Category Archives: Scotland

Able Seaman, Boy, Commonwealth War Graves, Great War, history, illness, Leading Seaman, Ordinary Seaman, photography, Royal Navy, Scotland, Somerset, story, war, Wiltshire

Leading Seaman Alfred Davidge

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Leading Seaman Alfred Davidge

Alfred Ernest Davidge was born on 22nd July 1882, one of six children to Richard and Ermina. Richard was a boilermaker from Bristol, but brought his family up in the Wiltshire town of Swindon.

Alfred was keen on adventure, and sought out a live on the open seas. In August 1898, at the age of sixteen, he joined the Royal Navy. After serving two years at the rank of Boy, he officially enlisted for a term of twelve years.

Starting as an Ordinary Seaman, Alfred had worked his way up to Leading Seaman by 1905. He continued in this role until 7th June 1909, when he was knocked back a rank for misconduct. He evidently realised the error of his ways, however, as, just over a year later, he was promoted again.

Leading Seaman Davidge’s term of service came to an end in July 1912, and, having been assigned to seventeen vessels during that time, he became part of the Royal Naval Reserve.

Back on home soil, and Alfred set up home in Taunton. He found work as a labourer and, in October 1913, married local lady Louisa Pomeroy. The couple went on to have a daughter, Hilda.

Storm clouds were gathering over Europe by now, and Alfred was soon recalled to the Royal Navy. He took up his previous role, and, after a period of training at HMS Vivid in Plymouth, he was assigned to HMS Suffolk.

Leading Seaman Davidge spent eighteen months aboard HMS Suffolk (during which time the photo below was taken), before being transferred to HMS Columbella in November 1916. His time there was short, however, as he became unwell.

Admitted to the Royal Infirmary in Glasgow with influenza, Leading Seaman Davidge sadly succumbed to the condition on 17th March 1917. He was 34 years old.

Alfred Ernest Davidge was brought back to Taunton for burial. He lies at rest in the St James Cemetery in the town.

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Alfred Davidge
(from findagrave.com)
Artificer, Commonwealth War Graves, Devon, Great War, history, illness, photography, Royal Navy, Scotland, Somerset, story, war

Engine Room Artificer Newman Bailey

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Engine Room Artificer 4th Class Newman Bailey

Newman Joynt Bailey was born on 1st August 1887, the eldest of five children to Newman Bailey and his wife Anna (née Joynt). Newman Sr worked as a switchman and signalman for Great Western Railway and had been born in Bath. He married Anna (whose maiden name was Joynt, and who had been born in Ireland) in 1885 and, after a short stint living across the county border in Devon – where Newman Jr was born – he settled his young family in Taunton.

When Newman Jr left school, he became an office boy, but he soon found himself following in his father’s footsteps. He became a fitter for the railways and, by 1910, was living with spitting distance of the GWR depot in the town.

It was here, in William Street, that he set up home with his new wife, Lily Gill, who he had married on 31t July 1910. Lily was the daughter of a Taunton lamplighter, and, to help make ends meet, worked as an ironer at the town’s collar factory.

War was on the way, and in July 1915, Newman enlisted in the Royal Navy. After initial training aboard Vivid II, the shore establishment in Devonport, he was deployed on HMS Blake as an Engine Room Artificer.

HMS Blake was an auxiliary ship designed to provide maintenance support to a flotilla of destroyers or other small warships. With his experience with steam engines at GWR, his knowledge of mechanics would have made him ideally suited to this type of role.

While he survived the war, Artificer Bailey was to be struck down with something much closer to home. In the immediate post-war period, the Spanish Flu pandemic swept the globe, and Newman was to fall victim to it. Admitted to the Royal Naval Hospital in South Queensferry, near Edinburgh, he passed away from the lung condition on 23rd November 1918. He was just 32 years old.

Brought back home, Newman Joynt Bailey was laid to rest in St James Cemetery in his home town of Taunton.

