Category Archives: Royal Army Service Corps

Captain, Commonwealth War Graves, Egypt, Great War, history, illness, London, Major, Middlesex, Nottinghamshire, photography, Royal Army Service Corps, Somerset, story, war

Major Montgomerie Boyle

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Major Montgomerie Boyle

Montgomerie Boyle was born on 20th March 1859 in Hendon, London. The youngest of three children, his parents were John and Jane Boyle. John was a barrister, and the family lived in some comfort – the 1861 census found them living in a house in Harrow, Middlesex, with four live-in servants and a groom.

[Montgomerie] joined the South Notts Yeomanry 22 years ago. Subsequently he obtained an appointment at Weston-super-Mare, under the Somerset Territorial Force Association, and did much useful work in co-ordinating the Army Service Corps in the county.

Taunton Courier and Western Advertiser: Wednesday 2nd April 1919

In the spring of 1891, Montgomerie married Constance Smith. She was a banker’s daughter from Nottingham, and the couple tied the knot in Basford, now a suburb of the larger city. They went on to have a daughter, Marion, who was born the following year.

By the 1901 census, the young family had moved to Timsbury, Somerset. Montgomerie was recorded as living on his own means, and the family had a retinue of servants to support them. A decade later, they had moved into the manor house in Staple Fitzpaine, Somerset. Montgomerie was now listed as a Captain in the Army Service Corps.

Storm clouds were gathering over the continent and, when war broke out, Captain Boyle was called back into active service.

…he was stationed with his Regiment on the East Coast for twelve months, and then went to France, where he remained for six months. He was re-called for service with the Mechanical Transport Section of the Army Service Corps in German East Africa, contracted malaria at the end of fifteen months and was invalided home. On his recovery he was despatched to the Egyptian front, and was with the British troops in Jerusalem. He became ill while there, and, on going down to the base at Cairo, was for a month in the Citadel Hospital, where he was treated for a malignant disease. By slow stages, first in a hospital ship, then in a Red Cross train through France, he was conveyed to [Le] Havre. Here, curiously enough, the doctor in charge of the hospital ship upon which he was placed happened to be… an old friend and medical attendant. Major Boyle landed at Southampton, and went immediately to the 3rd London General Hospital at Wandsworth [Surrey], where he was examined by an eminent specialist. His condition was serious but on Monday week last he arrived at his old home, where, despite the devoted care of his wife and daughter, he passed away quietly.

Taunton Courier and Western Advertiser: Wednesday 2nd April 1919

Major Montgomerie Boyle passed away on 27th March 1919, a week after his sixtieth birthday. He was laid to rest in the quiet graveyard of St Peter’s Church, on the outskirts of the grounds of the manor house the Boyles had made their home ten years before.

When Constance died ten years later, at the age of 70 years old, she was laid to rest in the family plot, reunited with her late husband once more.

Major Montgomerie Boyle
(from findagrave.com)
Captain, Commonwealth War Graves, Great War, Hampshire, history, illness, London, Northamptonshire, photography, Royal Army Medical Corps, Royal Army Service Corps, Somerset, story, Surrey, war

Captain John Cooper

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Captain John Cooper

John Bruce Cooper was born on 21st July 1869 in Croydon, Surrey. He was the oldest of eight children, all but one boys, to John and Maria Cooper. John Sr was a boot and shoe manufacturer whose business, by the time of the 1881 census, was employing around 600 people.

By 1901, the business was doing well. The family had moved to Northamptonshire, and were living at Delapré Abbey, on the outskirts of Northampton. They were now supported by fourteen servants living on site, while grooms, coachmen and gardeners were housed on the estate.

John Sr died in August 1906, while Maria passed away less than six months later. Their children, now aged between 25 and 37, went on to live their separate lives. Five of John Jr’s brothers remained in bootmaking, in Leicestershire, Northamptonshire and Surrey, while one of them, Philip, took holy orders. John, however, sought a different route.

