Category Archives: Sergeant

Commonwealth War Graves, Great War, history, illness, North Somerset Yeomanry, photography, Sergeant, Somerset, South Africa, story, war, Welch Regiment

Serjeant George Collins

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Serjeant George Collins

Details of the lives of those who fell during the Great War can be limited by the documentation that is available more than a century later. Based on what remains, the life of George Collins would have been technical and sparse.

From the formal documents that remain, it is possible to determine that he was born in Bath, Somerset, in 1870 or 1871, and his father was farmer Oliver Collins.

George married Florence Lydyard on 25th January 1896 at the parish church in Bathampton. George was listed as a cellarman, while Florence was noted as being the daughter of George Lydyard, an agent.

The 1901 census found the couple living at the Liberal Club in Bath, which they were both managing. The couple had had a son, George Jr, who was born in 1898, and were employing a servant to help with the daily chores.

The 1911 census shows that George had left the club behind, and was employed as a gymnastic instructor. He and Florence now had four children: Mona, who was 14 (and who didn’t appear on the previous census); George; and twins Marjorie and Dorothy, who were born on 5th July 1904.

The limited military documentation confirms that George enlisted in the North Somerset Yeomanry by October 1917. He was assigned to the 2nd/1st Battalion, which was a mounted division that became a cyclist unit. The troop was based on home soil throughout the war and, depending on when he joined, George could have served anywhere from Northumberland to East Anglia or Southern Ireland.

These details, while uncovering something of George’s life, remain as clinical as the engraving on his headstone. With Serjeant Collins, it is a newspaper article on his passing that adds humanity to his life:

Many friends in Bath will regret to hear that Sergeant George Collins died on Saturday at the Bath War Hospital, where he had been an inmate for seven weeks, suffering acutely from gastritis. Deceased, who was a Bathonian by birth, when a youth joined the Welsh Regiment, and served for seven years in the 1st Battalion… He returned to Bath 21 years ago, and became a drill and physical instructor to several schools… whilst he also instructed evening classes at Guinea Lane and St Mary’s Church House. Being a Reservist he was called upon for the South African War, and Sergeant Collins rejoined his old regiment in 1899. He was wounded and invalided home… When he recovered from his wounds, Sergeant Collins resumed his work as an instructor at schools, and continued to act in that capacity until 1915. Though 44 years of age and not liable for military service, he very patriotically rejoined; he entered the North Somerset Yeomanry and became a drill instructor. He had not been abroad in this war, but had served in several places with the 2/1st NSY. The fatal illness became very pronounced in January when on leave, and he was not able to rejoin his unit. Sergeant Collins was a fine boxer, and became middle-weight champion of the Army when serving with the 1st Welsh. His experience as a trainer was often in request locally, and he had acted in that capacity to the most successful Avon Rowing Club crews. Deceased leaves a widow, one son, and three daughters. His only boy, Sapper George Collins, Wessex [Royal Engineers], has been serving at Salonika since 1915.

Bath Chronicle and Weekly Gazette: Saturday 13 April 1918

Beyond the staid, formal documents is a life well lived. Serjeant George Collins was 47 or 48 years old when he passed on 5th April 1918; the army record noted the cause of his death as a cerebral haemorrhage. His body was laid to rest in the graveyard of St Mary the Virgin Church, Bathwick, overlooking the city he loved.

Commonwealth War Graves, Glamorganshire, Great War, history, India, injury, London, photography, Quartermaster, Royal Garrison Artillery, Sergeant, Somerset, story, war

Quartermaster Serjeant Iva Brewer

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Quartermaster Serjeant Ivor Brewer

Iva Victor Brewer was born on 2nd May 1886, the fourth of four children to James and Annie Brewer. James was a farm labourer from Weston-super-Mare, but the family were living in Bathampton by the time of Iva’s birth. James died in 1887, and Annie remarried three years later. Her new husband, Thomas Dolman, was the manager of the George Inn in Bathampton, and the couple went on to have four children of their own, half-siblings to Iva.

Tragedy struck again when Annie passed away in February 1897, at the age of just 37 years old. By the time of the next census in 1901, Iva was boarding with his stepfather’s parents; the following year, however, Thomas also passed away, and the children were left to build their own lives.

Iva – who was now going by his middle name, Victor – found an escape in the army and, according to the 1911 census was an Acting Bombardier in No. 69 Company of the Royal Garrison Artillery, based in Colaba, at the tip of the Mumbai peninsula.