Artificer, Commonwealth War Graves, Great War, history, Kent, Royal Navy, Scotland, story, unknown, war

Chief Artificer James Davidson

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Chief Artificer James Davidson

There are some lives that just don’t want to be discovered, that just hide tantalisingly out of reach. James Davidson’s was one of those lives.

The main two research websites I use – cwgc.org and findagrave.com – only have his initial and surname, which is understandable, as this is what is inscribed on his headstone. Unfortunately, that doesn’t act as a good base on which to carry out further research.

HMS Gunner was the wartime moniker for Granton Harbour, near Edinburgh. A naval history website managed to identify Chief Artificer Davidson’s first name – James – but again, with no other information to go on, this is still too common a name – particularly in Scotland – to narrow down any real results.

Sadly, then, the story behind James Davidson is destined to remain a mystery. All that can be confirmed for certain is that he passed away on 23rd January 1919, though the cause of his passing is lost to time, as is his age.

James Davidson lies at rest in the Woodlands Cemetery in Gillingham, Kent.

Artificer, Commonwealth War Graves, Great War, history, illness, Kent, Northamptonshire, photography, Royal Navy, Scotland, story, war

Artificer William Brighton

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Artificer William Brighton

William Brighton was born on 13th August 1877 in Peterborough, Northamptonshire. Sadly, details of his early life are lost to time, so his parents’ names, and details of any siblings are a mystery.

William chose a military life early on; he enlisted in the Royal Navy in October 1899 for twelve years’ service. Working as an Engine Room Artificer, he was an engine fitter and repairer on a number of vessels in his time, including the battleship HMS Repulse and the cruisers HMS Andromache and Scylla.

William married Lily Franklin in the autumn of 1904, and the couple went on to have three children; Mona, Lily and John. With William away at sea a lot of the time, Lily set up home in Gillingham, Kent, close to the shore facility – HMS Pembroke – where her husband was based.

The uncertainty around potential conflict meant that William extended his service when it initially came to an end in November 1911. He continued to serve on a number of vessels during the war and was based on a ship off the Scottish coast when he fell ill in May 1918.

William was transferred to the US Hospital in Strathpeffer, near Inverness, suffering from an abdominal aneurysm. Sadly the treatment did not work, and he passed away on 26th May 1918. He was 40 years old.

William Brighton lies at rest in the Woodlands Cemetery in Gillingham, Kent.

William Brighton (from ancestry.co.uk)
Commonwealth War Graves, Great War, history, Kent, photography, Private, Royal Marines, Scotland, story, unknown, war

Private Henry McCahearty

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Private Henry McCahearty

Henry McCahearty was born in Glasgow in October 1864, one of four children to Henry and Bridget McCaherty. Sadly, few records remain, but it seems that Henry Sr, who had been born in Northern Ireland, was a soldier.

Henry falls off the radar quite quickly; from later records we can determine that he worked as a skilled labourer at the Naval Dockyard in Chatham, although it is not certain what particular skills he had.

He married Alice Radford on 3rd September 1901 in Walmer, on the Kent coast, although the couple subsequently moved to Gillingham. They went on to have four children – Reginald, James, Leonard and Alfred.

Henry was 49 when war broke out. While over the initial recruitment age, he did enlist – becoming a Private in the Royal Marine Light Infantry – although it is not certain exactly when he joined up.

Sadly Private McCahearty’s passing is also a mystery. There is nothing in the newspapers of the time to suggest anything out of the ordinary, so I can only assume that he died as a result of one of the illnesses that were rife at the time. Either way, he died on 14th November 1916, at the age of 51.

Henry McCahearty lies at rest in the Woodlands Cemetery in Gilingham, Kent.

