Category Archives: Lance Corporal

accident, Cadet, Commonwealth War Graves, Corporal, Glamorganshire, Gloucestershire, Great War, Hampshire, history, illness, Isle of Wight, Kent, Lance Corporal, photography, Private, Royal Artillery, Sergeant, Somerset, South Africa, South Wales Borderers, story, Wales, war, Wiltshire, Wiltshire Regiment, Yorkshire

Serjeant Fred Maynard

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Serjeant Fred Maynard

Details of Fred Maynard’s early life are a challenge to piece together. His First World War service records give his age as 44 years old when he enlisted in September 1914, and confirm his place of birth as Melksham, Wiltshire.

A newspaper report of his funeral gives the name of three brothers – Charles, Frank and Arthur – while only one census return, from 1881, provides a potential match for the family. This suggests Fred’s parents were iron fitter Alfred Maynard and his wife, Deborah, and gives the family’s address as Waterworks Road in Trowbridge.

Fred joined the army in the autumn of 1888. Initially assigned to the Gloucestershire Regiment, he had transferred to the Wiltshire Regiment by the following spring. Private Maynard showed a commitment to duty: in December 1890 he was promoted to Lance Corporal, rising to Corporal in the summer of 1893.

Fred was stood down to reserve status after his seven years’ active duty, but was recalled to the army in December 1899, when war broke out in South Africa. Promoted to Serjeant, he was sent to fight in the Boer War, and was mentioned in dispatches on 2nd April 1901 for special and meritorious service in South Africa. He was stood back down to reserve status in October 1901.

On 21st November 1895, Fred had married Louisa Card. The couple set up home in Trowbridge, but soon moved to London. They went on to have six children: Ernest, Nora and Leslie, who were all born in the London; and Arthur, Martha and Stuart, who were born in Cardiff, the family having moved to Wales by 1910.

The army was not finished with Fred, however, and, within weeks of war breaking out in the summer of 1914, he was called back into service. Given the rank of Serjeant again, he was attached to the South Wales Borderers. Fred was 44 years of age by this point, his service records confirming that he stood 5ft 8ins (1.73m) tall, weighed 164lbs (74.4kg) and had brown hair and hazel eyes.

Attached to one of the regiment’s depots, it seems unlikely that Fred saw service overseas this time around. He was discharged from the army on 1st September 1916 and this seems to have been on medical grounds. Later documents suggest that Serjeant Maynard had been diagnosed with carcinoma of the pylorus, or stomach cancer.

Fred returned to Cardiff, but his time back home was to be short. He was admitted to the Lansdown Road Military Hospital, and passed away on 23rd November 1916. He was 46 years of age.

It seems that Fred’s brother’s had some sway in his funeral. Instead of being laid to rest in Cardiff, where Louisa and the children were living, he was, instead, buried in the Locksbrook Cemetery, Bath, Somerset. His sibling Charles, who was a sergeant in Bath City Police, lived in the city, as did another brother, Frank.

Fred’s headstone also commemorates his and Louisa’s son, Leslie. He had joined the army in the 1920s and, in the summer of 1943, was in Yorkshire, undergoing officer training.

The death of an officer cadet through the accidental discharge of a rifle whose bolt had jammed was described at an inquest…

Captain WH Price said he was in charge of an exercise on the moors which involved the used of small arms and the firing of live ammunition. A squad of cadets lay on the ground in front of a trench firing over a range. All finished firing except Cadet Frank Holroyd, who said his bolt had hammed while firing a second round. [Price] told him to release the bolt by knocking the cocking piece up and back.

This attempt failed, and he told Holroyd to get back into the trench, turn the rifle magazine upwards, place the butt on the side of the trench, and kick the bolt down with his foot. While Holroyd was doing this he noticed Maynard standing in the trench about 4ft away from Holroyd and on his right-hand side.

Captain Price said he saw the rifle was pointing down the range when Holroyd kicked the butt. The cartridge suddenly exploded and Maynard dropped into the trench, shot in the head, and was dead when they reached him.

[Bradford Observer: Saturday 19th June 1943]

Officer Cadet Leslie Maynard was 36 years of age when he was killed. His body was taken back to Somerset for burial: he was laid to rest in the same grave as Fred, father and son reunited after 27 years.

