William Bruton was born on 9th August 1899, the oldest of two children to William and Kate Bruton. William Sr was a grocer from Charlcombe to the north of Bath, Somerset, but it was in the Walcot area of Bath itself that the family settled.
Kate died in November 1904, at the age of just 35 years old, and William Sr raised his children on his own. He married a second time, to Edith Elly in 1910, and the couple went on to have a daughter, Mona, the following year.
William Jr – who was known as Willie, to avoid confusion with his father – was still in school at the time of the 1911 census, but when he left a few years later, he found work as an engine cleaner. War had come to Europe by this point, but to begin with Willie was too young to play his part.
He finally got his chance to enlist towards the end of the conflict, and joined the Royal Navy as an Ordinary Seaman on 18th July 1918. His service document record that Willie was 5ft 11ins (1.8m) tall, with brown hair, hazel eyes and a fresh complexion. He was also noted as having a scar on his upper lip.
Ordinary Seaman’s first posting was to be HMS Victory, the Royal Naval Dockyard in Portsmouth, and, tragically, this was also to be his last. Within a matter of weeks he had contracted pneumonia, and he passed away from the condition on 12th September 1918. He was just 19 years of age.
William Bruton was brought back to Somerset for burial. He was laid to rest in the family plot in Lansdown Cemetery, overlooking the city of his birth.
Frederick Murray Walker was born on 29th July 1862 in the village of Terregles, Kircudbrightshire, Scotland. The fifth of eleven children, his parents were Colonel Sir George Gustavus Walker, Member of Parliament for Dumfries & Galloway, and his wife, Anne. Sir George owned the Crawfordton Estate, and this is where Frederick was raised, with a retinue of fourteen staff to help the family.
Following his father’s military career, Frederick felt a draw to serve. On 15th July 1875, he entered the Royal Navy as a Midshipman. He set out to build a dedicated career, visiting most parts of the world in the process.
While Frederick’s initial service took him to the Mediterranean – where he received the Egyptian Medal and Alexandria Clasp – by 1883 he was out in China, but he also spent time in India and South Africa. In 1882 he was promoted to Sub Lieutenant, three years later he rose to the rank of Lieutenant. By 1899, Frederick had become a Commander.
By his own request, Frederick retired from the Royal Navy on 1st August 1909. He was now 47 years old, and had spent 34 years in service and was given the rank of Captain as a mark of his career.
On 19th June 1891, Frederick had married Lucy Scriven in St Saviour’s Church, Paddington, London. They would go on to have seven children, and to begin with, the life of a Naval Captain took Lucy around the coastal ports of Southern England. When Frederick retired, however, the family settled in a large house in Milford-on-Sea, Hampshire, where they were supported by a governess, cook, parlour maid and housemaid.
When war broke out in 1914, Captain Walker stepped up once more to serve his King and Country. He remained in territorial waters and was given successive command of the yachts James, Zaria and Albion III. By 1917, Frederick’s health was beginning to suffer, and he was placed on HMS Victory’s reserve books, ready should Portsmouth’s Royal Naval Dockyard need his service.
Frederick was not to be called to action again. By the time the Armistice was declared Frederick’s condition was worsening. He had developed cancer of the tongue, and it was having a real impact. He was admitted to the Haslar Hospital in Portsmouth, and passed away there on 7th February 1919, at the age of 46 years old.
By this point the family had relocated to Bath, Somerset, and this is where Frederick Murray Walker’s body was brought for burial. He was laid to rest in the prestigious Lansdown Cemetery, overlooking the city.
Sidney Goddard was born on 2nd January 1889 in the village of Oldland Common, near Bristol. The youngest of three children, his parents were Albert and Frances Goddard. Albert was a shoemaker, but by the time of the 1911 census, he and Frances had set up home in Saltford, between Bristol and Bath, where he was recorded as being a bootmaker and innkeeper at the village’s Jolly Sailor.
Sidney, by this time, had gone his own way. On 17th January 1917, he enlisted in the Royal Navy as a Stoker 2nd Class. His service records note that he had been working as a collier when he joined up, so it seemed that coal ran through him. The same records note that Sidney had dark brown hair, brown eyes and a fresh complexion. He was also recorded as being was 5ft 5.5ins (1.66m) tall, and having a number of tattoos: a true lovers’ knot on his left wrist, several dots on his left arm. He had three dots on his right arm, a scar on his back and another on the inside of his left shin.
