In the peaceful grounds of Gillingham Cemetery, Dorset, is the grave of Private James Henry Willetts of the Labour Corps, who died on 25th November 1918, at the age of 39 years old. The Commonwealth War Graves Commission records confirm that he was the son of James Willetts who, at the time of his son’s passing, was living in Springhill, Birmingham.
Private Willetts’ service records no longer exist, but his entry on the British Register of Soldiers’ Effects state that he was attached to the 443rd Agricultural Company, and died in Peasemarsh, Dorset. It also noted that his next of kin would not be able to claim a war gratuity: this suggests that he had served for less than six months when he passed.
A further document – the Pension Ledger Index Card – gives James’ dependent as his stepmother, Elizabeth Willetts. The record also confirms that his brother George had also died while serving as a Corporal in the Royal Warwickshire Regiment.
The challenge with trying to trace James’ early life is that there aren’t enough confirmed details. His mother’s name is not known, nor is it clear when James Sr married Elizabeth. Census records are available, but none give a clear match for father and son. Given James Jr shared his father’s name, it may also be that he went by his middle name, but this too could have been changed to Harry.
It seems, therefore, that James Henry Willetts’ life is destined to remain a mystery, taken to the grave in the Dorset cemetery.
Clifford Henry Evan Kiddle was born on 10th November 1900, and was the youngest of five children to Fred and Martha. Fred was a wheelwright from East Stour, Dorset, and it was here that the Kiddle family were born and raised.
The 1911 census makes for interesting reading. Fred is missing from it, and Martha is recorded as married, and at a house on Victoria Road in Gillingham, Dorset. Her son Leonard is living with her, as are three of her nephews, and a boarder, John Samways.
Clifford, meanwhile, had moved to the village of Penselwood in Wiltshire. His two sisters, Ellen and Sarah, were employed as elementary school teachers there, and their young brother had relocated with them.
When war broke out, Clifford was just a boy. He was keen to play his part as soon as he could, however, and, on 8th October 1918, he gave up his job as a chemist’s apprentice to enlist in the Royal Air Force. Cadet Kiddle’s service papers show that he was 5ft 8ins (1.72m) tall, and had brown hair, hazel eyes and a fresh complexion.
Clifford was sent to Kent for his training, but his time as an airman was to be brief. He was admitted to Shorncliffe Military Hospital with pneumonia, but the condition would prove too much. He died on 20th November 1918, ten days after his eighteenth birthday.
The body of Clifford Henry Evan Kiddle was taken back to Dorset for burial. He was laid to rest in Gillingham Cemetery, not far from where his family were living.
Reginald William Reeves was born in the summer of 1892. The older of two children – his sister Doris passed when she was just six years of age – his parents were Thomas and Ellen Reeves. Thomas was an ironmonger, and the family lived above the shop at 167 Montague Street, Worthing, West Sussex.
Reginald also took up metalwork, becoming his father’s apprentice. The 1911 census notes that the family had moved a short distance, and were now living at 153 Montague Street. A later advert in the Worthing Gazette highlighted special value gas mantles that were double strength and all British made, being sold by TW Reeves & Son, Ironmongers at 135 Montague Street, the family having moved even closer to the town centre.
When war broke out, Reginald would step up to serve his country. Full details of his time in the conflict have been lost, but it is clear that he served as a Private in the Royal Sussex Regiment, and was assigned to the 6th Battalion. The unit was based in Britain and Ireland during the war, and it seems that Private Reeves would not have spent any time in the thick of battle.
By the autumn of 1918, Reginald was back in Worthing, although his trail is pretty hard to follow. He died at a house on Shakespeare Road on 5th November through causes unknown; he was 26 years old.
The body of Reginald William Reeves was laid to rest in Broadwater Cemetery, to the north of Worthing, his parents thanking well-wishers for their sympathy in that week’s edition of the local newspaper.
Mrs C Hillier and Family wish to thank all kind friends for their kind sympathy and for their floral tributes.
[Worthing Gazette: Wednesday 4th December 1918]
In a quiet corner of Broadwater Cemetery, Worthing, West Sussex, is the unassuming grave of Charles George Hillier. A Driver in the Royal Field Artillery, the Commonwealth War Graves Commission notes that he was 33 years old when he passed on 27th November 1918. He was the husband of Margaret Hillier, of 14 Warwick Place, Brighton Road, Worthing.
Charles’ life appears fated to unfold as a series of frustrating impasses, with details about him tantalisingly just out of reach. His service records have not survived, and there is no trace of his marriage to Margaret. He cannot be definitively identified in any census records and, without information about his parents or place of birth, tracing his life through existing documents remains impossible.
There is a 1920 record for a Margaret Hillier, widow, of Worthing, marrying engineer James Locke on 3rd July 1920. This is likely to be Charles’ widow, but again, she disappears from the records after that.
The quiet corner of the burial ground seems destined to keep its secrets, a permanent memorial to Charles George Hillier.
The early life of Charles Henry Waller is a challenge to piece together, and it is easier to work backwards.