Louisa remained somewhat elusive as time wore on. Fred’s military records confirm that she had moved from Cardiff to the Isle of Wight by 1922. By the time of her son’s death, she was living in Sidcup, Kent.

Bedfordshire Regiment, Commonwealth War Graves, Gloucestershire, Great War, history, illness, Lance Corporal, photography, Private, story, war, Wiltshire

Lance Corporal George Fenn

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Lance Corporal George Fenn

Much of George Fenn’s life is destined to be lost to time. Born in Bristol, Gloucestershire, in the summer of 1878, details of his parents are unknown. His was a common name in the late Victorian period, and census returns from the time identify at least two men born in the area around the same time.

The first document that can be directly connected to George is the 1911 census. This recorded him living at 13 Tankards Close in Clifton, where he was working as a dock labourer. His is noted as having been married to Minnie since 1902. The couple had one child, a son called William who was six years old.

When war broke out, George was quick to enlist. Full details of his service are lost, but he had certainly joined the Bedfordshire Regiment by the end of 1914. Attached to the 7th (Service) Battalion, by the start of the following year, his unit had moved to Salisbury Plain in anticipation of being sent to the Western Front.

George seems to have made his mark in the army, and he was soon promoted to the rank of Lance Corporal. In the spring of 1915, he contracted pneumonia, however, and was admitted to the military hospital in Codford, Wiltshire, close to where his unit was based.

Sadly, the condition was to prove Lance Corporal Fenn’s undoing: he passed away on 1st June 1915, at the age of 36 years of age.

George Fenn was laid to rest in the peaceful churchyard of St Mary’s, Codford, not far from where he had passed away.

George’s entry on the Army Register of Soldiers’ Effects and his Pension Ledger card shed a little more light on the family he had left behind. The first divides his belongings between his widow, Minnie, and the guardian of his child, Mrs Sarah Clarke. George’s pension ledger gives Sarah’s address as 14 Tankard’s Close, Bristol, and confirms that he was, in fact, separated from Minnie when he passed.

Commonwealth War Graves, Corporal, Great War, history, illness, Lance Corporal, photography, Royal Engineers, Sapper, Sergeant, Somerset, story, war, Wiltshire

Serjeant Herbert Fleming

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Serjeant Herbert Fleming

Herbert Gordon Maurice Fleming was born in Stockton, Wiltshire, on 24th March 1888. An only child, his parents were carpenter and wheelwright George Fleming and his wife, Annie.

Little further information is available about Herbert’s early life. On 25th June 1910 he married Ethel Young, a shepherd’s daughter from Wiltshire: they would go on to have four children, Herbert Jr, Ivy, George and Harold.

Herbert’s marriage certificate noted that he was employed as an engine driver. In his spare time, he also volunteered for the Wiltshire Regiment. When war broke out in the summer of 1914, he was called upon to play his part, and was formally mobilised in July 1916.

Sapper Fleming joined the Royal Engineers. His service records show that, at 28 years of age, he stood 5ft 7.5ins (1.71m) tall, and weighed 159lbs (72kg). He was of good physical development, although his medical report noted that some dental attention was required, and he had a pendulous mole on his back.

After his initial training, Herbert was sent to France. He was to remain part of the British Expeditionary Force for the next three years. While details of his service are scarce, his commitment to the army was clear: he was promoted to Lance Corporal in December 1918; full Corporal in June 1919; and Serjeant just three months later.

In October 1919, Herbert arrived back in Britain and the following month he was formally demobbed. He returned to his family, who were now living in Bath, Somerset. Back on civvy street, Herbert took up work as a motor waggon driver in the city, but his post-army life was to be short-lived.

The enquiry into the death on Saturday of Herbert John Maurice Fleming… was held at Bath Guildhall… Medical evidence proved that the cause of death was heart failure, due to an unexpected attack of pneumonia.

The widow said her husband did not complain of illness until Friday evening, when he returned from a journey to Reading. He then said he ached all over, and would go to bed at once. On Saturday evening he said he felt better, and sent her to the chemist for a tonic. He told her not to send for a doctor, as he expected to be quite well on Monday. On Sunday he still appeared fairly well, and was quite cheerful: but in the afternoon he complained of sickness, and the end came very suddenly.