Stoker Goddard was initially sent to HMS Vivid, the Royal Naval Dockyard in Devonport, for training. After a couple of months he was assigned to the cruiser HMS Amphitrite. It is evident that Sidney showed promise, because he was promoted to Stoker 1st Class on 22nd April, just three months after he enlisted. He returned to Devonport in May, but this was only to change assignments: he boarded HMS Blake, another cruiser, a few days later.
Over the next eight years, Stoker 1st Class Goddard served on five further vessels, returning to HMS Vivid in between assignments. On 1st July 1915, he was assigned to the newly commissioned minesweeper HMS Larkspur. In November that year, she came into Merklands Wharf in Glasgow.
[Sidney] met his death while assisting in docking his ship at Glasgow on the afternoon of Wednesday, November 3rd. By some mischance he was thrown into the dock, and in falling his head struck either on the boat’s side or on the dock. It is believed that he was rendered unconscious by the blow, as otherwise, being a good swimmer, he would have been able to keep afloat till help came.
Bath Chronicle and Weekly Gazette: Saturday 13th November 1915
Stoker 1st Class Sidney Goddard was just 26 years of age when he died. His body was brought back to Somerset for burial. He was laid to rest in the peaceful graveyard of St Mary’s Church, Saltford, within walking distance from the Jolly Sailor, where his parents still lived.
Sidney has the dubious honour of being the only member of HMS Larkspur’s crew to die during the First World War. His two older brothers also served in the conflict, Maurice in the Royal Marines and William, who was a Leading Seaman on board HMS Spitfire when he was killed during the Battle of Jutland.
Stoker 1st Class Sidney Goddard (from britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk)
Alfred Henry Collins was born on 22nd August 1886, in the Gloucestershire village of Wotton-under-Edge. One of five children, his parents were cowman and farm labourer Samuel George Collins and his wife, Jane. Samuel’s work took the family south, and by the time of the 1901 census, the Collinses had settled in Whitchurch, near Bristol.
When Alfred finished his schooling, he also found employment labouring on a farm, but he was drawn to a more reliable career and a life at sea. On 9th March 1903, Alfred enlisted in the Royal Navy. His service records show the young man he was becoming. He was 5ft 4ins tall, with brown hair, brown eyes and a fresh complexion.
Alfred was still underage in the navy’s eyes, and so he was given the rank of Boy 2nd Class. He was assigned to HMS Northampton, a training ship, and must have shown some promise, as within three months he had been promoted.
In June 1903, Boy 1st Class Collins was assigned to HMS Victory, the Royal Naval Dockyard in Portsmouth, Hampshire, and his trajectory was still upwards. When he turned seventeen on 22nd August, Alfred was formally enrolled in the Royal Navy, and was given the rank of Ordinary Seaman. However, his training in Portsmouth continued, and by November he had become a Signalman.
In December 1903 he was posted to the cruiser HMS Isis and, over the next decade he served on ten different ships, returning to HMS Vivid, the Royal Naval Dockyard in Devonport, in between voyages. During this time he was promoted to Leading Signalman, and his annual reviews showed him as having a very good character and a superior ability.
With war now brewing across Europe, the role of the navy intensified. When conflict was declared, Leading Signalman Collins was serving on board the cruiser HMS Pomone and, after nine months back at HMS Vivid, possibly in a training role, Alfred was assigned to the newly-refitted battleship HMS Bellerophon, on board which he would serve for more than two years.
Bellerophon served at the Battle of Jutland, and remained patrolling the southern part of the North Sea for the rest of the war. In July 1917, Alfred was promoted again, to Yeoman of the Signals, and transferred to HMS King George. He remained in the North Sea, but his new ship was there to protect the convoys transporting good between the UK and Norway, so he was based in Scotland.
Yeoman of the Signals Collins survived the war, but in February 1919 he was admitted to the Royal Naval Hospital in Granton, near Edinburgh, suffering from pneumonia. Sadly, the condition was to get the better of him and he died on 14th February 1919, at the age of 32 years old. He had served for just short of sixteen years.
