Category Archives: Role

Commonwealth War Graves, County Cork, Dorset, Dublin, Fleet Surgeon, Great War, Hampshire, history, illness, Ireland, Kent, photography, story, war

Fleet Surgeon Edward Ward

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Fleet Surgeon Edward Ward

Edward Copley Ward was born in Charleville, County Cork, Ireland, on 2nd November 1862. The middle of three children, his parents were Thomas and Elizabeth Ward. Thomas died in 1868, and there is scant information about Edward’s life until he reached his early 20s.

It is clear that he had a focus on education, and a leaning towards the medical side of things. By December 1883, he had qualified as a Master Surgeon at the Royal University of Ireland, and was licenced in midwifery through the King & Queen’s College of Physicians.

Edward was not one to rest on his laurels, however, and he soon tasked himself to a naval career. On 21st August 1900 he was recorded on the Navy Lists as being a Fleet Surgeon, although there is little specific information about this service at this time.

MARRIAGES: WARD-CROWE

October 28, by special licence, at Kill Church… Staff-Surgeon Edward C Ward, RN, to Eleanor, daughter of the late Michael F Crowe, JP, of Melfield, Blackrock, County Dublin.

[Northern Whig: Saturday 1st November 1902]

Edward and Eleanor’s trail goes cold again at this point, and it is not until the 1911 census that we are able to pick them up again. By this point, Eleanor, now 45 years old, is living with four of her sisters, Kate, Charlotte, Isabella and Susanna in a house in Monkstown, Dublin. The family are supported by a domestic servant, Mary Collins.

Edward, meanwhile, was serving on board the battleship HMS Jupiter, which was moored in Weymouth Bay, Dorset. There were 548 crew members on board, and the now Fleet Surgeon Ward was one of seventeen commissioned officers, serving under Rear Admiral Arthur Limpus.

Over the next three years, Edward would serve on six further ships, but, by the time war was declared in the summer of 1914, he found himself shore-based. From December of that year, he served at HMS Pembroke, the Royal Naval Dockyard in Chatham, Kent. His role: to oversee the treatment of incoming wounded troops, and their preparation for onward transport to whichever hospital they would end up.

Fleet Surgeon War would spend the next three years fulfilling this task, but, by the summer of 1917, it would be Edward himself who needed support. Admitted to the Royal Naval Hospital in Chatham, he was suffering from tubercular disease of the kidney, and it would be this condition to which he would succumb. He passed away on 7th August 1917, at the age of 54 years old.

The body of Edward Copley Ward was laid to rest with a simple headstone in Woodlands Cemetery, Gillingham, Kent, not far from the dockyard he had come to know as home.

Interestingly, when Edward’s estate went to probate, he left his estate – worth £1257 7s 11d (approximately £111,500 in today’s money) to Geoffrey Holt Stillwell, with no mention of Eleanor. Geoffrey was a member of a banking family from the south of England, who served as a Lieutenant Colonel in the 4th Hampshire Regiment.

Fleet Surgeon Edward Ward
(from ancestry.co.uk)
Chief Stoker, Commonwealth War Graves, Great War, history, illness, Kent, Leading Stoker, photography, Royal Navy, Stoker, story, war

Chief Stoker Walter Pankhurst

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Chief Stoker Walter Pankhurst

Walter William Pankhurst was born on 21st March 1867, and was the third of four children – and the only son – to Thomas and Harriet Pankhurst. Thomas was a farm labourer from Staplehurst, Kent, but he and Harriet raised their family in Murston, to the east of Sittingbourne.

Walter initially followed his father into farm work, but he sought a bigger and better life and, on 3rd December 1888, he enlisted in the Royal Navy. His service records show that, at 21 years of age, he was 5ft 7ins (1.7m) tall, with dark hair, hazel eyes and a ruddy complexion.

Given the rank of Stoker 2nd Class, Walter was sent to HMS Pembroke, the Royal Naval Dockyard in Chatham, Kent, for his training. In the summer of 1889 he was given his first posting, on board the gunboat HMS Pigmy, and she would remain his home for the next three-and-a-half years.

