Tag Archives: 1915

Commonwealth War Graves, Great War, history, illness, Lance Corporal, photography, Royal Sussex Regiment, story, Sussex, war

Lance Corporal James Matthews

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Lance Corporal James Matthews

James Matthews was born in the summer of 1894, the youngest of five children to James and Margaret Matthews. James Sr was a farm worker from Cuckfield in West Sussex, and it was on Hodshrove Farm in nearby Ansty that the family were raised.

James Jr worked on the farm when he left school, but when war broke out, he found a bigger calling for himself. Full details of his military service are not available, but he seemed to have enlisted early on in the conflict, joining the 9th (Service) Battalion of the Royal Sussex Regiment. Originally formed in Chichester, West Sussex, he soon found himself billeted in the South Down near Portslade.

James must have impressed his superiors, as he was soon promoted to Lance Corporal for his work. All was not to go well, however, as, during the early months of 1915, he contracted pneumonia.

Lance Corporal Matthews was admitted to the 2nd Eastern General Hospital in Brighton, but the lung condition was to get the better of him, and he passed away on 7th March 1915. He was just 20 years of age.

James Matthews was brought back to his home village for burial. He lies at rest in Cuckfield Cemetery, in the shadow of Holy Trinity Church.

Commonwealth War Graves, Great War, history, illness, photography, Private, Royal Sussex Regiment, story, Sussex, war

Private William Haylor

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Private William Haylor

William Charles Haylor was born in the summer of 1870, in the West Sussex village of Cuckfield. He was one of eight children to agricultural labour Michael Haylor and his wife, Betsy. Michael passed away in 1886 and, with children to raise, his widow took in washing to earn money.

William found work as a farm labourer and, by the time of the 1901 census was living in a cottage at Beech Farm in the village, with his mother, younger sisters, one brother-in-law and six nieces and nephews.

On 25th October 1905, William married Florence Linstead. She was a carter’s daughter from South London, and it is not exactly clear how they met. It seems likely, though, that Florence had taken work on one of the estates in the Cuckfield area. The couple exchanged vows at St Antony’s Church in Florence’s home town, Nunhead, before settling down back in West Sussex.

When war came to Europe, William was keen to play his part. He enlisted in the Royal Sussex Regiment on 9th November 1914 and was assigned to the No.6 Supernumerary Company of the 2nd/4th Battalion. This was a territorial force, set in place for those older volunteers keen to serve King and Country.

Private Haylor’s time in the army was to be brief, however, as at his medical he was found to be medically unfit for military service. No further details are available, but it meant that William had spent just 82 days in the army.

At this point, William’s trail goes cold. He returned home, and presumably continued in his previous line of work. Again, however, the status quo was not to continue for long. He passed away at home, through causes unknown, on Christmas Day, 25th December 1915. He was 45 years of age.

William Charles Haylor was laid to rest in the cemetery in his home village, Cuckfield. He was accorded a military funeral.

Commonwealth War Graves, Great War, history, photography, Private, Royal Sussex Regiment, story, Sussex, unknown, war

Private George Bennett

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Private George Bennett

George Ernest Bennett was born in 1895 in Cuckfield, West Sussex, the oldest of four children to Alfred and Annie Bennett. Much of his early life is a mystery – within eighteen months, his parents had moved to Kent, leaving George with his widowed paternal grandmother.

By the time of the 1911 census, both Alfred and Annie were dead, along with their only daughter. George’s two younger brothers were in a poor school back in Sussex, while George was living with one of his father’s sisters and her family, and working as an errand boy.

By the time war broke out, it seems that George had plans for an army career. He had certainly enlisted by September 1914, and joined the 1st/4th Battalion of the Royal Sussex Regiment. This was a primarily territorial force, and Private Bennett initially received his training on the East Sussex coast.

Full details of George’s military service aren’t available, but what is clear is that he was admitted to the Military Hospital in Newhaven in the spring of 1915, and this is where he died on 19th March. The cause of his passing is not known, but he was just 20 years old.

Brought back to Cuckfield, where his father’s family still lived, George Ernest Bennett was laid to rest in the village’s cemetery, within sight of Holy Trinity Church.

Commonwealth War Graves, Great War, history, illness, photography, Private, Royal Sussex Regiment, story, Sussex, war

Private Frank Bates

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Private Frank Bates

Frank Bates was born on 29th June 1893, in Cuckfield, West Sussex and was the fourth of five children. His parents were tailor William Bates and his wife, Sarah.

Tragedy was to be a constant companion to the Bates family. Frank’s older brother, William, died in November 1907 after a protracted illness, at the tender age of just 19 years old. Four years later, his younger sister, Maggie, also passed away after an illness. She was just 21 years of age.