The body of Alfred Henry Collins was brought back to Somerset for burial. He was laid to rest in the graveyard of St Nicholas’ Church in Whitchurch.
Francis Benjamin John Doel was born in Glastonbury, Somerset, on 26th August 1897. The oldest of five children, his parents were Frederick and Alice Doel. Frederick was a mason’s labourer and, by the time of the 1911 census, the family had set up home in the village of Berkley, on the outskirts of Frome. Intriguingly, the census clearly gives Francis’ middle name as Crossman, although no other record confirms this.
When war broke out, Francis had left school, and was employed as a labourer in a brass foundry. By the start of 1916, however, he stepped up to serve his King and Country, and enlisted in the Royal Navy. His service records give his height as 5ft 3.5ins (1.61m) and note that he had brown hair, grey eyes and a fresh complexion.
Francis was assigned the role of Stoker 2nd Class, and was sent to HMS Vivid – the Royal Naval Dockyard in Devonport – for training. Within a matter of weeks, he was given his first posting, on board the cruiser HMS Dublin, although he only remained there for a month.
After having returned to HMS Vivid for a few weeks, Francis was assigned to another cruiser, HMS Essex. He appears to have been good at his job, and in November 1916 was promoted to Stoker 1st Class.
Stoker Doel returned to HMS Vivid in May 1917, preparing for his Leading Stoker exams. They were not to be, however, as on 24th June, he died, having ‘accidentally drowned’. No further information is available on his death, and the newspaper report of his funeral only notes that he “…met his death on Sunday week. His body was landed from his vessel, and was brought home for burial…” [Somerset Standard: Friday 6th July 1917]. He was just 19 years of age.
Francis Benjamin John Doel was brought back to Berkley for burial. He was laid to rest in the village’s church cemetery.
Albert Aven was born on 18th December 1896 in the Somerset hamlet of Rodden. One of eleven children, his parents were Alfred and Elizabeth Aven. Alfred was a farm labourer, and farming was certainly something that his sons went into when they finished school.
When war came to Europe’s shores, however, Albert was keen to play his part. On 29th November 1915, he enlisted in the Royal Navy as a Stoker 2nd Class. His service records show that he was 5ft 5.5ins (1.66m) tall, with brown hair, blue eyes and a fresh complexion.
The record also suggests that he lied about his age, giving his year of birth as 1895. It is likely that Albert would have done this because there was a minimum age requirement, although, as he was already over that minimum age, it wouldn’t have made that much difference anyway.
Stoker 2nd Class Aven’s first posting was to HMS Pembroke, the Royal Naval Dockyard in Chatham, Kent, where he spent a couple of months undergoing training. At the end of January 1916, he was moved to HMS Gibraltar, an old cruiser, which patrolled the waters around the Shetland Isles.
After six months on board, and following a further month in Chatham Dockyard, Stoker Aven was assigned to HMS Test. She was a destroyer that patrolled the waters of the Humber Estuary, and Albert spent the next sixteen month with her. During this time, he was promoted to Stoker 1st Class, but the Test was also to be the last ship he served on.
On 8th November 1918, Stoker 1st Class Aven was ashore at the naval base in Hull, when he fell into a dry dock, dying instantly. Little additional information is available – and indeed contemporary newspapers are silent on the matter – but his service records report “Death caused by accidental fall into dry dock at Hull. Verdict of accidental death returned at inquest.” He was just 21 years of age.
Albert Aven’s body was brought home to Somerset for burial. He was laid to rest in the tranquil graveyard of All Saints’ Church in Rodden.
William Henry Dyer was born on 26th March 1895, in Bath, Somerset. He was the only child of William and Elizabeth Dyer. Elizabeth had had a son prior to her marriage to William Sr, and so William Jr had a half-brother, Sidney.
Elizabeth tragically passed away in December when her youngest was only a toddler. William Sr went on to marry again, to a Sarah Chivers. The couple went on to have a family of their own, giving William Jr and Sidney a further five half-siblings.
William Sr was a carman and, when his son left school, he also found carting work, the 1911 census recording him as being a milk carrier. He wanted bigger and better things, however, and, on 8th April 1913, a fortnight after his eighteenth birthday, he joined the Royal Navy.
