Category Archives: Role

accident, Bombardier, Commonwealth War Graves, Great War, history, Ireland, photography, Royal Field Artillery, Somerset, story, war

Bombardier Daniel Mcauley

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Bombardier Daniel McAuley

Daniel Mcauley was born in Belfast in around 1883, one of six children to John and Margaret Mcauley. John was a farmer, and when Daniel – who was named after his uncle – left school, he found labouring work to help the family bring in an income.

In January 1909, Daniel married Annie Fittis, the daughter of a linen tenter (stretching cloth on a loom while it was drying and maintaining the machines). The couple had had a son, John, eighteen months before, and would have another child, Sarah, later that year.

The 1911 census for Northern Ireland found the young family living with Annie’s mother and two sisters in Dayton Street, near the middle of Belfast. Annie and her sisters were working as flax spinners, while Daniel was a labourer. Tellingly, the document lists inhabitants’ religion – Daniel is the sole Roman Catholic amongst a family of Presbyterians.

War was coming to Europe, and Daniel was called on to do his bit. Sadly, full details of his military service are not available, but what is clear is that he enlisted as a Bombardier in the Royal Field Artillery towards the end of 1914. He was shipped to England, and barracked in Somerset, near Frome.

Sadly, the next evidence of Daniel’s life comes in a wealth of newspaper articles that report on the accident that led to his death.

One soldier was killed and another seriously injured as the result of a horse attached to a Royal Field Artillery wagon bolting at Frome Saturday morning. The wagon was on its way to the stables when the horse got out of control and ran along Christ Church Street West.

One man, who was riding in the wagon, in jumping clear was seriously cut about the head and body, and was taken to the hospital. The other, Bombardier Daniel MacAulay, belonging to Glasgow [sic], remained in the wagon trying to pull up the horses, but the vehicle swerved across the road and he was thrown out, his head coming into contact with a street lamp.

He was taken to the hospital on the police ambulance, but died before admission. He was a married man, about 34 years of age, and was to have gone on leave Saturday in order to visit his sick child. In the morning he received a letter from his wife saying that the child had been seriously ill and had gone blind.

Mr Douglas Mackay, deputy coroner, held an inquest at Frome on Tuesday on the body of the deceased. The verdict was “Accidental death.”

Shepton Mallet Journal: Friday 19th March 1915

Other newspapers reported similarly, a couple stating that Daniel was father to three children. There is no evidence that this was the case and, given that all of the reports state that he came from Scotland, when he was Irish, it is likely that this too was an error. Each newspaper give variations of the spelling of his surname too, evidence that spelling was often at the mercy of the person documenting it, even in the media.

Daniel was buried in Somerset and Annie travelled to England to attend the funeral. Again, newspaper reports suggest that Daniel’s brothers also attended, although he had only one male sibling.

Bombardier Daniel Mcauley died on 13th March 1915, aged around 33 years old. He was laid to rest in the Vallis Road Burial Ground in Frome, also known as the Dissenters’ Cemetery (for those who did not follow the English Protestant faiths.

McAuley (McCauley), Daniel, Bombardier, Royal Field Artillery, 7 Wall Street Belfast, Died, March 1915
Commonwealth War Graves, Cornwall, Great War, history, illness, photography, Private, Somerset, story, Training Reserve Battalion, war, Wiltshire

Private Everett Ferriday

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Private Everett Ferriday

Everett Ferriday was born in February 1899 in the Cornish town of Camborne. The second of four children, his parents were Methodist minister Jonah Ferriday and his wife, Elizabeth. Jonah’s calling took the family around the country, and, by the time of the 1911 census, they had settled in Frome, Somerset.

When Everett left school, he found employment at a motorcycle works in Bristol, and left home to move to the city. War was coming to Europe, however, and things were soon to change.

Everett got the call to join up in January 1917, just shy of his eighteenth birthday. His enlistment papers give his height as 5ft 11ins (1.8m) tall, and confirm that he weighed in at 126lbs (57.2kg). They also confirmed that he had found new employment as an insurance agent.

