Robert Muckart Templeton was born in Glasgow, Scotland, in 1894. He was the fourth of five children to shipyard labourer William Templeton and his wife, Agnes.
There is little information on Robert’s early life: the family’s 1911 census records are lost, so it is not possible to identify what work he took on when he left school. It is, however, reasonable to assume that he joined his father in the shipyards.
When war broke out, Robert was one of the first to enlist. He joined the Royal Scots Fusiliers, and, as a Private, was assigned to the 8th (Service) Battalion. His troop was sent to Salisbury Plain, Wiltshire, for training, and he was camped at Codford St Mary.
Towards the end of October, the 8th Battalion was moving to Bristol, and it was at this point that the fates intervened for Private Templeton. Suffering from an acute bout of appendicitis, he was admitted to the Abbas and Templecombe hospital. The condition was to prove his undoing and, on 1st November 1914, he passed away. He was just 20 years of age.
A shipyard labourer’s wages were not going to be enough to transport a body halfway across the country, so the Templetons were left with little choice but to have their son buried close to where he died. Robert Muckart Templeton was laid to rest in the quiet graveyard of St Mary’s Church, in Templecombe, Somerset.
Editor’s note: My gratitude goes to Christine Scott, who was able to furnish me with details of Robert’s death.
Bernard Charles Sugg was born in the spring of 1895 and was the third of eight children to Charles and Emma. Charles was a farm labourer from Somerset and the family were raised in Templecombe, to the south of Wincanton.
While Bernard’s older brother William followed their father into farm labouring, Bernard found employment working with a builder and mason when he left school.
When war broke out, the Sugg brothers wanted to step up and play their part for King and Country. William enlisted in the Royal Engineers in May 1915, while Bernard joined the Devonshire Regiment the following February.
Little information is available about Private Bernard Sugg’s military life. He was assigned to the 12th (Labour) Battalion, and was sent to France within a couple of months. He spent a year on the Western Front, but fell ill in the spring of 1917, and was brought back to Britain for treatment. Admitted to the Ladywell Hospital in Bermondsey, South London, with a fever, he passed away on 4th April 1917, aged just 22 years old.
Bernard Charles Sugg was brought back to Somerset for burial. He was laid to rest in the family plot in the graveyard of St Mary’s Church in his home village of Templecombe. Understandably distraught at her boy’s untimely death because of the conflict, on his mother’s wishes, his funeral was not accorded military honours.
Private William Sugg had an active career with the army. Having joined the Royal Engineers after being a platelayer for the local railway, he transferred across to the 2nd/4th Battalion of the York and Lancaster Regiment.
William was caught up in the fighting on the Western Front in the closing months of the war, and was killed on 25th August 1918. He was 25 years old, and was laid to rest at Gommecourt South Cemetery.
Charles and Emma had lost their two eldest boys to the Great War, but their younger three sons – Arthur, Reginald and Harold – were too young to be called up.
John Sherrin was born in Langport, Somerset, in the summer of 1874. The youngest of three children, his parents were Arthur and Elizabeth Sherrin. Arthur was a cowman and farmer, and John was to follow him into agricultural labouring when he left school.
Arthur took the family where the work was: by the time of the 1891 census, they were living in Broadchalke, a village to the west of Salisbury, Wiltshire. Ten years later, the census notes Arthur and Elizabeth living in Dorset, while John was in Swindon, Wiltshire, working on a farm as a butter churner.
John’s father died in 1906, and Elizabeth went to live with her daughter’s family in Devon. The same year, John returned to Somerset, where he married Bessie Kingsbury. She was a labourer’s daughter from Henstridge, who was working as a domestic servant. The couple went on to have four children – Marleen, Arthur, Albert and Grace.
John’s dairy work kept the family moving, and, according to the 1911 census, the Sherrins were living in a five-room cottage in Sturminster Marshall, Dorset.
When war came to Europe, John had turned 39 years old. He did not initially enlist – presumably because of his farm work – and it seems that he was only conscripted in the closing months of the conflict. He was called up to the Royal Defence Corps during the summer of 1918, and was assigned to 254 Company.
Private Sherrin was sent to an army camp in Tidworth, Wiltshire, and it was here that he served through the Armistice. He was waiting to be demobbed in December 1918, when he was admitted to the camp’s hospital. Details of his condition are unclear, but it was in the hospital that he passed away on 17th December 1918. He was 44 years of age.
