Category Archives: Royal Wiltshire Yeomanry

Commonwealth War Graves, Great War, history, photography, Private, Royal Warwickshire Regiment, Royal Wiltshire Yeomanry, story, unknown, war, Wiltshire

Private Ernest Jones

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Private Ernest Jones

Ernest Albert Jones was born in the spring of 1878. The sixth of seven children, he wad the youngest son to Thomas and Maria Jones. Thomas was an agricultural labourer, and the family lived in a cottage on The Rank in the Wiltshire village of Holt.

Ernest found work as a gardener’s assistant when he completed his schooling, but, by the time of the 1911 census, he was employed as a leather dresser for a local fellmonger. According to the document, he was the only one of the Jones children to still be living at home, bringing in money to support his parents.

Maria died in the spring of 1911, and it is likely that Ernest remained at home to support his father. When war broke out, he stepped up to serve his country and, although his service papers have been lost to time, the documents that remain suggest he joined the Royal Warwickshire Regiment. He wasn’t with them for long, however, as he transferred to the Wiltshire Regiment.

It is unclear where or how Private Jones served. He was attached to the 6th (Royal Wiltshire Yeomanry) Battalion, who served on the Western Front from 1915 onwards, but nothing in Ernest’s remaining records suggest he spent any time overseas.

Ernest survived the war, and returned to the family home. He passed away on 27th June 1920, through causes unknown, at the age of 42.

The body of Ernest Albert Jones was laid to rest in Hold Old Cemetery, not far from the home in which his family had lived for more than four decades.

Thomas passed away nearly two years after his son, at the age of 87 years old. By this point, his granddaughter, Nellie, had moved in to look after him: it was she who Ernest had nominated as his next of kin.

Commonwealth War Graves, Essex, Great War, history, illness, photography, Private, Royal Wiltshire Yeomanry, Somerset, story, war

Private Walter Perry

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Private Walter Perry

Walter Perry was born in Bridgwater, Somerset, in 1874. He was one of ten children to James Perry, a general dealer, and his wife Hannah. After he had left school, Walter became a labourer; his older siblings had all become labourers or factory workers in the area.

In November 1899, Walter married Rebecca Cavill; their first child, Hilda, was born at the end of March the following year. By this time, Walter was working for a brewery, while his new wife was working at a shirt collar factory. The young couple went on to have two further children – Walter and Beatrice – before Rebecca tragically passed away in June 1906.

Walter married again in November 1908, this time to a Mary Ann Reed also from Somerset. The couple went on to have two children, Joseph and Edna, and the family lived together in the centre of Bridgwater.

The Great War was on the horizon. While details of Walter’s military service are not readily available, it is unlikely that he was called up as soon as hostilities broke out – he turned 40 in 1914, and so was too old to qualify immediately.

Walter enlisted in the 2/1st Royal Wiltshire Yeomanry; he was based primarily in England, where his battalion acted as a training/reserve for the 1st Battalion, who were serving on the Western Front. It was while Private Perry was based in Essex, that he contracted appendicitis; he was admitted to the General Military Hospital in Colchester, but passed away on 6th June 1917. He was 43 years old.

Walter Perry lies at peace in the Wembdon Road Cemetery in his home town of Bridgwater.