Frederick John Ashton was born in Taunton, Somerset, in 1892. He was one of eight children to scavenger and labourer Thomas Ashton and his wife Susanna.
When he left school, Frederick found work as a carter, and this is the job he was doing in 1913, when he married local woman Ethel May Lock. The young couple went on to have two children, Olive and Phyllis.
War was on the horizon, and Frederick enlisted in June 1916. Initially assigned to the Royal Berkshire Regiment, Private Ashton was shipped off to France within a couple of months.
During his time there, he was promoted to Lance Corporal, but requested being reverted back to his previous rank a few months later. By this point, he had been transferred to the Labour Corps, the regiment in which he served for the rest of his time.
In March 1918, Frederick was badly wounded, and found himself invalided back to England. He was admitted to the Northumberland War Hospital in Newcastle-upon-Tyne, where his right leg was amputated. Sadly, it appears that the treatment came too late, and Private Ashton passed away on 27th August 1918. He was just 26 years old.
Frederick John Ashton lies at rest in St Mary’s Cemetery in his home town of Taunton.
George Western was born on 18th September 1881, one of seven children to Alfred and Jane. Alfred worked as a labourer, and the family lived in Taunton, Somerset.
Alfred died when George was only 12 years old, so his mother found work as a hawker to make ends meet. George married local woman Sarah Pinnell in 1900, and the two of them lived with Jane and her younger children, George working as a labourer to help the extended family.
George and Sarah went on to have seven children, and, by the time of the 1911 census, they had set up home in the centre of Taunton, just off the main high roads.
The Great War was on the horizon, though, and George was there to do his duty for King and Country. His service records no longer exist, so it is difficult to pin down any dates, but it seems that Private Western initially served with the Somerset Light Infantry, then then transferred to the Bedfordshire Regiment.
George was assigned to the 3rd Garrison Battalion of the Bedfordshire Regiment. While there is nothing to confirm his activities during the war, this particular battalion were formed in January 1917, and were stationed initially in India and then in Burma. Private Western’s medal records suggest, however, that he served his time on home soil.
By May 1918, George was definitely back in Somerset. He had caught an undisclosed illness by this point, and had been admitted to the Military Hospital in Bristol. Sadly, whatever the illness was (and it seems likely that it would have been one of the many lung conditions that were sweeping the country at the end of the First World War) it got the better of him. Private Western passed away on 29th May 1918 at the age of 36 years old. [The war grave gives an incorrect age.]
George Western lies at peace in St Mary’s Cemetery in his home town of Taunton, Somerset.
Henry Boon was born in May 1880, the youngest of ten children to Edwin and Fanny Boon. Edwin worked in service – consecutive census records list him as a manservant, coachman and gardener – and the family lived in the Somerset town of Taunton.
Henry was working as a packer in a factory when he met Alice Mockridge. The couple married in June 1902, and went on to have three children – Henry, Dorothy and Vera.
By the time of the 1911 census, Henry had put the factory behind him and was working as a labourer in the local sewage works. Employed by the town council, it is likely that the job paid more, particularly with a young family to support. Alice was also working, doing ironing and sewing to help them make ends meet.
Storm clouds were gathering over Europe, however, and soon Henry was needed to do his duty. Full details of his military service are not readily available, but he joined the Devonshire Regiment early on in the conflict, and was assigned as a Private to the 13th (Works) Battalion.
Private Boon seems to have been based in England for the duration, although full details of his movements are not clear. He was certainly living in Taunton by December 1916, and it was here that he fell ill.
Admitted to hospital with apoplexy, it seems that it was this haemorrhage or stroke that killed him. Private Boon passed away on 23rd December 1916. He was just 36 years of age.
Henry Boon lies at rest in St Mary’s Cemetery in his home town of Taunton in Somerset.
Albert Rudolph Percy was born in April 1889 in Taunton, Somerset. His parents were William Percy, a draper, and his wife, Elise, who had been born in Baden Baden, Germany. Elise’s background certainly influenced the naming of the couple’s five children, all sons with middle names ranging from Rudolph and Frederick, to Leopold and Felix.
All but the eldest of William and Elise’s children followed their father into the drapery business; after initially doing so when he left school, Albert’s older brother Frederick took holy orders, a following he continued for the rest of his days.
On the outbreak of war 1914, Albert volunteered for military service, leaving his father’s business behind him. Enlisting in the West Somerset Yeomanry, he was shipped off to to Colchester in Essex for training.
While taking two days’ leave in September that year, Private Percy returned home, and, on the first evening complained of feeling unwell. A doctor was summoned and diagnosed spinal meningitis. Albert was swift to succumb to the illness, passing away on 4th October 1914. He was just 25 years old and likely one of the first from Taunton to die whilst on active service.
Albert Rudolph Percy lies at rest in St Mary’s Cemetery in his home town of Taunton, Somerset.
William Harry David Bellham was born in September 1888, the only child to William and Rosina Bellham. William Sr was a foreman for a collar manufacturer, and the young family lived in Taunton, Somerset, in a house they shared with Rosina’s mother, Mary Hale.
