Hélier Carré was born in April 1900, on the Channel Island of Sark. He was the second of two children to Hélier and Henriette (also known as Harriet) Carré. Hélier Sr was a fisherman, and the family, including siblings Hélier Jr and Harriet Jr, lived in a four-roomed cottage, La Collinette, with Henriette’s widowed mother, also called Henriette/Harriet.
Hélier Jr was just 14 when war broke out but, with France just 25 miles (39km) across the water, he was obviously keen to play his part. It was not to be until the summer of 1918 that he enlisted, and he joined the Royal Guernsey Light Infantry as a Private. His service records confirm that he had become a fisherman like his father, and they he was 5ft 3ins (1.6m) tall.
Little additional information is available about Private Carré. He was sent to Guernsey for training, and it was there, on 13th November 1918 – just two days after the Armistice was signed – that he passed away. The cause of his death is not freely available, but he was just 18 years of age.
The body of Hélier Carré was taken back to Sark for burial. He was laid to rest in the graveyard of the island’s church, St Peter’s.
Fred Vowden was born in 1889 in Wadebridge, Cornwall. One of eleven children, his parents were Thomas and Emma. Thomas was a farm labourer, and this is work that Fred also followed when he finished his schooling.
The family moved to where the work was: the 1911 census found them living in Lansallos, a village near Polperro on the county’s south coast. Fred married Doris Curtis in Liskeard in March 1915: there is little information about her, but the couple set up home back in Wadebridge, and went on to have a daughter, Dorothy, the following spring.
War had reared its ugly head over Europe by this point. Fred enlisted in December 1915, joining the Royal Engineers. He was not to be formally mobilised until July 1918, and took up work as a supernumerary platelayer for the London and South Western Railway Company. When he officially took up his role with the army, his employment stood him in good stead: he was assigned to the Railway Construction Troops Depot in Surrey.
Sapper Vowden’s service records show that he was 5ft 6ins (1.75m) tall and weighed 135lbs (61.2kg). He was of good physical development, with a fresh complexion, brown hair and brown eyes.
Fred was based near Farnham as the war drew to a close and winter neared. On 9th November 1918, he fell ill and was admitted to the Frensham Hill Military Hospital with a severe frontal headache. Over the next few days broncho-pneumonia was identified and his condition worsened. By 13th November his temperature was up to 105F, and his breathing was shallow. That evening Sapper Vowden fell unconscious and passed away. He was 28 years of age.
Fred Vowden’s body was taken back to Cornwall for burial. He was laid to rest in Egloshayle Cemetery, on the outskirts of the town in which he had been born and raised.
John Leslie Martyn was born in Egloshayle, Cornwall, on 15th February 1888. He was the youngest of five children, and was the third son to John and Mary Martyn. John Sr was a general merchant, and the household had a couple of live-in servants to help both with the household and the business.
When John Sr died in 1904, William, his middle son, took over the running of what was a decent family business.
John Jr, however, had sought another way of life and, was set on a life at sea. He enlisted on the training ship Conway in 1902. Based on the River Mersey, by the time of the 1911 census, he was boarding in the Sailor’s Home in Liverpool. The document confirms that he held the rank of Ship’s Mate in the merchant service, and it would seem that he was doing what he could to build on his skills.
On 26th August 1912, John received his certificate of competency to be the Master of a foreign-going ship. He received a commission in the Royal Naval Reserve, before joining the New Zealand Shipping Co. two years later. When war came to Europe, however, he was called back into naval service.
After serving a few months on the air defences in the Thames Estuary he sailed on his Majesty’s ship Laconia for the coast of German South-West Africa, where he remained. He became a Lieutenant in 1915, and in 1917 was given his first command of HMS Prattler. It is not too much to say that most promising young life has been given to his country.
Cornish Guardian: Friday 8th November 1918
In the summer of 1918, John came home on leave. On 25th July he married Lucy Dudfield in Stanway, Gloucestershire. Tragically, their married life was not to be a lengthy one.
Lieutenant Martyn returned to Devon, and, for reasons undetermined, was admitted to the Royal Naval Hospital in East Stonehouse, Plymouth in October. Whatever the cause of his ailment, he was not to survive it. He passed away while still admitted, on 25th October 1918. He was 30 years of age.
John Leslie Martyn’s body was taken back to Cornwall for burial. He was laid to rest in the family plot in Egloshayle Cemetery.
