Thomas Hulkes Bingham Day was born on 2nd January 1855 in Frindsbury, Kent. The youngest of four children, his parents were Thomas and Emma Day. Thomas Sr was a banker and a justice of the peace. He died when his youngest was just a child, and Emma was left to raise the family, albeit with the help of five servants.
Thomas sought out a life in the military. After volunteering in the local militia, for a number of years, he gained a commission in the Dorsetshire Regiment. He took on the role of Lieutenant on 29th November 1876.
Over the next two decades, Thomas served around the world, spending time in Malta, Gibraltar, and the East Indies. He was also promoted through the ranks, rising to Captain in 1883 and Major in 1893.
On 25th March 1884, while serving in India, Thomas married Katharine Watts. The couple had a daughter, Winifred, who was born in July 1885, and, eventually they settled in Wiltshire as their base in Britain.
Major Bingham Day served in South Africa during the Boer War, taking part “in the operations at Parde Kraal, and in the operations at Poplar Grove… Vet River, Zand River, Johannesberg and Pretoria. He had the Queen’s and the King’s medals with five bars.” [Lincoln Leader and County Advertiser – Saturday 28 April 1917]
Thomas retired in 1903, and his trail goes cold until the time of the 1911 census. He and Katherine were on holiday when it was taken, and they were listed as boarding at the Beach Lodge on Roseville Street in St Helier, Jersey.
When war broke out, Thomas stepped up to play his part once more. He was put in charge of the 4th (Reserve) Battalion of the Devonshire Regiment, which was based at Sutton Veny in Wiltshire. It seems that he lived off site, as he and Katherine moved into a house in nearby Warminster.
A military funeral took place… on Monday, when Lieutenant-Colonel TH Bingham-Day, in command of a regiment at Sutton Veny, was laid to rest in the churchyard. The deceased officer died suddenly while at mess, as the result of a seizure.
[Devizes and Wilts Advertiser: Thursday 19th April 1917]
Lieutenant Colonel Thomas Hulkes Bingham Day was 62 years of age when he passed away on 11th April 1917. He was laid to rest in the graveyard of St Aldhelm’s Church in Bishopstrow, Wiltshire, not far from the base at which he had so dutifully served.
Job Jefferies was born on 12th October 1889 in the city of Timaru, on New Zealand’s South Island. The sixth of ten children, his parents were William and Ada Jefferies.
There is little information available about Job’s early life, but by the time war broke out, he had moved to Kongahu, at the northern tip of South Island. He was working as a labourer, and was employed by the Public Works Department.
Job was quick to step up and serve his country. He enlisted in the New Zealand Infantry on 12th February 1915, and was assigned to the Canterbury Regiment. His service records confirm that he was 5ft 10.75ins (1.79m) tall, and weighed 170lbs (77.1kg).
Private Jefferies left New Zealand in the summer of 1915, and his service record makes for grim reading.
On 9th August 1915, Job’s unit arrived in the Dardanelles, and he was firmly entrenched in the fighting at Gallipoli. Wounded on 5th September, he was initially treated at a casualty clearing station, before being medically evacuated first to Malta, then to Britain. He was admitted to the No. 2 Western General Hospital in Manchester, Lancashire, and would spend the next seven months there.
On 12th May 1916, Private Jefferies was on the move, leaving his base in Hornchurch, Essex, for the Western Front. He re-joined his unit on 7th July, but just nine days later was wounded at the Somme. Medically evacuated to Britain again, he spent the next couple of months being moved between hospitals. Discharged back to base in Hornchurch, Essex at the end of September, he would spend the next four months recuperating once more.
By February 1917, it would seem that Private Jefferies had been moved to Sling Camp near Bulford, Wiltshire. While there, he fell ill, and was admitted to the No. 3 New Zealand General Hospital in nearby Codford. He was suffering from pneumonia, and this time his body could take no more. Job passed away on 7th February 1917: he was 27 years of age.