By the time war was declared, Victor had cemented his military career. Full details of his service are no longer available, but the summer of 1916 he had left India for Aden, and was then mentioned in dispatches that October for his bravery in the field at the Somme.

In November 1917, the now Battery Quartermaster Sergeant Brewer was injured in fighting at Passchendaele, and was medically evacuated to Britain for treatment. It seems that he was treated in South Wales, and it seems a whirlwind romance set in when he was living in Pontardawe, near Swansea. On 2nd January 1918, Victor married Laura Seddon, a railway inspector’s daughter from the village of Ystalyfera, just up the valley from Victor.

The couple moved to Bathampton before Victor returned to the fighting. He was badly wounded and, having been evacuated back to Britain in May 1918, he was admitted to the Northern Central Hospital in London where his shattered leg was amputated. Sadly, bronchial pneumonia set in while he was recovering, and he passed away from the subsequent sepsis. Quartermaster Sergeant Brewer passed away on 7th May 1918, days after his 32nd birthday.

Iva Victor Brewer was brought back to Bathampton for burial. He was laid to rest in the quiet graveyard of St Nicholas’ Church in the village.

Tragedy was to strike again, sadly. After his funeral, Laura returned to Wales and found employment at a draper’s store.

…the loss of her husband played on her mind.

On Monday she set off for Bathampton, and on her way posted two letters to her late husband’s relatives.

One ran: “I cannot live without my husband. If you don’t hear from me, search Bathampton, as I shall be there somewhere.” Another letter asked her relatives to let her mother in the Swansea Valley know.

She reached Bath, and it is thought she there took a taxi to Bathampton. She then paid a visit to the cemetery, and placed her hat and handbag on her husband’s grave. At the canal-side nearby she laid her fur coat on the bank, and, it is supposed about midnight, plunged into the water

Western Gazette: Friday 9th April 1920

Laura was just 27 years old when she died: she was buried with Victor, husband and wife reunited again.

Canada, Canadian Infantry, Commonwealth War Graves, Great War, history, illness, killed in action, photography, Private, Sergeant, Somerset, story, war

Serjeant Frederick Francis

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Serjeant Frederick Francis

Frederick John Francis was born on 15th February 1893, to Henry and Mary Francis. One of nine children, the family lived in the Somerset village of Curry Rivel.

Henry was a labourer, but Frederick had his sights set on a new life and, at some point in his teens, he emigrated to Canada to work as a farmer. Details of his life in North America are scarce, but it is clear that he was in Manitoba when war broke out back in Europe.

Frederick stepped up to serve his King and Country, enlisting at Camp Sewell on 5th April 1915. His service records confirm that he was 5ft 5ins (1.65m) tall, and weighed 145lbs (65.8kg). He was assigned to the 53rd Battalion of the Canadian Infantry. His service papers also note that he was promoted to the rank of Sergeant on 30th April 1915, although whether the date is correct, or whether Frederick had previous military experience is unclear.

Sergeant Francis boarded the SS Empress of Britain to make the journey back to Europe, little knowing that he was not going to see his home again. On 9th April 1916, just one day from docking in Hampshire, he passed away from quinsy, or throat abscess. He was just 23 years of age.

The body of Frederick John Francis was brought back to Somerset for burial. He was laid to rest in the graveyard of St Andrew’s Church in the village of his birth, Curry Rivel.

Frederick’s younger brother, Charles, had also made a life in Canada. He enlisted at Camp Sewell just two months after his brother, joining the same battalion.

Charles, who had the rank of Private, arrived in Europe before Frederick and, and was sent to the front line in February 1916. In June, he was involved in the fighting at Mount Sorrel, on the Ypres Salient, and it was here, on 6th June 1916, that he lost his life. He was just 21 years of age.

Charles Arthur Francis is commemorated on the Menin Gate in Ypres. His parents had to mourn the loss of two sons within two months.

Commonwealth War Graves, Great War, history, illness, Lancashire, photography, Sergeant, Somerset, Somerset Light Infantry, story, war, Wiltshire Regiment

Sergeant Herbert Rendall

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Sergeant Herbert Rendall

Herbert Edward Rendall was born in West Coker, Somerset, in the autumn of 1889. He was one of eight children to William and Mary Rendall. William was a foreman at a local twine factory, although by the time of the 1911 census, he had also taken on ownership of a local grocer’s shop. Herbert and his younger brother, Clifford, managed the shop for their father.