Ivy Pretoria May Hibberd was born in the spring of 1900 in the Wiltshire village of Wylye. One of nine children, she was the daughter of bricklayer Edwin Hibberd and his wife, Elizabeth.
There is little information available about young Ivy’s life. She enlisted in the Women’s Royal Air Force on 14th October 1918, and was sent off to Handsworth College in Birmingham for training.
Member Hibberd’s time in service was to be tragically brief. Having contracted a combination of influenza and pneumonia, she died on 6th November 1918. She was just 18 years of age and passed away just over three weeks after signing up.
Ivy Pretoria May Hibberd’s body was taken back to Wiltshire for burial. She was laid to rest in the peaceful graveyard of St Mary’s Church in her home village, Wylye.
Oliver Carter was born in the spring of 1861 in East Budleigh, Devon. The youngest of four children, his parents were Ellis, who was a farm labourer, and Jane Carter.
As the years passed, Oliver’s older siblings left home and, by the 1881 census, he was the last of Ellis and Jane’s children to remain living with them. He was employed as a baker by this point, although he seemed to want more permanent employment.
On 9th February 1883, Oliver enlisted in the army. His service records show that he was 5ft 6.5ins (1.69m) tall and weighed 120lbs (54.4kg). He had a sallow complexion, with brown hair and grey eyes. The document confirmed no distinguishing marks (in the event that his body needed to be identified) and that his religious denomination was Church of England.
Private Carter was assigned the Commissariat and Transport Corps – a forerunner to the Royal Army Service Corps – for a period of twelve years. After eighteen months on home soil his unit was sent to South Africa, where he remained until December 1885. On returning to Britain, he spent the next nine years on reserve status, and was formally stood down from army service un February 1895.
The 1891 census return found Oliver back in Devon, where he working as a general labourer alongside his army commitments. Ellis, meanwhile, was employed as a miller’s waggoner, while Jane had also started taking in lacemaking jobs.
In the autumn of 1893, Oliver married Elizabeth Morrish. Eight years his senior, she was a widow with eight children of her own. The 1901 census recorded the couple living in a cottage near the King’s Arms Hotel in East Budleigh. They shared their home with three of Elizabeth’s children and their own daughter, Hilda. Oliver had changed jobs again, and was employed as a cowman on a farm.
Life continued on for the Carters. A chance of more regular employment as a labourer for the local council brought a move to Highbridge in Somerset. Elizabeth had her own account as a dressmaker, Hilda was keeping house and the family also had a boarder, Charles Smith, who was a butcher’s assistant. While they had made the move to a new county, they did not forget their roots: their house was called Budleigh.
When war broke out, Oliver seemed to be drawn to serve his country again. Full details of his second period of army service are lost to the mists of time, but some things can be gleaned from a contemporary newspaper report of his passing:
Death of a Volunteer
Much regret was expressed at Highbridge on Saturday when it became known that Mrs Carter, of Newtown Road, had received a telegram containing the news that her husband, Mr Oliver Carter, a member of the Somerset Volunteer Regiment, had died while undergoing training with his company under canvas.
Central Somerset Gazette: Friday 7th June 1918
Oliver had been assigned to the 1st (Volunteer) Battalion of the Somerset Light Infantry. His death was registered in Wiveliscombe, and the canvas reference would suggest that he was being trained on nearby Exmoor.
Given he was being trained at the time of his passing, Private Carter is likely to have been a new recruit to the Somersets. As he was 57 years of age when he passed, it is no surprise that he had volunteered for service. His age was to act against him, however: he passed away having contracted pneumonia.
Oliver Carter was brought back to Highbridge for burial. He was laid to rest in the town’s cemetery, a short walk from where his widow and daughter lived.
Bertie Claude Gannicott was born in Stalbridge, Dorset, in the summer of 1893. One of twelve children, he was the son of railway signalman Edward Gannicott and his wife, Emily. The family moved to Highbridge, Somerset, when Bertie was a babe-in-arms, and so this was the town he was to know as home for his whole life.
When Bertie completed his schooling, he found work as a cellerman in a local brewery. When war broke out in 1914, he turned 21 years of age. He seemed keen to serve his King and Country and, while service records for him no longer exist, it is clear that he had enlisted in the army by the spring of 1918.
Private Gannicott joined the Royal Army Service Corps and was attached to the 61st Remount Squadron. It’s not possible to confirm whether he saw action overseas, although his unit would have been responsible for supplying the army with horses and mules for the war effort.
