Tag Archives: 1917

accident, Berkshire, Commonwealth War Graves, Great War, history, London, photography, Private, Royal Army Service Corps, Somerset, story, war

Private Reginald Bainton

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Private Reginald Bainton

Reginald Thomas Bainton was born in Bath, Somerset, in the spring of 1889. The second of five children, his parents were bakers and confectioners Thomas and Mary Bainton.

While Reginald’s older brother Robert followed in his father’s trade, the 1911 census recorded that he had followed a different route, and was working as a hairdresser and tobacconist.

On Christmas Day 1913, Reginald married Henrietta Skinner, who was the daughter of a farmer. The couple went on to have a son, Reginald, who was born in July 1916.

War was, by this point, raging across Europe, and Reginald stepped up to play his part for King and Country. He enlisted in the autumn of 1916, and was assigned to the Royal Army Service Corps. Initially stationed in London, he moved to a camp near Reading, Berkshire, in March 1917.

One evening towards the end of that month, tragedy occurred.

[Private Bainton] was missing from his company, and when his service cap was found on the banks of the Thames there were fears that the worst had befallen him. On receipt of the news of his disappearance his wife proceeded to Reading in the hope of getting some information respecting him, and she remained there until the discovery of the body in the Thames on Monday. During the short period he was in the Reading camp, Private Bainton acted as the storekeeper.

At the inquest… the much-decomposed body was identified by [Reginald’s] father, and medical evidence was given that it had probably been in the water for three weeks to it is highly probable that Private Bainton was drowned on the first day he was mussed. There was not the slightest evidence as to how he got into the river, and the jury returned a verdict of “Found drowned”.

Bath Chronicle and Weekly Gazette: Saturday 28th April 1917

The date of Private Bainton’s death was recorded as 23rd April 1917 – the day he was found. He was 27 years of age.

Reginald Thomas Bainton’s body was brought back to Somerset for burial. He was laid to rest in St James’ Cemetery in his home city of Bath.

Commonwealth War Graves, Great War, history, illness, photography, Private, Somerset, Somerset Light Infantry, story, war, Wiltshire

Private Edward Horwood

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Private Edward Horwood

Albert Edward Horwood was born in Bath, Somerset, in the spring of 1864. The middle of five children, his parents were Joseph and Agnes Horwood. Joseph was a stone mason and, when Agnes passed away in 1872 he married again, this time to a woman called Elizabeth.

When he left school Albert – who became better known as Edward – found work in a local foundry. Joseph died in 1888, and just two years later, Edward married Emily Wheeler. She was the daughter of labourer from North Bradley, Wiltshire, and it was in the parish church that the couple exchanged vows.

The couple set up home in the Lyncombe area of Bath, and went on to have nine children, all but one of them girls. Edward continued with labouring work for the next twenty years, as his children grew in the family home in Cheltenham Street.

Despite his age, when was broke out in Europe, Edward stepped up to play his part. He enlisted in the Somerset Light Infantry on 6th November 1914, and was assigned to the 4th Battalion. His service records show that he was 44 year of age and 5ft 11ins (1.8m) tall.

Attached to one of the regiment’s supply companies, Private Horwood remained on the Home Front. He remained on active duty for more than eighteen months until, in June 1916, he was medically discharged because of a large ulcer and epithelioma (lesion) on his tongue. Edward’s medical notes suggest that he was offered an operation to remove the potentially malignant growth, but that he had declined.

At this point Edward’s trail goes cold. He returned home, and passed away on 28th March 1917 and, while the cause is not publicly documented, it seems likely to have been related to the growth in his mouth. He was 52 years of age.

Albert Edward Horwood was laid to rest in the St James Cemetery in his home town of Bath.

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

Private Sydney Ridewood

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Private Sydney Ridewood

Sydney Ridewood was born in Bath, Somerset, on 31st March 1891, and was one of eleven children. His parents were labourer and sometime butcher James Ridewood and his wife Mary.

When Sydney left school, he found work as a baker, although this seems to have been as piecemeal a job as his father’s.

In January 1910, Sydney married Kathleen Scudamore. She was the daughter of a carpenter from the Twerton area of Bath and had a bit of a chequered background herself.

On 10th June 1896, Kathleen had married Edward Edwards, who was twelve years older than her seventeen years. Their marriage certificate suggested he was a clerk, although the 1901 census – which included their two children, Charles and Percy – recorded him as being a draper’s porter. Beyond that document, there is no record of Kathleen’s husband and, by the time of her marriage to Sydney, she had reverted to her maiden name.