In April 1907, John married Violet Mary Gordon in Kensington, London. She was the daughter of a general in the Indian Army, and had been born in Simla. The couple settled in a house in Basingstoke, Hampshire, and went on to have two children: Thomas and Richard. The 1911 census records the family residing in Daneshill Cottage, with two live-in domestics. By this point John was noted as being a dealer in motor cars.

When war broke out, John felt duty bound to serve his country. Little information about his military career remains documented, but a contemporary newspaper report of his funeral provides some indication of his service.

Captain Bruce Cooper… was formerly an officer of Territorial [Royal Army Medical Corps], being transport officer of the 2nd South-Western Mounted Brigade, and was stationed at Frome [Somerset]. Obtaining a commission in the [Army Service Corps], he was promoted captain, and was so proficient and zealous that he became Officer Commanding Vehicles at Bulford Camp, where he was held in the greatest esteem.

Bath Chronicle and Weekly Gazette: Saturday 27th November 1915

Captain Cooper fell ill in October 1915, and was suffering from phlebitis, or inflammation the veins. This was to prove fatal, and he passed away at the family home in Bath, Somerset, on 21st November 1915. He was 46 years of age.

John Bruce Cooper was laid to rest in a family plot in the cemetery of Bath Abbey. His older son, Thomas was laid to rest with him, when he passed away in 1949. Violet was reunited with her husband and son when she was buried with them in 1972.

Captain John Cooper (from ancestry.co.uk)
Commonwealth War Graves, Great War, history, photography, Private, Royal Army Service Corps, Somerset, story, unknown, war

Private Frederick Stone

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Private Frederick Stone

A lot of the life of Frederick Stone is destined to remain shrouded in mystery. His grave lies in the St Michael’s Cemetery, Bath, Somerset. The headstone confirms that he was a Private in the (Royal) Army Service Corps when he passed away on 22nd May 1916, at the age of 35.

The Commonwealth War Graves Commission give a little more information – he was the husband of Millie Stone, who lived at 9 Mount Road, Englishcombe. Private Stone was attached to the 623rd Mechanical Transport Company.

The 1911 census records a Fred and Millie Stone living at 22 Paragon, Bath, a twelve room Georgian terraced house near the centre of the city. Fred is listed as a gas maker for an ice factory, while Millie, who was eight years older than her husband, is noted as being a boarding house keeper. They couple were recorded as having been married for two years, and they had a seven month old daughter, Emily.

There is no marriage record for the couple, nor a baptism record for Emily, so it is not possible to glean any further information. There are four Bath-born Fred/Frederick Stones in the 1901 census, so again confirming which relates to the Private lying in the city’s cemetery is a challenge.

Private Frederick Stone’s death is not reported in the contemporary newspapers and so seems not to have been out of the ordinary. He was laid to rest in St Michael’s Cemetery, at peace.

accident, Commonwealth War Graves, Driver, Great War, history, Northumberland, photography, Royal Army Service Corps, Somerset, story, war

Driver William Stitch

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Driver William Stitch

William Ephraim Stitch was born in Biddisham, Somerset, on 6th August 1879. The oldest of seven children, his parents were James and Mary Stitch. James was a farmer, and this was a trade into which William followed.

The 1901 census found William boarding with a farmer in nearby Badgworth. His employer was George Burrow, who had a live-in housekeeper, Ellen Norris. Ten years later, William was boarding with another family in the village – Benjamin and Bertha Wall and their two children – and, at 32 years old, he was still employed as a farm labourer.

When war came to Europe, William stepped up to play his part for King and Country. He enlisted in the Royal Army Service Corps on 3rd December 1915, and was assigned to the 530th Horse Transport Company. His service records note that he was 5ft 4ins (1.63m) tall and weighed 126lbs (57.2kg).

Driver Stitch was based in Northumberland, and remained on home soil throughout his time in the army. He returned to Somerset a couple of times, most noticeably in September 1917, when he married Bertha Wall, who he had been boarding with according to the 1911 census. There is no evidence of the passing of Bertha’s husband, Benjamin, but William’s service records note that he classed Bertha’s two children as his own.