While her late husband was serving, Bessie had returned to her family in Henstridge, and it was there that John’s body was brought. He was laid to rest in the graveyard of St Nicholas’ Church in the village.
Herbert John Burgess was born in the spring of 1883 in the Somerset village of Henstridge. He was the only child to Stephen and Sarah Burgess. Stephen was a farm labourer and, by the time of the 1901 census, the family had moved to nearby North Cadbury, where Herbert had also found farm work.
At this point, Herbert’s trail goes cold. None of the Burgesses appear on the 1911 census and, when war broke out, while documents confirm that Herbert enlisted, further details are limited.
Private Burgess joined the Devonshire Regiment, and was assigned to the 12th (Labour) Battalion. The troop was sent to France in June 1916, although it is unclear whether Herbert also went abroad. The next available record for him is that of his passing. He died on 10th February 1918, although, again, the cause and location of his passing is unknown. He was 35 years of age.
Wherever and however Herbert John Burgess died, he was brought back to Somerset for burial. He lies in a quiet corner of the graveyard of St Nicholas’ Church in his home village, Henstridge.
William Merritt was born in the summer of 1895 in Chippenham, Wiltshire. He was the youngest of three children to John and Elizabeth Merritt. John was a blacksmith, and he moved the family to Milborne Port, Somerset, when William was just a boy.
William found work as a shoesmith when he left school, but was one of the first to enlist when war broke out in 1914. He had his medical examination on 17th November, which confirmed that he was 5ft 5ins (1.65m) tall, had good vision and was of good physical development.
Initially assigned to the Dorset Yeomanry, Private Merritt’s trade soon found him taking on the role of Shoeing Smith for the battalion. He was obviously good at what he did, because by May 1915, he had been promoted to the rank of Corporal Shoeing Smith.
William had not enlisted in the army to make and mend shoes, however, and, in March 1916, he transferred to the Royal Garrison Artillery, back with the rank of Gunner. Rather than being sent to the Western Front, however, he found himself billeted at a camp in the West Midlands.
Little further information about Gunner Merritt’s service is available for the next couple of years. The next record for him comes on 5th November 1918, confirming his admission to the Birmingham War Hospital, as he was suffering from influenza and pneumonia. Sadly, his admittance to hospital was to prove too late: he passed away from heart failure the following day. Gunner Merritt was just 23 years of age.
William Merritt’s body was brought back to Somerset for burial. He was laid to rest in the cemetery of the town in which he had plied his trade before the war, Milborne Port.
William’s sparse personal effects were also returned to his parents. The records note that these included: “pair [of] boots, 6 postcards, razor, comb, toothbrush, shaving soap and brush, letter, pair of socks, bell.”
Another bureaucratic error is highlighted in a letter sent from the hospital in which William passed to his regiment’s records office notes that “I have to inform you that the body was forwarded to his Wife for burial…” William was unmarried, and his body was actually returned to his mother, Elizabeth.
Leon D Frenette was born on 2nd June 1893, in the coastal village of Petit Rocher, New Brunswick, Canada and was the son of Denis and Sarah Frenette.
Leon’s early life is difficult to piece together – the 1901 Canadian census records five Frenette families living in the same neighbourhood, but of the two whose head is given as Denis, neither has a son by that name (although one has a son called Joseph Leon).
When war came to the distant European shores, Leon was working as a school teacher in Bathurst, a town 12 miles (20km) to the south of Petit Rocher. He stood up to play his part for King and Empire, though, having served in a local militia for a while.
Leon joined the Canadian Expeditionary Force as a Private. His service records give his height as 5ft 4ins (1.63m), his weight as 130lbs (59kg) and stated that he had a medium complexion, with brown eyes and black hair. In the section of the records that noted distinguishing marks, the medical officer had identified two small brown birthmarks on his left buttock.
Private Frenette arrived in England on board the SS Corsican on 5th November 1916. Assigned to the 132nd Battalion of the Canadian Infantry, he was based at a military camp near Bramshott, Hampshire. The influx of overseas soldiers would have been a bit of a shock to the locals, but Leon appears to have been up to the challenge. Within a matter of weeks, he was admitted to the camp hospital, suffering from a bout of gonorrhoea.
