Category Archives: Private

Commonwealth War Graves, Great War, history, illness, injury, photography, Private, story, war, Wiltshire, Wiltshire Regiment

Private Howard Rees

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Private Howard Rees

Howard Stephen Rees was born in the spring of 1895 in Trowbridge, Wiltshire. He was the second of six children – and the older of two sons – to Stephen and Annie. Stephen was an engine driver, and the 1901 census found the family living in a small terraced house at 18 Gloucester Road, a show walk from the town’s railway station.

By the time of the next census, the family had moved to a larger house, and were living at 15 Innox Road, to the north of the town centre. Stephen was still employed as an engine driver, while there were too further wages coming into the household. Howard’s older sister, Catherine, was working as a rug weaver, while he himself was employed as a page boy, a bell hop for one of the hotels in the town.

By the time war broke out, Howard had moved from page boy to cellarman. The pull to serve his country was strong, though, and he gave up his job to enlist in the army on 7th September 1914, just a month after the start of the conflict.

Private Rees was assigned to the Wiltshire Regiment. His service papers show that he was 5ft 11ins (1.8m) tall and weighed 120lbs (54.4kg). He was noted as having brown hair, brown eyes and a fair complexion. Howard’s medical examination was to conclude that he was not fit for army service, due to a ‘very poor physique and.. an impediment of speech’. He was recorded as being quite unfit for a soldier. His time in the army was to last just 20 days.

Howard was not deterred by this setback, however, and it seems that he tried to enlist again at some point, and this time succeeded. Full details have been lost, but from the documents that remain, he had joined the 2nd Battalion of the Wiltshire Regiment by the spring of 1917.

The funeral took place on Monday a the cemetery of Private Howard Stephen Rees, Wilts Regiment, aged 22 years, who passed way after a painful illness lasting five months, at the Bath War Hospital on Wednesday September 26th from wounds received in action in France on April 23rd.

[Wiltshire Times and Trowbridge Advertiser: Saturday 6th October 1917]

Howard Stephen Rees received his injuries during the Arras Offensive of 1917, his eagerness to be included in the war having led to his death. His body was taken back to Wiltshire, and was laid to rest in Trowbridge Cemetery.

Commonwealth War Graves, Great War, history, illness, India, Mesopotamia, Middlesex, photography, Private, story, war, Wiltshire, Wiltshire Regiment

Private William Cockerton

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Private William Cockerton

William John Cockerton was born in the autumn of 1896 in Holloway, Middlesex. The older of two children, his parents were baker John Cockerton and his wife, Elizabeth.

The 1901 census found the family living at 28 Highbury Station Road. The house is long since gone, but the Cockerton’s neighbours included a horse keeper, porter and a police constable.

By the time of the 1911 census, William had left London, and was living with his paternal uncle and aunt, Fred and Amy, in Trowbridge, Wiltshire. Fred was an ironmonger, and his nephew had taken an apprenticeship with him. The census notes two visitors to the property – 22 Clarendon Villas – William’s mother and sister, Elizabeth and Dolly.

In his spare time, William started volunteering with the local militia. When war broke out, he was quick to enlist, formally joining the Wiltshire Regiment as a Private. Assigned to the 2nd Battalion, by December 1914, he found himself in India. A later newspaper report detailed how his military service unfolded:

..after a period of garrison duty in India, he volunteered for duty with the Mesopotamian Expeditionary Force, and took part in some of the biggest engagements against the Turks, being eventually wounded, captured and reported dead. For some two years he was held in captivity, during which he ensured great hardships that seriously undermined his health.

[Wiltshire Times and Trowbridge Advertiser: Saturday 26th April 1919]

William was reported missing in February 1917, with an understandably grief-stricken John and Elizabeth later being informed that he had been severely wounded in the chest, succumbing to his injuries half-an-hour later. His name was placed on the roll of honour at Trowbridge, but in July 1917, William’s parents received a card from Turkey in his handwriting, explaining that he was a prisoner of war.

Private Cockerton was released on 16th November 1918, and returned to Britain.

Early in March, he went to Harrow-on-the-Hill for a holiday, staying with his uncle. Here he was taken ill with malarial fever and pneumonia, which resulted in his death.

[Wiltshire Times and Trowbridge Advertiser: Saturday 26th April 1919]

William John Cockerton was just 22 years of age when he passed away on 20th April 1919. His body was taken back to Wiltshire for burial, and he was laid to rest in Trowbridge Cemetery. He lies at rest in the family plot, alongside his father, who had passed away in the autumn of 1916.