When he left school, Frank went into the service of the Messel family, who owned the Nyman’s estate close to where Frank and his family lived. When war was declared, however, he was keen to play his part, enlisting soon after hostilities were announced in August 1914.

Private Bates joined the 4th (Home Service) Battalion of the Royal Sussex Regiment and was sent to Newhaven for training. It was while he was here that he fell ill, and, having caught a chill, he returned to Cuckfield to recuperate. Sadly, his condition worsened, and he passed away at his family home on 31st January 1915. He was just 21 years old.

Frank Bates was laid to rest in Cuckfield cemetery, resting not far from his siblings.

Tragedy was to strike one more time for William and Sarah. Frank’s older brother Jack served as a Private in the 2nd/4th Battalion of the London Regiment. In the spring of 1918, he was caught up in that year’s Battles of the Somme, including fighting at St Quentin and Avre.

In May 1918, Private Bates was officially reported as missing, but it was later confirmed that he had died of injuries sustained in the fighting. He passed away on 16th April 1918, at the age of 29 years old.

Jack was laid to rest at the Chauny Communal Cemetery in Picardie, France, and is also commemorated in Cuckfield Cemetery.

accident, Burma, Commonwealth War Graves, Glamorganshire, Great War, history, Lancashire, Loyal North Lancashire Regiment, photography, Private, South Africa, story, Suffolk, war

Private Edward Savage

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Private Edward Savage

In the graveyard of St Augustine of Hippo Church in Penarth, Glamorgan, lies the Commonwealth War Grave for Private Edward Savage. The headstone confirms that he had died on 25th December 1915 and that he was in the Loyal North Lancashire Regiment.

The Commonwealth War Grave Commission website suggests that he was the son of Edward and Rachel Savage and that he was born in Beccles, Suffolk. Sadly, there are no available census documents to shed any further light on that early life.

The same website suggests that he served in Burma, and in the South African campaign, which would have placed him there in the late 1890s and early 1900s.

It is also noted that Edward was the husband of Emily Savage and that they were living in Fleetwood, Lancashire. Edward’s later pension ledger suggests this was an Emily Shannon, who is, in fact, noted as the guardian of his illegitimate child. Further information, however, is not available.

From a military perspective, it is likely that Private Savage was either still service at the point that the First World War broke out, or that he was called into service – or volunteered his services – shortly after its declaration. He was assigned to No. 5 Supply Company of the 3rd/4th Loyal North Lancashire Regiment and, by the autumn of 1915, he found himself based at Penarth Head Fort near Cardiff.

Edward’s death seems to have been a less than auspicious one, as a local newspaper reported at the time.

The district coroner held an inquest at Penarth on Tuesday touching the death of Private Edward Savage, who was found dead at the billets of the A Company of the Loyal North Lancashire Regiment on Sunday morning. Surgeon-Major Charles Parsons, the local medical officer, stated that the deceased had apparently fallen down some stone steps, causing a fracture of the base of the skull. The jury returned a verdict of “Accidental Death.”

Western Mail: Wednesday 29th December 1915

Private Edward Savage had died on Christmas Day, 25th December 1915. He was 54 years of age. He was laid to rest in the graveyard of St Augustine of Hippo Church in Penarth.

Edwards shares his grave with another member of the Loyal North Lancashire Regiment, Serjeant Frank Carter. Read his story here.

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.

Berkshire, Commonwealth War Graves, Dorset, Great War, Hampshire, history, illness, Lieutenant, Midshipman, photography, Royal Navy, Second Lieutenant, Somerset, story, war

Lieutenant Alexander Spurway

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Lieutenant Alexander Spurway

Alexander Popham Spurway was born on 8th April 1891 in Newbury, Berkshire. He was the second of six children to Edward and Gertrude Spurway. Edward was a clergyman, and the family moved to Heathfield in Somerset when Alexander was a small boy. Education was key to Edward and, the 1901 census records show Alexander as being a boarder at the Portmore School in Weymouth, Dorset.

Reverend Spurway set the family up well in Heathfield: by the time of the next census in 1911, the family were living in the village rectory, with five members of staff.

Alexander, meanwhile, had taken a different route, entering the Royal Naval College at Osborne on the Isle of Wight in January 1904. He was a keen sportsman and, while there, he represented the college at both cricket and football.

In September 1908, he passed out from the college as a Midshipman, and served on HMS Canopus in the Mediterranean. His career continued, and he was made Sub-Lieutenant in December 1911, and Lieutenant two years later.

Reverend Spurway died at home in February 1914 and, by the time war broke out, Lieutenant Spurway was assigned to HMS Achilles. He remained on board the cruiser for the next two years and it was during this time that he developed diabetes: something that was to prove an ongoing issue for him.