[Bath Chronicle and Weekly Gazette: Saturday 27th March 1920]

Herbert John Morris Fleming was just three days short of his 32nd birthday when he died. He was laid to rest in Bath’s sweeping Locksbrook Cemetery.

The spelling of Herbert’s second middle name is variously noted as Maurice and Morris. For consistency, I have used the spelling noted on his birth certificate.

Commonwealth War Graves, Great War, history, illness, Kent, Lance Corporal, London, Middlesex, Middlesex Regiment, photography, Private, Somerset, story, war

Lance Corporal Ernest Pond

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Lance Corporal Ernest Pond

Ernest Charles Pond was born in the autumn of 1889 in Bath, Somerset, and was the younger of two children. His father, Charles, who worked as a wheelchairman, died in 1904, leaving his mother, Eliza, to raise the Ernest and his older sister, Daisy, on her own.

The 1911 census shows the determination the Pond family had in the wake of Charles’ death. Eliza had opened up a tea room in River Street Place, and was living above the business with Daisy and two servants. Daisy, meanwhile, was employed as a school teacher, something she had been doing for at least ten years. Ernest had left Bath, and headed for London: he had taken a room in a house in Tufnell Park, and was working as a furniture designer.

When war came to Europe, Ernest was called upon to play his part. Sadly, full details of his service have been lost to time, but it is clear that he had enlisted by the summer of 1918. He joined the Middlesex Regiment, and was assigned to the 6th (Reserve) Battalion. His unit formed part of the Thames and Medway Garrison, and there is no evidence that Ernest spent any time overseas.

By the autumn of 1918, Ernest had risen to the rank of Lance Corporal. With the war coming to an end, he fell ill, however, and was admitted to a military hospital in Chatham, Kent. Details of his illness are unclear, but it was severe enough that he succumbed to it: he passed away on 2nd November 1918, at the age of 28 years old.

The body of Ernest Charles Pond was taken back to Somerset for burial. He was laid to rest in Bath’s sweeping Locksbrook Cemetery, not far from where his father was buried.

Able Seaman, Boy, Commonwealth War Graves, County Antrim, Devon, Devonshire Regiment, Great War, Greece, history, illness, killed in action, Lance Corporal, photography, Royal Navy, Scotland, story, war

Boy 1st Class Ernest Hewett

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Boy 1st Class Ernest Hewett

Ernest Roye Hewett was born on 18th April 1898 and was the third of twelve children to Alfred and Ada. Alfred was a coachman and groom and, while both he and Ada were born in Cornwall, it was in Budleigh Salterton, Devon, that the family were born and raised.

When he finished his schooling, Ernest found work as a butcher’s boy, but when sought bigger and better things. His oldest brother, Ralph, had enlisted in the army by the time of the 1911 census and, by that October, his next oldest brother, Leslie, had enlisted in the Royal Navy. Ernest felt a career in the military was his destiny and, on 12th September 1913, he also joined the navy.

As he was under age at this point, he was given the rank of Boy 2nd Class, and sent to HMS Impregnable, the training establishment in Devonport, for his induction. His service records show that he was 5ft 2.5ins (1.59m) tall, with brown hair, hazel eyes and a fresh complexion.

Ernest spent nine months training, moving from Impregnable to HMS Powerful, and gaining a promotion to Boy 1st Class in the process. In June 1914, he was assigned to the cruiser HMS Edgar, remaining on board for six months, by which point war had broken out.

On 18th December 1914, Lance Corporal Ralph Hewett was killed in action, aged just 20 years old. Attached to the 2nd Battalion of the Devonshire Regiment, he was caught in fighting in Northern France, and is commemorated on the Le Touret Memorial.

Ernest, by this point, had been assigned to another ship, the armed merchant cruiser HMS Viknor. Patrolling the seas off Scotland, towards the end of the month, she was tasked with locating and detaining the Norwegian ship Bergensfjord, on board which was a suspected German spy.

The vessel was located and escorted to Kirkwall in the Orkneys, and the suspect and a number of other prisoners, were taken on board the Viknor to be transported to Liverpool. The ship and crew were never to reach their destination. On 13th January 1915, she sank in heavy seas off the Irish Coast: no distress signal was made and all hands were lost.

