William Bernard Lethbridge was born in Cheltenham, Gloucestershire, in the summer of 1886. The seventh of eight children, his parents were Robert and Mary Lethbridge. William’s baptism record gives his father’s profession as gentleman, while the 1891 census return gives him as being an indigo merchant.
The family were living in Bedford by this point, in a large house on Shakespeare Road. The oldest of the children was 13, but the family had two live-in servants, and shared their neighbourhood with army surgeons, wine merchants and barristers.
Robert died in 1897, and at this point, the family’s trail goes frustratingly cold. Mary and three of her daughters pop up in 1911, living in Kensington, Middlesex, but of William there is no sign. It may be that he travelled abroad, either with the army, or for business, but with no documentation to support this, it remains speculation.
Lieutenant Lethbridge’s probate record confirms that, at the time of his passing, he was living in the Devon village of Musbury, but passed away in the village of Murtle, near Aberdeen, Scotland. The CWGC documentation states that he died on 14th May 1920 from a sickness contracted in German East Africa. During the war he was connected to the 61st King George’s Own Pioneers, and this unit of the Indian Expeditionary Force was based in Africa during the conflict.
The body of William Bernard Lethbridge, who was 33 years old, was taken back to Devon for burial. He was laid to rest in the tranquil setting of St Michael’s Churchyard, Musbury.
William’s younger brother, Patrick, also served in the First World War. A former medical student, he went on to become a Captain in the King’s Own Scottish Borders.
Captain Lethbridge was killed on 25th September 1915, during the Battle of Loos. Just 27 years of age, he is commemorated on at Dud Corner Cemetery.
In the sprawling Streatham Park Cemetery, Surrey, is a headstone dedicated to Lieutenant WR Fairbairn of the East Surrey Regiment, who died on 12th January 1917, at the age of 56.
There is frustratingly little information available about Lieutenant Fairbairn. The Commonwealth War Graves Commission records confirm his widow as Mrs F Fairbairn, of 35 Egerton Road, Bexhill-on-Sea, Sussex, but this was a boarding house and the couple were not resident there at the time of the 1911 census.
Without a confirmed first name, or place of birth, it isn’t possible to track down baptism or parental records, and Lieutenant Fairbairn’s name does not appear in contemporary newspaper reports.
As a commissioned officer, standard military records do not exist, and with no service number available, his time with the East Surrey Regiment is a mystery.
One document gives a tiny insight into Lieutenant Fairbairn’s life: the Hospital Registers for 1914-1919 confirms that he was admitted to the Queen Alexandra Military Hospital on Millbank, Westminster, on 12th December 1916. While the document doesn’t confirm his first name, it does show that he had been in the army for some 41 years, which might explain his absence from any census records. Now attached to the 21st Training Reserve, he was suffering from chronic bronchitis and nephritis.
Lieutenant Fairbairn was discharged from hospital on 6th January 1917, and for the next six days his trail goes cold. Whether he was sent to Streatham to recuperate, or whether he was based there with his wife is unclear.
Either way, Lieutenant WR Fairbairn passed away on 12th January 1917, ad the age of 56 years old. He was buried in Streatham Park Cemetery, taking the details of much of his life with him.
Cyril William Renton was born in Brixton, Surrey, on 27th November 1872. The older of two children, hie parents were Edward and Emily Renton. Edward was an engraver and artist and, when Emily died shortly after Cyril’s younger brother was born, he married again, to Harriett Predier: the couple went on to have two children, Cyril’s half-brother and half-sister.
By the time of the 1891 census, Edward had moved the family to Hampstead, Middlesex. Setting up home in the illustrious South Hill, their home – a Georgian semi-detached villa backing onto Hampstead Heath – served as a fine setting for the now art dealer head of the household.
When Cyril completed his schooling, he found work as a stockbroker. On 22nd December 1894, he married Mary Nettleton at St Paul’s Church in Kentish Town. Mary was the daughter of a solicitor’s clerk, and Cyril’s new father-in-law seems to have helped his career.
The 1901 census found the young couple living at 33 Tivoli Road in Hornsey, Middlesex. Their eldest child, Lionel, had been born four years before, and Mary’s father and brother were also living with them. Cyril was now recorded as being an articled clerk for a firm of solicitors.