Private Ferriday was assigned to the 94th Training Reserve Battalion and sent to the army camp at Chiseldon, near Swindon at the beginning of March. Tragically, within a matter of weeks, he was admitted to the camp hospital with bronchial pneumonia. Sadly, this was too much for his body to take; he died at the hospital on 3rd April 1917, at just eighteen years old.

Everett Ferriday’s body was brought back to Frome; he was laid to rest in the Vallis Road Cemetery in the town.

Everett was not the only Somerset soldier to succumb to pneumonia at Chiseldon Camp that spring. Private Charles Oborne, died from the same condition a few weeks before him. Private Ivan Day, of the 93rd Training Battalion, passed away in the same hospital on the same day as Everett, also from pneumonia.

You can read their stories by following the links above.

Commonwealth War Graves, Devonshire Regiment, Great War, history, injury, photography, Private, Somerset, story, war

Private Frederick White

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Private Frederick White

Frederick James White was born in the autumn of 1898, one of four children to Frederick and Emma White. Frederick Sr was a gas fitter from Frome, and the Somerset town was where the family were raised.

As a youngster, Frederick Jr attended the Primitive Methodist Sunday School in the town. He also acted as treasurer for the local YMCA. He was only 15 when war broke out, so was not able to enlist immediately.

However, by 1916 he had joined the 1st Battalion of the Devonshire Regiment as a Private and, at some point, was assigned to the Royal North Devon Hussars.

Either way, in whichever regiment he served, Frederick saw fighting in France, and was wounded in the autumn of 1917. Medically evacuated back to England, he was admitted to the temporary military hospital at Collegiate Hall in Sheffield.

The local newspaper shed a little more light into Frederick’s life:

Deceased, who was in the North Devon Hussars, died on November 22nd, at Sheffield, of wounds he received on November 5th. He was brought back to England three weeks to the day from the time he sailed for France.

Somerset Standard: Friday 30th November 1917

Private White’s wounds were too much; he passed away at the age of just 19 years old.

Frederick James White’s body was brought back to his home town. He was laid to rest in the Dissenters’ Cemetery in Vallis Road, Frome.

Frederick Sr and Emma White would have been understandably saddened by their son’s passing. They had four children; their eldest, Florence, had passed away before reaching her first birthday. Their youngest, Reginald, had died in childbirth. Frederick had died as a result of the First World War.

Sadly, the tragedy wasn’t yet over. Their only surviving child, Frederick’s younger brother William, passed away in August 1919, aged just 17 years old.

Frederick Sr and Emma had outlived all of their children, none of whom had reached or survived their teenage years.

Commonwealth War Graves, Devon, Gloucestershire, Great War, history, illness, photography, Royal Navy, Somerset, Stoker, story, war

Stoker 2nd Class Lionel Bennett

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Stoker 2nd Class Lionel Bennett

Lionel James Fowler Bennett was born on 2nd September 1899, in the village of Cainscross, near Stroud in Gloucestershire. He was the only child of insurance agent Harry Bennett and his wife Louisa, who was a weaver.

By the time of the 1911 census, the young family had moved to the Somerset town of Frome. Louisa’s widowed mother had lived with the family since Lionel’s birth, and had moved to Somerset with her son-in-law. The family had also, by this time, taken in a boarder, presumably to help pay the rent.

With the move, Harry had also changed jobs, and was working as a power loom tuner, honing and fixing the weaving equipment. Lionel went into a similar role when he left school but, by now, war was imminent and, as soon as he was able to, he enlisted for King and Country.

Harry joined up shortly after his eighteenth birthday, serving as a Stoker in the Royal Navy. He was sent to HMS Vivid in Devonport for training in November 1917, but, sadly, this was to be his undoing.

Barracks were notorious breeding grounds for infections and, within weeks, Stoker Bennett had been admitted to the Naval Hospital in Plymouth, suffering from pneumonia. He passed away on 5th January 1918, aged just eighteen years old and having served for just sixty days.

Brought back to his home in Frome, Lionel James Fowler Bennett was laid to rest in the Vallis Road Burial Ground (also known as the Dissenters’ Cemetery).