When he joined up, Walter had committed to twelve years’ service, and this time was not wasted. By the time his contracted came up for renewal, he had served on three further ships, returning to Chatham in between voyages. He had also progressed through the tanks, to Stoker 1st Class in January 1890, Leading Stoker 2nd Class in March 1897 and, with the renewal of his service, to Leading Stoker 1st Class in February 1901.

On 15th June 1904, Walter married Ellen Goddard. A gardener’s daughter from Eastling, Kent, by the time of their wedding, she was working as a domestic servant for a chemist in Hampstead, Middlesex. The couple exchanged their vows in St Stephen the Martyr’s Church, Hampstead, Ellen’s sister Susan acting as one of the witnesses.

Back in the Navy, Walter’s career continued its progression. Regularly noted as being of very good character, within three months of his wedding he was promoted to Acting Chief Stoker. By October 1905 the role was formalised, and he would end his naval career in December 1910 as Chief Stoker.

Stood down to reserve status, Walter made the move to civilian life. The 1911 census found him and Ellen living at 95 Glencoe Road, Chatham, a small terraced house with just four rooms. The couple had had three children by this point, and Susan was also living with them. A naval pensioner, Walter was still employed by the navy, and was working as a bootmaker’s labourer in the dockyard.

When war was declared in the summer of 1914, Chief Stoker Pankhurst was called into service once more. For the next couple of years he would be based at HMS Pembroke, either working in the dockyard’s boiler rooms or training new recruits.

In the spring of 1917, Walter was taken ill. He was suffering from haematemesis, and the condition was to prove his undoing. He passed away on 22nd May 1917, at the age of 50 years old.

The body of Walter William Pankhurst was laid to rest in the naval section of Woodlands Cemetery, Gillingham, a few miles from where Ellen was now living on Luton Road, Chatham.

By the time Walter passed, he and Ellen had had four children. His widow never remarried, but when she died, on 7th April 1961, she was buried alongside her husband. She was 90 years of age.

The couple’s eldest daughter, Nancy, remained a spinster throughout her life, initially supporting her mother after Walter died. Nancy was buried with her parents, when she died in 1995: she was also 90 years old.

Commonwealth War Graves, Deck Hand, Great War, history, illness, Kent, photography, Royal Naval Reserve, Scotland, story, war

Deck Hand John McDonald

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Deck Hand John McDonald

Born in Laxay (Lacasaigh) on the Isle of Lewis, Scotland, John Murdo McDonald was the son of Donald and Maggie McDonald. He can be readily identified on the 1901 census, which suggests that he was born in January of that year. The family do not appear on the 1911 census, and John’s trail quickly goes cold.

When war broke out, it would seem that John stepped up to play his part. He joined the Royal Naval Reserve – suggesting that he had some seafaring experience, but his service papers have been lost to time. There are at least four John Murdo McDonalds born around 1901, who all served in the Royal Naval Reserve. None of their service numbers match that of John’s, however.

By the summer of 1917, Deck Hand McDonald was serving on board the motor drifter Ocean’s Gift. The boat, little more than a trawler requisitioned by the Royal Navy, was used as a patrol ship around the Thames Estuary.

That July, John was admitted to the Royal Naval Hospital in Chatham, Kent. He was suffering from tuberculosis, and this would ultimately take his life. He died on 2nd July 1917, aged just 17 years old.

The Isle of Lewis was an unimaginable distance from Kent, and so the body of John Murdo McDonald was not returned to his family. Instead, he was laid to rest in the naval section of Woodlands Cemetery in Gillingham, Kent, not far from the dockyard in Chatham, that had briefly been his home.

Commonwealth War Graves, Great War, history, illness, Kent, London, Merchant Navy, photography, Stoker, story, war

Stoker John Webb

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Stoker John Webb

John Robert Webb was born at the start of 1894, and was the youngest of eight children to William and Catherine Webb . William’s work as a wharf labourer found the family in Wapping, East London, and this is where John was born.