BODY WASHED ASHORE – Another body has been washed ashore at Pallntoy Port, about six miles from Ballycastle. The body was that of a man of about 5ft 10in. in height. He was dressed in a blue jacket, and wore a service blue webbed belt, on which was the name E. F. Hewett. In the pocket of the trousers was a boatswain’s whistle.

Freeman’s Journal: 24th February 1915

Already in mourning for Ralph, Alfred and Ada were unable to bring 16-year-old Ernest Roye Hewett back home. Instead, he was laid to rest in Ballintoy parish church, County Antrim.

The heartbreak was to continue for the Hewett family. Leslie’s career had gone from strength to strength and, by the time of his older brother’s death, he had been promoted to Able Seaman. In the summer of 1915, he was assigned to the cruiser HMS Europa, remaining aboard for the next year as it patrolled the Mediterranean. In July 1916 he fell ill, having contracted malaria. This was to prove his undoing: he passed away from the condition on 21st July, at 20 years old.

Able Seaman Leslie Hewett was laid to rest in the Mikra British Cemetery in Greece. His parents had now lost their three oldest sons, and had no way to reach their final resting places.

accident, Commonwealth War Graves, Devon, Great War, history, Lance Corporal, photography, Royal Engineers, Somerset, story, war

Lance Corporal George Carey

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Lance Corporal George Carey

George Edward Carey was born at the start of 1877 and was the oldest of eight children to Samuel and Hester Carey. Samuel was a solicitor’s clerk from Clevedon in Somerset, and this is where the family were born and raised. Samuel was not one to sit on his laurels, however, and the 1891 census recorded his occupations as law clerk, innkeeper and insurance agent.

George followed a different path to his father, and found work as a printer’s apprentice when he finished his schooling. He worked up to being a full compositor quite quickly, and was employed as such when, on 30th January 1899, he married Lizzie Taylor. A civil engineer’s daughter, she was working as a teacher when the couple wed: they set up home in Clevedon, and went on to have four children.

By 1911, the Carey family were living in a seven-room house on Strode Road, Clevedon. George was still working as a compositor, but was employed by the local sanitary works. His widowed brother, Albert, who was lodging with his brother and sister-in-law also did the same job.

With storm clouds brewing over Europe, George stepped up to play his part. He enlisted in the Royal Engineers in the autumn of 1914 and was attached to the 503rd Field Company in Exeter. Little information is available about his time in the army, and he only comes to light again a year or so later.

Lance-Corporal Carey, 2nd Wessex RE, who has been employed at the office in Colleton-crescent, Exeter, was found dead, with his neck broken, at the bottom of a flight of stairs at the Grapes Inn, South-street, on Thursday morning. The discovery was made by Mrs Dorothy, wife of the licensee of the inn. Information was given to the police, and Dr Pereira visited the scene, and subsequently the body was removed to the mortuary by PCs Wise and Barrett. Carey was fully dressed. He was about 48 years of age, and leaves a widow and four children. For about fourteen months he had been engaged on the Wessex RE staff, and was billeted at a house in the Friars. His home is at Clevedon, Somerset, where he was engaged as a compositor before mobilisation with the Territorials. He was under orders for transfer to another station.

Taunton Courier and Western Advertiser: Wednesday 12th January 1916

George Edward Carey died on 4th January 1916: he was, in fact, not quite 39 years of age. His body was brought back to Somerset for burial and was laid to rest in the stunning graveyard of St Andrew’s Church in his home town of Clevedon.

Commonwealth War Graves, County Antrim, Great War, history, illness, Ireland, Lance Corporal, Northern Ireland, photography, Private, Royal Irish Rifles, story, war

Lance Corporal John Bowden

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Lance Corporal John Bowden

John Bowden was born in Slaght, Ballymena, County Antrim, in 1896. The third of four children, he was one of three sons to David and Margaret. David was a railway labourer, and by the time of the 1911 census, the family had four wages coming in. John, at 15, was working as a solicitor’s clerk, while his older brothers were both employed, one as a baker, the other as an engine cleaner.

On Saturday afternoon last there were laid to rest in the Ballymena New Cemetery the mortal remains of Lance-Corporal John Bowden, of the Royal Irish Rifles, whose lamented demise from scarlet fever took place at Newtownards Camp… to the intense regret of his commanding officers and comrades, with all of whom he was on the most intimate and friendly terms.