In the spring of 1913, Herbert married Thirza Shire. She was the daughter of an agricultural labourer from Yeovil and, by the time of their marriage, she had taken on work as a servant for the vicar of St Leonard’s Church in Misterton, near Crewkerne.

When war was declared, Herbert joined the Somerset Light Infantry. Sadly, little detail of his military service remains. It is clear that he was hard working and well thought of, as he progressed through the ranks to Sergeant, and transferred to the 1st Battalion of the Wiltshire Regiment.

Herbert served on the Western Front, and, as the war entered its final months, he would certainly have been involved in the Battles of the Lys, on the Hindenburg Line and in the closing Battles of the Somme.

By the autumn of 1918, Sergeant Rendall was back on home soil, either for home support, or for medical reasons. He was based in Bury, Manchester, and had fallen ill. While the full details are unclear, whatever condition he had contracted got the better of him, and he passed away on 4th November 1918. He was 29 years of age.

Herbert Edward Rendall was brought back to Somerset for burial. He was laid to rest in the quiet graveyard of St Martin’s Church in West Coker.

Records vary over the date of Herbert’s passing. While his headstone confirms 4th November, military records – and the Commonwealth War Graves Commission website – suggest the following day. Similarly, some documents suggest he was 30 when he died, while his birth and death records confirm he was in his thirtieth year.

Thirza went on to have a full life. She married again in 1923, to a Henry Tregale, and the couple went on to have a daughter. She lived to a ripe age, passing away in the autumn of 1981, at the age of 93.

Bedfordshire Regiment, Commonwealth War Graves, Great War, history, photography, Sergeant, Somerset, story, unknown, war

Serjeant Frederick Wilton

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Serjeant Frederick Wilton

Frederick Uriah Wilton was born in Yarlington, Somerset, in the spring of 1892. One of thirteen children, his parents were farm labourer Thomas Wilton and his wife Mary.

Frederick and his brothers followed their father into agricultural labouring, and, according to the 1911 census, the family were living and working at Shatwell Farm, on the outskirts of Yarlington itself.

When war broke out, Frederick was keen to play his part. Details of his military service are difficult to piece together, but what is clear is that he enlisted in the Bedfordshire Regiment.

During his time in the army, Frederick rose to the rank of Serjeant. He survived the war and, in 1919, he was placed on furlough while waiting to be demobbed. Sadly, it is likely that he fell ill during this time, and he passed away on 1st December 1919, at the age of 27.

Frederick Uriah Wilton was laid to rest in the graveyard of St Mary’s Church in Yarlington.

Serjeant Wilton’s headstone notes that he served in the Bedfordshire and Hertfordshire Regiment. The two regiments were amalgamated in 1919, and Frederick was recorded as having served in the newly formed regiment.

Commonwealth War Graves, Corporal, Great War, history, illness, Kent, Lance Serjeant, Middlesex, photography, Private, Sergeant, story, war, Wiltshire Regiment

Lance Serjeant John Whiddett

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Lance Serjeant John Whiddett

John Whiddett was born in Hammersmith, Middlesex, in 1892, and was one of thirteen children to Alfred and Mary Ann Whiddett. Alfred was a house painter while Mary Ann worked as a charwoman to bring in some additional money for the growing family.

John worked as a porter when he left school, but when war came to Europe, he stepped up to play his part. He enlisted in the Wiltshire Regiment in the summer of 1915, and was assigned to the 3rd (Reserve) Battalion.

While Private Whiddett served in France, he returned to Britain, and promoted to Corporal and then Lance Serjeant. His battalion eventually formed part of the Thames & Medway Garrison. Frederick found himself in Kent by the autumn of 1917 and served out the remainder of the war there.

At some point during the autumn of 1918, Lance Serjeant Whiddett fell ill. He was admitted to the Preston Hall Military Hospital in Aylesford, suffering from a combination of influenza and pneumonia. Sadly he was not to survive these lung conditions, and he succumbed to them on 22nd November 1918. He was just 26 years of age.

Finances may have restricted John’s family’s ability to bring his body back to Middlesex. Instead, he was laid to rest in the graveyard of St Peter and St Paul’s Church in Aylesford, Kent.

