Category Archives: Private

Commonwealth War Graves, Dorset, Great War, history, illness, photography, Private, Somerset, story, Training Reserve Battalion, war, Wiltshire

Private Arthur Thorne

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Private Arthur Thorne

Arthur Reginald Vellacott Thorne was born at the start of 1899 in Bridgwater, Somerset. One of six children, his parents were Sidney and Bessie Thorne. Sidney was a butcher and, by the time of the 1901 census, the family had moved to Chichester, West Sussex, where he had found employment in a sausage factory.

The Thornes’ time on the south coast was not to last long: they had moved to Timberscombe, back in Somerset, by the time Sidney and Bessie’s youngest child, daughter Ivy, was born in March 1908. Tragically their happiness was not to last for long: Sidney passed away in October that year, aged just 35 years old.

With six children under the age of 12 to raise, times would have proved tough for Bessie. Her oldest child – Arthur’s older brother, Sidney – went to live with his paternal uncle’s family in Taunton, and began learning the butchering trade. Bessie took on the role of caretaker at Timberscombe School where her five younger children were being taught.

Being a butcher was not Sidney’s chosen career path. When he turned 17, in March 1914, he enlisted in the Coldstream Guards, lying about his age to do so. Six months later he was promoted to the rank of Lance Corporal and attached to the 3rd Battalion. With war having been declared in Europe, he soon found himself on the Front Line, fighting in the First Battle of Ypres.

Over the next couple of years, Lance Corporal Thorne remained on the Western Front. He was killed in fighting on 15th September 1916: he was just 19 years of age. Sidney’s body was never identified: he is commemorated on the Thiepval Memorial in Picardie.

Arthur’s trail had gone cold at this point, but when he turned 18 years old, his brother having passed just months before, he too was called up. Assigned as a Private in the 35th Training Reserve Battalion, he was sent to Bovington Army Camp in Dorset for his induction. While there, in the cramped conditions of the military barracks, he fell ill. He was admitted to the Salisbury and District Isolation Hospital, which treated infectious diseases, and this was to be where he passed away. Private Thorne was just 18 years of age, and Bessie had lost her two oldest boys.

While Sidney’s remains were never recovered, Arthur Reginald Vellacott Thorne was brought back to Somerset to be laid to rest. He was buried in the peaceful graveyard of St Petrock’s Church in Timberscombe, not far from his father.

Bessie was to our live four of her children. Her youngest two sons, Edwin and Cecil, were to die too young. Cecil passed away in Timberscombe in May 1922, when he was just 16. Edwin died in November 1929, at the age of 26 years old.

Bessie lived on until 1958, passing away in Minehead when she was 84 years of age.

Commonwealth War Graves, Great War, history, illness, Lancashire, photography, Private, Somerset, Somerset Light Infantry, story, war

Private Charles Blackmore

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Private Charles Blackmore

Charles William Blackmore was born in Brompton Regis (or Kingsbrompton), Somerset, on 19th August 1896. He was the twelfth of thirteen children to journeyman carpenter Joshua Blackmore and his wife, Margaret. Charles attended the nearby Upton Primary School until Christmas 1909 at which point he started working with his father.

When war erupted across Europe, however, he stepped up to play his part. He enlisted as a Private in the Somerset Light Infantry on 14th January 1916. Little remains of his service documents, but his medical report confirms that he was 5ft 9ins (1.75m) tall, with light brown hair and grey eyes. Interestingly, the document also gives his date of birth as 14th February 1897, six months later than his school intake record.

The documents that remain for Private Blackmore’s time in the army, do not specify exactly where he served, but his battalion – the 1st – were heavily involved in the Battle of the Somme in 1916, and at Arras the following year.

It was during that summer that Charles fell ill, contracting tuberculosis. He was medically evacuated to Britain for treatment, and admitted to the Toxteth Park Auxiliary Military Hospital in Liverpool. The former workhouse was to be where Charles breathed his last: he died on 27th October 1917, at the age of 21 years old.

The body of Charles William Blackmore was brought back to Somerset for burial. He was laid to rest in the peaceful and picturesque graveyard of the Church of the Blessed Virgin Mary in his home village, Brompton Regis.