Job Jefferies was laid to rest alongside his fellow soldiers in the ANZAC extension to St Mary’s Churchyard, Codford.
William Henry Beadle was born in Heybridge, Essex, on 23rd April 1870. The youngest of three children his parents were William and Sophia Beadle. William Sr was a waterman-turned-labourer, and the young family lived with Sophia’s parents.
When Sophia died in 1875, her widow and their children remained with his in-laws. William Sr died in 1887, and by the time of the 1891 census, his son was living with his now widowed grandmother. The document notes that she was a pauper, but he was a moulder in the local iron works.
William sought bigger and better things and, on 13th August 1891, he enlisted in the Royal Navy as a Stoker 2nd Class. His service records show that, as 21 years of age, he was 5ft 8ins (1.72m) tall, with brown hair, grey eyes and a fresh complexion.
Stoker Beadle was initially sent to HMS Pembroke, the Royal Naval Dockyard in Chatham, Kent, for his training. He would spend the next six months split between there and HMS Wildfire, a shore establishment downriver at Sheerness.
In 1892, William spent six months on board the troop ship HMS Tyne. He returned to Chatham in July of that year, and was promoted to Stoker 1st Class. Over the course of the next eleven years, he would go on to serve on four ships, each time returning to his base port, HMS Pembroke.
William’s service record is pretty much mark free. He was confined to cells for seven days in October 1895, although his offence s unclear. In April 1896 he was promoted to Leading Stoker 2nd Class, and made Leading Stoker 1st Class three years later. In December 1902, while on board the cruiser HMS Diana, William was promoted again, to Acting Chief Stoker, and the following August, his initial contract of service came to an end.
By this point William was a married man. He married Clara Walford in Rochford, Essex, and, while the couple did not go on to have children, there is little additional information about her.
William re-enlisted as soon as his initial twelve-year contract came to an end. In December 1903 he was promoted to Chief Stoker, and he remained at this rank until he war formally retired on 16th August 1913. He had spent more than two decades in the Royal Navy ,and travelled the world: the 1911 census recorded him as one of the crew of HMS Lancaster, moored in Malta.
Chief Stoker Beadle’s time away from the Royal Navy was not to be lengthy and, when war broke out less than a year later, he was called upon once more. He spent nine months back at HMS Pembroke, before being assigned to the new cruiser HMS Calliope. She would be William’s home for the nearly three years, and it was not until March 1918 that he came back to shore.
William’s return to Chatham seemed to coincide with a downturn in his health. He was admitted to the town’s Royal Naval Hospital with nephritis, and this is what would take his life. He died on 8th March 1918: he was 47 years of age.
William Henry Beadle was laid to rest in the military section of Woodlands Cemetery, Gillingham, not far from the naval base he had called home for so long.
Wilfred Percival Bridger was born on 20th January 1885, the middle of three children to William and Emma. William was a groom from Albourne in Sussex, but, after a spell in Newmarket, the family had settled in Findon near Worthing.
William passed away just two years after Wilfred’s birth, and Emma remarried. The 1891 census found her and her new husband, George Lish, living with William and his siblings in a house on Findon Street.
When he completed his schooling, William found work as a shepherd: the next census return, taken in 1901, found the extended family living at 1 Brazil Cottages, next to the Black Horse Inn in Findon Village. George and Emma now had three children of their own, and Emma’s widowed mother, Martha, completed the household.
Shepherding was not a permanent career option for Wilfred and, on 28th April 1902, he enlisted in the army. He gave his occupation as groom, and his medical report confirmed he was 5ft 7ins (1.7m) tall and 120lbs (54.4kg) in weight. He was noted as having brown hair, grey eyes and a fresh complexion.
The Royal Sussex Regiment would definitely provide Private Bridger with the globe-trotting adventures that he may have wished for. After two years on home soil, his unit – the 2nd Battalion – moved to Malta, where he would spend close to twelve months. In May 1905 he moved to Crete, and from there to India in January 1907.