Driver Stitch went back to Somerset on leave over Christmas 1917, arriving back in Blyth, Northumberland, on 28th December. He was billeted at Link View Villa in the town, and looked after the horses stabled there.

William was last seen in the Orderly Room that evening, by a Corporal John Kearton, his senior officer who was based in the same digs. He disappeared, and, despite a lengthy search, it was only on 1st February 1918 that his body was found in the brickyard pond, close to where the horses were stabled.

At the subsequent inquest, the doctor who carried out the postmortem confirmed that there was no sign of violence. Corporal Kearton suggested that, as William was getting water from the pond, he might have slipped into the water accidentally. With no evidence of any deliberate intention to end his life, the jury returned a verdict of drowning, but that there was no evidence to show how Driver Stitch had gotten into the water. William was recorded as having died on 28th December 1918, at the age of 39 years of age.

The body of William Ephraim Stitch was brought back to Somerset for burial. He was laid to rest in the quiet graveyard of St Congar’s Church in Badgworth.

accident, Commonwealth War Graves, Great War, Hampshire, history, illness, Ordinary Seaman, photography, Private, Royal Army Service Corps, Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve, Somerset, story, war

Ordinary Seaman Bertie Clark

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Ordinary Seaman Bertie Clark

Bertie Baden Clark was born on 5th August 1900 in the hamlet of Dunball, near Puriton in Somerset. The third of seven children, his parents were quarry and cement works labourer George Clark and his wife, Bessie.

When war came to Europe, George stepped up to play his part. Despite being 44 years old, he enlisted in the Royal Army Service Corps on 4th November 1915 and, within a year, was in France. He remained posted at the No. 4 Remount Depot until October 1918.

“On the morning of the 1st October 1918, I left the 26th Squadron 4 Base Remount Depot riding a horse and leading one to exercise about a mile & half from the Squadron while proceeding by the side of the railway line my horse was frightened by the whistle of a railway engine & ran away with me throwing me to the road and stepping on my right ankle.”

Private Clark was initially treated at the No. 2 Canadian General Hospital, but was soon invalided back to Britain and placed on furlough until being formally demobbed from the army early in 1919.

Bertie, meanwhile, could see the excitement of the war passing him by. Determine to play is part before it was too late, he gave up his job as a labourer on 13th July 1918 and enlisted in the Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve.

Given the rank of Ordinary Seaman, his service records confirm that he was 5ft 6in (1.68m) tall (1in, or 2.5cm, taller than his father), with dark brown hair, grey eyes and a fresh complexion. He was noted as having a scar on his right knee.

Bertie was sent to HMS Victory, the Royal Naval Dockyard in Portsmouth, Hampshire, for training. Tragically, this was to be his only posting. He was admitted to the dockyard hospital early in October, suffering from double pneumonia and influenza. The condition was to take his life, and he passed away on 10th October 1918, at the age of just 18 years old.

Bertie Baden Clark’s body was brought back to Somerset for burial. He was laid to rest in the quiet graveyard of St Michael’s Church in Puriton, the funeral attended by his family, including his recently returned father, George.

Commonwealth War Graves, Driver, Great War, history, illness, photography, Royal Army Service Corps, Scotland, Somerset, story, war

Driver Henry Sweet

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Driver Henry Sweet

Henry – or Harry – Sweet was born on 31st July 1887 in the Somerset village of Merriott. He was the fourth of seven children to Edward and Emma Sweet. Emma had married Edward after her first husband, John, had died, and so Harry also had three half-siblings.

Edward was an agricultural labourer by trade, but by the time of the 1901 census he had turned his hand to brewing, and listed his trade as a maltster. Harry’s older brother John, was also recorded as a maltster, while he had left school and was noted as being a brewery hand.

The next census, in 1911, found Emma and Edward heading up the family in Crewkerne, brewing for, and working at, the Volunteer Inn. Harry was working with his father, while two of his sisters – Prudence and Beatrice – were still living at home and working as shirt and collar machinists. Making up the household were Harry’s other sister, Ellen, who was a shirt ironer, and her husband George, who was recorded as a web weaver. In all there were seven wages coming into the household, meagre salaries though they may have been.