Commonwealth War Graves, Great War, history, illness, photography, Private, Royal Army Medical Corps, Somerset, story, war

Private Bertie Parsons

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Private Bertie Parsons

Bertie James Parsons was born in the summer of 1889, and was the fourth of six children to James and Elizabeth Parsons. James was a quarryman and slate-maker from Somerset, and he and Elizabeth raised their family in the parish of Ashbrittle.

While his older siblings found farm work in this peaceful part of the county, Bertie found employment as a baker’s assistant. This meant a move away from Somerset, and, by the time of the 1911 census, he was apprenticed to a bakery in the Crediton area of Devon.

The following year proved a tragic one for the Parsons family. Bertie’s younger brother, Richard, had found work as a hall boy for an estate in Wheathampstead, Hertfordshire. This was to prove a springboard for him, and he landed work for one of the new class of liners ploughing the waters of the Atlantic. Employed as a 2nd Class Steward, he was employed on the RMS Titanic and, like most of the ship’s 900 crew, he perished on that fateful night of 15th April 1912.

Among the large number of souls who perished with the Titanic recently we regret to report that among that number was a young man named Richard Parsons, aged 18, a native of Ashbrittle, and whose relatives still live in the neighbourhood, his father, James Parsons, being an invalid.

The deceased, who a couple of years ago embarked on a seafaring life, was on board the Olympic when it collided with the Hawke, and he left his home about a month ago, and journeyed to Belfast to assist in getting the Titanic ready for her maiden voyage.

He was particularly pleased at being appointed to a post on the largest ship in the world.

Deceased, who was a bright lad and much respected in the village, occupied the position of lift steward on his previous boat, and on the Titanic was a steward in a second-class dining saloon.

He was unable to swim.

Somerset County Gazette: Saturday 27th April 1912
Steward 2nd Class Richard Parsons

Back in Devon, Bertie was still working as a baker. When war came to Europe, however, he stepped up to play his part. While full service details are not available, it is clear that he enlisted in the Royal Army Service Corps as a Private. He was attached to the 2nd/1st Wessex Field Ambulance, who were sent to France in January 1916.

Private Parsons saw action – or helped treat the results of it – at some of the key battles on the Western Front: the Somme, Ypres, Cambrai, Givenchy and Festubert. In the autumn of 1917, Bertie returned home to marry Florence Riddaway, a milliner from Bow, Devon, who he had courted while working in nearby Crediton. The couple went on to have a son, Douglas, who was born on 26th May 1918.

It is unclear how long Bertie remained in the army after the Armistice was signed. By the summer of 1920, he was back on British shores, and had fallen ill. He was admitted to hospital in Bath with acute staphlococcic infection and a cerebral embolism. He died in hospital on 13th August 1920, at the age of 31 years old.

The body of Bertie James Parsons was taken back to Ashbrittle for burial. He was laid to rest in the village’s St John the Baptist Churchyard.

Tragedy was to remain close by for the Parson family. Florence was a couple of months pregnant when Bertie died. Bertie Jr was born on 26th March 1921, but both mother and son died during childbirth. They were laid to rest near her family in Devon.

Douglas, just two years old, was now an orphan. There is little information about his life in the aftermath of his parents’ passing, but by the time of the 1939 Register, he was working as a motor mechanic in Wellington, Somerset. He lived on until 1993, passing away in Taunton Deane, at the age of 74.

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

Private William Harcombe

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Private William Harcombe

William Harold Harcombe was born on 25th September 1897 in Sampford Arundel, Somerset. One of twelve children, his parents were William and Jane Harcombe. William was an agricultural engine driver who, by the time of the 1911 census, had moved the family five miles north west to Ashbrittle.

When war came to Europe, William was one of the first to enlist, joining the Devonshire Regiment in August 1914. He was assigned to the 8th Battalion, and after nine months’ training, he found himself in Northern France.

Private Harcombe’s troop was involved in some of the fiercest skirmishes of the conflict, at Loos in the autumn of 1915, and at the Somme the following year. It was during this battle – probably at Delville or High Wood – that he was injured.