Private William Cockerton
(from britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk)
accident, Commonwealth War Graves, Derbyshire, Great War, history, Kent, Nottinghamshire, photography, Private, Royal Marines, Sherwood Foresters, story, war

Private John Stenson

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Private John Stenson

John Joseph Stenson was born in the Derbyshire village of Crich on 27th October 1869. He was the younger of two children to Jane and Joseph Stenson. Jane had been married and widowed before, and John had a number of half-siblings in his extended family.

Tracing John’s early life is a bit of a challenge, and he is missing from a number of census records. By 1901, he was working as a blacksmith in Nottingham, and living at 94 Park Street, to the west of the town centre. He was married to Rose Moon, and they had exchanged vows in 1896.

By 1911, the couple had moved to the Bulwell area of Nottingham, and were living at 23 Padley Street. John was still working as a blacksmith, Rose as a dressmaker, and their adopted son, 18-year-old John Daley, was also living with them, and was employed as a hosiery washer.

When war broke out, and despite his age, John stepped up to play his part. He enlisted on 5th September 1914, joining the Sherwood Foresters as a Private. His service records show that he was just under 5ft 8ins (1,72m) tall, with brown hair and grey eyes.

Private Stenson did not stay with the army for long and after just ten days he was transferred to the Royal Marine Light Infantry. His time was split between two bases, the Royal Naval Dockyard in Chatham, Kent, and the equivalent in Portsmouth, Hampshire. He did see time overseas, with a later report confirming that he had fought at Gallipoli.

ACCIDENTAL DEATH OF A SLEEP WALKER

At an inquest at Chatham on Tuesday on Pte. John Joseph Stenson… belonging to Bulwell, Nottingham, whose body was found in an area beneath the barrack rooms, it was stated that he walked in his sleep. A verdict of “Accidental Death” was returned.

[Kentish Gazette: Saturday 9th September 1916]

Other reports suggested that Private Stenson had started sleep walking in recent weeks. The coroner reported that he was killed “either by falling our of his bedroom window or over the passage-way railings…” [Hull Daily Mail: Wednesday 6th September 1916]

John Joseph Stenson was 46 years of age when he died on 2nd September 1916. His body was laid to rest in the naval section of Woodlands Cemetery, Gillingham, Kent, not far from the dockyard at which he had been based.

Boy, Commonwealth War Graves, Devon, Dorsetshire Regiment, Great War, Hampshire, history, illness, India, Mesopotamia, photography, Private, Royal Navy, story, war

Private Thomas Adams

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Private Thomas Adams

Thomas Charles Adams was born on 18th April 1891 in Ilfracombe, Devon. The oldest of four children, his parents were Thomas and Amanda Adams. Thomas Sr was a mason turned builder, but his son seemed keen to carve his own path in life.

On 5th October 1905, Thomas Jr enlisted in the Royal Navy. His papers show that he was 5ft 6ins (1.67m) tall, with dark hair, hazel eyes and a dark complexion. His time with the navy seems to have been brief, he was sent to HMS Impregnable for training, but was discharged on 9th November 1905, the reason given being “Invd”. Later documents suggest that he was dismissed because he was under the regulation chest measurement, but it was likely due to the fact that he had added two years to his age in order to be accepted.

Thomas returned home, and found employment as a fitter. He was not to be deterred, however, and joined the Dorsetshire Regiment as a volunteer. On 30th January 1907 he gave up his job, and enlisted in the army full time. Thomas’ papers give similar physical descriptions to his naval record, but also include his weight, 123lbs (55.8kg).

Private Adams was assigned to the 3rd Battalion, and spent the next two years on home soil. On 5th January 1909, however, the life of adventure he had wanted truly began. His unit was sent to India, and he would remain overseas for more than six years. His time overseas was not without incident, however, and he had four separate admissions to hospital with neuralgia (in April 1909), gonorrhoea (1910 and 1912) and malaria (in 1914).

By May 1915, Thomas was back in Britain. He was still having health issues, however, and he was admitted to Netley Hospital, Hampshire, suffering from tuberculosis. The condition would lead to his discharge from the army, and he was formally stood down on 15th June 1915.

At this point, Thomas’ trail goes cold. It is likely that he returned to his family, who were now living in Combe Martin, Devon. This is where he passed away, on 14th October 1915, at the age of 24 years old.

The body of Thomas Charles Adams was laid to rest in the graveyard of St Peter’s Church, Combe Martin.

Australia, Australian Infantry, Commonwealth War Graves, Devon, Great War, history, illness, injury, Middlesex, photography, Private, story, war

Private Augustus Hines

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Private Augustus Hines

The funeral of Pte. Augustus Hines, of the Australian Imperial Forces, took place on Monday in Combe Martin Parish Churchyard. Wounded in Northern France, he was sent to a hospital in Middlesex, and when convalescent was granted leave to pay a visit to Mr and Mrs John Dovell, of Glen Cottage, whose two sons, Corpl. Herbert Dovell and Pte. Lewis Dovell, were his comrades in Western Australia, and also in the field of battle. Unfortunately he developed pneumonia, and passed away on August 16th… The coffin was followed by the members of the Parish Council, convalescent soldiers, and a large number of friends, the late soldier’s genial and frank disposition having made him popular during his brief stay in the parish.

