Category Archives: Sergeant

Commonwealth War Graves, Great War, history, illness, Kent, Lance Corporal, London, photography, Royal Engineers, Sergeant, South Africa, story, war

Serjeant Albert Romain

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Serjeant Albert Romain

Albert William Romain was born in Gillingham, Kent, at the start of 1888, the middle of three children to Henry and Florence. Henry was a Sergeant in the Royal Engineers and is seemed inevitable that his son would follow suit.

Henry died in 1896, and was buried in the Grange Road Cemetery, Gillingham (now a public park). The 1901 census recorded Albert as a pupil at the Duke of York’s Royal Military Asylum in Chelsea. This was, in fact, a school for the children of soldiers, and it is likely that Albert was sent there to be educated when his father died.

The Royal Engineers obviously proved too great a lure for the young Albert. While full details of his service are not available, he had definitely enlisted early on, and was listed as a Lance Corporal in the Tempe barracks in Bloemfontein, South Africa in the 1911 census.

When war broke out, he was called back to Europe, as was on the Western Front by November 1914. Little further information on Albert is available – during the conflict he was assigned to D Company of the Royal Engineers, but the end of the war, he had become a Sergeant in the 1st Reserve Battalion.

In November 1918, back on UK soil, he was admitted to the Fort Pitt Military Hospital in Chatham, Kent. His condition is unclear, but sadly it was to be one to which he would succumb. Sergeant Romain died on 8th November 1918; he was just 30 years old.

Albert William Romain was laid to rest with his father in the Grange Road Cemetery. He is commemorated in the Woodlands Cemetery in his home town of Gillingham, Kent.

Commonwealth War Graves, Great War, history, illness, Kent, photography, Royal Engineers, Sergeant, story, war

Serjeant Thomas Myers

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Serjeant Thomas Myers

Thomas Francis Myers is destined to be one of those people whose story is destined to be lost to the annals of time. The only definite documents available for him are his pension records, which give his wife’s name as Ellen.

Sadly, with no date of birth for Thomas, no location other than his place of burial, and the potential for any number of alternative spellings for his surname, it’s impossible to track down any further details on his life.

His records show that he was a Serjeant in the Royal Engineers, and that he was discharged on medical grounds on 12th October 1918. Sadly, he succumbed to the conditions just a few days later, passing away from phthysis (tuberculosis) and exhaustion on 23rd October.

Thomas lies at rest in in the Woodlands Cemetery in Gillingham, Kent.

Commonwealth War Graves, Corporal, Devon, Great War, Gunner, history, Kent, photography, Royal Field Artillery, Sergeant, story, suicide, Uncategorized, war, Yorkshire

Serjeant Harold Lean

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Serjeant Harold Lean

Harold Henry Lean was born in Gillingham, Kent, in the summer of 1890. The youngest of eight children, his parents were tailor Robert Lean and his wife Sarah. His siblings followed a variety of trades – coachman, painter, shoemaker – but Harold was keen to follow a more long-term career.

When he left school (and after his father’s death in 1901), he enlisted in the army, becoming a Gunner in the Royal Horse Artillery. Little remains of his service documents, but at the time of the 1911 census, he was firmly ensconced in the Artillery Barracks in Leeds.

The next record for Harold comes, sadly, in the form of a news report, detailing the inquest surrounding his death:

SUICIDE OF A SERGEANT AT TOPSHAM BARRACKS

Mr Hamilton Brown, Deputy Coroner for Exeter, held an inquest at Topsham Barracks last evening touching the death of Acting-Sergt. Harold Henry Lean, 26, of the [Royal Field Artillery], who died on Saturday as a result of a self-inflicted wound in the throat.

The evidence given by Bombardier JE Driscoll, of the [Royal Military Police], Trumpeter Sydney Russell, deceased’s batman, Bombardier Biddlescombe and Corporal J Williams signalling instructor was that Sergeant Lean, who had some time ago been ill, on Saturday morning was in his room with Russell, but did not speak all the morning.

Shortly after eleven o’clock he took his razor from a shelf in the corner of the room where he kept his shaving materials. Going to his bed he lay across it with his knees nearly touching the floor and drew the razor across his throat. Russell ran to him and caught him by the shoulders, but deceased pushed him away. Russell then called the assistance of Driscoll and Biddlescombe from an adjoining room.

Williams, who was a personal friend and worked with deceased as a signaller, said that deceased worried about the illness from which he had suffered, and two days previously said he thought he was going insane. He had never threatened to take his life.