According to the 1901 census, the Webbs were living in rooms at 1 Meeting House Alley, close to the docks. William, Catherine and John were still living there in the next census, taken in 1911. By this point, John was 17 years of age, and employed as an office youth.

Over the next few years, John’s trail goes cold. By the time war broke out, he had changed careers, and was working as a Stoker for the Mercantile Marine Service. The boat he was assigned to – a tug named Labour – was based out of Chatham in Kent.

Sadly, there is only one more document connected to Stoker Webb, and that relates to his passing. His pension record confirms that he died on 18th December 1917 from an illness. While the location of his passing is unclear, it is likely to have been either at the Royal Naval Hospital in Chatham, or the town’s dockyard. He was 23 years of age.

The body of John Robert Webb was laid to rest in the military section of Woodlands Cemetery, Gillingham, Kent.

Commonwealth War Graves, Great War, Hampshire, history, illness, Kent, photography, Royal Navy, Ship's Steward, story, Suffolk, war

Ship’s Steward Archibald Wright

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Ship’s Steward Archibald Wright

Archibald Thomas Victor Wright was born on 3rd August 1883 in Portsmouth, Hampshire. The second of six children – all boys – his parents were George and Alice Wright. George was a gunner and lieutenant in the Royal Navy, and the seafaring life was an obvious choice for his son to follow as well.

Archibald joined the Royal Navy as a Ship’s Steward Boy on 14th September 1898. Just fifteen years old, he was too young for formally enlist but was sent to HMS Pembroke, the Royal Naval Dockyard in Chatham, Kent, for his training.

Over the next three years, Archibald learnt the tools of his trade. He moved between establishments, from HMS Boscawen in Portland, Dorset, to HMS Excellent back in in Portsmouth. It was while on board the battleship HMS Glory, however, that he came of age, and was formally enlisted in the Royal Navy as a Ship’s Steward Assistant. His service records note that, on turning eighteen, he was 5ft 2in (1.58m) tall, with brown hair, dark brown eyes and a fresh complexion.

Ship’s Steward Assistant Wright’s contract was for twelve years, and during this time he would travel the world. By the summer of 1908 he had served on nine ships, returning to naval bases in Kent and Hampshire between voyages. On 15th June 1908 he was promoted to Acting Ship’s Steward, and just a few weeks later, he got married.

Ellen Osborne was born in Southampton just a month or so after her new husband. The daughter of a house furnisher’s clerk, by the time of the 1901 census she was employed as a boarding school teacher. After the couple married, she moved to Kent to be close to the Royal Naval Dockyard in Chatham (also known as HMS Pembroke), where Archibald would more frequently be based. The 1911 census return found her lodging with Lillie Calcutt at 112 Shakespeare Road in Gillingham, Kent.

Archibald’s career, meanwhile, was continuing apace. On 24th September 1909 he was promoted to Ship’s Steward proper, and in August 1913, when his original term of service came to an end, he quickly renewed it. By now, his service records show that he had had a few tattoos added to his arms: a girl on his right arm, a dragon on his upper left, and two cockerels on his lower left arm. Now 30 years of age, he stood 6ft tall (1.83m) tall, and, intriguingly, his eyes were now recorded as being blue.

Ship’s Steward Wright’s career trajectory does not seem to have been without its hiccups, however. Where his annual review up until 1909 have consistently given his character as very good, from hereon in, it dipped to just good. His ability also began to vary, from very good in 1909, to superior for the following couple of years, to just satisfactory in 1913 and 1915.

Archibald spent the last few years of the war split between HMS Pembroke and HMS Ganges – the training base just outside Ipswich, Suffolk. In January 1918, he was admitted to the Royal Naval Hospital in Chatham, following an epileptic fit. This was to prove fatal, and he passed away on 15th January. He was 34 years of age.