Bertie was based in Berkshire towards the end of the war. He fell ill in the autumn of 1918, contracting pneumonia. Admitted to the No. 5 War Hospital in Reading, this was a condition to which he would succumb. He passed away on 19th November, at the age of 25 years old.
Bertie Claude Gannicott was taken back to Somerset for burial. He was laid to rest in the family plot in Highbridge Cemetery.
Albert Edward Toomer was born in the summer of 1875, one of eleven children to Joseph and Harriet Toomer. Joseph was a labourer from Meare in Somerset, but it was in Highbridge, near Burnham-on-Sea that the family were born and raised.
When he finished his schooling, Albert found work in a local brickyard and, by the time of the 1911 census, when he was the only Toomer child to still be living at home, he was employed as a tile maker. By this point he was 35 years of age, and, as a single man, was in a position to support his parents, who were both in their 70s.
Harriet died in 1914, Joseph following a year later. On 9th January 1915, Albert married Louisa Clark at the Ebenezer Chapel in Brent Knoll. The couple went on to have a child, Arthur, later that year.
By this point, war was raging across Europe. Despite his age, Albert stepped up to play his part, enlisting on 27th November 1915, at the age of 40 years old. Private Toomer’s service documents confirm he was 5ft 3ins (1.6m) tall, and weighed 110lbs (50kg). He was placed in the Army Reserve, and was not formally mobilised until March 1917.
Assigned to the 11th (Reserve) Battalion of the Devonshire Regiment, Albert was sent to France within weeks of being mobilised. He was transferred to the Labour Corps two months later, and remained in France until the autumn of 1918.
By this point, Albert’s health seems to have been suffering. In September, he was admitted to the 7th Canadian General Hospital in Northern France. He was suffering from a carcinoma, although his medical records are not legible enough to confirm what type of cancer. Invalided back to Britain, Private Toomer was sent to a military hospital in Whalley, Lancashire.
Albert’s time in hospital was not to be a lengthy one. He passed away on 8th November 1918, from a combination of the cancer and tuberculous peritonitis. He was 43 years of age.
Albert Edward Toomer was taken back to Somerset for burial. He was laid to rest in Highbridge Cemetery, not far from where his widow and son lived.
Arthur Perkins was born on 22nd April 1883, the seventh of eight children to James and Jane Perkins. James was a farm labourer who subsequently found work on the railways. The family were all born in Huntspill, Somerset, moving the few miles north to Highbridge when James’ work changed.
Arthur initially took on labouring work, but sought a more reliable career. On 26th February 1903, he enlisted in the army, joining the Somerset Light Infantry, for whom he had previously been a volunteer. His service records show that he was 5ft 7ins (1.7m) tall and weighed 122lbs (55.3kg). He had brown hair, hazel eyes and a fresh complexion, and his medical records note that he had a scar above his right eye.
Private Perkins was initially attached to the 2nd Battalion, remaining on home soil until September 1904. At this point, Arthur was moved to the 1st Battalion and, as a result, was sent to a unit in Quetta, India. He remained overseas for more than eighteen months, and, during his army career had a number of spells in hospital. He was admitted for bronchial catarrh in March 1904, a swollen stomach in December, a blistered foot in January 1905, syphilis in April and dyspepsia in September.
Arthur returned to Britain in May 1906, and at this point was stood down to reserve status. He returned to Somerset and, by the time of the 1911 census, was living with his older brother Harry and his family.
The Perkinses shared a small cottage in Benedict Street (at the time known as Station Road), Glastonbury. Arthur and Harry both laboured in a timber yard, while one of the yard’s engineers, William Webb, boarded with the family to bring an extra income in.
By the time war broke out in 1914, Arthur had moved back to Highbridge. He had taken up employment as a butcher, but this came to an end when he was mobilised on 5th August. Attached to the 1st Battalion of the Somersets again, Private Perkins was sent to France with his unit within weeks of the conflict being declared.
On the 18th September, Arthur was caught up in the Battle of the Aisne. He was wounded in the arm, and subsequently knocked unconscious by a shell burst nearby. From that point on, Private Perkins was dogged by a persistent tremor, which resulted in him being medically evacuated to Britain, and ultimately discharged from active service. “He had a functional tremor of the whole body. He he typically neurasthenic and depressed and convinced he will never be any better. No treatment is of the slightest avail.” [Medical discharge papers for Private Arthur Perkins: 26th June 1915]
Following Arthur’s discharge from the army, his trail goes cold. It is likely that he returned to Highbridge, although it is also likely that he spent periods of time – or longer – hospitalised because of his condition. He married a woman called Florence, although details of her are also scarce.