Commonwealth War Graves, Dorsetshire Regiment, Great War, history, illness, photography, Sergeant, Somerset, story, war

Serjeant Edwin Lloyd

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Serjeant Edwin Lloyd

Edwin Lloyd was born at the start of 1885 and was the youngest of ten children. His father, Henry, was from Bristol; while his mother, Mary, had been born in Ireland.

Henry had been a Serjeant in the armed forces, and his postings are reflected in the places where Edwin and his siblings were born. Henry and Mary’s oldest two children were born in Aden, Arabia (now Yemen), but by 1875, the family were back in England and their next oldest child was born in Dover, Kent. Sarah, the youngest of Edwin’s sisters, was born in Colchester, Essex the following year, but by 1879, Henry had left the army, and had moved the family to Frome, Somerset.

In his retirement, Henry took a job as a grocer, the family living above the shop on the main thoroughfare into the town. Edwin did not follow his father’s trade when he left school; instead the 1901 census lists him as a metal engineer, one of only two of the siblings still living above Henry’s shop.

Henry died in 1907 – a lot of the documentation about his life suggests he was a bit free about his age. The notice in the Somerset Standard announcing his passing gives his age as 69, although it is likely that he was closer to 80.

The following year, Edwin married Florence Emily Letchford in St Matthew’s Church, Bristol. Florence was the daughter of a travelling salesman, but their marriage record sheds more light onto Edwin’s life by this stage and he was recorded as a police constable.

Edwin’s time in the police seems to have been short-lived, however, as, by the census three years later, his role had reverted to memorial brass engraver.

War was coming to Europe, and, while Edwin’s full service records are not available, it’s possible to piece together some of his life in the army. He enlisted in 1915, joining the Dorsetshire Regiment, and was assigned to the 5th (Service) Battalion.

Edwin’s battalion fought at Gallipoli and served in Egypt, moving finally to France in the summer of 1916. He was obviously a diligent soldier, as, by the end of the conflict, he had made the rank of Serjeant.

A local newspaper reported on the end of his army life:

He had served with the forces for about four years, and on his way home from France he was taken ill, and was, when he arrived at home, in a somewhat critical condition. The fatigue of the journey told still further upon him, and he passed away three days after his arrival.

Somerset Standard: Friday 7th March 1919

Serjeant Lloyd’s pension record gives the cause his passing as influenza, pneumonia and syncope, sadly none of which were uncommon for soldiers returning from the front. He was just 34 years old when he died on 25th February 1919.

Edwin Lloyd was laid to rest in the Vallis Road Cemetery (also known as the Dissenters’ Cemetery) in Frome.

Captain, Commonwealth War Graves, Great War, Hertfordshire, history, illness, injury, North Somerset Yeomanry, photography, Somerset, South Africa, story, war

Captain Hugh Brooking

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Captain Hugh Brooking

Hugh Cyril Arthur Brooking was born on 15th September 1870 and was one of six children (although he also had three further half-siblings through his father’s first marriage). His father, Arthur Brooking, was the vicar of the Hertfordshire village of Bovingdon, and it was in the vicarage that he and his wife Marian raised their family (with the help of seven servants).

Hugh led a life befitting of a reverend’s son; he was educated at St Mark’s School in Windsor, Lancing College and Down College, both in Sussex. He continued his studies at the Mining College in London (now part of Imperial College London), and went out to South Africa to further that work.

The local newspaper reporting on his funeral takes up the story:

When the Boer War broke out he joined the Imperial Light Horse, and was engaged in the battles of Elandslaagte, Wagon Hill and others, was in Ladysmith during the siege, and the relief of Mafeking. He was several times mentioned in despatches, and obtained the Queen’s medal and six clasps, and the King’s medal with two clasps. He then joined the South African Constabulary, under General Baden Powell.

He had previously held a commission in the North Somerset Yeomanry, and after leaving it for a short time he re-joined a soon as the [First World War] was declared, and was in France with his regiment when it made its famous stand against the Prussian Guards. All his superior officers were killed or wounded, and he was temporarily in command of the regiment.

