Ernest Court was born in the autumn of 1865, one of eleven children to Stephen and Harriet Court. Stephen was an agricultural labourer from Kent, and the family were raised in the village of St Nicholas at Wade, in the north of the county.
When he left school, Ernest followed his father and became a farm labourer. The 1881 census found him working at St Nicholas Court Farm, under William Broadley, a farmer of some 500 acres (202 hectares).
In the summer of 1894, at the age of 28, Ernest married Catherine Henman; she was a widow nine hears his senior. The couple went on to have a son, Frederick, who was born the same year, a younger half-brother to Catherine’s own son. They soon moved to Faversham, where work was more abundant.
Ernest continued to pick up jobs where he could. The 1901 census recorded him working in the stone pits; the same document gave Catherine working as a charwoman to bring in some extra money. Ten years later, Ernest was working as a road labourer for the town council. Catherine was no longer employed, but Frederick, having left school, was working as a jobbing gardener.
War was approaching Europe by this point and, by October 1915, Ernest had stepped up to play his part. Private Court was assigned to the 3rd Supply Company of the 2nd/4th Battalion of The Buffs (East Kent Regiment). While a good proportion of the regiment served overseas, Ernest remained on home soil, and was given a protective role at the Cotton Powder Company and Explosives Loading Company factories to the north of Faversham.
Private Court was based at the factories on the 2nd April 1916. That afternoon a fire set off a series of massive explosions at the site and around 110 people – Ernest included – were killed. He was 50 years of age.
Ernest Court was laid to rest, along with the other victims of the Faversham Explosion, in the town’s Borough Cemetery.
Memorial to the Faversham Explosion, Borough Cemetery
In a mass grave in Faversham Borough Cemetery, Kent, is a commemoration to Private John Harding, who died during the Faversham Explosion on 2nd April 1916.
Sadly, there is little concrete information about John, other than the details recorded in the Register of Soldiers Effects. This document confirms that he served in the 3rd Supply Company of the 3rd/4th Battalion of The Buffs (East Kent Regiment). He had enlisted before October 1915 and no next of kin is recorded.
Another document suggests that Private Harding was a resident of Milton Regis, a small village to the north of Sittingbourne. Again, however, there is not enough additional information to corroborate this or to expand on his personal life.
Unfortunately, therefore, Private John Harding is destined to remain a mystery, one of more than a hundred men and women to have died on that fateful day.
Memorial to the Faversham Explosion, Borough Cemetery
William Adams was born in Skelmersdale, near Liverpool, in around 1868. He was the son of George and Harriet Adams, although as his name was quite common in the area at the time, it is not possible to narrow down details of his early life any further.
At some point after leaving school, William joined the army, using the surname of Catlow. The 1891 census records him as a soldier in the Private Infantry, based at the Habergham Eaves Barracks near Burnley, Lancashire.
On leaving the army, William found work as a labourer and, by the 1890s, he had moved to Kent. He met and married a woman called Kate in 1895, and they went on to have a son, Archibald, the same year. The 1911 census records the family living in Cheriton, near Folkestone, William doing labouring work, and Kate employed as a laundress.
With the outcome of the First World War, William stepped forward to play his part again. By this point, he was 46 years old and, while he was assigned to the 4th Battalion of The Buffs (East Kent Regiment), was given more of a territorial role.
Private Catlow was serving at the site shared by the Cotton Powder Company and Explosives Loading Company to the north of Faversham in the spring of 1916. On the afternoon of 2nd April 1916, a fire caused a series of massive explosions at the factories, and William was one of around 110 people to be killed. He was 48 years of age.
William Adams, known militarily as Private William Catlow, was laid to rest, along with the other victims of the Faversham Explosion, in the town’s Borough Cemetery.
Memorial to the Faversham Explosion, Borough Cemetery
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.
Ambrose Frank Hopkins was born in the autumn of 1886, in the Kent village of Ospringe. He was one of four children to shopkeeper-turned-farmer William Hopkins and his wife Julia.
When he finished school, Ambrose found employment in a brickyard in nearby Faversham. In August 1901, however, things took a turn for the worse for the Hopkins family.
Mr WJ Harris, Coroner, had a painful task on Monday evening, when he held an inquest on the body of William Hopkins, a farmer, who was found hanging in the cellar of his house that morning, having ended his life in consequence, it would appear, of business troubles.
Julie Hopkins, wife of the deceased, stated that her husband was 59 years of age… He went to bed on Sunday evening apparently in his usual health and at four o’clock that morning to light the fire which he usually did. Deceased had lately been troubled by business worries.
Blanche Sophia Hopkins, deceased’s daughter, stated that on going down the cellar about seven o’clock that morning (Monday) she saw her father hanging from a beam in the ceiling. She was too much frightened either to touch him or to notice if he was dead, but run up and sent to PC Ward and a doctor. The constable saw deceased just as she found him.