Second son Esmonde was born in 1897, and Cyril’s career continued its upward journey. By 1911 the Rentons had moved to 46 Glasslyn Road in Crouch End, and had taken on two servants to support the family. Cyril was now a full-blown solicitor and counted an estate agent’s clerk, a cement company secretary, a master stevedore and a human hair merchant amongst his neighbours.
[He] practised as a solicitor as the Police Court. For several years he represented the National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children. He was at one time the vice-president of the Highgate Thirty Club, and in 1914-15 became the president.
[Hornsey & Finsbury Park Journal: Friday 3rd August 1917]
While obviously good at his job, Cyril wanted more:
At a time when he seemed very likely to make a big name for himself in the various courts he attended, he decided to dispose of his practice and to study for the bar. In the Michaelmas law examination of 1913 he successfully passed in all the subjects and the “final,” and was thereupon duly “called.” He was getting on extremely well in the higher branch of his profession when war broke out…
[Hampstead & Highgate Express: Saturday 28th July 1917]
Cyril felt a call to serve his country, and so stepped up to enlist.
[He] joined the Inns of Court OTC, and went into training. When he obtained his commission je joined a battalion of the London Regiment, and, having been through a course at Hythe, he became a musketry instructor and was engaged in that capacity for many months. At last the authorities yielded to his repeated applications to be sent on active service, and he went to France. There he had six months’ fighting, and only returned after he had been wounded.
[Hampstead & Highgate Express: Saturday 28th July 1917]
Attached to the 20th (Country of London) Battalion (Blackheath and Woolwich), Lieutenant Renton’s older son, Lionel, was also fighting, and was attached to the 16th Service Battalion – also known as the Public Schools Battalion – of the Middlesex Regiment.
It is unclear whether Cyril returned to the fray, and by the spring of 1917, having recovered from injuries, he fell ill. His health seems to have been impacted by his injuries, and he passed away from his condition on 19th July: he was 44 years of age.
The body of Cyril William Renton was taken to Streatham, Surrey, for burial: the reasons are unclear, but it is likely that this is where his mother and father (who had died in 1904) had been buried. Private Lionel Renton was recuperating from injuries, and was able to attend the funeral with Mary and Esmonde.
Courtenay Traice Lindsay was born in Belfast, Northern Ireland, on the 11th December 1874. The second of four children, he was the only son to Thomas and Ruth Lindsay. Thomas was an art teacher and examiner and, by the time of the 1881 census, he had moved the family to Rugby, Warwickshire, setting them up in the Temple Art Museum on Barby Road.
Education was important to Thomas, and it was obvious that his son’s passion was art. “He entered [Rugby] School in 1888 and left in 1892. He was afterwards Drawing Master at Seafield Park Engineering College, Hampshire, Trad Designer for textiles and pottery, and Examiner under the Board of Education in Geometrical Drawing.” [Memorials of Rugbeians Who Fell In The Great War, Volume VII]
On 10th January 1903, Courtenay married Charlotte Wetenhall. The daughter of a man of means, she was born in Stanwick, Northamptonshire, and the couple exchanged vows in her local parish church.
Courtenay’s mother died in 1905 and by the time of the 1911 census, he and Charlotte were living at 143 Beaufort Street, Chelsea, Middlesex. A five-storey Georgian building, they had let our rooms to aspiring artist Marion Forbes. Courtenay was an artist and designer himself, and he and Charlotte had an eight-month-old son, Courtenay Jr.
When war broker out, Courtenay stepped up to play his part. He gained a commission in the Army Service Corps, but did not see any service overseas. “He… was engaged on Road Transport, in the Northern Command. Hard work in the Transport Service undermined his constitution, and he died of heart failure, following on septic poisoning, on April 28th, 1916. Age 41.” [Memorials of Rugbeians Who Fell In The Great War, Volume VII]
Courtenay Traice Lindsay died at Burnham Abbey, near Maidenhead, Buckinghamshire. Interestingly, while Charlotte and their son were living four miles north in Burnham Beeches, he was laid to rest in Dorney Burial Ground, a short walk to the south of the hospital.