By the start of 1910 Wilfred had returned to Britain, and he was stood down to reserve status when his contract came to an end that April. He returned to Sussex, and the family home. 1 Brazil Cottages was crowded by this point, with Wilfred sharing the five-roomed house with his mother, stepfather, half-brother, niece. There were also two lodgers, widowed farm labourer Alfred Newman and his son, William.
Things were to change for Wilfred, however. In September 1911 he married Florence Herrington, a carter’s daughter from Henfield, Sussex. When the couple wed, she was working as a servant in a boarding house in Ambrose Place, Worthing. The young couple set up home in Nepcote, near Findon, and went on to have four children – William, Albert, Henry and Lilian.
When war broke out, Wilfred was called upon to play his part again. He re-joined the Royal Sussex Regiment on 31st August 1914, but when his medical was carried out the following March, he was found to have tuberculosis, and deemed not fit for service. After further tests, Private Bridger was medically discharged on 28th May 1915.
At this point, Wilfred’s trail goes cold. He returned to Findon and, it seems this is where he passed away on 13th September 1918. He was 33 years of age.
Wilfred Percival Bridger was laid to rest in the quiet surroundings of Findon’s St John the Baptist Churchyard.
Francis Frederick Chick was born in the spring of 1886 in Axminster, Devon. One of eight children, his parents were brickmaker Edwin (or Edward) Chick and his wife, Elizabeth.
When he completed his schooling, Francis found work as a sawyer’s apprentice. However, he wanted bigger and better things and, on 19th November 1900, he enlisted in the army. At 14 years of age, he was just short of 5ft (1.52m) in height, and had fair hair, blue eyes and a fresh complexion.
Initially enlisting in the Royal Marine Light Infantry, Boy Chick was to serve three years in the naval division. The 1901 census found him based at the East Stonehouse Barracks in Devonport, Devon, where he was a Bugler.
In September 1903, Francis transferred across to the Devonshire Regiment, remaining within the band structure. He came of age in March 1904, and, as a Private, he took on the role of Drummer. By the start of 1909, his unit had moved overseas, and the next census, taken in 1911, found Private Chick billeted in St George’s Barracks in Malta.
Francis remained in Malta for three years, and moved to Egypt with his unit in January 1912. By this point, having completed nearly twelve years’ service, he elected to stay on and renewed his contract. While serving in North Africa, he completed his induction into the Camel Corps, although by the end of the year, he was back on home soil after nearly four years abroad.
At this point, Francis seems to fall off the radar. It is unclear whether his move back to Britain was because he had been placed on reserve status, or due to medical reasons. To add to the mystery, when war broke out, he did not re-join the Devonshire Regiment, but enlisted in the London Regiment instead. He was assigned to the 22nd (County of London) Battalion, but later records note a connection to the 22nd (Wessex and Welsh) Battalion of the Rifle Brigade.
Private Chick was in Buckinghamshire by the winter of 1915/16, and it was here that he became unwell. Admitted to hospital in Aylesbury, he died of pneumonia on 4th January 1916: he was 29 years of age.
The body of Francis Frederick Chick was taken back to Devon for burial. He was laid to rest in the cemetery of his home town, Axminster.
Thomas Fidler was born on 15th May 1881 in Newbury, Berkshire and was the fourth of eight children to Charles and Sarah. Charles was a groom, who travelled where the work was, and, by the time of the 1901, the family has relocated to Whitchurch in Hampshire.
When he finished his schooling, Thomas found work as a dairyman. However, he had always had his sights on bigger and better things, and, having been a volunteer for the local militia, he was keen to become a full soldier. Things did not go immediately to plan though, and he was initially turned down because he was under height – he was just 5ft 3ins (1.6m) tall when he turned 18.