Buckinghamshire, Commonwealth War Graves, Company Sergeant Major, Corporal, Great War, history, illness, Kent, London, photography, Private, Rifle Brigade, Sergeant, South Africa, story, war

Serjeant Albert Rumbelow

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Serjeant Albert Rumbelow

Albert Edward Rumbelow was born in 1879 in Wycombe Marsh, Buckinghamshire. One of eleven children, his parents were Suffolk-born paper maker Philip Rumbelow and his wife, Jane.

Little information is available about Albert’s early life, although by the time of the 1901 census, he is recorded as being a Private in the Rifle Brigade. The family had moved to the village of Little Chart in Kent by this point, where his father was still continuing in the manufacture of paper.

Private Rumbelow’s military service is evidenced in later documents. He served with the 1st Battalion from 1895 to 1907, was awarded the South Africa medals for 1901 and 1902: he was also granted the clasp for his involvement in the defence of Ladysmith. He appears to have been wounded at this point, and was invalided out of full military service and placed on reserve.

In 1904, Albert was back in England, and living in London. That year he married Ellen Sillis, a cordwainer’s daughter from Norfolk. The couple set up home in Fulham, and went on to have five children: Abert Jr, Iris, Florence, Doris and Hilda.

By the time of the 1911 census, Albert was working at the local Public Hall, as a labourer, hall attendant and cleaner. The family were living at 9 Crabtree Lane in Fulham, sharing the property with the Fitzgerald family.

War was closing in on Europe by this point, and, once again, Albert stepped up to plat his part. He enlisted within days of conflict being declared, and within weeks had been given the rank of Corporal. His service records note that he was 5ft 10ins (1.78m) tall, weighed 156lbs (70.8kg), had brown hair and blue eyes. He was also recorded as having a tattoo of crossed rifles and a crown on his right forearm, and scared on his left calf, knee and eyebrow.

By the spring of 1915, Albert had been promoted again, to the rank of Serjeant. He was sent to France on 19th May, having been assigned to the 7th (Service) Battalion. Serjeant Rumbelow was involved at the Somme and was awarded the Distinguished Conduct Medal “for conspicuous gallantry” on 3rd June 1916. “He exposed himself to machine-gun and rifle fire when going across the open to rescue a wounded man. Later he went under fire to fetch a stretcher.”

Serjeant Rumbelow appears to have been injured in the skirmish, and was invalided to the UK later that month. When he recovered he was posted again, this time to the 18th (London) Battalion of the Rifle Brigade.

The following February he made the transfer across to the Labour Corps, and by March 1917, Serjeant Rumbelow was back in France. In August he was promoted to Company Sergeant Major, but was invalided back to England with bronchitis in February 1918.

When he recovered Albert was assigned to the 364th Area Employment Coy. in Kent, and seems to have voluntarily taken a drop in rank – back to Serjeant – in doing so. His health was dogging him by this point and in the late summer of 1918, he was admitted to Preston Hall Military Hospital in Aylesford, suffering from VDH, or heart disease.

Sadly, the strain of his military service was to be his undoing. He passed away from the heart condition on 21st September 1918, at the age of 39 years of age.

Albert Edward Rumbelow was laid to rest in the graveyard of St Peter & St Paul’s Church in Aylesford, not far from the hospital where he had breathed his last.

Now widowed, Ellen was left with the unenviable task of raising five young children on her own. She married again, to Private William Lake, on 8th June 1919, and the family moved to Essex. She lived until the age of 79, and was laid to rest in Sutton Road Cemetery in Southend.

Commonwealth War Graves, Gloucestershire Regiment, Great War, history, Kent, Lance Corporal, Malta, photography, Scotland, Second Lieutenant, Sergeant, story, unknown, war

Lieutenant Thomas Denny

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Lieutenant Thomas Denny

Thomas David William Denny was born on 26th December 1890 in Glasgow, Lanarkshire. There is little information on his early life, other than that his parents were Thomas and Annie Denny.

By the time of the 1911 census, Thomas Jr was serving as a Lance Corporal in the 2nd Battalion of the Gloucestershire Regiment, and was based at the Verdola Barracks in Malta.

When war broke out, the battalion was called back to mainland Europe. By 19th December 1914, Thomas found himself in France; two years later, he was in Salonika, Greece.

Thomas’ bravery was not in doubt. While serving in France, he received the Military Medal for conspicuous gallantry. This went hand in hand with a promotion to Sergeant. In 1917, he received a commission as Second Lieutenant and was moved to the regiment’s 3rd Battalion.