[North Devon Journal: Thursday 24th August 1916]

Augustus Hines was born in 1874 in the town of Concord, New South Wales. Details of his early life have been lost to time, but he was the son of Allen and Elizabeth Hines, and had at least one sibling, a sister called Lily.

By the time war was declared, Augustus had moved to the outskirts of Perth, and was employed as a timber worker. He enlisted in the army on 27th September 1915, his service records showing that he was 5ft 6.5ins (1.68m) tall, and weighed 10st 4lbs (65.3kg). He had fair hair, blue eyes and a fair complexion.

Private Hines was assigned to the 28th Battalion of the Australian Infantry and, by the start of 1916, he was on his way to Europe. After a two-month stop in Egypt, Augustus’ unit travelled on to France. They disembarked in Marseilles on 21st March, and headed from there to the Front Line.

Private Hines’ unit was sent to the village of Marle, but he would not remain there for long. Within a matter of weeks he received a gun shot wound to his foot. Initially treated by the 7th Field Ambulance, he was transferred to a hospital in Etaples, then taken to Britain on board the Hospital Ship Brighton.

Augustus was admitted to the 1st Australian General Hospital in Harefield, Middlesex, where he remained for the next six weeks. From there, he was discharged to convalesce, and made his way to his friends’ family in Devon.

It was while he was here that Private Augustus Hines fell ill. He passed away on 16th August 1916, at the age of 42 years old. He was laid to rest in the graveyard of St Peter’s Churchyard, Combe Martin.

Commonwealth War Graves, Gloucestershire Regiment, Great War, history, illness, Oxfordshire, photography, Private, story, war

Private Albert Search

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Private Albert Search

Albert Search was born in Burford, Oxfordshire, in the autumn of 1891. One of thirteen children, he was the third son to William and Fanny Search. William was a farm labourer, and this is work into which Albert followed.

The 1911 census found the family living on Guildenford, close to the town centre and St John the Baptist’s Church. Three of the household were employed, three of the children were still at school, and they had a lodger – 71-year-old widower Steven Lange, who was also working on the farm.

On 15th August 1915, Albert married Annie Pearse. The same age as her new husband, she was also from Burford, and was the son of a cowman, possible connected to the same farm as her father-in-law. The couple set up home in Lawrence Lane, and went on to have a child, Albert Jr, who was born the following year.

Albert was called upon to serve his country some time after the wedding, and he joined the Gloucestershire Regiment as a Private. Assigned to the 3rd (Reserve) Battalion, he was soon sent to the Eastern Mediterranean. Private Search would spend more than two years there, but contracted malaria.

He was in hospital six months, and was afterwards invalided home for a month. He then returned back to his unit in Bristol, was sent back to hospital, and was discharged in 1920.

[Oxford Chronicle and Reading Gazette: Friday 9th September 1921]

Albert returned home to Annie and his son. When his health had recovered enough, he returned to farm work, and the 1921 census recorded him working on Tangley Farm. During that summer, however, his health deteriorated once more:

..on August 23 he was taken ill and died within eight days. Deceased was a native of Burford, where he was well known and highly respected.

[Oxford Chronicle and Reading Gazette: Friday 9th September 1921]

Albert Search was just 29 years old when he died. His body was laid to rest in the graveyard of St John the Baptist’s Church: this was where he had both been christened and married, and was at the end of the road from where his widow still lived.

In dying when he did, Albert became one of the last servicemen eligible for a Commonwealth War Grave.

Commonwealth War Graves, Gloucestershire, Great War, history, injury, Oxfordshire, Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire Light Infantry, photography, Private, story, war

Private Wilfred Morse

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Private Wilfred Morse

Wilfred John Morse was born in the spring of 1886 in the Gloucestershire village of Upper Slaughter. The oldest of six children, he was one of five sons, although one of his brothers died when he was a babe in arms, and a second died when he was nine. Wilfred’s parents were agricultural labourer and carter John Morse and his wife, Amy. John travelled to where the work took him, and by the time of the 1901 census, the family had settled in Burford, Oxfordshire.

The following census return, taken in 1911, noted that Wilfred had also found farm work, and he was employed as a milkman, possibly on the same farm as his father. When war broke out, however, Wilfred would step up to play his part.