Lieutenant Courtenay Lindsay (from Memorials of Rugbeians Who Fell In The Great War, Volume VII)
In the picturesque cemetery of St Mary’s Church, Mortehoe, Devon, is a headstone commemorating Walter Stuart Thompson. The stone notes that he died on the 16th April 1920, and that he was in his 29th year. He is recorded as being the youngest son of the late Reverend Walter Thompson from West Didsbury, Lancashire. His mother is also noted as being buried with him.
A baptism record for Christ Church, Didsbury, confirms that Walter was christened on 22nd November 1891, and gives his parents’ names as Walter and Mary Elizabeth Thompson. The family do not appear in any census records but, given that the Commonwealth War Graves Commission records note that Walter was a Lieutenant in the 2nd King Edward’s Own Gurkha Rifles, it is possible that they emigrated in the years following his birth.
During the First World War, Lieutenant Thompson’s regiment fought on the Western Front, in Egypt and in India. As his service records no longer exist, it is unclear when or how Walter served, but it is clear that he survived the conflict, and returned to Britain at the end of the war.
What the connection was to Devon is again unclear, although it seems possible that Walter was sent there for health reasons. His passing does not appear in any contemporary newspapers, so is unlikely to have been anything out of the ordinary.
The life of Walter Stuart Thompson, therefore, is destined to remain a mystery, buried with him in the tranquil cemetery on the north Devon coast.
Lieut. H C Jones, of the 3rd Battalion Toronto Infantry, sone of Mr C J Jones, solicitor of Bradford-on-Avon, died on Friday morning in a London nursing home, as the result of wounds received in France about six weeks ago. Lieut. Jones, who was about 30 years of age, served his apprenticeship at Messrs. Stothert and Pitt’s, Bath, and afterwards went to Canada. He returned to England with the first Canadian contingent, as a sergeant in the Mechanical Transport. He received his commission in the Toronto Infantry last summer. Six weeks ago he was dangerously wounded in the jaw by shrapnel, while serving in France, and was taken to the Duchess of Westminster’s Hospital at La Touquet. There he was operated on by Dr Fraser, of Bath. He was later taken to a nursing home in London, where he underwent several operations. Death, however, took place yesterday morning, as stated above. Lieut. Jones’s only other brother is Second Lieut. B Jones of the… Wiltshires, and is serving in France. His eldest sister is also in France, serving as a military nurse.
[North Wilts Guardian: Friday 7th January 1916]
Henry Charles Jones was born on 22nd November 1884 in Bradford-on-Avon, Wiltshire. The oldest of four children, his parents were Charles and Alice Jones. As the newspaper report suggested, Charles was a solicitor and, by the time of the 1891 census, the family were living in some comfort at 3 Woolley Street, near the town centre. Alice was supported by a domestic servant and two live-in nurses for the children.
The status quo remained until Henry moved to Bath to serve a the engineering company in Bath. From here, as the North Wilts Guardian suggests, he emigrated to Canada, although the exact dates for the move are unclear. He had certainly relocated to Valcartier, Quebec, by the summer of 1914, and was employed as a chauffeur.
On 23rd September that year, with war declared in Europe, Henry joined the Canadian Infantry. His service papers show that he was 5ft 8.5ins (1.74m) tall, with dark brown hair, grey eyes and a fair complexion. He was noted as having two vaccination scars on his left arm, an appendectomy scar on his left side, a scar over his left knee and a mole on the back of his neck.
By the summer of 1915, Lieutenant Jones was in France when he fell ill. He was admitted to the 3rd London 85th Field Ambulance on 26th August, suffering from diarrhoea, and remained there for three days.
It was on 17th November 1915, that Henry was wounded. Where he was based at the time is unclear, but his unit – the 3rd Battalion (Toronto Regiment) were ensconced on the Western Front that autumn. The newspaper report outlined the progress his treatment took from there. He contracted septic pneumonia and it is to this that Lieutenant Jones seems to have succumbed. He died on 31st December 1915, at the age of 31 years old.
The body of Henry Charles Jones was taken back to Wiltshire for burial. He was laid to rest in the graveyard of Christ Church, Bradford on Avon.