Interestingly, Ship’s Steward Wright’s pension ledger gives a damning insight into his health and mental well-being at the time of his passing. It noted the cause of his death as epilepsy aggravated by alcoholism, adding that the disease was neither contracted on nor aggravated by [active service], but due to his own serious negligence or misconduct.

Archibald Thomas Victor Wright was laid to rest in the military section of Woodlands Cemetery in Gillingham, Kent, not far from the dockyard he had called home.

Commonwealth War Graves, Devon, Great War, history, illness, Kent, Naval Instructor, photography, Royal Naval Reserve, Royal Navy, story, Surrey, war

Naval Instructor George Carter

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Naval Instructor George Carter

George Leslie Lewis Carter was born at the start of 1891 in New Cross, Kent. The oldest of three children, his parents were laundry managers William and Isabel Carter.

The Carters’ work seemed to take them across South London and the 1891 census found them living in Hammersmith. George’s two siblings had been born by this point, one in Gravesend, Kent, the other in Richmond, Surrey.

By 1911, William and Isabel had moved the family to Kingston-upon-Thames, Surrey. That year’s census recorded them as living at 142 London Road, which was noted as being a 12-roomed property. The couple were managing a laundry – possibly living in at the laundry itself. George was recorded as being a university student, while his younger brother Lionel was at school. The family also had a housekeeper, Frances Stoke, living with them.

When George finished his studies, he found employment as an Assistant Paymaster with the Royal Naval Reserve. On 15th February 1916, he married Ada Ritchie. She was a merchant’s daughter from Long Ditton, Surrey, and the couple exchanged vows in her local parish church.

At this point, George’s trail goes cold. He became attached to the Royal Naval College in Dartmouth, Devon – also known as HMS Pomone – and took on the role of Naval Instructor. It is unclear what type of instructing he was doing, but it seems likely to have been connected with the administration or financial part of the Royal Navy.

The funeral of Naval Instructor George Leslie Lewis Carter, Royal Naval College, Dartmouth, who died on Monday from pneumonia following an attack of influenza, took place on Wednesday morning…

The mourners were Mrs Carter (widow), Mrs Carter, Surbiton (mother), Mr Carter (brother), and Mr Jamieson Ritchie, London (brother-in-law)…

[Dartmouth & South Hams Chronicle: Friday 2nd August 1918]

Naval Instructor Carter was 27 years of age when he died on 29th July 1918. The newspaper article’s distinction between Ada and Isabel would suggest that Ada may have been living in Dartmouth at the time as well.

George Leslie Lewis Carter was laid to rest in the graveyard of St Clement’s Church in Dartmouth, Devon.

Boy, Commonwealth War Graves, Devon, Great War, history, illness, photography, Royal Navy, story, war

Boy 2nd Class Albert Sampson

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Boy 2nd Class Albert Sampson

Albert Frederick Sampson was born on 7th November 1900, and was the older of two children to Albert and Beatrice. Albert Sr was a steward in the Royal Naval College in Dartmouth, Devon, and the family lived in a four-roomed cottage on Victoria Road.

When he finished his schooling, Albert found work as a cabin boy on a merchant vessel. When war broke out, the transition to the Royal Navy was an obvious one, and he enlisted at the start of 1916. His service records show that he was 5ft 4ins (1.62m) tall, with red hair, blue eyes and a fresh complexion. Still under the age to formally enlist, he was given the rank of Boy 2nd Class.

Albert’s time in the navy was to be tragically short. He was admitted to the Royal Naval Hospital in Plymouth, Devon, with acute quinsy, and passed away quickly. He died on 13th February 1916, at the age of just 15 years old.

Albert Frederick Sampson’s body was taken back to Dartmouth for burial. He was laid to rest in St Clement’s Churchyard.

Commonwealth War Graves, Devon, Great War, history, illness, Ordinary Seaman, photography, Royal Navy, story, war

Ordinary Seaman Thomas Fleet

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Ordinary Seaman Thomas Fleet

Thomas Fleet was born on 3rd February 1879 in Kingswear, Devon, and was the sixth of nine children to Thomas and Emma. Thomas Sr was a fish dealer, and the family lived on Lower Street over the river in Dartmouth. Most of the family were involved in the fish industry, and by the time of the 1901 census, Thomas Jr was also working as a fisherman.