William was medically evacuated to Britain for treatment, and was admitted to a military hospital in Mile End, London. His injuries were to prove too severe, however, and he succumbed to them on 31st July 1916: he was just 18 years of age.

The body of William Harold Harcombe was brought back to Somerset for burial. He was laid to rest in the tranquil graveyard of St John the Baptist Church in Ashbrittle.

Commonwealth War Graves, Glamorganshire, Great War, history, illness, photography, Private, Somerset, story, Wales, war, Welch Regiment

Private George Stevens

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Private George Stevens

George Henry Stevens was born in Winscombe, Somerset, in the spring of 1869. The oldest of four children, his parents were blacksmith Joseph (or John) Stevens and his wife, Eliza.

When he finished his schooling, George found work as a collier. In 1893, he married a woman called Maria, and went on to have three children: Edward, Mary and Charlie. By 1900 the family had moved to South Wales for his work. They settled in Llanwonno, Glamorganshire, and went on to have three more children: John, Cyril and George Jr.

By 1911, George and Maria had been married for eighteen years. George was working as a repairer for the colliery, while Edward had followed his father into the mines.

When war came to Europe’s shores, George stepped up to play his part. He enlisted in the Welch Regiment, and was assigned to the 1st/5th Battalion. While his full service records no longer exist, his troop served in Gallipoli during 1915, so it is possible that he spent times overseas.

By January 1916, however, Private Stevens was back in Britain, and had become unwell. Again, little specific information remains, but he passed away on 30th January 1916, having fallen into a diabetic coma. He was 47 years of age.

George Henry Stevens was brought back to Somerset for burial. He was laid to rest in the graveyard of Holy Trinity Church in Cleeve, where Maria had moved back to with the family when her husband went to war.

Commonwealth War Graves, Essex, Great War, history, illness, photography, Private, Royal Fusiliers, Somerset, story, Surrey, war

Private Hamlyn Perham

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Private Hamlyn Perham

Hamlyn Horwood Perham was born in the autumn of 1872, one of seven children to William and Margaret. William was a solicitor from Wrington in the north part of Somerset, but it was in the village of Flax Bourton that the family settled.

Expectations were high for Hamlyn, who was the Perhams’ oldest son: the 1881 census found him boarding as a student in a private school in Weston-super-Mare. Ten years later, he was back home, but listed as a law student. The 1901 census recorded him as living with his family, but a practicing solicitor, presumably alongside his father (who, the document notes, was a solicitor and a Lieutenant Colonel in the Somerset Light Infantry).

Colonel WE Perham, the commanding officer of the 3rd Volunteer Battalion Somerset Light Infantry, had just been retired, after a connection with the corps dating from the year 1861, when he joined as a private. His retirement will occasion within the regiment universal regret, for he deservedly held the esteem and respect of all ranks. That Colonel Perham was well qualified to command is shown by the high state of efficiency in which he leaves the 3rd Battalion. He had taken the higher examinations, and in tactics passed with distinction. An officer who has worked through all grades from private to commander should, indeed, be a practical administrator and leader, and Colonel Perham was essentially both, and his knowledge of military matters singled him out for the important divisional and other commands. Latterly he was foremost in organising officers’ rides through the West Country – an instruction much valued at the War Office.

Somerset Standard: Friday 15th February 1907

The next census, taken in 1911, found Hamlyn still living with his parents and older sister. The family were supported by three live-in staff: a cook, a parlour maid and a housemaid. Hamlyn’s younger brother, Herbert, had also followed their father into law and, according to the same census, had set up a practice in Nailsea, where he lived with his wife of three years.

When war came to Europe, Hamlyn quickly stepped up to play his part. He enlisted in the Royal Fusiliers as a Private, and was assigned to the 23rd Service Battalion, also known as the 1st Sportsmen’s. Based at a camp in Hornchurch, Essex, Private Perham’s service was not to be a long one. He contracted meningitis, and was admitted to the South Western Hospital in Southwark. Sadly, the condition was to get the better of him: he died in hospital on 20th February 1915, at the age of 42 years old.