But Thomas was persistent, and, on 27th June 1898, he was formally enrolled in the Hampshire Regiment. Along with his height, his service records confirm other details about the young man he had become. The document show that he weighed 124lbs (56.2kg), and that he had brown hair, brown eyes and a fresh complexion. The records advise that he was considered fit for duty, but also note that he was given special authority to enlist, presumably to bypass the concerns about his height.
Private Thomas Fidler would go on to build up quite a military career for himself. He spent nearly two years on home soil, before his unit was shipped out to South Africa. During his time in the colony, he served in a number of the campaigns, and was awarded with the Queen’s South Africa medal, including clasps for Cape Colony, Orange Free State and Transvaal, and the King’s South Africa Medal 1901-1902.
After more than two years spent overseas, Thomas’ unit returned to Britain. He would remain on home soil until 1903, extending his service beyond the five compulsory years, and choosing to remain on active duty, rather than being stepped down to reserve status. In September of that year, his unit was on the move again, and he was transferred to Malta.
It would not be until September 1905 that Private Fidler saw home soil again. He was formally stood down from duty the following June and assigned to the Army Reserve. Interestingly, his transfer papers recorded that his conduct was indifferent, disobedient… inclined to drink.
Thomas’ attitude over the years was evidenced by his entries in the Regimental Defaulter Book. He was disciplined no fewer than twelve times during his military career. His offences included being absent from parade and using insubordinate language. While stationed in Malta, he was punished for being drunk four times. Over the years, Private Fidler spent 125 days confined to barracks, and was fined a total of £1 2s 6d for his crimes.
When he was not confined to barracks, Private Fidler would likely be found in a sick bay. Between January 1901 and September 1905, he spent 342 days in hospital with conditions ranging from fevers, psoriasis, scabies and gonorrhoea.
On 22nd March 1905, while serving in Malta, Thomas was admitted to hospital having suffered a fractured jaw following a scuffle. The cause of the injury is recorded in detail in an eleven-page report, which outlined that Private Fidler had been out in Valetta, and ended up quite drunk. He was approached by a couple of military police officers, and became abusive towards them. While trying to take off his boots, a private from another regiment, who was also drunk, came along and punched him in the face, fracturing his jaw. Both men were arrested and taken back to barracks. The investigation in to the incident found that, while Private Fidler was off duty at the time, he was to blame for the altercation.
In June 1906, Thomas returned to civvy street, and to his former job as a dairyman. On 5th February 1907, he married Tryphena Snook, who was the daughter of his employer. The couple had had a son the previous year, and would go on to have three more children in the next few years.
The 1911 census found the young family living in Sparsholt, Hampshire, the household being made up of Thomas, Tryphena and their older two children, Tryphena’s parents, William and Emma, and a boarder, William Clark, who was a carter on the farm.
By the summer of 1914, Thomas had been formally stood down from the army, his contract coming to an end on 26th June. A storm was brewing over the Channel, however, and he would soon be called upon to play his part once more.
Details of Thomas’ re-enlistment into the army have been lost to time. It is likely that he was called upon quite quickly. He was assigned to the South Wales Borderers, and, with the experience he had under his belt, was given the rank of Lance Corporal.
Thomas’ unit – the 4th (Service) Battalion – was initially sent to France, and he arrived there early in July 1915. Within a matter of weeks, however, the battalion moved on to the Eastern Mediterranean, ending up at Gallipoli.
Lance Corporal Fidler’s time in on the peninsula would have been fraught with danger. In the autumn of 1915, he was badly injured and was medically evacuated to Britain for treatment. Admitted to hospital in Devon, his wounds were to prove too severe, and he passed away on 5th November, at the age of 34.
The funeral rook place at Paignton… of Lance-Corpl. Thos. Fidler, of the 4th South Wales Borderers, who died at Oldway Hospital on Friday as a result of wounds sustained at Gallipoli. The widow and other mourners followed, and the Matron of the Hospital (Miss Blackmore) was among those present. Wounded convalescents from Oldway and a Company of the 7th Devons, under Capt. Brearley, attended, and the Devons provided a firing party.