Faversham News: Saturday 31st August 1901.
The tragedy rocked the family and, within eighteen months, Julia too had died. By the summer of 1903, Blanche had auctioned off her once family home for the sum of £270, in order to support her and Ambrose, who was nine years her junior.
In 1906, Ambrose married Florence Harris, a widow thirteen years his senior, who had three children. The couple settled down in Faversham, and went on to have three children themselves – Elsie, Harold and William.
By now Ambrose was working as a labourer in Harty Ferry, just the other side of the Swale River on the Isle of Sheppey. But again, things were going to change as, in May 1916, he was called up for military service.
Private Hopkins was assigned to the 3rd Battalion of the The Buffs (East Kent Regiment). He was sent to Dover for training, before returning to home on leave in advance of further action.
An inquest was held at the Guildhall, Faversham, on Tuesday by the County Coroner… touching the death of Ambrose Frank Hopkins, aged 29… a Private in the 3rd Buffs, stationed at Dover, who hung himself on Sunday last.
Florence Amy Hopkins, the widow, stated that deceased has been… called to the colours three weeks that day. He had leave on Friday last until Sunday night. When he returned he seemed in very good health, but he told her he could not get on in the Army as he could not do his drill, etc.
He was a very quiet man of sober habits. They got on well together except for occasional tiffs. On the Sunday he said what a good breakfast and dinner she had got. All Sunday morning he was cleaning his buttons. He sat talking till after 3pm and then went out the back.
She went out for about twenty minutes, and when she returned she could not find him. Thinking he had gone to bed she went upstairs, but he was not there. Just about five she looked down the cellar stairs, thinking he might be at work there, and saw him hanging by a rope.
On the Saturday night she found the following note on the living room table in her husband’s handwriting. “Good night, my dear Flo, the last night here. My dear little wife, think of me and be good to the children.” She went upstairs, woke him up, and asked him what he had done it for, and he said it was only a joke. There had not been any words between them.
His one trouble was about going back. She told him to make the best of it, and that it would all be the better for him. He replied “Flo, I cannot and I never shall.” They owed a little, but nothing to worry about.
He complained of the food very much, and said that all he had on Thursday night was a piece of bread as hard as a brick. He had fallen away very much since he had been in the Army.
Alfred Willett, a munition worker.. stated that he was called by [Julia] about 5:30pm on Sunday and found deceased in the cellar hanging by a rope fastened to the rafters. The knees were about six inches from the ground, and the feet were touching the ground. Witness cut him down, but he was quite dead. His tunic and cap were off.
Lieutenant Hillier Hughes, of The Buffs, said that deceased had a clean conduct sheet, and he was quite up to average at drill. The food at dinner consisted of meat, two vegetables and pudding. An officer always went round to enquire if there were any complaints. The bread was fresh every day.
The Coroner, in summing up, said that apparently the deceased was not well balanced, and no doubt felt that he was not doing as well as he ought to.
The jury returned a verdict of “Suicide whilst temporarily insane.”
Faversham Time and Mercury and North East Kent Journal: Saturday 24th June 1916.
In very similar circumstances to his father, Private Ambrose Frank Hopkins had died on 18th June 1916. He was just 29 years of age. He was laid to rest in Faversham Borough Cemetery, finally finding some peace.
Sadly, much of John Harris’ life is lost to time. Born in Liverpool in around 1896, he was one of at least eight children, but, with a name as common as his, there is little to identify who his parents were.
What information remains available, comes from contemporary newspaper reports of his funeral:
Acting Bombardier Harris, of the 13th Battery, 2/3rd West Lancashire, died from double pneumonia at The Mount Hospital [in Faversham, Kent] last Saturday. He was 20 years of age, belonged to Liverpool, and had been in the Brigade about ten months. Deceased had been ill for about a fortnight. Several of the men at The Mount attended the funeral, and one of the nurses there accompanied the deceased’s sister.
Faversham News: Saturday 25th March 1916
From this it is possible to determine that John enlisted in the 2nd/3rd West Lancashire Artillery of the Royal Field Artillery in May 1915. His was a territorial force that was, by the spring of 1916, based in Kent.
It would seem that Acting Bombardier Harris’ parents had passed on by the time that he died at The Mount. His siblings – brothers Alfred and Edward, sisters Edith, Clara, Louise, Alice, Kate and Elizabeth – were all based in Lancashire.
John Harris, therefore, was buried in the town where he passed away, and was laid to rest in Faversham Borough Cemetery.
Ernest Albert Hills was born in December 1877, and was the fifth of ten children to Benjamin and Elizabeth Hills. Benjamin was a labourer for a brick maker from the Kent village of Upnor, but it was along the coast in Faversham that he and Elizabeth were to raise their young family.