By the end of the year, Private Frenette had been transferred to the 104th Battalion, and moved to Witley Camp in Surrey. His ailment seems to have returned a couple of times, and he was admitted to the camp’s medical facility in January and March 1917.
By the autumn of 1917, Leon had been transferred again, this time to the 26th Battalion. The troop was based on the south coast at Shoreham, West Sussex, and it was from here, on 16th November 1917, that Private Frenette was finally sent to France.
Leon would have arrived at an already battle-scarred Western Front. Over the next year, he was involved in fighting at Cambrai and Arras. His time was not without incident, and he forfeited a day’s pay on 20th March 1918, for “contravention of full dress order, i.e. being without a belt.”
The 26th Battalion’s next offensive was at Amiens, and it was here, on 12th August 1918, that Private Frenette was badly wounded with a gun shot wound to his right arm. Initially treated on site, he was medically evacuated to England for further treatment.
Leon was first admitted to a hospital back in Bramshott, but then transferred to Bath War Hospital in Somerset. His medical report confirms that he was first seen there at 4:30pm on 20th March, and a compound fracture of his humerus. He haemorrhaged and died of shock at 11:45pm that day. He was just 25 years of age.
With family on the other side of the Atlantic, it was not going to be possible for Private Leon Frenette to be taken home for burial. Instead he was laid to rest in the Roman Catholic Cemetery of the city in which he had passed away, Bath.
William Stringer was born in Warlingham, Surrey, on 4th December 1885, and was one of nine children to Stephen and Jane Stringer. Stephen was a carter, but is seems that William wanted an escape.
On 18th April 1901, he enlisted in the Royal Navy and, because of his age, he was granted the rank of Boy 2nd Class. He was initially sent to HMS Impregnable, the school ship, and remained there for just over a year, during which his hard work paid off and he was promoted to Boy 1st Class.
His basic training complete, and after a short stint at HMS Vivid, the Royal Naval Dockyard at Devonport, he was assigned to HMS Collingwood. Over the next couple of years, William served on a couple more vessels and, in 1903, when he came of age, he was formally inducted into the navy, and given the rank of Ordinary Seaman.
William’s service records show that he was 5ft 4ins (1.63m) tall, had auburn hair, brown eyes and a fresh complexion. For distinguishing marks, he was noted as having two dots on his left forearm and scars on his legs.
Now that he was tied to a twelve year contract, Ordinary Seaman Stringer’s seems to have viewed his life in a different light. His ‘very good’ conduct quickly changed to ‘fair’ and, at the end of 1904, he spent two separate stints in the cells, presumably because of his attitude or behaviour.
This shock to the system seems to have been what William needed, however, as in 1905, he took to the new role, and his ratings improved once more. Over the next couple of years, he served on HMS Montagu and HMS Diamond, returning to Devonport in between voyages. In January 1907 he was promoted again, this time to Able Seaman, but, as with the previous promotion, things began to go downhill again.
In March, he spent two weeks in Diamond’s brig, a punishment that was repeated in September. The following month Able Seaman Stringer’s service records not his character as ‘indifferent’ and, the following month he was discharged from the Royal Navy, having refused to work for 42 days.
It was while he was serving on board HMS Diamond that William met Lena Cropp, who was presumably working in one of the ports on the South Coast. She was the daughter of labourer Jesse Cropp and his wife, Philadelphia. When Jesse died in 1897, Philadelphia married bricklayer James Smith, who had boarded with the family for a number of years.
William and Lena had a son, Joseph, on Christmas Day 1907. Now removed from the Navy, William moved his young family back to Surrey, where he found work as a cowman, and Lena took in laundry to bring in an extra income. The couple went on to marry in 1911, and went on to have two further children – Elsie, who was born in 1912, but who died when just a toddler; and Gladys, who was born in the summer of 1918.
When war closed in on Europe, something of a sense of duty must have pulled on William. He enlisted in the summer of 1915, joining the East Surrey Regiment. He seems to have quickly transferred across to the Labour Corps, and arrived in France on 15th July.
It is unclear for how long Private Stringer served in France, but at some point he returned to Britain. In October 1918, he was admitted to the War Hospital in Bath, suffering from stomach problems. His health was to prove his undoing, and he passed away from a biliary calculi peritonitis on 8th October 1918, at the age of 34 years of age.
Finances may have been tight for Lena, as William was buried in the city where he died, rather than being brought back to Surrey, where she was living. Because of this, it is unlikely that he ever met his daughter, who had been born just two months before.