Commonwealth War Graves, Great War, Highland Light Infantry, history, illness, Lance Corporal, photography, Scotland, Somerset, story, war

Lance Corporal Sidney Turner

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Lance Corporal Sidney Turner

Sidney Joseph Turner was born in 1888, the oldest of four children to Sidney and Matilda Turner from Bridgwater in Somerset. Sidney Sr was a carter, while his son became a labourer in a local cement works. Sadly, Sidney Sr died in 1903, when Sidney Jr was 15, leaving Matilda with three other children, one of whom was only 18 months old.

Sidney Jr travelled to get work, and had moved to South Wales to work as a miner by 1909. Here he married Rose Shattock, who was born in Bristol, although within a couple of years the young couple had moved back to Somerset.

Sidney and Rose had a son, also called Sidney, although sadly he died when he was only a couple of months old. Tragically for Sidney, the records seem to suggest that Rose may have died in childbirth, or shortly after, as her passing was registered in the same quarter as her son’s birth.

By this time, Sidney was living in Bailey Street, Bridgwater, a short distance from some railway sidings. This might have driven some determination in him as, by the following year, he was listed as an engine driver. In December 1913 he married his second wife, Bessie Sharman. She was the daughter of a mariner, who had become a machinist in a shirt factory by the time of their marriage. The couple went on to have a son, also called Sidney, in April 1914.

When war broke out, Sidney enlisted in the Highland Light Infantry, initially in the 12th (Service) Battalion. They landed in France in July 1915 and were there for the remainder of the war. At some point, Lance Corporal Turner transferred to the 53rd (Young Soldier) Battalion. Very much a training brigade, it seems that Sidney’s experience of the front line may have proved useful for the upcoming recruits.

Lance Corporal Turner was demobbed on 21st March 1919; his pension record shows that, during the course of his service, he had fractured his tibia and had contracted bronchitis. The 1921 census found Sidney back in Bridgwater. He was listed as being a gas engine driver for John Board & Co., although he was, at that point, out of work. He, Bessie and Sidney Jr were living at 1 Price’s Buildings.

Sidney’s health conditions were to prove his downfall, as, within a months of the census return, he had succumbed to pulmonary tuberculosis and exhaustion. He died on 2nd July 1921, aged just 32 years old.

Sidney Joseph Turner lies at rest in St John’s Cemetery in his home town of Bridgwater, Somerset.

Canada, Canadian Forestry Corps, Commonwealth War Graves, Great War, history, illness, Lancashire, photography, Private, Quartermaster, Scotland, Sergeant, Somerset, story, war

Company Quartermaster Sergeant Robert Roberts

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Company Quartermaster Sergeant Robert Roberts

Robert Roberts was born in Liverpool in November 1887 the youngest of two children to Robert and Alice Roberts.

The New World beckoned for the Roberts family, and they set sail for Canada when Robert Jr was just 4 years old. The family settled in the city of Regina, Saskatchewan.

Little is recorded about Robert Jr until October 1911, when he married a Quebecois woman called Edna Webber. The young couple went on to have two children, a daughter, One, and a son, George.

In April 1916, he enlisted in the Canadian Expeditionary Force. His trade was noted as a Lumberman, and his record notes that Robert had already served as part of the 95th Saskatchewan Rifles.

Joining the 224th Battalion, Robert was shipped to England in May 1916. He transferred to the Canadian Forestry Corps in November, reaching the rank of Staff Sergeant, and was assigned to the company’s Base Depot in Sunningdale, near Windsor.

When the war ended, demobilisation was still a way off for a lot of soldiers, particularly those from the Commonwealth. Robert was transferred to Stirling, and was appointed Quartermaster Sergeant (responsible for supplies and stores) for 121st Company.

On 28th January 1919, Robert was admitted to the Royal Infirmary in Stirling with influenza and double pneumonia. Sadly, he passed away just over a week later, breathing his last on 6th February 1919. He was 33 years old.

Robert Roberts lies at peace in the Wembdon Road Cemetery in Bridgwater, Somerset.

There is no evident connection between Robert and Bridgwater, so why this was chosen as his place of rest is a mystery. It is likely that there was some sort of family connection, but that cannot be definitely established.