[Exeter and Plymouth Gazette – Tuesday 09 November 1915]
Thomas Fidler was laid to rest in Paignton Cemetery.
Simeon James Powell was born on 18th October 1882 in Wootton Fitzpaine, Dorset. The oldest of three children, his parents were Francis and Elizabeth Powell. Elizabeth died when Simeon was just 7 years of age, and his father remarried, and went on to have five children with his new wife, Annie.
Francis was a farmer, and Simeon found employment as an estate labourer. The 1911 census found the family living on Dodpin Farm in Monkton Wyld, a village to the north of Lyme Regis: Francis, Annie, Simeon and his three younger siblings.
On 12th June 1913, Simeon married Mary Hodder. There is little information about her, but it seems the couple set up home on the outskirts of Charmouth, Dorset. Mary was six years older than her new husband, and they didn’t go on to have any children.
War was declared in the summer of 1914, and by the following autumn, Simeon had signed up to play his part. His service records confirm that he was 5ft 11ins (1.8m) tall and weighed 188lbs (85.2kg).
Gunner Powell joined the Royal Garrison Artillery, and was formally mobilised on 31st May 1916. By November he was sent to Malta, returning to Britain in September 1917. His new posting was in Sheerness, Kent, and he would remain there for the next nine months.
In May 1918, Simeon fell ill. He had caught influenza, and when this developed into bronchitis, he was admitted to the local war hospital. His health began to deteriorate, and, on 10th June 1918, Gunner Powell passed away from a combination of bronchitis and haemoptysis. He was 35 years of age.
The body of Simeon James Powell was taken back to Devon for burial. He was laid to rest in the graveyard of St John the Baptist Church in Hawkchurch, near the family home just across the border in Dorset.
Giovanni Teuma was born on 25th December 1878 in Valetta, Malta. There is little information about his early life, but documents confirm that his parents were Paulo and Vinza Teuma.
Most of the information about Giovanni comes from his service records. He enlisted in the Royal Navy on 13th February 1898 as a Domestic 3rd Class. He was noted as being 5ft 5ins (1.65m) tall, with brown eyes, black hair and a dark complexion.
Giovanni’s first posting was on the cruiser HMS Venus. He remained on board for more than three years, which would be his longest assignment. Over the next fifteen years, he would serve on another dozen vessels, returning to shore at HMS Victory and HMS Pembroke – the Royal Naval Dockyards in Portsmouth, Hampshire, and Chatham, Kent, respectively – in between voyages.
Giovanni continually attained a Very Good rating at his annual reviews, and rose through the ranks over the years. He was promoted to Domestic 2nd Class in March 1905 and Officer’s Steward 2nd Class in October 1907. At this point, however, his ranks started to vary, spending just over a year as Officer’s Cook 1st Class before returning to the rank of Officer’s Steward 2nd Class.
On 21st January 1914, Giovanni was stood down: he seems to have requested extended shore leave. He returned to action three months later, retaking his previous rank. On 11th August, just a few weeks after war was declared, he was assigned to the light cruiser HMS Arethusa, as Officer’s Steward 1st Class.
The Arethusa had been launched in the autumn of 1913, and was confirmed as the flotilla leader of the Harwich Force when was was declared. Within weeks of Officer Steward Teuma boarding her, she was involved in the Battle of Heligoland Bight. Severely damaged by two German cruisers, a number of the crew were killed and injured, and she had to be towed home.
When the Arethusa docked at HMS Pembroke, those who were injured were taken to the Royal Naval Hospital in Chatham. Officer’s Steward Teuma was one of those treated there but, sadly, his wounds were to prove too severe. He passed away on 29th August 1914, the day after the battle: he was 35 years of age.
Givoanni Teuma was laid to rest in Woodlands Cemetery, Gillingham, not far from the Kent naval base he had visited regularly.