The full service papers for Private Morse have been lost to time, but it is clear that he had enlisted in the Oxfordshire & Buckinghamshire Light Infantry early on in the conflict. Assigned to the 6th (Service) Battalion, he found himself on the Western Front by July 1915.

It is unclear how long William remained on the Western Front, but is is likely that he was involved in the Battle of the Somme. By the start of 1917 he was injured, and his wounds were severe enough for him to be medically evacuated to Britain for treatment.

We regret to announce the death of Wilfred John Morse… of the Oxford and Bucks LI, who passed away in a London hospital after an operation following shell wounds and gas. After the action he was conveyed to the Australian Base Hospital and then to London, where it was found necessary to operate.

[Oxford Chronicle and Reading Gazette: Friday 9th March 1917]

Wilfred John Morse died on 1st March 1917, at the age of 30 years old. His body was taken back to Oxfordshire for burial, and he was laid to rest in the graveyard of St John the Baptist Church, Burford.

Commonwealth War Graves, Dorset, Great War, history, Labour Corps, photography, Private, story, unknown, war, Warwickshire, West Midlands

Private James Willetts

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Private James Willetts

In the peaceful grounds of Gillingham Cemetery, Dorset, is the grave of Private James Henry Willetts of the Labour Corps, who died on 25th November 1918, at the age of 39 years old. The Commonwealth War Graves Commission records confirm that he was the son of James Willetts who, at the time of his son’s passing, was living in Springhill, Birmingham.

Private Willetts’ service records no longer exist, but his entry on the British Register of Soldiers’ Effects state that he was attached to the 443rd Agricultural Company, and died in Peasemarsh, Dorset. It also noted that his next of kin would not be able to claim a war gratuity: this suggests that he had served for less than six months when he passed.

A further document – the Pension Ledger Index Card – gives James’ dependent as his stepmother, Elizabeth Willetts. The record also confirms that his brother George had also died while serving as a Corporal in the Royal Warwickshire Regiment.

The challenge with trying to trace James’ early life is that there aren’t enough confirmed details. His mother’s name is not known, nor is it clear when James Sr married Elizabeth. Census records are available, but none give a clear match for father and son. Given James Jr shared his father’s name, it may also be that he went by his middle name, but this too could have been changed to Harry.

It seems, therefore, that James Henry Willetts’ life is destined to remain a mystery, taken to the grave in the Dorset cemetery.

Commonwealth War Graves, Great War, history, photography, Private, Royal Sussex Regiment, story, Sussex, unknown, war

Private Reginald Reeves

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Private Reginald Reeves

Reginald William Reeves was born in the summer of 1892. The older of two children – his sister Doris passed when she was just six years of age – his parents were Thomas and Ellen Reeves. Thomas was an ironmonger, and the family lived above the shop at 167 Montague Street, Worthing, West Sussex.

Reginald also took up metalwork, becoming his father’s apprentice. The 1911 census notes that the family had moved a short distance, and were now living at 153 Montague Street. A later advert in the Worthing Gazette highlighted special value gas mantles that were double strength and all British made, being sold by TW Reeves & Son, Ironmongers at 135 Montague Street, the family having moved even closer to the town centre.

When war broke out, Reginald would step up to serve his country. Full details of his time in the conflict have been lost, but it is clear that he served as a Private in the Royal Sussex Regiment, and was assigned to the 6th Battalion. The unit was based in Britain and Ireland during the war, and it seems that Private Reeves would not have spent any time in the thick of battle.

By the autumn of 1918, Reginald was back in Worthing, although his trail is pretty hard to follow. He died at a house on Shakespeare Road on 5th November through causes unknown; he was 26 years old.

The body of Reginald William Reeves was laid to rest in Broadwater Cemetery, to the north of Worthing, his parents thanking well-wishers for their sympathy in that week’s edition of the local newspaper.

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

Private Hedley Perry

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Private Hedley Perry

Hedley James Garfield Perry was born in Camborne, Cornwall in the autumn of 1898. One of nine children, his parents were John and Thurza Perry. John was a farm labourer, and the family lived in a semi-detached cottage at 15 Tehidy Road, to the north of the town centre.

Hedley was under age when war broke out, but it is clear that he wanted to play his part. His service records are long since lost, but he had enlisted in the Devonshire Regiment by the spring of 1918. Private Perry’s unit – the 9th (Service) Battalion – was involved in the final advance on Picardy in the last weeks of the war, and it was during this time that he was wounded.

Private Perry was medically evacuated to Britain for treatment, and he was admitted to a military hospital in Gillingham, Dorset. Hedley’s injuries would prove too severe, however, and he succumbed to them on 4th December 1918, just three weeks after the Armistice was signed. He was 20 years of age.

The body of Hedley James Garfield Perry was laid to rest in Gillingham Cemetery.