The deceased was a bright, intelligent young man, of a rather retiring disposition but by his unassuming personality, combined with a cheery and lovable disposition, he gained for himself hosts of friends wherever he went.

He served his apprenticeship to the law in the office of Mr John Owens, solicitor… where he was held in the very highest esteem by his employer and fellow clerks. Indeed he was on happy relations with all the law clerks and young men in the town, all of whom deeply deplore his demise.

He was for a considerable length of time a staunch and loyal member of Slatt LOL No. 475, and… [at] Ballymena District Orange Lodge very sympathetic allusions were made to his untimely death, and the District Secretary (Br. Hugh Ballentine) was instructed to forward a letter of sympathy and condolence to the bereaved parents and other relatives in this season of their affliction.

The deceased was a most enthusiastic member of the No. C Company Ulster Volunteers (Harryville Branch) and here is may be remarked that out of a hundred of a membership there at the present time thirty-nine members in Lord Kitchener’s army, together with eight reserve men at the front, which educed the company by almost fifty per cent…

Shortly after the outbreak of hostilities the deceased very gallantly volunteered for active service and was accepted, being attached to the 12th Battalion Royal Irish Rifles… He was most attentive to his drill instructions, courteous and obliging to his officers, and a true comrade in every sense of the term.

Ballymena Observer: Friday 9th April 1915

Much of John’s service records are lost to time. His commitment to duty was underlined by his promotion to the role of Lance Corporal within months of enlisting.

John Bowden passed away from scarlet fever at Newtownards Camp on 1st April 1915. He was just 19 years of age. He was laid to rest in Ballymena New Cemetery, the newspaper report going on to outline the outpouring of grief at what would have been one of the town’s first military funerals of the war:

The tremendous crowds which formed in the funeral procession at the several squares and crossings en route to the cemetery testified to the respect in which the deceased was held by all who knew him.

The footpaths were lined and thronged with people all along the entire way, and as the funeral passed through the town business was suspended for the time being…

On arriving at the Cemetery the place was absolutely packed with spectators, all anxious to witness the carrying out of the obsequies… the scene was truly most pathetic, whilst to add to the sorrow and sympathy manifested on the face of everyone, the wailing and sobbing of deceased’s little sister as the remains were lowered into the grave were heartrending.

Ballymena Observer: Friday 9th April 1915
Lance Corporal John Bowden
(from findagrave.com)
Australia, Australian Infantry, Commonwealth War Graves, Cornwall, Egypt, Great War, Hampshire, history, injury, Lance Corporal, photography, Private, story, war

Private William Profitt

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Private William Profitt

William James Profitt was born on 20th August 1894 in Collingwood, Victoria, Australia. The oldest of ten children, his parents were Cornish-born Francis Profit and his Australian wife Mary.

Little information is available about William’s early life. When he finished his schooling, he found work as a salesman, and this is the work he was doing when war was declared in Europe.

William felt duty bound to serve his King and Empire, and, on 5th July 1915, he enlisted in the Australian Imperial Force. His service records confirm that he was just 5ft 2.5ins (1.59m) tall, weighing 8st 4lbs (52.6kg). He was noted as having cark brown hair, blue eyes and a fresh complexion: he had a scar on his left cheek.

After initial training, Private Profitt arrived in Alexandria, Egypt. He was assigned to the 23rd Battalion of the Australian Infantry and, by 30th March 1916, he was in France. William’s unit was one of the many to become entrenched at the Somme, having been evacuated from Gallipoli just weeks before he had arrived in Europe.

On 2nd August Private Profitt was admitted to a camp hospital in Boulogne with a sprained ankle. The medical report noted the injury as trivial, having occurred when, on ‘being relieved from trenches [he] slipped and fell into an old German dugout.’ By 21st August he was back with his unit, now based in Etaples.

Just a week later, William was sent to a casualty clearing station in Rouen, having been shot in his right elbow. Less trivial an injury this time round, he was medically evacuated to Britain for treatment, and was admitted to the Cambridge Military Hospital in Aldershot, Hampshire.

Private Profitt’s injury should not have been a life-threatening one, but septicaemia set in. His condition worsened, and he passed away on 25th October 1916. He was just 22 years of age.