William’s service records show that he was working as a van guard on the railway at the time of his enlistment. He was 5ft 7ins (1.7m) tall, with light hair, grey eyes and a fresh complexion. He joined as a Stoker 2nd Class, and was initially assigned to HMS Vivid, the Royal Naval Dockyard in Devonport.
After six months’ training, William was assigned to the dreadnought battleship HMS Ajax. She became his home for the next four years, patrolling the North Sea during the conflict and, in June 1916, was involved in the Battle of Jutland. During his time on board, William rose through the ranks, becoming Stoker 1st Class in August 1914, Leading Stoker in August 1916 and Petty Officer Stoker in October 1917.
In January 1918, William returned to HMS Vivid for a few weeks He was then given a new posting, on board HMS Sandhurst, based at Scapa Flow in the Orkneys. Petty Officer Stoker Dyer was to spend the next ten months here, albeit with a short break that autumn.
It was during this period of leave that William married Lily Sarah Bethia Durbin. She was the daughter of a miner, and the couple married in Clutton, Somerset. Their time together was to be brief, however, as William soon returned to Scotland.
It was while Petty Officer Stoker Dyer was back at HMS Sandhurst that he developed pneumonia. Sadly, the condition was to get the better of him. He passed away on board on 27th November 1918, at the age of just 23 years old.
William Henry Dyer’s body was brought back to Somerset for burial. He was laid to rest in St James’ Cemetery in Bath.
Lily had been a wife for just a matter of weeks, and was now left a widow. In 1926 she remarried, to baker and confectioner Albert Farmer. The couple lived a long and happy life, celebrating their 59th wedding anniversary before Albert died in 1985. Lily lived on, passing away in January 1997, at the ripe of age of 98 years old.
William Charles Green was born on 27th December 1897, one of five children – and the only son – to William and Mary Green. The family’s backstory is a bit hard to decipher.
William Sr was born in the Bath Union Workhouse in 1869 and the only details of his parentage comes in his marriage certificate, which suggests that his father was also called William Green, who was deceased. The same document records the groom as being a miner, and that he and Mary were living in Widcombe, Bath.
The Greens do not appear on the 1901 census – or at least that census record for them is lost to time. The next census return, in 1911, does have the family recorded as living in three room in St George’s Place, Widcombe. This particular census was the first to put the onus on the resident to complete the form, and, in William Green Sr’s case, this has led to a handful of anomalies in the record.
William Sr notes his trade as “going out with commercial travellers and hotel work also”. He confirms that he was “Somerset-born”, but suggests that Mary was born in “South Wells” (a spelling error, which should be South Wales), even though her birth and marriage certificate confirm she came from Bath.
The Greens certainly spent some time in Wales – their eldest daughter was born in Merthyr Tydfil, while William Sr was working as a miner there. By the time of William Jr’s birth, however, the family seem to have returned to England – he is recorded as coming from Bath.
William was 13 years old at the time of the 1911 census, and still at school. When he left education, he found work at a fishmonger, but with war closing in on Europe by this point, he was keen to serve his King and Country.
On 7th May 1915, William enlisted in the Royal Navy and, as he was just under age, he was given the rank of Boy 2nd Class. His service records note that he was 5ft 1in (1.55m) tall, with brown hair, blue eyes and a fresh complexion. Intriguingly the records give the place of his birth as Aberdare, Glamorganshire, but whether it is this document or the 1911 census that is incorrect is impossible to confirm.
Boy Green was initially sent to HMS Impregnable, the training establishment based in Devonport, Devon. He spent four months there and, on the day he was promoted to Boy 1st Class, he was assigned to HMS Defiance, the navy’s Torpedo School, off the Plymouth coast. In October 1915 he was assigned to HMS Fox, and remained on board for the next three years.
Fox was a cruiser that patrolled the seas from the East Indies to Egypt and the Red Sea. While on board, William came of age, and was formally enrolled in the Royal Navy as an Ordinary Seaman. With a character that was classed very good, even if his ability was noted as satisfactory, within eighteen months he was promoted again, to Able Seaman.