He received the ribbon of the 1914 Star of Mons, but did not live to get the star. He served with the regiment 20 years. He was latterly attached to the Labour Corps at West Ham.

Captain Brooking came to Frome with his parents as a boy. In his youth he was a thorough sportsman, well known in the hunting field, genial and kindly, ready with a pleasant word, and courteous to all, he won friendly appreciation from all classes of townsfolk.

He had seen a great deal of fighting, though from exposure and other causes his health suffered, and he was employed on home service.

He was in command of the 371st Labour Company, and second in command of his battalion, when he met with the slight accident which led to his death. He grazed his knuckles, causing bleeding, but of so slight a character that no notice was taken of it. A few hours later he again struck his hand, and fresh paint appears to have affected the wound, and blood poisoning supervened.

Somerset Standard: Friday 7th June 1918

In his personal life, Hugh had met and married Florence Day, a farmer’s daughter seventeen years his junior from Somerset. The wedding was in the autumn of 1912, and they would go on to have two children, Granville and Hugh Jr. The boys would both go on to lead distinguished lives, Granville in the armed forces and Hugh as a ‘King’s Messenger’ in South America.

Following Captain Brooking’s injury, he was admitted to the Military Hospital in Purfleet but the treatment he received there was to do no good. Three months after the accident, on 31st May 1918, he passed away; he was 47 years of age.

Hugh Cyril Arthur Brooking’s body was taken back to Frome; he was laid to rest in the graveyard of St John the Baptist Church in the town.

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Captain Hugh Brooking
(from findagrave.com)
Commonwealth War Graves, Great War, history, injury, Kings Royal Rifle Corps, Lance Corporal, photography, Somerset, story, war

Lance Corporal Henry Preece

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Lance Corporal Henry Preece

Henry Thomas Preece was born in the summer of 1884, one of seven children to agricultural labourer Tom Preece and his wife, Sarah. Thomas had been born in the Somerset village of Nunney, and it was here that he raised his family.

When Henry left school, he chose not to follow in his father’s agricultural footsteps. By the time of the 1911 census, he was recorded as a baker and, as such, would have been at the heart of village life in Nunney.

Henry married local woman Ellen Stone in 1909, who was a dressmaker with her own account. The couple would go on to have four children between 1909 and 1916.

With war looming, Henry felt the need to play his part. He joined the King’s Royal Rifle Corps in January 1916 and, after training, was sent to France a couple of months later.

He was wounded on July 25th, when out with a wiring party erecting barbed wire obstacles. He received a gun-shot wound in the abdomen, which also injured the spinal cord and his back. He was first taken to the South African Hospital at the base, and after being there for several days he was removed to England and take to the Netley Hospital where he died…

Somerset Standard: Friday 8th September 1916

Lance Corporal Preece died on 3rd September 1916, at the age of 32 years old. His body was brought back to Nunney, where he was laid to rest in the family grave at All Saints’ Church.

Lance Corporal Henry Preece
(from britishnewspaperarchive.com)
Commonwealth War Graves, Great War, history, illness, Ireland, photography, Private, Somerset, story, war, Wiltshire Regiment

Private Donald Mees

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Private Donald Mees

Donald Mather Mees was born on 14th July 1900, the only child of Arthur and Mary from Mells, Somerset. Arthur was a grocer and wine merchant, who, by the time of the 1911 census, had set the family up in Warminster.

Given his young age, there is little documented about Donald’s early life; most of the information available comes from the newspaper reports of his passing:

The military funeral which passed through Frome on Wednesday afternoon was a very sad one. It was that of Private Donald Mather Mees, only son of Mr AH Mees, grocer… formerly of Mells…

The deceased was a somewhat delicate lad, and had only joined up a few weeks – less, we believe, that a month – when he was taken ill and succumbed to pneumonia at King George V Hospital at Dublin on 15th inst.

His parents had been notified of his illness and were preparing to visit him when their journey was interrupted by the news of his death.