With William James Profitt’s family more than 10,000 miles (17,000km) away, it was not possible to him to be buried at home. Instead, his body was taken to the peaceful and picturesque graveyard of St Michael’s Church in Rock, Cornwall, close to where his father’s family still lived.

Private William Profitt
(from findagrave.com)

William’s grave shares a dedication with Charles Profitt, who died just a fortnight after him.

John Walter Charles Profitt – better known as Charles – was born in the summer of 1894 Geelong, Victoria, Australia. The oldest of three sons to William and Harriet Profitt, it is likely that his father was William’s uncle, and that the two siblings had both travelled to Australia to earn their fortunes.

Working as a teacher at the time, Charles enlisted just days after his cousin, joining the 6th Field Ambulance unit. His service records show that he had dark brown hair, grey eyes and a fresh complexion, no dissimilar to William. Standing 5ft 8ins (1.73m) tall and weighing 10st 6lbs (66.2kg), it is clear that his side of the family had markedly different genes.

Private Profitt arrived in France on 27th March 1916, and his dedication to the role showed when he was promoted to the rank of Lance Corporal in August.

On 9th November he was badly wounded while carrying out his duties, receiving a severe gun shot wound to his abdomen. He was admitted to the 1st Anzac Medical Station, but died of his injuries just two days later. He was just 22 years of age.

Lance Corporal Charles Profitt was laid to rest in Heilly Station Cemetery to the south of Méricourt-l’Abbé. He is commemorated with his cousin, William, in St Michael’s Church, Rock.

Lance Corporal Charles Profitt
(from findagrave.com)
Commonwealth War Graves, Great War, history, illness, Lance Corporal, photography, Private, Royal Engineers, Somerset, story, war, Warwickshire, Worcestershire

Lance Corporal Charles Bayliss

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Lance Corporal Charles Bayliss

Charles Bayliss was born in Birmingham in 1861. Little concrete information is available about his early life, but later documents confirm his father was called John, and he was one of at least five children.

Charles married Ellen Kimberley on 8th April 1888. The couple wed at St Mary’s Church in Kidderminster, Worcestershire, and went on to have four children – Nellie, Charles, Burt and Eva.

Charles took up manufacturing work, and ended up being a machine belt maker. He also served in the South Staffordshire Regiment, although whether this was on a paid or voluntary basis is not clear.

When was came to Europe, Charles felt the need to serve his country once more. He enlisted on 23rd August 1917, taking five years off his age to ensure he was accepted. He was assigned to the Royal Engineers, and attached to the Inland Waterways and Docks unit.

Private Bayliss was based at Portbury Camp near Bristol, and records suggest that Ellen moved to be near him, finding lodgings on Myrtle Hill in Pill.

Charles was respected for the work that he was doing, and was promoted to Lance Corporal in May 1918. His health was against him, however, and just two months later he collapsed and died from a heart attack while at work. He was 58 years of age.

Charles Bayliss was laid to rest in the graveyard of St George’s Church, Easton-in-Gordano, not far from the docks where he had served, and the riverside home in which his widow still lived.

Commonwealth War Graves, Great War, history, illness, injury, Lance Corporal, photography, Private, Somerset, story, war, Worcestershire

Lance Corporal Frederick Beaven

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Lance Corporal Frederick Beaven

Frederick Henry Jacob Beavan was born in Street, Somerset, in the summer of 1891. There is little information available about his early life, although later records suggest that his parents were Mr & Mrs Tom Beaven.

Frederick married a woman called Elsie late in 1910 or early in 1911 and, while there is little information about her, they went on to have three children, Harwood, Hubert and Tom. The 1911 census noted that Frederick was working as a boot and shoe maker in the town’s factory, Clark’s.

The only other documents for Frederick relate to his passing. When war broke out, he enlisted in the Worcestershire Regiment, although it is not possible to determine which battalion he was assigned to. Private Beaven did serve overseas, however, and, by the summer of 1918, had been promoted to the rank of Lance Corporal.

Frederick was injured during a German gas attack that summer, and was medically evacuated to Britain for treatment. His weakened condition was to prove too severe, however, and he passed away on 10th July 1918, from double pneumonia. He was 27 years of age.

Frederick Henry Jacob Beaven was brought back to Street for burial. He was laid to rest in the town’s cemetery.