In August 1918, William was assigned to HMS Mantis, a river gunboat that patrolled the Tigris around Baghdad. He remained on board until the end of the year, when he was assigned to HMS Vivid, the Royal Naval Dockyard in Plymouth.
Over the next fifteen months, Able Seaman Green’s time was split between Plymouth and HMS Columbine, the naval base at Port Edgar on the Firth of Forth. It was when he was back in Devon, early in 1920, however, that he fell ill.
Able Seaman Green had contracted influenza, which had developed into pneumonia, and it was the combination of lung conditions that was to ultimately take his life. He passed away at the naval base on 5th March 1920, at the age of just 22 years old.
William Charles Green’s body was brought back to Somerset for burial. He was laid to rest in St James Cemetery, Bath, to be reunited with his parents when William Sr died in 1938 and Mary passed away in 1959.
Tom Mounter was born on 24th March 1890 in the quiet Somerset village of Kingsbury Episcopi. He was one of ten children to Robert and Ellen Mounter. Robert was a farm labourer, while Ellen earned a little more money for the family by stripping withy – or willow – branches for use in a variety of ways, such as basket weaving.
When Tom left school, he followed his father into agricultural work, employed to grow and manage the withy fields. In April 1911, he married Ellen Talbot, a farm labourer’s daughter from the village. The couple went on to have three children, Frederick, Martha and Horatio.
When war came to Europe, Tom stepped up to play his part. On 14th December 1916, he joined the Royal Navy, along with four others from the village.
Tom’s service records show that he was 5ft 6ins (1.68m) tall, with brown hair, blue eyes and a fresh complexion. Stoker 2nd Class Mounter was initially sent to HMS Vivid, the Royal Naval Dockyard in Devonport, for training, before being assigned to the cruiser HMS Ariadne on 31st March 1917.
The Ariadne had been converted into a minelayer that year, and worked in the English Channel. On 26th July 1917, she was torpedoed by the German submarine UC-65, and sunk, with the loss of all 38 hands, including Stoker Mounter. He was just 27 years of age.
Tom Mounter’s body was brought back to Somerset for burial. He was laid to rest in the peaceful Kingsbury Episcopi Cemetery, next to George Bonning, who had enlisted on the same day as him, and who had died six months before.
The local newspaper, when reporting on Stoker Mounter’s funeral, noted that he was “the seventeenth Kingsbury Episcopi man who has died for his King and country. It is stated that he had a strong presentiment that he would be killed.” [Langport & Somerton Herald: Saturday 4th August 1917]
Stoker 2nd Class Tom Mounter (from findagrave.com)
George Thomas Bonning – whose forenames seem to have been interchangeable – was born on 9th August 1887 in the Somerset village of Kingsbury Episcopi. His parents were farm workers James and Elizabeth Bonning, and George also entered farm work when he finished school.
In 1909, George marred Olive Harvey, the daughter of another agricultural labourer from the village. The couple set up home together in the village, and went on to have a daughter, Lilian, the following year. It was around the time of their daughter’s birth that George’s mother passed away, happiness and sadness in a short space of time for the young family.
By 1911, George was employed as a carter in a factory, presumably a financial step up from his previous employment on the farm. The money was still not a great deal, however, and Olive was also working, machining gloves at home for the local factory.
War came to Europe, and on 14th December 1916, George enlisted in the Royal Navy, along with four other men from the village, including friend and neighbour Tom Mounter. His service records show that he was 5th 11.5ins (1.82m) tall, with black hair, hazel eyes and a fresh complexion.
Stoker 2nd Class Bonning was sent to HMS Vivid, the Royal Naval Dockyard in Devonport, for training, and it was here that he contracted a chill. Tragically, this developed into pneumonia, and he died in the barracks on 20th January 1917. He was 29 years of age, and had been in service for just 37 days.
George Thomas Bonning’s body was brought back to Somerset for burial. He was laid to rest in the peaceful Kingsbury Episcopi Cemetery.
Olive never remarried after losing her husband. She remained in the village, raising Lilian and finding occasional employment to help pay the bills. She passed away on 26th March 1968, at the age of 79, and was laid to rest with George, husband and wife reunited after more than fifty years.
Death and Service 