Captain RW Statham, [Royal Army Medical Corps], said deceased joined that unit in October 1916, and a month later he reported sick. He was sent away to a military hospital, but was returned this year cured and reported for full duty. The illness had a tendency to create mental depression.

On Saturday morning had entered his name on the sick list, but did not attend the sick parade at 9am. At 11:10 when witness was called to him he found him dead. Witness described the wound, which was a very severe one.

The jury returned a verdict of “Suicide during temporary insanity”.

Wester Times: Tuesday 15th May 1917

Serjeant Harold Henry Lean’s body was brought back to Kent from Devon. He was laid to rest in the Woodlands Cemetery in Gillingham.

Bugler, Commonwealth War Graves, Corporal, Great War, Hampshire, history, illness, Kent, Lance Corporal, London, photography, Royal Engineers, Sapper, Sergeant, Sergeant Major, story, unknown, war

Company Sergeant Major Hugh Caston

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Company Sergeant Major Hugh Caston

Hugh Charles Caston was born in Chelsea in the summer of 1881, the oldest of three children to Emily and Hugh Caston. Hugh Sr died in the late 1880, leaving Emily to raise the family on her own. She moved the family to Gillingham, Kent, to be near her family. She found work as a seamstress and took in boarders.

As the effective head of the family, Hugh obviously felt he had to earn a wage. On 1st August 1896, he enlisted in the Royal Engineers as a Bugler.

Hugh’s medical report shows he stood at 5ft 4.5ins (1.63m) tall and weighed 97lbs (44kg). He had a medium complexion, with brown eyes and brown hair. The report also gave his distinctive marks as being a scar on his forehead, a brown patch on his left buttock and that his eyebrows meet.

Initially too young for full active service, Hugh formally joined up on 1st June 1897. He spent more than five years on home soil, rising through the ranks from Sapper to Lance Corporal to 2nd Corporal. In May 1902, he was posted to Malta, returning home nearly two years later. Hugh’s promotions continued over the next decade, and, by the time war broke out, he had reached the rank of Company Sergeant Major.

By this point, Hugh had married, wedding Rochester woman Mary May Coast in September 1907. The couple went on to have two children, Hubert, who sadly died young, and Joan.

War came to Europe, and things took a turn for Company Sergeant Major Caston. He was admitted to Netley Hospital near Portsmouth, with mania:

Patient’s very restless, often gets ‘excited’ is thwarted in any way. Has a delusion that he is to be promoted to Major and that he possesses great wealth. He continually asks that his motor may be sent round to take him out, also that his tailor be sent for to rig him out. Stated this morning that he wished all the other patients be supplied with Egyptian cigarettes.

Medical Report on Hugh Caston, 20th January 1915

The medical officer went on to state that he did not consider that military service had in any contributed to the mania; he was dismissed from the army on medical grounds on 2nd February 1915, after nearly 20 years’ service.

Sadly, at this point Hugh’s trail goes cold. There is no documentation relating to his time after being discharged from the army and, tragically, after his death Mary was not granted a war pension, as he had served for less that six months during the First World War.

Hugh Charles Caston died on 18th June 1917, at the age of 36 years old. While the cause of his passing is lost to time, he was laid to rest in the Woodlands Cemetery in Gillingham, Kent.

Commonwealth War Graves, Great War, history, illness, Lance Corporal, London, photography, Private, Quartermaster, Royal Army Service Corps, Royal Warwickshire Regiment, Sergeant, Sergeant Major, Staff Sergeant, story, Sussex, war

Serjeant Major Percy Hawkins

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Staff Serjeant Major Percy Hawkins

Percy Harry Hawkins was born in Waltham Green, London, in 1886. One of five children, all boys, his parents were Frederick and Elizabeth Hawkins. Frederick initially worked as a brewer’s collector – collecting rent from tenant pub managers on behalf of the brewery – before working as a tobacconist.

In July 1908, Percy married Gladys Parnell. Sadly, tragedy was to strike and, over the next couple of years both Elizabeth and Frederick passed away in 1909 and 1910 respectively.

By the time of the following year’s census, Percy and Gladys were boarding with a dispensing doctor (or GP), and his wife. Percy listed his occupation as a ‘traveller’, was probably employed as some kind of salesman.

Tragedy was to strike Percy again. Months after the couple had their first child in July 1911, Gladys also passed away, leaving him as a widower and single parent at just 26 years old.

