took his hand off the rifle rack and said “All right” and went back and sat on the bed again. He was still smoking. He had his eye fixed on the same rifle for about half an hour after that and then he undressed and went to bed.

Whitstable Times and Herne Bay Herald: Saturday 9th June 1917

Private Prosser then went to sleep in another room because, as he told the Coroner, he did not feel safe being in the same one. A report was made to Private Hibbs’ corporal the next morning and, when asked by the Coroner if he thought Hibbs “was a little off his head”, Harold replied “Yes, the previous day he sat in bed talking to himself all day. I asked him what was the matter and he said ‘I am all to pieces.'”

In summing up, the Coroner did show some sympathy towards Charles’ actions:

…while no military regulation might have been infringed he did think people should understand that it was most important to tell the doctor the symptoms of a patient. It not only applied to military patients, but to civilian patients. If the medical officer on [the morning of 30th May] had had the facts reported to him of the strange behaviour of the deceased during the night he would most probably have placed him in hospital and the man might have received such treatment there or elsewhere that would have got him back into a sane condition.

Whitstable Times and Herne Bay Herald: Saturday 9th June 1917

At the inquest, the jury recorded a verdict of suicide during temporary insanity. Private Hibbs died on 30th May 1917: he was just 21 years of age.

Charles James Hibbs’ body was taken back to Wiltshire for burial. He was laid to rest in Amesbury Cemetery, not far from where his grieving family lived.

Commonwealth War Graves, Devonshire Regiment, Great War, Hertfordshire, history, Kent, photography, Private, Somerset, story, unknown, war

Private Henry Preece

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Private Henry Preece

The early life of Henry George Preece is a challenge to piece together.

The Commonwealth War Graves Commission give his father’s name as Edwin Preece, and suggest that the was the landlord of the George Hotel in Milverton.

The Army Register of Soldier’s Effects give the sole beneficiary of Henry’s estate as his sister Bessie.

The census record of 1911 appears to link the three members of the family, but give only a tenuous connection to Somerset. Edwin was a Coachman from Nunney, but the family – including Edwin’s wife Elizabeth, and two children, Henry and Bessie – were all living in Bayford, Hertfordshire, where the siblings had been born in 1900 and 1902 respectively.

It seems likely that the Preece family moved to Somerset not long after the census was taken, and this is potentially when Edwin took up his new role in Milverton.

War broke out in 1914, and Henry stepped up to play his part. He enlisted in the Devonshire Regiment, and was assigned to the 2nd Battalion. Full service details are lost to time, but Private Preece had joined up by April 1918.

Henry’s trail goes cold again at this point. He was admitted to a military hospital in Chatham, Kent, in the autumn1918, although the reason for this is unclear. He passed away there on 29th October: he was just 19 years of age.

The body of Henry George Preece was taken back to Somerset for burial. He was laid to rest in the graveyard of St Michael’s Church in Milverton.