Life continued pretty much unchanged. When William Jr left school, he became a stenographer for a coal merchant, and, when war erupted in 1914, he didn’t sign up as soon as you would expect for someone of his age.
William enlisted in February 1916 and was assigned to the Coldstream Guards – given he stood 5ft 11ins (1.8m) tall, this probably went in his favour. Initially placed on reserve duty, Private Bellham was eventually mobilised in January 1917, and sent to Caterham for training.
Within a matter of weeks, William had an accident. Slipping on some ice, he suffered an inguinal hernia, which subsequently became strangulated, causing him severe pain. After initial treatment in hospital, he was discharged, but was then admitted again five months later when the hernia returned. A further operation was ruled out by the medical examiner, and he was discharged from the army on medical grounds at the end of June 1917.
Once back in Taunton, it did become necessary for William to undergo an additional operation. This was carried out in the local hospital and, according to the records, was a success. Sadly, however, William subsequently contracted pneumonia, and he died on 10th December 1917. He was just 29 years old.
William Harry David Bellham was buried in St Mary’s Cemetery in his home town of Taunton.
Cruelly, the contemporary local media had a less sympathetic take on the incident that caused William’s troubles. The Taunton Courier and Western Advertiser [on Wednesday 26th December 1917] suggested that he “was not really strong enough to stand the strain and hardships of military training and was invalided out after some months’ service.” Not exactly the picture that his medical records had outlined.
Arthur Webb Butler Bentley was born on 1st January 1884 to Dr Arthur Bentley and his wife Letitia. The oldest of five children, they were a well-travelled family. Dr Bentley had been born in Devon, but his and Letitia’s first two children were born in Singapore, while their second two were born in Ireland, where Letitia herself had been born.
By the time of the 1891 census, the family were living in Paddington, London, where Arthur’s father was a medical practitioner.
Arthur Jr looked set to follow in his father’s footsteps; becoming a student of medicine in Edinburgh, although it seems his life was destined to take a different route.
By 1905, his father was working at a practice in Egypt. It was around this time that his mother made the newspaper headlines.
VICTIM OF CHROLODYNE
A painful story was told at the Clerkenwell Sessions when Letitia Bentley, the wife of a doctor holding an official position in Cairo, pleaded guilty to the theft of a diamond and ruby ring from the shop of Messrs. Attenborough, Oxford Street [London]. It was stated that Mrs Bentley was addicted to the drinking of spirits and chlorodyne, and that 240 empty bottles which had contained the latter drug had been found in her rooms in Bloomsbury.
Dr Bentley said he would keep his wife under strict supervision in the future, and she was bound over.
Shetland Times: Saturday 3rd June 1905.
The ring concerned was valued at five guineas (around £700 in today’s money), and another report confirmed that her husband “supplied her with ample means” [financially].
In the 19th century, chlorodyne was readily used as a treatment for a number of medical conditions. Its principal ingredients were a mixture of laudanum (an alcoholic solution of opium), tincture of cannabis, and chloroform, it readily lived up to its claims of relieving pain and a sedative.
Letitia does not appear in any other contemporary media; sadly, however, she passed away “at sea” in June 1907, presumably on the way to or from Cairo, where Arthur Sr was still working. She was just 47 years old.
Arthur seems to have taken the decision to move away, and he emigrated to Canada, settling in Winnipeg. Leaving England behind, he left the idea of medicine with it, finding work as a lineman instead, constructing and maintaining telegraph and power lines.
Arthur’s father is the next member of the family to appear in the local newspapers. Working in Cairo during the winter and Llandrindod Wells in the summer, he travelled to Wales in April 1911. One evening he collapsed and died while in the smoking room of his hotel. The media reported that he was “formerly Colonial Surgeon to the Straits Civil Service, Singapore” and that “he was going to deliver a lecture at Owen’s College [now the Victoria College of Manchester] on tropical diseases, upon which he was an expert.“
Arthur Jr was now 27, and had lost both of his parents. War was on the horizon, though, and he seemed keen to become involved. He enlisted in December 1915, joining the Canadian Expeditionary Force. His sign-up papers gave him as just short of 32 years old, standing at 5ft 8ins (1.72m) tall, with a fair complexion, blue eyes and brown hair. The document also recorded his next of kin as his brother, William, who was living near Cairo.
Arthur arrived in England on 25th September 1916; during his time in the army he remained on English soil, primarily at a signal base in Seaford. Transferred to a reserve battalion in January 1917, he was eventually discharged seven months later.
His records suggest that his services were no longer required, but t is likely that Arthur’s discharge was his transfer to the Yorkshire Regiment, complete with a commission.
The now Second Lieutenant Bentley was assigned to the 3rd Special Reserve Battalion but never saw action in Europe. The troop’s main duties were to train men for service overseas and to provide coastal defences. While there is no confirmation of exactly where Arthur was based, there were units in and around Hartlepool, County Durham.
Sadly, there is little further information about Arthur. By the end of the war, he was living in Taunton, Somerset, where his younger sister Eileen had settled. Second Lieutenant Bentley survived the war, but passed away not long afterwards, on 2nd December 1918. There is no cause given for his death. He was just 35 years old.