Hamlyn Horwood Perham’s body was brought back to Somerset for burial. He was laid to rest in the family plot in St Michael’s Church, Flax Bourton.

Commonwealth War Graves, Great War, history, illness, Labour Corps, photography, Private, Somerset, story, war, West Midlands

Private Albert Pearce

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Private Albert Pearce

Albert Edwin Pearce was born on 12th November 1883 in Bristol. Gloucestershire. One of nine children, his parents were William and Mary Pearce. William was a farmer and grazier and, when he finished his schooling, Albert followed him into farm work.

In 1908, when Albert was 25, his older sister Olive was widowed: the following year, their mother, Mary, also passed away. Olive’s late husband had been a farmer in Tickenham, near Clevedon, and so Albert and his older brother Walter moved in with Olive and her four children to help run the farm.

When war came to Europe, Albert stepped up to play his part. Full service details are not available, he served with the Labour Corps. Attached to the 446th Agricultural Company, towards the end of the conflict, he seems to have been serving in the West Midlands.

By the autumn of 1918, Private Pearce was admitted to the Military Hospital on Dudley Road in Birmingham. Details of his condition are not available, but they were to take his life. He passed away on 19th November 1918: he had celebrated his 35th birthday just a week before.

Albert Edwin Pearce’s body was brought back to Somerset for burial. He was laid to rest in the quiet graveyard of St Peter & St Paul’s Church in Weston-in-Gordano. He was buried in the family plot, reunited with his mother: his father, William, would be interred there just five months later, when he died in April 1919.

Commonwealth War Graves, Devonshire Regiment, Great War, history, illness, Norfolk Regiment, photography, Private, Somerset, Somerset Light Infantry, South Africa, story, war

Private Thomas Fear

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Private Thomas Fear

Thomas Fear was born in around 1872 in East Pennard, Somerset. The youngest of six children, his parents were Thomas and Harriet Fear. Thomas Sr was a general labourer, who had moved his family to Bath, where work was more plentiful, by the time of the 1881 census.

When Thomas Jr finished his schooling, he sought bigger and better things. He enlisted in the Devonshire Regiment, and while his service records no longer exist, other documents confirm that he fought in the Second Boer War in South Africa at the turn of the century.

On 5th August 1893, Thomas had married Bath-born Sarah Hughes, who was the daughter of a printer’s machinist. The couple went on to have three children: Albert, Nora and Rose. By the time of the 1911 census, the family were living in a four-roomed apartment near the centre of Bath. Thomas was employed as a stoker for a gas company, Albert was working as a tailor’s errand boy, and Nora had found employment at a lace factory.

When war broke out, Thomas felt the calling to serve his country once more. He enlisted on 1st September 1914, just weeks after conflict had broken out, joining the Somerset Light Infantry. His service records confirm that he was 5ft 5ins (1,65m) tall and weighed 136lbs (61.7kg). He was noted as having brown hair, blue eyes and a fair complexion.

Private Fear was transferred to his old regiment – the Devonshire – at the end of September, remaining on home soil until September 1915. At this point, his troop was sent to France, but he was not to remain on the Western Front for long. In November, his troop was sent to the Eastern Mediterranean, and for the next year, Thomas was based in Salonika.

While in Greece, Thomas contracted malaria, and this was to continue to affect his health in the months and years to come. By Christmas 1916, he had been sent back to Britain, and the following September, he was medically discharged from the army as he was no longer physically fit to continue.

At this point, Thomas’ trail goes cold. At the end of December 1917, “after much suffering patiently borne” [Bath Chronicle and Weekly Gazette: Saturday 5th January 1918], Sarah passed away, aged just 44 years of age. All of the children were of age by this point, and it can only be assumed that Rose, at least, was still residing in the family home.

The funeral took place at Locksbrook on Monday of the late Private Fear, whose death occurred at the [Bath] War Hospital. Private Fear, whose age was 45 [sic], was an old soldier, and had seen service in the South African and the late European Wars. In the latter he served with the 2nd/4th Battalion of the Norfolk Regiment, from which he was discharged in May, 1916. As an army pensioner, he was sent to the War Hospital by the Ministry of Pensions, but, unfortunately, his case proved fatal.