Their son’s death seems to have taken its toll on Henry’s parents. Charles died a year later, at the age of 67: Alice died just two months later, at the age of 62.
Henry’s headstone incorrectly gives the date of his death as 31st December 1914.
Ernest Lawton Hargrave was born in the spring of 1899 in Clapham, Surrey. One of three children, his parents were Ernest and Ada Hargrave. Ernest Sr was a letterpress machine mender from Leeds, Yorkshire, but when he died in 1910, Ada was left to raise her children alone.
The 1911 census found Ada working as a boarding house keeper. The property she ran – a seven-roomed property at 65 Elspeth Road, Battersea, Surrey – was home to her and her two surviving children. Alongside them lived five boarders – Walter Bland (of no employment), William Gray (a clerk at the Scottish Office), Norman Pierce (an engineer’s draughtsman), William Henderson (a temporarily unemployed government clerk) and Maria Baugh (living on her own means). Edgar Gray – possibly William Gray’s father – was also visiting at the time the census was taken.
When war broke out, Ernest was 15 years of age. Too young to enlist straight away, his Medal Roll Index Card notes that he took a commission as a Second Lieutenant. Initially added to the General List, he was soon assigned to the Royal Flying Corps and sent to 79 Squadron in Hampshire.
Training to be a pilot, Second Lieutenant Hargrave practiced in an Avro 504J biplane. By 22nd September 1917, he had completed six solo flights, totalling 16 hours. That day he was under instruction, when the accident that was to take his life occurred. A later report reached the verdict that an error of judgement on Ernest’s part caused the aircraft to crash:
[He was] climbing too steeply with an insufficient bank, thus stalling the wash. As the wash was only 175ft from the ground he failed to recover and struck the ground practically nose-on. Passenger met his death through being jammed between the engine and petrol tank.
Ernest Lawton Hargrave was just 18 years of age when he was killed. His body was laid to rest in the peaceful graveyard of St Paul’s Church, East Boldre, not far from the airfield he had so briefly called home.
While the Commonwealth War Graves Commission records give Ernest’s rank as Lieutenant, other documents suggest he held the rank of Second Lieutenant when he died.
John Lawson Kinnear was born on 9th February 1890 in the Yorkshire village of Copgrove. The youngest of six children, his parents were Henry and Frances Kinnear. Henry was the vicar of St Bartholomew’s Church, and, at the time of the 1891 census, the family lived in the rectory with four servants: a governess, a cook, a housemaid and a nurse.
When he completed his schooling, John was drawn to a career in the military. His full service papers have been lost, but it is clear that he joined the King’s (Liverpool Regiment) with a commission. He held the rank of Second Lieutenant when he joined the battalion in October 1910, rose to Lieutenant in March 1913, and transferred to the Royal Flying Corps not long after the First World War broke out. By June 1915, he had been made a Captain.
By the time of the Royal Air Force’s foundation in April 1918, John had risen to the rank of Major. He had also been awarded both the Military Cross and the Distinguished Service Order. Attached to the 1st Training Squadron, he was based at East Boldre, Hampshire.
On 28th April 1918, Major Kinnear was piloting his Sopwith Camel, when it stalled at a height of 200ft and fell to the ground. John was killed instantly. The RAF Casualty Card noted: “The court having carefully considered the evidence, viewed the scene of the accident and examined the wreckage are of the opinion that the smash was caused by an error of judgement on the part of the pilot.”
John Lawson Kinnear was 28 years of age when he died. His body was laid to rest in the graveyard of St Paul’s Church, East Boldre, not far from the airfield which he had called home.
Thomas Alexander Talbot was born in Wellington, Ontario, Canada, on 16th February 1896. The youngest of seven children, he was one of two sons to Thomas and Jean Talbot. To avoid any confusion with his father, he was known by his middle name.
Before Joining the forces of the empire, Alex. Talbot was a student for three years at the University of Alberta. At the time of enlistment he was a student at law with A. G. MacKay, KC. He was well known in Edmonton and always took an active part in all sports connected with the university.