From his later military documentation, it seems that Percy married again in August 1915, this time to a woman called Mildred, and, by September 1919, he had gone on to have three children in total; one boy and two girls.

When war broke out, Percy was quick to enlist. He joined up in Birmingham on 10th August 1914, and gave his profession as a commercial traveller. His records show that he was 28 years and 120 days old, stood 5ft 6ins (1.69m) tall and weighed 131lbs (59.5kg).

After initially joining the Royal Warwickshire Regiment, Private Hawkins was transferred to the Royal Army Service Corps, and was assigned to one of the supply companies.

Over the four years of the war, Percy served on home soil, and was promoted a number of times, rising from Private to Lance Corporal, Staff Sergeant to Quartermaster Staff Sergeant. In September 1917, he was again promoted, this time to Staff Sergeant Major, a position he held for the remainder of the conflict, and on into 1919, when he volunteered for an extra year’s service, rather than being demobbed.

In February 1920, Staff Serjeant Major Hawkins fell ill; he was admitted to the military hospital that had been set up in Brighton Pavilion, Sussex. The diagnosis was heart failure, and, sadly, it was to this that he was to succumb. He passed away on 20th February 1920, aged just 34 years old.

Percy’s family was, by this time, living down the coast in Worthing; his body was brought there for burial and he lies at rest in the Broadwater Cemetery in the town.

Canada, Commonwealth War Graves, Great War, history, illness, Kent, photography, Royal Engineers, Sapper, Sergeant, Singapore, story, Sussex, war

Serjeant George Carpenter

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Serjeant George Carpenter

George Palmer Carpenter was born in Worthing, West Sussex, in 1881, one of fourteen children to James and Elizabeth Carpenter. James ran the Steyne Hotel on the seafront, and sent his boys off to the Lucton Boarding School in Henfield for their education.

A regimented life seems to have suited George. When he left school, he enlisted in army, joining the Royal Engineers as a Sapper. The 1901 census found him billeted at the Elphinstone Barracks in Portsmouth.

Sadly, there is little further documentation on the life of Sapper Carpenter. He served through to and during the Great War, attaining the rank of Serjeant. He was sent to France in May 1915, though there is little to confirm his role there, or how long he stayed.

Serjeant Carpenter was subsequently attached to G Depot Company of the Royal Engineers, which received men returned from Expeditionary Force and also men enlisted for Tunnelling Companies, Special Companies and other specialist units. By this time – presumably later on in the conflict – he was based back in England, at the regiment’s barracks in Chatham, Kent.

When the war came to a close, George continued with his army career. With conflict in Europe coming end, he was shipped to Singapore in 1917, where he served through to 1920. A Sussex newspaper picked up his story from there:

Much sympathy will be extended to Mrs Carpenter and her family, of the Steyne Hotel, consequent upon the death of Sergeant George Carpenter, of the Royal Engineers, another of our Worthing boys whose life has been laid down in his country’s service. He arrived home in a bad state of health on the 25th of February last from Singapore, where he had been on duty for three years. Suffering from gastric influenza, it was found necessary that he should undergo an operation, which was carried out at midnight on Saturday. But he sank from weakness, and died at half-past eight on Sunday morning. This is the second son of whom Mrs Carpenter has been bereaved within a year, and there is pathos in the words addressed to us by her: “I have again the sorrowful task of sending the news of the death of one of my sons this morning.

Worthing Gazette: Wednesday 24th March 1920

George Palmer Carpenter was 39 years old. He was laid to rest in the Broadwater Cemetery of his home town, Worthing, in West Sussex.

The other brother referred to in the report was George’s younger brother Norman.

He had emigrated to Canada in 1906, but returned to Europe as part of the Canadian Expeditionary Force when war broke out. Wounded in battle in May 1917, he returned to the UK for treatment and recuperation, and remained on home soil for the rest of the war.

In the spring of 1919, he was admitted to hospital with pleurisy and anaemia, and seems that he never fully recovered, succumbing to the conditions in August of that year. He was just 32 years old.

Commonwealth War Graves, Corporal, Great War, history, illness, Kings Royal Rifle Corps, London, photography, Private, Royal Engineers, Royal Sussex Regiment, Sergeant, story, Sussex, war

Serjeant Henry Rowe

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Serjeant Henry Rowe

Henry Samuel Rowe was born in Shoreditch, London, on 18th August 1873. He was one of three children to Henry and Amelia Rowe. Henry Sr was a stonemason, who died in 1876, when Henry was only three years old.