Bath Chronicle and Weekly Gazette: Saturday 18th October 1919

Thomas was actually 47 at the time of his passing, and it seems likely that he died of the condition that had resulted in his medical discharge from the army, malaria.

Thomas Fear was laid to rest in the military section of Locksbrook Cemetery, Bath, not far from where Sarah had also been buried.

Commonwealth War Graves, Essex, Great War, history, London, photography, Private, Royal Army Service Corps, Somerset, story, Suffolk Regiment, unknown, war

Private Frank Harvey

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Private Frank Harvey

Frank Ernest Harvey was born at the start of 1892, the youngest of seven children to George and Clara Harvey. George was from Bethnal Green, London, and worked as a telegraphist clerk for the Post Office. By the time Frank was born, the family had moved to Leytonstone, while the 1901 census records them as living in Ilford.

On the day of the next census, in 1911, George and Clara were visiting friends in Guildford, Surrey. The four of their children who were still living with them were all at the family home. Ida, their daughter, was not listed as having any employment, while her three brothers were all working a clerks: one for an ironmonger, one for a stockbroker and Frank for an electrical engineer.

When war broke out, Frank stepped up to serve his king and his country. Little information is available about his military career, and, while his headstone confirms he was in the Suffolk Regiment, other records suggest that he had transferred to the regiment from the Royal Army Service Corps.

There is also little information about Private Harvey’s passing. Based on the fact that he was laid to rest in the Locksbrook Cemetery, Bath, it is likely that he had been admitted to the city’s War Hospital. This did not specialise in any single condition or set of conditions, so it could be that Frank was sent there to recuperate from an injury, or to recover from an illness.

Sadly, neither was to be the case, and Private Frank Ernest Harvey passed away on 9th February 1918. He was 26 years of age.

Bombardier, Commonwealth War Graves, Gloucestershire, Great War, history, illness, photography, Private, Royal Garrison Artillery, Somerset, story, war

Bombardier Albert Packer

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Bombardier Albert Packer

Albert Edward Farvis Packer was born in Bristol, Gloucestershire, in 1890. The middle of three children, his parents were Francis and Eliza. Francis was a grocer, and when Albert finished his schooling, he worked as his father’s assistant.

Albert went on to work as a butcher’s manager for Messers. John Lewis and Sons in Midsomer Norton. By the time of the 1911 census, he was living in Batheaston with his parents and younger sister, Elsie. When war broke out, Albert stepped up to play his part, following in his older brother’s footsteps. He enlisted in Taunton on 9th December 1915: his service records showed that he was 5ft 10.5ins (1.79m) tall.

Gunner Packer was assigned to the Royal Garrison Artillery. Initially posted to a depot in Cornwall, he was soon assigned to the 173rd Siege Battery, and found himself in France by the beginning of October 1916. Albert remained overseas for the next fourteen months and, in March 1917, was appointed Acting Bombardier.

On 12th December 1917, Albert returned home on leave and, five days later, he married his sweetheart, stationery shop assistant Dorothy Flower, in St Paul’s Church, Bath. The couple made their way to Bristol, to stay with Dorothy’s parents, but Albert fell ill. He was admitted to the 2nd Southern General Hospital in Bristol, suffering from pleurisy and double pneumonia. The condition was to prove too much for his body, and he passed away, while still admitted, on 27th December 1917. He was just 27 years of age.

Albert Edward Farvis Packer was taken back to Bath for burial. He was laid to rest in the sweeping vista of the city’s Locksbrook Cemetery.

In less than a fortnight, Dorothy had become the blushing bride and a widow. She was to go on and find happiness, however. On 20th February 1920, she married Sapper Sidney Bethell, of the Royal Engineers. Their wedding was in Jamaica, where he was based, and the couple went on to have a daughter, Phyllis, the following year.

Sidney and Dorothy eventually settled in Hertfordshire. He died in 1953, at the age of 59: Dorothy passed the next 38 years as a widow again, passing away on 26th December 1991 – almost exactly 74 year after Albert – at the age of 93.

Albert’s older brother, Francis Packer, also fought and died in the First World War. His story can be found here.