A Lance Corporal in the Royal Sussex Regiment, Charles died from influenza in the 2nd Eastern General Hospital, Brighton, Sussex, on 14th November 1918. His entry in the British Army Register of Soldiers’ Effects show that he had enlisted before the spring of that year, and gave his beneficiary as Elsie.
Lance Corporal Waller’s Dependents’ Pension card expanded on this, giving her details as Mrs Elsie Smith, of 91 High Street, Worthing. The card, however, states that the pension was refused, as she had attained the age of 16.
Intriguingly, while it has not been possible to trace Charles in the 1911 census, Elsie does appear. She is recorded as living with her husband, carter Arthur Smith, and son, three-year-old James. The three are also recorded in the 1921 census, with another child, Arthur. The family, who were living at 35 Lyndhurst Road, Worthing, by this point, had a boarder, George Frederic Waller – possibly a relation of Charles.
As to Charles himself, his life looks to remain a mystery. There are records for people with the same name in the area, but without an age it isn’t possible to definitively identify him. When he passed away, he was laid to rest in Broadwater Cemetery, Worthing, not far from Elsie and her family.
Hedley James Garfield Perry was born in Camborne, Cornwall in the autumn of 1898. One of nine children, his parents were John and Thurza Perry. John was a farm labourer, and the family lived in a semi-detached cottage at 15 Tehidy Road, to the north of the town centre.
Hedley was under age when war broke out, but it is clear that he wanted to play his part. His service records are long since lost, but he had enlisted in the Devonshire Regiment by the spring of 1918. Private Perry’s unit – the 9th (Service) Battalion – was involved in the final advance on Picardy in the last weeks of the war, and it was during this time that he was wounded.
Private Perry was medically evacuated to Britain for treatment, and he was admitted to a military hospital in Gillingham, Dorset. Hedley’s injuries would prove too severe, however, and he succumbed to them on 4th December 1918, just three weeks after the Armistice was signed. He was 20 years of age.
The body of Hedley James Garfield Perry was laid to rest in Gillingham Cemetery.
Cecil John Buckland was born on 5th July 1895 in Holloway, Middlesex. The third of four children, his parents were bicycle salesman Arthur Buckland, and his wife, Mary. The 1901 census found the family in rooms at a terraced cottage at 8 Burrard Road, Hampstead.
By 1911, things had changed for the family. They had moved to 73 Finchley Road, which was a ten-roomed property. Arthur was now recorded as being a commercial traveller for a motor company, and they employed a domestic servant, Mary Jones, to help support the family. Cecil had followed in his father’s footsteps and was an apprentice salesman for the same motor company. His older brothers, Arthur Jr an Harold, were also working as salesmen in the same business.
When war broke out, Cecil was called upon to play his part. Full service details have been lost to time, but it seems that he initially joined the Royal Fusiliers, and was attached to the 5th Battalion. It isn’t clear where or when he served, but by the spring of 1918 – just weeks after its formation – he gained a commission in the Royal Air Force.
Second Lieutenant Buckland was stationed at 44 Training Depot Station at Holt Airfield in Wiltshire, and it was here that he learnt the ropes using a Bristol F.2b Fighter. On the 19th August 1918, Cecil took off on a practice flight. Shortly after take-off, he attempted to turn the aircraft and got into a spin as too low height to recover. The aeroplane crashed to the ground, and he was killed instantly: he was just 23 years of age.
The body of Cecil John Buckland was laid to rest in Holt Old Cemetery, not far from the airfield at which he had been based.
George Mead was born on 18th September 1900 in the Wiltshire village of Semley. The youngest of eleven children, his parents were police sergeant George Mead and his wife, Rebecca.
The 1911 census recorded the Mead family as having moved to Chapmanslade, near Westbury. George Sr and Rebecca were set up in a five-room cottage, Forest View, with George Jr and two of his older sisters – Edith and Margaret – also living there.
Rebecca passed away when her youngest was just sixteen years of age and, on 12th March 1917, George Jr’s older brother Charlie, a Private in the Worcestershire Regiment, was killed in action while fighting in France. It seems that his younger sibling was keen to prove his mettle before peace was declared and, on the day after his eighteenth birthday, he gave up his job as a carter and enlisted in the Royal Navy.
Stoker 2nd Class Mead’s service records show that he was 5ft 10.5ins (1.79m) tall, with brown hair, blue eyes and a fresh complexion. He was sent off to HMS Vivid – the Royal Naval Dockyard in Devonport, Devon – for his training.
Tragically, George Jr’s time in the navy was to be short. He contracted pneumonia and as admitted to the naval hospital in Plymouth. The illness was to prove too severe, and he passed away on 7th October 1918: he was eighteen years of age, and had been in the Royal Navy for just 18 days.
The body of George Mead Jr was taken back to Wiltshire for burial. He was laid to rest in the extension to St Margaret’s Church, Corsley, not far from where his grieving father still lived.
Born in Shelburne, Nova Scotia, in around 1876, the early life of Oscar Cameron is a challenge to piece together. He was one of four children to ship’s carpenter Christopher Cameron and his wife Alice.