Amelia moved her and her children to the Sussex Downs, and married again in 1883. Her new husband was John Herrington, and the couple went on to have three further children, Henry’s half-siblings. John was a farm labourer, and his stepson followed in his footsteps when he left school.

Henry soon sought other accomplishments, however, and, in October 1895, he joined the King’s Royal Rifles. During his twelve years’ service, he travelled the world, from Mauritius, to India, South Africa to Sri Lanka. He returned home in December 1903 serving on home soil until the end of his contract in 1907.

On 23rd April 1905, he married a widow, Amelia Routledge, in Brighton. There is no confirmation of the couple going on to have children.

Once demobbed, Henry found employment with the railways, and, by the time of the 1911 census, was working as a signalman. The document records him as boarding in a house in the village of Rudgwick, near Horsham; Amelia, meanwhile, was lodging with a family in South East London.

War was on the horizon, and, in August 1914, Henry volunteered. His time with the King’s Royal Rifles, stood him in good stead; after initially enlisting as a Private in the Royal Sussex Regiment, he was quickly promoted to Corporal and, by November 1914, had transferred to the Royal Engineers and attained the role of Sergeant.

Henry had spent just over a year in France, when he was shot in the right arm on 18th July 1916. Medically evacuated to England, he spent three months recuperating, before heading back into the fray in October the same year.

Henry served another eighteen months on the Front Line, before being admitted to hospital. His medical admission records show that he was suffering from “tremulous speech, confused… conversation, transitory admissions [sic?] of a grandiose type, outbursts of excitement, says he is a man of importance, childish, facile, simpleminded…” His condition was recorded as General Paralysis of the Insane (GPI), more commonly known these days as shellshock, and he was medically discharged from the Army on 4th September 1918.

Sadly, at this point Sergeant Rowe’s trail goes cold. He seems to have been hospitalised following his discharge, but the documents give conflicting suggestions about where he was admitted. Amelia was still living in South London, one record suggests Henry was in the Welsh Metropolitan Hospital in Whitchurch, near Cardiff. But, as he was buried in Worthing, West Sussex, it seems unlikely that he remained in Wales.

The cause of Henry’s passing is not evident either. There is no confirmation that GPI was to blame, but nothing to suggest it was not either. Whatever the cause, Sergeant Rowe died on 14th November 1918, three days after the conflict to which he had given so much had been brought to a close. He was 49 years old.

Henry Samuel Rowe lies at rest in the Broadwater Cemetery in Worthing, West Sussex.

Commonwealth War Graves, Duke of Cornwall Light Infantry, Great War, history, photography, Sergeant, Somerset, story, unknown, war

Serjeant William Wilcox

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Serjeant William Wilcox

Soloman William Wilcox – known by just his middle name – was born in 1894 and was one of seven children. His father, James, was a carter from Keinton Mandeville in Somerset, and he and William’s mother, Eliza, brought the family up in neighbouring Charlton Mackrell.

By the time of the 1911 census, William had left school, and was working as a farm labourer, with his older brother Sidney. James, meanwhile, had found further employment working in a local bluestone quarry.

War was on the horizon and, while it is evident that he enlisted in the Duke of Cornwall’s Light Infantry, there is little further documentation to track his service. Both of the regiment’s main battalions fought on the Western Front, though where and when William was involved is lost to time.

He seems to have been an ambitious young man; he rose through the ranks and, at the point he was discharged, he had risen to the role of Serjeant. He was also in receipt of the Military Medal, though there is no further information about the events that led to this.

William may well have been spurred on by family losses he suffered during the conflict. His mother Eliza died in April 1915, his brother Sidney was killed in action on 10th September 1916, and his father James passed away in August 1918.

Serjeant Wilcox survived the war, and was eventually discharged from military service in August 1919. Whether he was simply demobbed, or he was medically discharged is unclear, but, given that he died only a few months later, it seems likely that the latter was the case.

Soloman William Wilcox died in Taunton, Somerset, on 10th November 1919, at the age of 25 years old. His body was brought to St Peter & St Paul’s Church in Charlton Adam, Somerset, potentially close to where some of his remaining family lived.