On 26th December 1911, Harry married Rosina Woodland in the parish church in Crewkerne. She was the daughter of Walter Woodland, a local labourer, although there is little further information on her family.

When war came to Europe, Harry wanted to play his part. Full details of his military service are lost to time, although he had certainly enlisted in the Royal Army Service Corps by the start of 1917. Driver Sweet served in the Eastern Mediterranean, and was ensconced in Salonika, in Northern Greece, for nearly two years.

Harry suffered on and off with dysentery, and was moved to the 4th Scottish General Hospital in Glasgow in January 1919 for treatment. This was initially successful, but while was was admitted he contracted a combination of bronchitis and pneumonia, and these were ultimately to take his life. Driver Sweet passed away on 13th February 1919, at the age of 31 years old.

Henry Sweet’s body was brought back to Somerset for burial. He was laid to rest in the Townsend Cemetery in his home town of Crewkerne.

Commonwealth War Graves, Driver, Great War, Hampshire, history, injury, photography, Private, Royal Army Service Corps, Somerset, Somerset Light Infantry, story, Surrey, war

Private Albert Taylor

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Private Albert Taylor

Albert Edward Taylor was born in the autumn of 1887 and was the fifth of eight children to John and Mary Taylor. John was a mason and both he and Mary came from Crewkerne, Somerset, which is where they raised their family.

Albert worked as an errand boy when he left school, but he sought a career and, enlisted in the Army Service Corps in July 1904. He lied about his age to join up, suggesting he was nearly 22, where he was actually just 17 years of age.

Driver Taylor’s service records confirm that he was 5ft 3ins (1.6m) tall and weighed 115lbs (52.2kg). He was noted as having brown hair, blue eyes and a fresh complexion. He had a mole between his shoulder and the back of his neck, and his religion was recorded as Baptist.

Albert’s contract was for two years’ service, followed by ten years in the Army Reserve. While a military career was what he sought, he seems to have had a disregard for rules, and regularly had run ins with authority, as his Regimental Defaulter Sheet testifies.

On 19th December 1904, while based in Woolwich, Surrey, he was absent without a pass from 6am until 12:15am on 30th December. He was confined to barracks for eight days.

The following year, Driver Taylor had moved to Bordon in Hampshire. On 28th November 1905, he was absent without a pass, from midnight until 8:30am on 1st December. He was again confined to barracks, this time for ten days.

A third offence came on 29th May 1906, by which time Albert had moved to Aldershot, Hampshire. He was found in neglect of duty ‘in allowing dirty pudding cloths to be deposited in the cupboards of the cookhouse’ and being ‘absent from work from 1:30pm till found in his barrack room at 9:20pm.’ For these, he was confined to barracks again, this time for eight days.

Within a matter of weeks, he was found in neglect of duty again, having broken out ‘of barracks after tattoo and remaining absent till apprehended by the Military Police at about 10:50pm’ and being ‘drunk and improperly dressed.’ This time the punishment was more severe and he was detained in prison for 96 hours.

Unsurprisingly, Albert’s military career didn’t go much further than this. When his two-year contract came to an end, he returned to Somerset and found employment as a mason.

In July 1910, Albert married Mabel Wallbridge, the daughter of a carman, also from Crewkerne. The couple set up home on the outskirts of the town, and went on to have a son, Frederick, who was born later that year.

The 1911 census found the young family living in a cottage in Lye Water, with Albert listing himself as a ‘mason (army pensioner)’. While the military reference may have been added with a sense of pride, irony or bloody mindedness, Albert was not to fully leave his army career behind. When war came to Europe in 1914, he was still within his reserve status, and was called up to play his part.

Private Taylor was to leave his family behind: son Frederick had now been joined by daughters Kathleen and Joyce, and Mabel pregnant with another daughter, Rosaline, who was born in January 1915. Albert was assigned to the 1st Battalion of the Somerset Light Infantry and, in contrast to his previous tenure on the Home Front, he soon found himself in the thick of things.