Owen Lambe was born in Drogheda, Co. Louth, Ireland, in November 1873. There is little information about his early life, but later documentation confirms that he was the son of John and Ellen Lambe, and that he had three brothers and one sister.
When Owen finished his schooling, he found work as a baker. He was also volunteering as a soldier in the 6th Battalion of the Royal Irish Rifles at the time, however, and this sparked a career move for him. On 7th May 1890, he formally enlisted: his medical report shows that he was 5ft 4ins (1.63m) tall, and weighed 128lbs (58kg). He was noted as having brown hair, grey eyes and a dark complexion.
Over the twelve years of his contract, Private Lambe saw a fair bit of the world. After eighteen months on home soil, he was sent to Malta, where he remained until November 1894. His battalion was then moved to India, where they remained for more than three years.
With seven years’ service under his belt, Owen returned to Britain. Put on reserve status, he was recalled to active duty in October 1899, as hostilities broke out in South Africa. He served in the Second Boer War for nearly three years, until, in July 1902, he returned home once more. By this point, he had completed his contract, and formally stepped down from the army on 31st August.
Owen’s trail goes cold at this point, and it is only possible to pick up details from later documents relating to his death. These confirm that he had re-enlisted by the spring of 1916, and that he joined the 8th (Service) Battalion of the Royal Irish Fusiliers. Based on his previous army experience, Private Lambe would have been sent to the Western Front fairly readily, and his battalion was certainly involved in the fighting at the Battle of the Somme.
It was here, on the front line, that Owen was injured. Again, details are sketchy, but he received gun shot wounds severe enough for him to me medically evacuated to Britain for treatment. He was taken to Somerset and admitted to the Volunteer Aid Detachment Hospital in Burnham-on-Sea for treatment. Private Lambe’s wounds were to prove too severe, however: he passed away from his injuries on 3rd September 1916, at the age of 42 years old.
Owen Lambe was laid to rest in the Roman Catholic section of Burnham Cemetery. His headstone was paid for by the local Catholic church.
The youngest of three children to William and Annie, Walter Harold Fry was born in the summer of 1897 in Shepton Mallet, Somerset. William’s job as a railway guard and porter meant the family moved around the area and, by the time of the 1901 census, they had settled in Twerton, to the west of Bath.
Little information is available about Walter’s early life and, indeed, documents from that time seem to record him as both Walter Harold and Harold Walter. When war came to Europe, He was keen to serve his country, presumably because his older brother, William Jr, was already serving overseas in the Somerset Light Infantry.
Walter enlisted in the Gloucestershire Regiment, and, as a Private, was assigned to the 4th (City of Bristol) Battalion. His initial training took place in Wiltshire and Essex, but by March 1915, the battalion had been sent to the Western Front.
Private Fry’s service records no longer exist, by his headstone, in the family plot, suggests that he was injured in France in March 1916. He was medically evacuated back to Britain, although, again, details are sketchy, and admitted to a military hospital in Aldershot, Hampshire.
At this point, Walter’s trail goes cold. The next record for him is that of his passing, while still admitted to the hospital, on 31st December 1916. He was just 19 years of age.
The body of Walter Harold Fry was brought back to Somerset for burial. He was laid to rest in Bath’s Twerton cemetery, a short walk from the family home.
Walter’s brother William had enlisted in the Somerset Light Infantry by 1911. That year’s census recorded him as being billeted at St Andrew’s Barracks in Malta, but by the time war broke out, his troop, the 2nd Battalion, was based in Quetta, India.
He remained based in this far outpost for the duration of the conflict and, while his service records are no longer available, he seemed to have been dedicated to his job as, by October 1918, he had risen to the rank of Sergeant.
William was based in Rawalpindi by that point, and it was here that he died, through causes unknown, on 31st October 1918. He was 26 years of age.
Buried in Rawalpindi Military Cemetery, Sergeant William Fry is also commemorated on the family grave in Twerton.
Death and Service 