By the time of the 1911 census Sydney and Kathleen were living in central Bath, with their nine-month old daughter, Olive, and Kathleen’s two sons. Kathleen’s widowed father, Edmund, her brother Claude and sister-in-law Nora were also in the household.

The document recorded Sydney as still employed as a journeyman baker, while his wife was a cook for the Post Office. Edmund was working as a carpenter, Claude was a sawyer, Nora a shop assistant and 14-year old Charles was a messenger boy, also for the Post Office. Six pay cheques coming in to support the extended family in the four-roomed house.

An additional member of the Ridewood family came along on 22nd October 1913, when Kathleen gave birth to a second child, Sydney Jr.

War was on the horizon by this point, and, on 20th April 1915, Sydney stepped up to play his part. He enlisted in the Royal Service Corps, and was assigned to the Mechanical Transport Corps. There is little detail about Private Ridewood’s service, although his records show that he was 5ft 3ins (1.6m) tall, with auburn hair, brown eyes and a fresh complexion.

Sydney was sent to France a month after enlisting, and his may role seems to have been that of a driver. He remained on the Western Front for a little over two years, before contracting pleurisy. He was initially treated in France, but soon returned to Britain to recuperate. The lung condition, however, was to get the better of him, and he passed away at home on 26th November 1917, weeks before he was to be medically discharged from service. He was just 28 years of age.

Sydney Ridewood was laid to rest in St James’ Cemetery, a few minutes’ walk from his family home.

Commonwealth War Graves, Devonshire Regiment, Great War, history, photography, Private, Somerset, story, Suffolk, unknown, war

Private Ernest Whatley

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Private Ernest Whatley

Ernest James Victor Whatley was born in the spring of 1899, the youngest of three children to George and Clara Whatley. Clara passed away in 1908, and George remarried the following year, to a woman called Sarah. Ernest’s brothers were sixteen years older than him, and so by the time of the 1911 census they had moved out of their father’s home. By that point, Ernest living with his father and stepmother in their house in Bath, Somerset.

Little further information is available about Ernest. With war raging across Europe, he enlisted in the army, but this was not before September 1916, and it is likely that he came of age before joining up.

Private Whatley served in the 1st/7th (Cyclist) Battalion of the Devonshire Regiment, and was based in Suffolk. It is while he was billeted that he was admitted to a hospital in Ipswich, although the cause of his admission is unclear.

Whatever befell Private Whatley, it was to prove his undoing. He passed away in the Ipswich hospital on 9th March 1917, at the tender age of just 18 years old.

Ernest James Victor Whatley’s body was brought back to Somerset for burial. He was laid to rest in St James’ Cemetery, Bath, not far from his mother, Clara.

Commonwealth War Graves, Great War, history, photography, Royal Engineers, Sapper, Somerset, Somerset Light Infantry, story, unknown, war

Sapper Albert Colston

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Sapper Albert Colston

Albert Edward Colston was born in the spring of 1887 in Bath, Somerset. The oldest of seven children, his parents were Thomas and Elizabeth Colston. Thomas was a carpenter and the family were raised in Lyncombe, to the south of the city centre.

Elizabeth died in 1905, by which time Albert had left school. He worked with Thomas and, by the time of the 1911 census, the family – father and four children at home – had moved to a terraced house in the suburbs of Twerton.

During this time, Albert volunteered with the Somerset Light Infantry. When war came to Europe, however, he was enlisted into the Royal Engineers. He joined on 28th February 1916, and was assigned to the Wessex Field Company. His service record show that he was 5ft 8ins (1.73m) tall, of normal physical development and with good vision.

A few months after enlisting, Albert married Alice Selway. She was a groom’s daughter from Bath who, at the time of their marriage, was working as a housemaid in a boarding house in the centre of the city.

Sapper Colston spent the next year on home soil. In March 1917, however, he was discharged from the army as he was deemed no longer medically fit for active duty. Sadly, the records do not confirm the complaint that led to his dismissal.

It is likely that he returned home when he was discharged. He died in Bath just weeks later, on 4th April 1917. He was thirty years of age.

Albert Edward Colston was laid to rest in St James’ Cemetery in his home city, the same location as Elizabeth, mother and son reunited again.

Alice married for a second time in May 1919. He husband was William Keepen, and the couple went on to have a son, Reginald, who was born in 1920. Reginald died in 1937, while Alice lived until 1918. The couple were buried in Haycombe Cemetery on the outskirts of Bath.