Albert’s regiment was involved in some of the fiercest opening skirmishes of the First World War, and he would have been caught up on the Battles of Le Cateau, the Marne, the Aisne and Armentières. By the spring of 1915, the battalion was entrenched at Ypres, and it was here during the Battle of St. Julien that Private Taylor was injured.

Albert has received a gun shot wound to the left side of his skull and was medically evacuated to Britain for treatment. He was admitted to the Beechfield House Hospital in Southampton, but his wounds proved too severe, and he passed away on 14th May 1915, at the age of 27 years old.

The funeral of Private Albert Edward Taylor, of the Somerset Light Infantry… who died from wounds received at the Front, took place with military honours at the Cemetery [in Crewkerne] on Tuesday afternoon, and attracted a large attendance. As a mark of respect to the memory of the deceased soldier blinds were drawn at the private and business houses en route to the Cemetery, while the flag erected outside the Victoria Hall for the children’s Empire-day celebration was lowered to half-mast.

Rev. J Street (Unitarian Minister)… spoke of the painful circumstances and the heroic conduct of the deceased, who had sacrificed his life for others. Although death was attended with pain and sorrow, yet in after years deceased’s children would look back with pride to the part their father took in the present war.

Taunton Courier and Western Advertiser: Wednesday 26th May 1915

Albert Edward Taylor was laid to rest in the cemetery of his home town, Crewkerne.

Private Albert Taylor (from findagrave.com)

Albert’s headstone gives his initials as AC Taylor. They should be AE Taylor.

accident, Berkshire, Commonwealth War Graves, Great War, history, London, photography, Private, Royal Army Service Corps, Somerset, story, war

Private Reginald Bainton

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Private Reginald Bainton

Reginald Thomas Bainton was born in Bath, Somerset, in the spring of 1889. The second of five children, his parents were bakers and confectioners Thomas and Mary Bainton.

While Reginald’s older brother Robert followed in his father’s trade, the 1911 census recorded that he had followed a different route, and was working as a hairdresser and tobacconist.

On Christmas Day 1913, Reginald married Henrietta Skinner, who was the daughter of a farmer. The couple went on to have a son, Reginald, who was born in July 1916.

War was, by this point, raging across Europe, and Reginald stepped up to play his part for King and Country. He enlisted in the autumn of 1916, and was assigned to the Royal Army Service Corps. Initially stationed in London, he moved to a camp near Reading, Berkshire, in March 1917.

One evening towards the end of that month, tragedy occurred.

[Private Bainton] was missing from his company, and when his service cap was found on the banks of the Thames there were fears that the worst had befallen him. On receipt of the news of his disappearance his wife proceeded to Reading in the hope of getting some information respecting him, and she remained there until the discovery of the body in the Thames on Monday. During the short period he was in the Reading camp, Private Bainton acted as the storekeeper.

At the inquest… the much-decomposed body was identified by [Reginald’s] father, and medical evidence was given that it had probably been in the water for three weeks to it is highly probable that Private Bainton was drowned on the first day he was mussed. There was not the slightest evidence as to how he got into the river, and the jury returned a verdict of “Found drowned”.

Bath Chronicle and Weekly Gazette: Saturday 28th April 1917

The date of Private Bainton’s death was recorded as 23rd April 1917 – the day he was found. He was 27 years of age.

Reginald Thomas Bainton’s body was brought back to Somerset for burial. He was laid to rest in St James’ Cemetery in his home city of Bath.

Commonwealth War Graves, Essex, Great War, history, London, photography, Private, Royal Army Service Corps, Somerset, story, Surrey, unknown, war, Wiltshire

Private George Hutchings

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Private George Hutchings

George Robert Hutchings was born towards the end of 1883 in Forest Gate, Essex. He was the oldest of four children to George and Mary Ann Hutchings. George Sr was a labourer for the railways, and this led to the family relocating to Swindon, Wiltshire, in the 1890s.

George Jr took up work with the Great Western Railway when he left school, while his father switched employment and, by the time of the 1911 census, he was working as a collector for a clothing supply company.