On Christmas Day 1901, Thomas Jr married Hannah Jury. She was a farm labourer’s daughter from Torquay, Devon. The couple married in Hannah’s home town, but settled back in Dartmouth. They had five children – Reginald, Elspeth, Edith, Florence and Thomas – and set up home in a five-roomed house on Victoria Road.

By the time of the 1911 census, Thomas had changed jobs, and was working as a yachtsman. The following year, Reginald died, at the age of just 9 years old. It is unclear how he died, but he passed in August 1912, and was buried on 2nd September, in St Clement’s Churchyard, Dartmouth.

When war broke out, Thomas would be called upon to serve. Unsurprisingly, given his job, he joined the Royal Navy, enlisting on 30th March 1917 as an Ordinary Seaman. His service records show that, at 5ft 2ins (1.57m) tall, he had brown hair, blue eyes and a fresh complexion.

Ordinary Seaman Fleet was sent to HMS Vivid, the Royal Naval Dockyard in Devonport, Devon, for his formal training. Tragically, however, his time in the service was to be a brief one. He contracted lobar pneumonia and was admitted to the barracks’ sick quarters. He passed away from heart failure on 13th May 1917, at the age of 38 years old.

The body of Thomas Fleet was taken back to Dartmouth for burial. He was laid to rest in the family plot in St Clement’s Churchyard, reunited with his oldest son, Reginald.

accident, Commonwealth War Graves, Devon, Flight Cadet, Great War, history, photography, Royal Air Force, story, war, Wiltshire

Flight Cadet Ernest Tracey

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Flight Cadet Ernest Tracey

Flt-Cadet Ernest Osborn Tracey, RAF, who died on Friday, the result of injuries sustained through a collision in the air when undergoing his final training, was the only son of Rev. HF and Mrs Tracey, of Dartmouth. He was born in Oct. 1899, at St Saviour’s Vicarage, of which church his father was vicar for 23 years, retiring from the living in 1913 in order to take up clerical duties in New Zealand. Mr Tracey was educated at Blundell’s, where he held a house master’s scholarship. When he left in the middle of last year he was the winner of the Coles’ prize for science; was one of the shooting VIII, of which he had his cap and colours; a member of the Upper Sixth, the OTC, and he had also won the first prize for drawing. On leaving Blundell’s he obtained a cadetship at Woolwich, and was transferred to the RAF.

[Western Morning News: Tuesday 4th June 1918]

Ernest Osborn Tracey was born in Dartmouth, Devon, on 25th October 1899, and was baptised in his father’s church six weeks later. The younger of two children to Reverend Henry and Alice Tracey, he gave up his schooling to enlist in the Royal Flying Corps on 12th November 1917.

When the Royal Air Force was formed the following April, Flight Cadet Tracey automatically transferred across. Training to be a reconnaissance pilot, Ernest would have cut a dashing figure, standing 6ft 1in (1.85m) tall. He was based at Yatesbury Airfield in Wiltshire, and was learning to fly a BE2, twin seater biplane.

At 8:30pm on 31st May, his aircraft collided with another, sending Ernest’s machine spinning into a nosedive. He crashed into the ground and was killed instantly.

The body of Ernest Osborn Tracey was taken back to Devon for burial. He was laid to rest in the graveyard of St Clement’s Church, Dartmouth.

Ernest’s will gave his mother, Alice, as his beneficiary. The newspaper report suggests that Henry had travelled to New Zealand to tend a new flock there, and the Commonwealth War Graves Commission records him as being “Chaplain to the Forces” and Vicar of Dartmouth.

It certainly seems that any time spent in New Zealand was limited. By the time of the 1921 census, Reverend Tracey had found a new posting, in the Staffordshire village of Gentleshaw. The same census return found Alice staying with their daughter, Rosamond, and her family, in Totnes, Devon.