Arthur Webb Butler Bentley lies at rest in St Mary’s Cemetery in Taunton, Somerset.
Francis Jesse Stone – known as Frank – was born in 1899, one of five children to William and Sarah Stone. William was a general handyman – his census records record him variously as a labourer, carpenter and carman (or carter) – and the family lived in the village of Bishop’s Hull, on the outskirts of Taunton, Somerset.
Given when he was born, documentation for Frank’s early life is limited to the 1901 and 1911 censuses. We are restricted, therefore, to the information provided by the medal rolls.
Frank was under age when he joined up. He enlisted in the Somerset Light Infantry on 27th December 1914, when he could only have been 15 years old. He was assigned to the Depot Battalion, and was shipped to France the following year.
Sadly, there is little other information about Private Stone. He survived the war and returned to England, but passed away on 8th February 1919. No cause of death is evident, but it seems likely to have been one of the lung conditions running rampant across the country at the time, probably influenza, tuberculosis or pneumonia. When he died, Frank was just 20 years old.
Frank Jesse Stone lies at rest in St Mary’s Cemetery in his home town of Taunton, Somerset.
Robert William Mayers – also known as Bob – was born in 1888, one of nine children to Charles and Louisa Mayers from Taunton in Somerset. Charles was a solicitor’s clerk, whose work changed direction in the 1890s, and who became a general labourer.
When Robert left school, he became a carpenter, while his older brother became a motor mechanic, and other siblings became messengers, collar machinists and housemaids.
With war on the horizon, Robert enlisted. His full service records no longer exist, but he enrolled in the Bedfordshire Regiment and joined the 3rd Garrison Battalion. While there is no evidence of Private Mayers’ time in the army, it is likely that he saw some service in India and Burma during and after the Great War.
Robert returned to England after being demobbed, but, having survived the war, was suffering from tuberculosis. Sadly, the condition was to get the better of him, and he passed away at his parents’ home on 2nd May 1921. He was 34 years old.
Robert William Mayers lies at rest in St Mary’s Cemetery in Taunton, Somerset.
Ernest Baker’s early life is a bit of a muddle; Born in 1878 in Somerset, it’s a challenge to unpick specific details, as there are two Ernest Bakers, both of whom have parents of the same name – Henry and Sarah – and have siblings with similar names too. Was Ernest’s father, therefore, a thatcher from Meare near Glastonbury or a travelling draper from Taunton.
In fact, it was a newspaper article from April 1915 that helped unlock the confusion.
The Taunton Courier and Western Advertiser confirmed that Ernest’s full name was Ernest Bond Baker, and that his father – who had passed away by the time of Ernest’s death – was from Bishop’s Hull, a village near Taunton.
This would seem to confirm, therefore, that his father was a travelling draper.
Ernest was one of ten children. His father died when he was only fifteen years old, by which time Ernest had left school and found employment as a basket weaver, a trade which was prevalent on the Somerset Moors.
Sarah, a widow at only forty, took in laundry to make ends meet. Of Ernest’s two older brother, one had passed away as a teenager, while the other had gone on to have a wife and family of his own. It was left to Ernest, therefore, to remain at home and support his mother and younger siblings.
Ernest met and married local butcher’s daughter Bessie Glover in 1900, and the couple went on to have seven children. After a spell living in Wiltshire, the young family moved back to Somerset, settling in Bridgwater, where Ernest continued to ply his trade.
Ernest’s military service records are lost to time; he enlisted in the Somerset Light Infantry, joining the 5th Battalion at some point early in the war (certainly before October 1914). Private Baker’s battalion seems to have been part of a territorial/reserve force, and he was based in his home town of Taunton.
In early April 1915, Ernest fell ill, and was admitted to the Voluntary Aid Detachment Red Cross Hospital in Yeovil, suffering from bronchitis and pneumonia. Sadly, the lung conditions were such that he was succumb to them, and he passed away on 16th April 1915. He was just 36 years old.
Ernest Bond Baker lies at rest in St Mary’s Cemetery in his home town of Taunton, Somerset, the same cemetery where his father and brother were buried.
William Gulliford was born on 8th November 1877 in the village of Thurloxton, just to the north of Taunton, Somerset. William’s father – also called William – was an agricultural labourer who, with his wife Charlotte, had nine children in total.
William Jr found work as a labourer for a brewery and, by 1899, had moved to Staffordshire, met and married a local woman called Elsie Sutton. The couple settled down in Burton-on-Trent, and went on to have a daughter, also called Elsie.
War was coming, however, and, in August 1916, William enlisted. Initially assigned as a Private in the 14th Devonshire Regiment, he was soon moved to the Labour Corps, and within a couple of months was on the Western Front as part of the British Expeditionary Force.
In November 1917, Private Gulliford was shipped back to England, suffering from ill health. He was admitted to the Military Hospital in Taunton with heart failure, and sadly passed away from this a month later. He had just turned 40 years old.
William Gulliford lies at rest in St Mary’s Cemetery in Taunton, Somerset.
Death and Service 