Commonwealth War Graves, Devon, Great War, history, killed in action, photography, Royal Navy, Somerset, Stoker, story, war

Stoker 2nd Class Tom Mounter

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Stoker 2nd Class Tom Mounter

Tom Mounter was born on 24th March 1890 in the quiet Somerset village of Kingsbury Episcopi. He was one of ten children to Robert and Ellen Mounter. Robert was a farm labourer, while Ellen earned a little more money for the family by stripping withy – or willow – branches for use in a variety of ways, such as basket weaving.

When Tom left school, he followed his father into agricultural work, employed to grow and manage the withy fields. In April 1911, he married Ellen Talbot, a farm labourer’s daughter from the village. The couple went on to have three children, Frederick, Martha and Horatio.

When war came to Europe, Tom stepped up to play his part. On 14th December 1916, he joined the Royal Navy, along with four others from the village.

Tom’s service records show that he was 5ft 6ins (1.68m) tall, with brown hair, blue eyes and a fresh complexion. Stoker 2nd Class Mounter was initially sent to HMS Vivid, the Royal Naval Dockyard in Devonport, for training, before being assigned to the cruiser HMS Ariadne on 31st March 1917.

The Ariadne had been converted into a minelayer that year, and worked in the English Channel. On 26th July 1917, she was torpedoed by the German submarine UC-65, and sunk, with the loss of all 38 hands, including Stoker Mounter. He was just 27 years of age.

Tom Mounter’s body was brought back to Somerset for burial. He was laid to rest in the peaceful Kingsbury Episcopi Cemetery, next to George Bonning, who had enlisted on the same day as him, and who had died six months before.

The local newspaper, when reporting on Stoker Mounter’s funeral, noted that he was “the seventeenth Kingsbury Episcopi man who has died for his King and country. It is stated that he had a strong presentiment that he would be killed.” [Langport & Somerton Herald: Saturday 4th August 1917]

Stoker 2nd Class Tom Mounter
(from findagrave.com)
Commonwealth War Graves, Devon, Great War, history, illness, photography, Royal Navy, Somerset, Stoker, story, war

Stoker 2nd Class George Bonning

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Stoker 2nd Class George Bonning

George Thomas Bonning – whose forenames seem to have been interchangeable – was born on 9th August 1887 in the Somerset village of Kingsbury Episcopi. His parents were farm workers James and Elizabeth Bonning, and George also entered farm work when he finished school.

In 1909, George marred Olive Harvey, the daughter of another agricultural labourer from the village. The couple set up home together in the village, and went on to have a daughter, Lilian, the following year. It was around the time of their daughter’s birth that George’s mother passed away, happiness and sadness in a short space of time for the young family.

By 1911, George was employed as a carter in a factory, presumably a financial step up from his previous employment on the farm. The money was still not a great deal, however, and Olive was also working, machining gloves at home for the local factory.

War came to Europe, and on 14th December 1916, George enlisted in the Royal Navy, along with four other men from the village, including friend and neighbour Tom Mounter. His service records show that he was 5th 11.5ins (1.82m) tall, with black hair, hazel eyes and a fresh complexion.

Stoker 2nd Class Bonning was sent to HMS Vivid, the Royal Naval Dockyard in Devonport, for training, and it was here that he contracted a chill. Tragically, this developed into pneumonia, and he died in the barracks on 20th January 1917. He was 29 years of age, and had been in service for just 37 days.

George Thomas Bonning’s body was brought back to Somerset for burial. He was laid to rest in the peaceful Kingsbury Episcopi Cemetery.

Olive never remarried after losing her husband. She remained in the village, raising Lilian and finding occasional employment to help pay the bills. She passed away on 26th March 1968, at the age of 79, and was laid to rest with George, husband and wife reunited after more than fifty years.

Commonwealth War Graves, Dorset, Great War, history, illness, photography, Private, Somerset, story, Training Reserve Battalion, war, Wiltshire

Private Charles Oborne

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Private Charles Oborne

Charles Philip Oborne was born in Mosterton, Dorset, early in 1899. He was the middle of three children to Charles Oborne. Charles Sr had been married before, to a woman called Martha, and the couple had a son, Joseph. Martha died in the mid-1890s and Charles remarried, to a woman called Elizabeth. They went on to have two children, of which Charles Jr – better known as Charley to avoid confusion with his father – was the older.

There is little documentation for the Oborne family. Charles Sr was a farm labourer, and the family moved from Dorset to Stratton-on-the-Fosse, near Shepton Mallet in the early 1900s. At the time of the 1911 census, Charley was a student, and there is no direct evidence of what he went on to do when he finished his schooling.