Somerset Standard: Friday 23rd August 1918

Private Donald Mather Mees, of the Wiltshire Regiment, had died on 15th August 1918, at the age of 18. He was laid to rest in the graveyard of St Andrew’s Church in the village of his birth, Mells.

accident, Cambridgeshire, Commonwealth War Graves, Great War, history, injury, Kings Royal Rifle Corps, Lieutenant, London, Machine Gun Corps, photography, Royal Army Service Corps, Somerset, story, Surrey, Wales, war

Lieutenant Basil Scott-Holmes

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Lieutenant Basil Scott-Holmes

Basil Scott-Holmes was born on 2nd February 1884 in the Somerset village of Wookey. The oldest of two children, his father was Liverpool-born Thomas Scott-Holmes and his wife, Katherine. When Basil was born, Thomas was the vicar of St Matthew’s Church, Wookey, but by 1901, he had risen to the role of clergyman – and subsequently Chancellor – at Wells Cathedral.

Basil’s pedigree stood him in good stead. Initially educated in Llandaff, South Wales, he subsequently attended Sherborne School in Dorset. Sent up to Cambridge, he studied history at Sidney Sussex College.

After leaving university, Basil spent time in Europe learning German and French. He was then assigned the role of Assistant Commissioner in North Nigeria but, after a year there he was invalided home taking up a teaching role at the Bristol Grammar School in 1912.

In July 1913, Basil married Barbara Willey, a surgeon’s daughter from Reigate, Surrey. The marriage record shows that Basil was registrar for an architectural association by this point; the couple went on to have two children, daughters Annette and Prudence.

When the war broke out, he was obviously keen to do his bit. In September 1914 he enlisted in the Royal Army Service Corps, before gaining a commission in the King’s Royal Rifle Corps a couple of months later. In the spring of 1916, Lieutenant Scott-Holmes had been seconded to the Machine Gun Corps, although it is unclear whether he served abroad during any of his time in the army.

On the evening of 24th October 1916, Lieutenant Scott-Holmes was riding in a motorcycle sidecar through central London, on the way back to camp. A local newspaper picked up the story:

…they stopped when going through Wandsworth to re-light the near light, and in the dark a motor omnibus ran into them, and Lieutenant [Scott-Holmes], who was strapped in the side-car, was, with the car, flung across the road. He died as he was being taken to Wandsworth Hospital. At the subsequent inquest, a verdict of “accidental death” was returned.

Central Somerset Gazette: Friday 3rd November 1916

Basil Scott-Holmes was just 32 years old. His body was brought back to Somerset; he was laid to rest in the cemetery at Wells Cathedral.

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Basil Scott-Holmes
(from ancestry.co.uk)
Commonwealth War Graves, County Durham, Great War, history, illness, Kent, photography, Royal Naval Reserve, Scotland, story, Trimmer, war

Trimmer Cuthbert Kean

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Trimmer Cuthbert Kean

Cuthbert Kean was born on 2nd October 1862, the eldest of four children to John and Jane Kean. John was a tailor from Manchester, who brought his young family up in the town of Crook, County Durham.

Cuthbert followed in his father’s footsteps and, by the time of the 1891 census – when he was 26 years old – was lodging in central Edinburgh, and was working as a tailor.

There is little more information available on Cuthbert’s early years. When war broke out, he enlisted in the Royal Navy, joining up on 26th October 1914. His papers show that he stood 5ft 2ins (1.57m) tall, had a fair complexion and grey eyes.

By 1917, having turned 55, he was transferred to the Royal Naval Reserve, and worked as a Trimmer – an alternative title for a Stoker. He had served on a number of vessels, joining HMS Firefly towards the end of the war.

Early in 1919, Trimmer Kean was admitted to the Royal Naval Hospital in Chatham, Kent, suffering from a sarcoma of the neck. Sadly, he was to succumb to this, and he passed away on 4th March 1919. He was 58 years old. His records give his next of kin as his sister Mary, who was living in Durham.

Cuthbert Kean was laid to rest in the Woodlands Cemetery in Gillingham, Kent.