Arthur Perkins died through causes unknown on 2nd November 1918: he was 35 years of age. He was laid to rest in the cemetery of his home town, Highbridge.
William George Newton was born in Culmstock, Devon, early in 1889. His mother, Ada, was unmarried at the time, and there is no indication as to who his father was. The 1891 census found mother and son living with Ada’s parents, John and Hannah, in South Street, Wellington, Somerset.
In the summer of 1892, Ada married Frederick Higgins, a police constable from Baltonsborough. The couple set up home in the village of Mark, and went on to have ten children. It was at this point that William took on Frederick’s name, though whether that was because he was actually his birth father is unclear.
When he finished his schooling, William found labouring work. On 9th March 1910, he married Annie Achilles, a painter’s daughter from Glastonbury. The couple set up home in a small cottage in Bank Street, Highbridge, and went on to have three children.
The next year’s census recorded that William was employed as a stoker for Highbridge Bacon Co Ltd, a large factory to the south of the town. His and Annie’s oldest child, son William Jr, who was just two months old at this point, and William’s grandfather, the now widowed John, completed the household.
When war broke out, William stepped up to play his part. He enlisted on 28th October 1915, joining the 3rd Battalion of the Gloucestershire Regiment as a Private. His service records show that he was 26 years and 10 months old, and stood 5ft 2ins (1.57m) tall.
Private Higgins’ service documents confirm that he served for nine months before being medically discharged from the army. He had contracted haemoptysis and had an enlarged heart. His medical records confirmed that, at the time of his dismissal, he was totally incapacitated and unable to work.
William returned to Somerset, but is would seem that his health continued to dog him over the next couple of years. He passed away on 29th October 1918, at the age of 29 years of age.
William George Higgins was laid to rest in the cemetery of his adopted home town, Highbridge.
Annie was now a widow, with three young children to support. She married again in the spring of 1922, to bus conductor William Davey. Annie was to outlive not only her husband, but all three of her children.
William and Annie’s youngest, Cyril, passed away when he was just a couple of months old.
Albert, their middle son, “had been for a great while a cripple from trouble in his leg, but was able to get about on crutches.” [Central Somerset Gazette: Friday 22nd July 1932] He passed away on 16th July 1932, aged just 18 years old.
William Jr had tried out in the Royal Navy when he was sixteen years of age. Beginning with the rank of Boy 2nd Class, he was dismissed in March 1928, as he was deemed unsuitable for the rank of Boy 1st Class.
In the autumn of 1934, he married Nettie King, the daughter of a factory worker from Street, Somerset. The couple went on to have three children, although in an echo of his parents’ tragedy, their middle child, Phyllis, passed away when just eighteen months old.
When war came to Europe for a second time, William sought to serve his country for a second time. He enlisted in the Royal Air Force, and rose to the rank of Leading Aircraftman. On 18th June 1940, he was on board a Blenheim aircraft flying from the UK to Malta, when the plane came down in bad weather near Marseille. William and his two companions, Pilot Officer Johnston and Sergeant Micklethwaite were all killed.
Leading Aircraftman Higgins was laid to rest in the Mazargues War Cemetery near Marseille.
David William Slocombe was born on 9th November 1893, the oldest of seven children to William and Kate. William was a tin worker from Huntspill, Somerset, and it was in nearby Highbridge that the family were born and raised.
David appears to have been a bright lad, receiving a sponsorship from the King James Foundation to attend Dr Morgan’s School in Bridgwater. He spent six years there, from September 1906 to July 1912, and went on to become a customs and excise clerk when he left.
When war arrived in Europe, David was called upon to play his part. He initially enlisted on 1st December 1915, but was placed on reserve for nearly a year. His service records show that he was 22 years of age and 5ft 8.5ins (1.74m) tall. When he was finally mobilised, he was given a commission in the Royal Flying Corps.
At this point, David’s trail goes cold. Later documents confirm that he transferred across to the Royal Air Force when it was founded in April 1918, and that he rose to the rank of Lieutenant. He served in France and Italy and, by the end of the war, was attached to the 44th Training Depot Station in Oxfordshire.
By the autumn of 1918, Lieutenant Slocombe had come down with pneumonia. He was admitted to the 3rd Southern General Hospital in Bicester, and this is where he was to breathe his last. David died on 24th October 1918, aged just 24 years old.
David William Slocombe was brought back to Somerset for burial. He was laid to rest in Highbridge Cemetery.
Death and Service 