Nor are there many documents relating to his military service. Private Oborne joined the Training Reserve, and was assigned to the 94th Battalion. The troop had formed from the 16th (Reserve) Battalion of the Gloucestershire Regiment, and was based in Chiseldon, to the south of Swindon in Wiltshire. There is nothing to confirm when he enlisted, but given his age, and when he passed, it is likely to have been during the winter of 1916/17.

What is clear is that while Private Oborne was training, he contracted pneumonia, and, on 20th March 1917, he passed away from the condition. He was just 18 years of age.

The body of Charles Philip Oborne – Charley to his friends and family – was brought back to Somerset for burial. He was laid to rest in the graveyard of St Benedict’s Roman Catholic Churchyard in the village of Downside, a mile to the north of Shepton Mallet, and not far from Stratton-on-the-Fosse, where his family were still living.

Charles was not alone in succumbing to pneumonia at Chiseldon Camp that spring. Two Somerset soldiers from battalions based there, Private Everett Ferriday, and Private Ivan Day, passed away in the same hospital just days after Charles.

You can read their stories by following the links above.

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

Gunner Douglas James

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Gunner Douglas James

Douglas Arthur James was born on 8th May 1893 near Shepton Mallet, Somerset (records variously quote Oakhill, Stoke St Michael and Shepton itself, but all are within a few miles of each other). One of seven children, his parents were dairy farmers Theo and Elizabeth James.

When Douglas and his siblings left school, they all took up work on the farm, but when war broke out, Douglas wanted to play his part. He would not get his chance to do so until the spring of 1917, when he joined the Royal Field Artillery.

Again, the records differ, one suggesting that he was assigned to the 3rd (Reserve) Brigade, while another suggests that Gunner James was actually assigned to the 15th Reserve Battery. Both units served overseas, although it is impossible to determine whether Douglas went as well.

The only other identified document relating to Gunner James confirms that he was admitted to the Fargo Military Hospital at Larkhill, Wiltshire. The cause of his admission is unclear, but he passed away while there on 3rd September 1917. He was just 24 years of age.

The body of Douglas Arthur James was brought back to Somerset for burial. He was laid to rest in the family plot in the graveyard of St Bartholomew’s Church in West Cranmore.

Douglas remained alone in the family plot for a number of years. The family were eventually reunited, however, when Theo, who died in 1929, and Elizabeth, who passed in 1940, were also laid to rest there. Two of Douglas’ sisters were also buried in the plot – Evelyn, the oldest James daughter, who died in 1952, and Emily, the youngest of the siblings, who passed away in 1977.

Commonwealth War Graves, Devonshire Regiment, Great War, history, illness, London, photography, Private, Royal Engineers, Somerset, story, war, Yorkshire Regiment

Private Bernard Sugg

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Private Bernard Sugg

Bernard Charles Sugg was born in the spring of 1895 and was the third of eight children to Charles and Emma. Charles was a farm labourer from Somerset and the family were raised in Templecombe, to the south of Wincanton.

While Bernard’s older brother William followed their father into farm labouring, Bernard found employment working with a builder and mason when he left school.

When war broke out, the Sugg brothers wanted to step up and play their part for King and Country. William enlisted in the Royal Engineers in May 1915, while Bernard joined the Devonshire Regiment the following February.

Little information is available about Private Bernard Sugg’s military life. He was assigned to the 12th (Labour) Battalion, and was sent to France within a couple of months. He spent a year on the Western Front, but fell ill in the spring of 1917, and was brought back to Britain for treatment. Admitted to the Ladywell Hospital in Bermondsey, South London, with a fever, he passed away on 4th April 1917, aged just 22 years old.

Bernard Charles Sugg was brought back to Somerset for burial. He was laid to rest in the family plot in the graveyard of St Mary’s Church in his home village of Templecombe. Understandably distraught at her boy’s untimely death because of the conflict, on his mother’s wishes, his funeral was not accorded military honours.

Private William Sugg had an active career with the army. Having joined the Royal Engineers after being a platelayer for the local railway, he transferred across to the 2nd/4th Battalion of the York and Lancaster Regiment.

William was caught up in the fighting on the Western Front in the closing months of the war, and was killed on 25th August 1918. He was 25 years old, and was laid to rest at Gommecourt South Cemetery.

Charles and Emma had lost their two eldest boys to the Great War, but their younger three sons – Arthur, Reginald and Harold – were too young to be called up.