[Edmonton Journal: June 1918]
When war broke out, Alexander was keen to play his part. He enlisted in the Royal Flying Corps in 1917, although as his service records no longer exist, the above newspaper expands on his military career: “He trained at Camp Mohawk, ON., and after receiving his commission was instructor at Camp Borden, later going in the same capacity to Fort Worth, Texas. In February last he went overseas where he was a most efficient and painstaking officer and gained promotion rapidly.”
By the spring of 1918, he had gained a commission in the Royal Flying Corps and was based in East Boldre, Hampshire.
On 3rd June, Lieutenant Talbot was piloting a Sopwith Camel, when the engine stalled. The RAF Casualty Card noted: “The cause of the accident was in our opinion due to the choking of engine after being opened out following an overshooting in landing and stalling in turn and spinning to earth owing to an error of judgement on the part of the pilot.”
Lieutenant Alexander Talbot was killed in the aircraft crash. He was 22 years of age. His body was laid to rest in the graveyard of St Mary’s Church in East Boldre, not far from the airfield which he called home.
Austin Wyard Blackie was born in Spring Bay on Ontario’s Manitoulin Island on 17th November 1895. The seventh of eight children, his parents were farmers John and Mary Blackie. John took the family to where the work was: by the time of the 1901 census they had relocated to Algoma, 190km (120 miles) to the north west.
Little further information is available about Austin’s early life. When war broke out, he stepped up to play his part. His military records take a bit of unpicking, but he joined the Canadian Expeditionary Force on 10th April 1916, and was assigned to the 227th Battalion as a Sergeant. He was dismissed from service on 15th December 1916, as he was deemed medically unfit.
Undeterred, Austin’s service papers confirm that he re-enlisted on 7th March 1917, and that he was a student at the University of Toronto Officers’ Training Corps at the time. This document also gives his year of birth incorrectly as 1894.
Austin’s medical in 1917 confirmed that, at 22 years of age (based on the incorrect year of birth), he was 5ft 7.5ins (1.71m) tall and weighed 143lbs (64.9kg). He had fair hair, grey eyes and a fair complexion, good hearing and 20/20 vision. He was also recorded as having a number of scars: two either side of his stomach from an operation, and a third on the right side of his left ankle.
Sergeant Blackie’s time in the army was not destined to be a lengthy one, and there is a sense of his determination to better himself. On 5th May 1917, he was discharged from service again, but this time because he mad the transfer to Canadian Royal Flying Corps.
At this point, Austin’s trail goes frustratingly cold. He was shipped out to Britain, and was based at the 29th Training Depot Station in East Boldre, Hampshire. When the Royal Air Force was formed, he transferred across, and, at some point during this time, he was promoted to the rank of Lieutenant.
Mr A C Hallett, Deputy County Coroner, held inquests on Tuesday, of Lieut. Austin Wyard Blackie, RAF, of California, and Second-Lieut. Arthur Fred Belyea, RAF, of Calgary, Canada, who met thwir deaths while flying. The evidence showed that their machines collided at a great height, and that death in each case must have been instantaneous. Verdicts of “Accidental death” were returned.
[Hampshire Advertiser: Saturday 21st September 1918]
The report’s suggestion that Austin was from California is incorrect, although his parents had, by this point, moved there from Canada.
The RAF’s own report gave a little more detail on what happened:
The court considered the evidence, found that the cause of the accident was entirely due to misadventure in that the [Lieutenant Blackie’s] foot became entangled behind the rudder bar, the machine thus being our of control.
It appears that Austin had been offered a different aircraft to the Sopwith Camel in which he he had been killed. “He apparently took his machine up without asking his Flight Commander’s permission or his Instructor’s, contrary to standing orders.”
Second Lieutenant Belyea’s report card adds a stark twist to the crash: “The cause of the accident was in our opinion an error of judgement on one pilot (unknown) in flying his machine into the other machine from the rear, causing the left hand frame of Camel C8322 and the right hand frames of Camel C96 to collapse, thus causing each machine to spin to the ground. The one pilot was probably attempting to obtain good photographs of the other machine.”
Austin Wyard Blackie was just 22 years of age when he died on 17th September 1918. He was laid to rest alongside Second Lieutenant Belyea in the graveyard of St Paul’s Church, East Boldre, not far from the base in which he had served.
You can read about Second Lieutenant Belyea’s life here.