When he left school, Ernest followed in his father’s footsteps, working in the local brick kiln. By the time of the 1911 census, however, he had moved to South East London and was boarding with his younger brother, William, working with him as a stoker for a Greenwich gas company.
War came to Europe, and Ernest wanted to play his part. On 20th April 1915, he enlisted, joining the Queen’s Own (Royal West Kent Regiment) as a Private. His service records give his height as 5ft 9.75ins (1.77m) and note that he had a scar on the right side of his abdomen.
Private Hills’ service was carried out on home soil: he was assigned to the 3rd (Reserve) Battalion, which was based in Maidstone and Chatham. Ernest was obviously well thought of: within six months of enlisting, he was promoted to Lance Corporal.
His good fortune was not to last for long, however, in the spring of 1916, he fell ill and, while at his family home in March, he passed away, having been suffering from Addison’s disease, a rare disorder of the disorder of the adrenal glands. He was 39 years of age.
Lance Corporal Ernest Albert Hills was laid to rest in the Faversham Borough Cemetery, not far from his family home, and where his father – who had passed away in 1903 – had also been laid to rest.
William Aubrey Wyborn was born on 15th November 1897, the middle of three children to farmer-cum-greengrocer-cum-butcher Henry Wyborn and his wife, Esther. The family lived in the Kent village of Tilmanstone, not far from Deal, but soon moved to Faversham in the north of the county.
William proved to be an astute student. After being a pupil at Faversham District Schools, he gained a scholarship to the towns Grammar School. He spent six years there, and proved to be a studious pupil, gaining a prize for maths. He was then granted a scholarship to the Sheffield School of Engineering, and, while studying for his degree there, war broke out.
William joined the West Lancashire Royal Field Artillery in June 1916 and was sent to Aldershot for training. sadly, Gunner Wyborn’s career was to be cut short – while training, he contracted diphtheria and pneumonia, passing away from a combination of the illnesses on 3rd November 1916. He was just short of his 19th birthday.
William Aubrey Wyborn was brought back to Kent for burial. He lies at rest in the family plot in the Faversham Borough Cemetery.
Frederick William Burstow was born in the summer of 1893, and was one of thirteen children. His parents were plasterer Alfred Burstow and his wife, Lydia. Both came from Sussex, and it was in Bexhill-on-Sea where they raised their family.
There is little documented about Frederick’s early life, but he sought a life outside of Sussex and, in around 1900, he enlisted in the 2nd Battalion of the Rifle Brigade, serving in India for a time.
Rifleman Burstow was still serving when, in August 1914, war was declared. His battalion was sent to France that November, and he ended up serving two terms on the Western Front.
In the summer of 1915, Frederick married Priscilla Epps. She was from Faversham, Kent, and this is where the couple set up home together.
It was while on his second term in France that Rifleman Burstow became ill. He had contracted enteric fever – also known as typhoid – and, at the beginning of 1916, he was sent home to recuperate. While here, Priscilla gave birth to a child, Alice.
Sadly, however, Frederick’s condition was to get the better of him: he passed away at home on 16th March 1916, at the age of just 24 years old.
Frederick William Burstow was laid to rest in the Borough Cemetery in his adopted home town of Faversham.
Rifleman Frederick Burstow (from ancestry.co.uk)
Frederick was not the only Burstow family member to die during the war. His older brother, Arthur Edward James Burstow, fought on the Western Front with the 2nd Battalion of the London Regiment.
Private Burstow was caught up in the fighting in Arras in the spring of 1918, and was killed in action on 13th April. He was 38 years of age, and left behind a widow and six children.
Arthur Edward James Burstow is commemorated on the Ploegsteert Memorial in Belgium.
Joseph O’Hara was born in Manchester on 30th May 1882, the son of John and Kate O’Hara. There is little information available about his early life, although it is clear that at some point the family emigrated to Canada, settling in Toronto.
When war broke out, Joseph enlisted, joining the 1st Battalion of the Canadian Infantry. By 1916 Private O’Hara was not only back in Europe, but fighting on the Western Front. Details are scarce, but a contemporary newspaper sheds a little light on what happened to him next.
A contingent of 132 wounded men was detrained at Faversham last Friday morning. Forty-four of the number were taken to The Mount, seventy-one to Lees Court, and seventeen to Glovers (Sittingbourne).
With one exception the cases were all “sitting up” cases and were in a separate train by themselves. This train, however, was preceded by a train of “cot” cases which was going through to Chatham, but owing to the serious condition of one of the men – Joseph O’Hara, of the Canadian Expeditionary Force – the train was stopped at Faversham for his removal to the Mount Hospital. O’Hara had been badly wounded in both legs and he died at the Mount a few hours after his arrival there.
Faversham News: Saturday 23rd September 1916
Private Joseph O’Hara was 34 years of age when he passed away. He was laid to rest in the Faversham Borough Cemetery.
Death and Service 