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Serjeant William Wilcox
(courtesy of findagrave.com)
Commonwealth War Graves, Corporal, Devon, Dorset, Great War, history, illness, India, Lance Serjeant, London, Major, photography, Private, Quartermaster, Royal Air Force, Sergeant, Somerset, Somerset Light Infantry, story, war

Major Stanley Payne

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Major Stanley Payne

Stanley James Payne was born towards the end of 1882, one of eleven children to Stephen and Elizabeth Payne. Stephen was a leather salesman from Essex, who had moved his family to Weston-super-Mare in Somerset in around 1880.

Stanley seems to have been drawn in to a military life from an early age. In January 1900, he enlisted as a Private in the Somerset Light Infantry, and the 1901 census listed him as living at the Raglan Barracks in Devonport, near Plymouth.

Military service took Private Payne to India, where he served for six years. His success and ambition were clear; in 1906 he was promoted to first to Corporal and then to Sergeant. By 1911 – and now back in England – as a Lance Sergeant, Stanley was working as a military clerk at the Royal Horse Artillery Barracks in Dorchester, although he was still attached to the Somerset Light Infantry.

Stanley’s ambition and sense of adventure continued; by July 1912 he had made the transfer over to the newly-formed Royal Flying Corps, as a Sergeant.

It was while he was based in Dorchester that he met Winifred Bell. She was the daughter of a local council worker, and the couple married in the town in September 1912. Stanley and Winifred went on to have a daughter, Doris, who was born in July 1914.

War had arrived in Europe, and on 7th October, the now Warrant Officer Payne was shipped to France. During his nine months on the Western Front, he was mentioned in despatches and received the Croix de Guerre for his gallantry. The local newspaper also reported that he:

…had also the honour of being presented to the King on the occasion of His Majesty’s last visit to the front, and at a home station had also been presented to Queen Mary.

Western Daily Press: Saturday 8th March 1919

Returning to England on 1st June 1915, he was again promoted to Lieutenant and Quartermaster, although here his military records dry up. By this time, he had been in the armed forces for more than fifteen years, but his military records seem to confirm this as the last day of his service.

The next record for Stanley confirms his passing. Admitted to the Central Air Force Hospital in Hampstead with a combination of influenza and pneumonia, he died on 3rd March 1919. He was just 36 years of age.

Brought back to Weston-super-Mare, where his now widowed father was still living, Stanley James Payne was laid to rest in the Milton Cemetery in his home town.

Stanley’s gravestone gives his rank as Major. While there is no documented evidence of any additional promotions after June 1915, the rank is the equivalent of Quartermaster in the Army Reserve. It seems likely, therefore, that the end date of his military service marked the start of his time in the reserves.

Commonwealth War Graves, Great War, history, illness, photography, Royal Defence Corps, Royal Marines, Sergeant, Somerset, story, war

Serjeant Tom Harvey

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Serjeant Tom Harvey

Tom Harvey was born in the spring of 1871, one of four children to John and Caroline. John was a fly driver, hiring out a pony and trap for a fee, while his wife brought in extra money working as a laundress. The family lived in Weston-super-Mare, on the Somerset coast, in a town house they shared with another family, the Painters.

Details of Tom’s early life is a bit sketchy. The 1891 census lists him as a Private in the Royal Marine Light Infantry, with his address as the Royal Naval Hospital in East Stonehouse, Plymouth, where he was ‘receiving treatment’. Sadly, none of his military records survive, so there is nothing to confirm his dates of service.

In 1894, demobbed and working as a cab driver in his home town, Tom married a woman called Sarah. Little other information exists about her, but what is known is that she worked as a dressmaker to supplement her husband’s income, and the couple did not go on to have any children. The couple lived in Hopkins Street, near the centre of Weston-super-Mare, and initially took in boarders to help finances.

By the time war broke out in 1914, Tom was in his forties. Eventually called back into service, he joined the 261st Company of the Royal Defence Corps and, with the role of Serjeant, he would have had men under his command. The 261st was part of Southern Command, which provided a territorial defence force, or Home Guard, and a lot of his time was spent in Birmingham.

It was while he was home on leave that Tom fell ill. The local media picked up the story:

The death occurred on Sunday under sudden circumstances of Sergeant Tom Harvey, Royal Defence Corps… The deceased was proceeding to his residence… when he fell, and was only able to give his address and to state that he was suffering from chronic indigestion before he expired. Prior to joining up as a National Volunteer, the deceased has been engaged as an omnibus driver.

Western Daily Press: Tuesday 3rd July 1917

Tom Harvey was 46 years old when he died. He was laid to rest in the Milton Cemetery in his home town of Weston-super-Mare.