On 13th July 1911, George Jr married Daisy Smale in the Sanford Street Congregational Church, Swindon. Daisy was a school teacher, and was the daughter of an iron moulder. It is likely that the couple met through George’s workplace. The newlyweds had a son, Raymond, who was born in 1914 and, at some point moved to Bath in Somerset.

When war came to Europe, George stepped up to play his part. He enlisted in the Royal Army Service Corps and, unsurprisingly, given the work he was doing, was assigned to the Mechanical Transport division. Little information about his military service remains, but is it clear that he had enlisted in the second half of 1915.

The next available record for Private Hutchings is that of his passing. He had been admitted to the Royal Herbert Hospital in Woolwich, South East London, and died there on 15th December 1915. No cause for his death is evident, but he was 32 years of age.

George Robert Hutchings was brought back to Somerset for burial. He was laid to rest in Bath’s St James Cemetery.

When her husband died, Daisy was pregnant. In March 1916 she gave birth to a daughter, Winifred, who was never to know her father.

Daisy never remarried. By the time of the 1939 register, she was living in Northampton Street, Bath, sharing the house with a Mr and Mrs Spreadbury. Her employment was listed as unpaid domestic duties.

Daisy and George’s son Raymond was focused on his education. He made an eventual move to Birmingham, where, at the outbreak of war, he was working as a research chemist. He died in Bath in 1982, at the age of 68.

Winifred married grocer Kenneth Batten in Bath in 1938. The couple had three children and emigrated to Australia after the war, and settled in Coffs Harbour, New South Wales. Kenneth died in 1988, at the age of 72; Winifred died in 2003, aged 87.

Commonwealth War Graves, Great War, history, illness, photography, Private, Royal Army Service Corps, Somerset, story, war

Private Sydney Ridewood

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Private Sydney Ridewood

Sydney Ridewood was born in Bath, Somerset, on 31st March 1891, and was one of eleven children. His parents were labourer and sometime butcher James Ridewood and his wife Mary.

When Sydney left school, he found work as a baker, although this seems to have been as piecemeal a job as his father’s.

In January 1910, Sydney married Kathleen Scudamore. She was the daughter of a carpenter from the Twerton area of Bath and had a bit of a chequered background herself.

On 10th June 1896, Kathleen had married Edward Edwards, who was twelve years older than her seventeen years. Their marriage certificate suggested he was a clerk, although the 1901 census – which included their two children, Charles and Percy – recorded him as being a draper’s porter. Beyond that document, there is no record of Kathleen’s husband and, by the time of her marriage to Sydney, she had reverted to her maiden name.

By the time of the 1911 census Sydney and Kathleen were living in central Bath, with their nine-month old daughter, Olive, and Kathleen’s two sons. Kathleen’s widowed father, Edmund, her brother Claude and sister-in-law Nora were also in the household.

The document recorded Sydney as still employed as a journeyman baker, while his wife was a cook for the Post Office. Edmund was working as a carpenter, Claude was a sawyer, Nora a shop assistant and 14-year old Charles was a messenger boy, also for the Post Office. Six pay cheques coming in to support the extended family in the four-roomed house.

An additional member of the Ridewood family came along on 22nd October 1913, when Kathleen gave birth to a second child, Sydney Jr.

War was on the horizon by this point, and, on 20th April 1915, Sydney stepped up to play his part. He enlisted in the Royal Service Corps, and was assigned to the Mechanical Transport Corps. There is little detail about Private Ridewood’s service, although his records show that he was 5ft 3ins (1.6m) tall, with auburn hair, brown eyes and a fresh complexion.

Sydney was sent to France a month after enlisting, and his may role seems to have been that of a driver. He remained on the Western Front for a little over two years, before contracting pleurisy. He was initially treated in France, but soon returned to Britain to recuperate. The lung condition, however, was to get the better of him, and he passed away at home on 26th November 1917, weeks before he was to be medically discharged from service. He was just 28 years of age.

Sydney Ridewood was laid to rest in St James’ Cemetery, a few minutes’ walk from his family home.