In the spring of 1918, Second Lieutenant Denny married Elsie, a woman from Bearsted, near Maidstone in Kent. Sadly, little else is known of her, and even a later newspaper report only referred to her as “a Bearsted lady” [East Kent Gazette: Saturday 15th March 1919].

By early 1919, Thomas was back in Britain. Whether he had been demobbed is unclear, but is seems more likely that he had returned home for medical treatment. On 6th March, he passed away in Maidstone. He was just 28 years of age.

Thomas David William Denny was laid to rest in the graveyard of Holy Cross Church in Bearsted close to where the now-widowed Elsie must have lived.

Commonwealth War Graves, Glamorganshire, Great War, history, Loyal North Lancashire Regiment, photography, Sergeant, story, unknown, Wales, war

Serjeant Frank Carter

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Serjeant Frank Carter

In the graveyard of St Augustine of Hippo Church in Penarth, Glamorgan, lies the Commonwealth War Grave for Serjeant Frank Carter. The headstone confirms that he had died on 31st August 1915 and that he was in the Loyal North Lancashire Regiment.

Little further information is available about him, apart from a few scattered details from a number of documents.

Frank’s burial record shows that he had been residing in The Fort, Penarth, a garrison constructed on the cliffs near the entrance to the harbour and Cardiff Bay. The record, written by George Turner, confirms that his burial was on 2nd September 1915, and that he was 51 years old when he passed.

Serjeant Carter’s record in the Army Register of Soldiers’ Effects confirm that he was in the 2nd/4th Battalion of his regiment, and that he must have enlisted at some point before February 1915. The document states that he died in the Western Hospital in Cardiff, and that his beneficiary was Miss M Smithson.

These few documents add up to very little, and do not provide enough information to concretely uncover anything else of Frank Carter’s life. His is a story that is destined to remain lost to time.

Frank shares his grave with another member of the Loyal North Lancashire Regiment, Private Edward Savage. Read his story here.

Commonwealth War Graves, Egypt, Great War, history, Hussars, illness, India, Kent, photography, Sergeant, Sergeant Trumpeter, story, war

Serjeant-Trumpeter Alexander de Vere

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Serjeant-Trumpeter Alexander de Vere

Alexander Johnstone de Vere was born on 10th August 1889 in Murree, India (now Pakistan). He was one of five children to Norfolk-born Alexander Johnstone (also known as John Ralph de Vere), and his wife Dorothea who had been born in Sangor, India. Alexander Sr was a Sergeant Major in the 12th Lancers, and the family returned to England not long after his son was born, settling first in Aldershot, then in Sandhurst.

Alexander’s youngest sibling, George, was born in Cairo, Egypt, so the family was on the move again. Sadly, Alexander Sr died in a nursing home in the city just two years later and, after returning to England, Dorothea passed away in a Holborn infirmary just two years later.

Documents for the de Vere children – Ellen, Alexander, Dorothea, William and George – are few and far between. The 1911 census places Dorothea boarding with a family in Kingston-upon-Thames, where she was employed as a dress maker. The same document records William as a Bandsman in the 1st Battalion of the Seaforth Highlanders, based at Chanpatia, in Northern India. George, meanwhile, was a schoolboy at the Duke of York’s Royal Military School on the outskirts of Dover. Of the two eldest siblings, however, there is no record.

In the autumn of 1912, Alexander married Emily Louise Collins. Born in Norfolk in 1884, she was working as a servant in a house in Surrey when she and Alexander met. The couple married in Faversham, Kent, and settle down there, their daughter, Dora, being born in the town in January 1915.

Given his family’s military background, it is not unsurprising that Alexander enlisted in the army almost as soon as war was declared. He may have already seen military service, as he enlisted in the 11th Hussars as a Lance Corporal. By 15th August 1914, Alexander was in France.

Lance Corporal de Vere was quickly caught up in the fighting. He saw action at Mons and Nery in 1914, and at Ypres the following year. By this point, he had been promoted to the rank of Sergeant Trumpeter, reflecting the musical connection he shared with his younger brother, William.

Alexander remained in France until January 1916, when he was invalided home. He was admitted to Dorchester County Hospital in Dorset, suffering from a cerebral abscess. Despite treatment, he succumbed to the condition, passing away on 17th March 1916, at the age of just 26 years old.

Alexander Johnstone de Vere was brought back to Kent for burial. He was laid to rest in Faversham Borough Cemetery.