Able Seaman, Boy, Commonwealth War Graves, Devon, Great War, history, illness, Leading Seaman, Ordinary Seaman, Petty Officer, photography, Royal Navy, Scotland, story, war

Petty Officer 1st Class Frederick Morgan

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Petty Officer 1st Class Frederick Morgan

Frederick Morgan was born on 15th July 1871, the oldest of four children to Samuel and Selina. Samuel was a miner from Bristol, Gloucestershire, but it was in the Staffordshire town of Tipton that he and local girl Selina married and raised their family. The 1881 census found the Morgans living at 17 Brewery Street, to the south of the town centre.

Frederick was not destined to follow in his father’s footsteps, however, and had his sights set on a life at sea, rather than in the depths of a coal mine. On 23rd November 1896 he joined the Royal Navy, and was sent to HMS Impregnable, the training base in Devonport, Devon, for his induction.

Being too young to formally enlist, Frederick was given the rank of Boy 2nd Class. Over the next three years, he learnt the tools of his trade, and served at three further bases: HMS Lion, HMS Penelope and HMS Raleigh. During this time, he was promoted to Boy 1st Class and, on 15th July 1889, when he turned 18, he was formally inducted into the Royal Navy.

Ordinary Seaman Morgan’s service records show that he was just 5ft 2.5ins (1.59m) tall. He had light brown hair, blue eyes and a fair complexion. He also had a tattoo by this point, of a dancing sailor on the inside of his right arm.

Frederick remained at HMS Raleigh for the next couple of years, and was promoted to Able Seaman on 1st July 1891. From the autumn, however, his sea-going life really took hold. Over the next ten years, he served on five ships, and was to be based at HMS Vivid, the Royal Naval Dockyard in Devonport, in between voyages. His dedication to the service was recognised – his annual reviews regularly noted his character as very good, and he rose through the ranks to Leading Seaman in May 1898, Petty Officer 2nd Class that October, and Petty Officer 1st Class in January 1901.

Away from work, Frederick’s love life was blossoming. In the autumn of 1893 he married Zipporah Elizabeth Beatrice Griffiths. Better known as Beatrice, she was the daughter of waterman Thomas Griffiths and his wife, Zipporah. The family came from Dartmouth, and this is likely where the young couple got to know each other. They married in St Clement’s Church, Dartmouth, and went on to have two children, George and Kathleen.

On 15th July 1901, Petty Officer Morgan’s initial contract with the Royal Navy came to an end. He renewed it straight away, and would spend the next decade sailing the world. Again Frederick was based at HMS Vivid in between voyages. On 11th July 1911, after 21 years in service, he was formally stood down to reserve status, and he returned to shore.

Frederick’s trail goes cold over the next couple of years, but when war broke out, he was called into service once more. Petty Officer Morgan would serve on the depot ships HMS Leander and Cyclops, which served out of Scapa Flow. He also spent time at HMS Gunner, the naval base to the north of Edinburgh. By March 1919, with the Armistice signed, he found himself based back in Devon.

At the Royal Naval Hospital, Plymouth, on Saturday, an inquest was held relative to the death of Fredk Morgan, 47, a naval pensioner, who died suddenly in the train on Thursday last.

Wm. Griffiths, inspector, GWR, at Millbay, said that PO Morgan was removed from the 6.20 train from Saltash on Thursday, apparently in a fit. He was laid on a seat, and a doctor who was about to travel on another train pronounced life extinct.

Charles Evans Jenkins, surgeon-lieutenant at the Naval Hospital said death was due to fatty degeneration of the heart.

The Coroner, who expressed his sympathy with the widow, declared that death was due to natural causes.

[Western Times: Tuesday 1st April 1919]

Frederick Morgan died of a heart attack on 27th Match 1919. He was laid to rest in the graveyard of St Clement’s Churchyard, Dartmouth, where he and Beatrice had been married.