William Stringer was laid to rest in the Roman Catholic Cemetery in Bath.
William’s Pension Ledger notes Lena as his widow, but only mentions one child – Joseph – as a dependent. The document also records him as an illegitimate stepchild, as he had been born a couple of years before the couple married.
The record notes that it, while Joseph’s legitimacy meant he was not eligible for a share of his William’s pension, it had been decided that the basic rate should be provided while he remained in Lena’s care.
The life of Francis – Frank – Barnes is destined to remain a mystery and, indeed, the majority of the information comes from his headstone and one document, the British Army Register of Soldiers’ Effects.
Frank’s headstone confirms that he was a Private in the Royal Army Service Corps, and that he died on 13th December 1917, though the cause of his passing is unknown. He is buried in Bath Roman Catholic Cemetery, so this also sheds light on his religion.
The British Army Register of Soldiers’ Effects suggests that he was also known as Frank McBarnes, although no further information comes to light with this alternative surname. The document confirms that he died in Bath War Hospital, and that his dependents were not eligible for a war gratuity, which suggests that he enlisted after June 1917.
Five dependents are highlighted on the record – Frank’s siblings Sabrina, Elizabeth, Margaret, Patrick and Thomas. This would suggest that both of their parents were dead by the time Frank himself passed away. Sadly, a combined search of the siblings doesn’t shed any light on their background, despite married names being given for Sabrina and Margaret, and an alternative surname – McManus – being provided for Thomas.
Some lives are not meant to be uncovered, and that of Frank Barnes, at rest in a peaceful Somerset cemetery, took everything to his grave.
John Maguire was born in Dublin, Ireland, in 1874. There is scant information about his life, and his name is too common to be able to narrow down details of his family.
The only documentation that links to his life is that of his army service. He was working as a labourer when he enlisted in the Royal Army Medical Corps on 27th April 1918. His service records confirm he was 5ft 7ins (1.7m) tall, with blue eyes, grey hair and a sallow complexion. Interestingly, he reported that he did not have any next-of-kin.
Private Maguire seemed to serve on home soil, and was primarily based in Lancashire. It was while here in the January of 1919 that he fell ill with nephritis – kidney disease – and was admitted to the hospital on Adelaide Street, Blackpool.
His condition was such that it led to John’s discharge from military service on medical grounds. On 23rd February he was moved to the 2nd Southern General Hospital in Bristol, and two days later he left army life. John was transferred to the War Hospital in Bath a couple of weeks later, and it was here that he passed away on 16th April 1919. He was 45 years of age.
An addition to John’s initial service records noted that a next-of-kin had been confirmed, and so Mary Prestige, who was living in Bedminster, to the south of Bristol, was informer of her friend’s death.
Respecting the Irishman’s religion, John Maguire was laid to rest in the Roman Catholic Cemetery in Bath, the city in which he died.
John’s friend, Mary Prestige, is also destined to remain a mystery. There are no records of her at the address John’s service records provide – Pipe Cottage, North Street, Bedminster.
There are two census records for Somerset for a Mary Prestige: 1901 records a Durham-born 18 year old Mary working as one of a number of laundry maids at the Marlborough Hill House of Refuge in Bristol.
The 1911 census records the same Mary Prestige visiting a William and Amelia Hockerday in Yatton, Somerset. It is impossible to confirm, however, whether this is the woman John notified the army as his next of kin.
William Ernest Fey was born in Harburton, Devon, in the spring of 1889. The oldest of eight children, his parents were John and Margaret Fey. John was a farm labourer and, when he left school, William also took up work on the farm. By the time of the 1911 census he was listed as a horseman.
When was came to Europe, William was one of the first to step up and play his part. He enlisted in the Devonshire Regiment in the autumn of 1914, and was assigned as a Private in the 10th (Service) Battalion.
For part of his training, he was billeted in Bath, Somerset, and it was here, in April 1915, that he contracted meningitis. Private Fey was admitted to the city’s Red Cross Hospital, but the condition was to prove too much. He passed away on 24th April 1915, aged just 26 years of age.
Financial restraints may have limited John and Margaret’s ability to bring their boy back to Devon. Instead, William Ernest Fey was laid to rest in the quiet and picturesque Smallcombe Vale Cemetery on the outskirts of the city where he died.
Death and Service 