Returning home in the autumn of 1915, the condition was to prove too much, and he passed away on 29th November 1915, at the age of 24 years old.

Alexander Popham Spurway was laid to rest in the graveyard of his late father’s church, St John the Baptist in Heathfield.

Lieutenant Spurway (from findagrave.com)

Sadly, Alexander was not the only member of the Spurway family to lose their life as a result of the war.

Richard Popham Spurway, Alexander’s older brother, was a 2nd Lieutenant in the Somerset Light Infantry, and was attached to the Hampshire Regiment, when it was moved to Gallipoli in 1915. He was killed on 13th August 1915, and is commemorated on the Helles Memorial at Canakkale, Turkey.

Alexander’s younger brother, George Vyvyan Spurway, joined the Royal Fusiliers, before transferring to the Machine Gun Corps. He had arrived in France in September 1916, and was killed while fighting on the Western Front on 28th March 1918. He was laid to rest at Arras and is commemorated on the memorial there.

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

Private William Pole

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Private William Pole

William James Pole was born on 22nd July 1892 in the Somerset village of Halse. He was the third of six children to shepherd and farm labourer William Pole and his wife, Harriet. When he left school, William Jr also found work on a relative’s farm in Herefordshire.

William Jr was still working on the farm when war broke out. He enlisted in the spring of 1915, joining the Royal Army Service Corps as a Private. There is no evidence of whether he served overseas, although it seems likely that he would have done, if only for a short while.

By September 1915, however, he was back on English soil, having been admitted to Netley Hospital in Southampton, suffering from enteric fever, also known as typhoid. Sadly, his illness was to get the better of him, and he passed away in the medical facility on 12th September 1915. He was just 23 years of age.

William James Pole’s body was brought back to Somerset for burial. He lies in the graveyard of St James’ Church, Halse. His parents would also be buried there: William Sr in 1935, and Harriet in 1949.

Commonwealth War Graves, Devonshire Regiment, Great War, Hampshire, history, illness, photography, Private, Somerset, story, war

Private Albert Blackwell

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Private Albert Blackwell

Albert Edward Blackwell was born in Corfe, Somerset, in the autumn of 1872. He was the third of eight children to Francis and Harriet Blackwell. Francis was a farm labourer, while Harriet supplemented their income by taking in washing. Albert didn’t follow in his father’s footsteps, however, but found work as a ropemaker when he left school.

On 21st September 1905, Albert married Mabel Hellen Fry, a factory hand and porter’s daughter from Wellington, Somerset. The couple began their married life living with Mabel’s parents, and went on to have five children. By the time of the 1911 census, Albert was working as a carter for a local coal merchant, but war was on the way.

There is little information available about Albert’s military service. He enlisted at the start of the conflict, joining the 9th Service Battalion of the Devonshire Regiment by September 1914. Private Blackwell was based at Aldershot, Hampshire, but his service was not to be a long one.

Albert was admitted to the Connaught Military Hospital near Marlborough, suffering from tuberculosis. This became bronchitis, and the lung conditions proved too much for Private Blackwell’s constitution to take. He passed away at the hospital on 6th March 1915, at the age of 42 years old.

Albert Edward Blackwell was brought back to Somerset for burial. He was laid to rest in Wellington Cemetery, not far from where Mabel was still living.

Now widowed, Mabel still had children to raise. In the spring of 1916, she married Alfred Barnfield, a greengrocer from Bath. He had served in the Coldstream Guards for two years, before he was discharged for misconduct in May 1911. Sadly, no further information is available for him and Mabel’s trail also goes cold at this point.

Bombardier, Commonwealth War Graves, Great War, history, photography, Royal Field Artillery, Somerset, story, unknown, war

Bombardier Willie Taylor

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Bombardier Willie Taylor

Willie Francis Taylor was born early in 1895 and was one of six children to James and Louisa. James worked as a miller in a wool factory in Wellington, Somerset, and this is a job that Willie and his siblings went into when they left school.

At this point, Willie’s trail goes cold. He had enlisted in the Royal Field Artillery by the spring of 1915 – given that he gained the rank of Acting Bombardier, it is likely that he joined up early in the conflict. He never saw active service overseas: Bombardier Taylor’s troop – the 48th Brigade – was sent to France in May 1915, a few weeks after Willie himself passed away.

There are no records pertaining to Willie’s death: all that can be confirmed is that he died at home on 25th April 1915, aged just 19 years old.

Willie Francis Taylor was laid to rest in Wellington Cemetery, close to where his mother, Louisa, had been buried three years earlier, and not far from where James still lived.

Bombardier Willie Taylor
(from findagrave.com)