Oscar appears to have followed his father in a sea-faring life, and his later army service records confirm that, by 1917, he was a ship’s officer. When the call came to serve the Empire, he took a discharge from his ship in Australia, and joined up.
Enlisting on 20th February 1917, Oscar’s service records show that he was 5ft 6.5ins (1.69m) tall, and weighed 128lbs (50.1kg). He had fair hair, blue eyes and a fresh complexion, with a tattoo on his right forearm and a vaccination scar on his left upper arm. His age was given as 36 years and 6 months, although he was, in fact 41 by this point.
Assigned to the 59th Battalion of the Australian Infantry, Private Cameron’s unit left from Sydney on board the HMAT A16. The two-month voyage was not uneventful: Oscar spent three days in hospital with an undeclared ailment, and also forfeited two days’ pay for being absent without leave for 34hrs during the ship’s layover in Cape Town, South Africa.
The 59th Battalion disembarked in Liverpool, Lancashire, on 16th September 1917. From there it made the journey to the ANZAC camps in Wiltshire, and this is where Oscar would have continued his training.
At the start of 1918, Private Cameron’s health was suffering again. He was admitted to the No. 3 New Zealand General Hospital in Codford, Wiltshire, suffering from nephritis. Ultimately, the condition was to prove fatal: Oscar passed away at 4:45pm on 24th January 1918, aged 40.
Thousands of miles from home, it wasn’t possible for the remains of Oscar Cameron to be taken back to Canada. Instead, he was laid to rest in the ANZAC extension to St Mary’s Churchyard in Codford, not far from the base where he had received treatment.
Henry Thomas Stratford was born in Southampton, Hampshire, in the autumn of 1870. The youngest of three children, his parents were John and Maria Stratford. When Henry’s father died in 1876, Maria re-married, and went on to have a further child with her new husband, James Simmons.
Maria’s husbands worked away, and likely served on ships: John was absent from the 1871 census, while James was missing from the 1881 return.
By the 1901 census, Maria had been widowed a second time. She was living at 29 Dock Street with her three youngest children – Henry, his older brother John, and his younger half-brother William. By this point, John was employed as a waterman on a barge, while Henry had also taken to the water, and was employed as a seaman.
Maria passed away in 1904, and there is little further information about Henry’s earlier life. His later army records suggest that he served in the Royal Navy for 14 years, although there are no records for his service at that time.
At some point, presumably after his time in the navy had expired, Henry emigrated to Australia. Again, details are scarce, but he was definitely there by the spring of 1917, having settled in Brisbane, and taken up work as a sailmaker.
When war broke out in Europe, Henry stepped up to serve his country, enlisting in the Australian Imperial Force on 3rd Mary 1917. His records confirm that he was 5ft 4ins (1.62m) tall, and weighed in a 152lbs (69kg). With light brown hair and blue eyes, he had a fair complexion and tattoos on both of his forearms.
Assigned to the 31st Battalion of the Australian Infantry, Private Stratford set sail from Sydney on 14th June 1917. After a ten week voyage, he was marched in to Hurdcott Camp near Fovant, Wiltshire, and would remain in the ANZAC base for his training.
On 23rd February, Henry was admitted to the No. 3 New Zealand General Hospital in Codford, Wiltshire, having fallen from a train. He remained in hospital for the next week, but his head injuries would ultimately prove fatal.
An inquest was held at the New Zealand Military Hospital on Wednesday concerning the death of Henry Thomas Stratford…
Mr FAP Sylvester (coroner) conducted the inquiry, and the evidence went to show that on the night of February 23rd last the deceased man met with an accident by trying to leave a train while it was in motion, before reaching Codford GWR Station. He was picked up in an unconscious state and conveyed to the Military Hospital where he died on Monday.
Corporal John Brooks, ASC Cyclist Section, of Codford, stated that he proceeded from Warminster on the 9:45pm train to Codford on February 23rd. He was in the company of Gunner E Ford, RFA, of Boyton, and they were in the came corridor carriage as the deceased man. After leaving Warminster deceased walked down the corridor, and some time later witness found that deceased had opened the carriage door and was sitting with his feet hanging outside, apparently trying to alight from the train. Just after passing Upton Lovel [sic] crossing, he suddenly disappeared, and witness just saw him fall off the footboard. Deceased never spoke or shouted, and when the train pulled up at Codford, witness reported the matter to the military police and stationmaster, and accompanied them to the spot where deceased was found lying face downwards, his head against the main line rail. First aid was rendered and he was moved to the military hospital.
Private Claude E Thompson, Australian military police, stated that deceased had a road pass, but he had no right to travel by train. He had probably endeavoured to leave the train before it reached Codford to evade the military police.
The jury returned a verdict that deceased came to his death by trying to alight from the train and that he accidentally fell and sustained a compound fracture of the skull.
[Warminster & Westbury Journal – Friday 08 March 1918]
Henry Thomas Stratford was 47 years of age when he passed away. His body was laid to rest in the ANZAC extension to St Mary’s Churchyard in Codford, Wiltshire, close to the hospital in which he had breathed his last.
Death and Service 