Tag Archives: 1918

Commonwealth War Graves, Dorset, Dorset Yeomanry, Great War, history, injury, Lance Corporal, photography, story, war

Lance Corporal William Warne

Leave a comment
Lance Corporal William Warne

William Henry Warne was born in Walworth, South London, in March 1892. His father is not named, but his mother was Ellen Warne (or Gould), who was “living on her own means”. He had two older siblings, Fred – whose surname is listed as Gould – and Gertie Warne.

By the time of the 1911 census, William was a law clerk in West Coker, near Yeovil in Somerset. The record shows him living with his mother and sharing her surname – which was now listed as Gould. Again, Ellen’s occupation was “private means”.

William’s full military service records are not available, but various sources produce a little information.

Private William Warne had enlisted in the Dorset (Queen’s Own) Yeomanry by April 1915, as this is when he was dispatched to Egypt. August 1915 saw his battalion shipped to Gallipoli; William survived this horrendous battle and returned to Egypt by the end of that year. As a result, he earned the 1915 Star medal.

When the Dorset Yeomanry was retitled, Private Warne became part of the Corps of Hussars. After Egypt, the battalion moved to Palestine, where they saw out the war. He was appointed Lance Corporal at some point during this time.

The exact details of his passing are lost to time; he passed away on 9th October 1918 at the British Red Cross Hospital in Netley, and his records suggest that he died of wounds. He was 26 years old.

Lance Corporal Warne’s life was an intriguing one from start to finish.

The Army Register of Soldiers’ Effects is a document that shows how much was paid out to the relatives of soldiers who have passed away in service; in the research I have carried out over the last few months, this amount has generally ranged between £2 and £8, rarely reaching double figures.

William’s mother and sister, however, received a significant amount. The initial payment was £31 13s 8d, and this was followed by a second figure of £19 10s. There may be various reasons for this – the campaigns William fought in, the prestigious regiment, the appointment to Lance Corporal – but again this is another mystery that will remain such.

Lance Corporal William Warne lies at rest in Sherborne Cemetery.

Commonwealth War Graves, Dorset, Great War, history, illness, photography, Queen Alexandra Imperial Military Nursing Reserves, Staff Nurse, story, war

Staff Nurse Dorothy Stacey

2 Comments
Staff Nurse Dorothy Stacey

Dorothy Louise Stacey was born in 1893, the eldest child of Alfred Stacey, a farmer, and his wife Mary.

The family lived at Middle Farm in Charlton Horethorne, a small village midway between Sherborne and Wincanton. Alfred Stacey ran the farm, and by the time of the 1901 census, the family of four had a live-in domestic servant, Beatrice Baker.

Things had moved on by the next census return of 1911. Alfred and Mary had moved the young family 150 miles east, where they were now running Buttons Farm in Wadhurst, East Sussex. I can find no familial link for what would have been a significant move in the early 1900s, but it may be that Alfred was headhunted. The records show that Mary and Dorothy were assisting Alfred in running the farm, along with new domestic servant Mary Hide. The family were joined by Marjorie Anderson, a live-in governess for younger daughter Mollie.

Dorothy Stacey joined the Queen Alexandra’s Imperial Military Nursing Service Reserves (QAIMNS) during the war. The official female unit for medical services in the British Army, those joining had to come from ‘good families’ and be qualified nurses. It can only be assumed, therefore, that Dorothy undertook additional training after 1911, presumably in order for her to be able to join up.

Staff Nurse Stacey was based at Worgret Camp, on the outskirts of Wareham, Dorset. Full details of her time there are no longer available, but she would have been exposed to a variety of illnesses while attending the soldiers under her care. Sadly, this was to prove to be her undoing. She passed away in the facility where she worked on 5th October 1918, having contracted a combination of bronchitis and nephritis. She was just 25 years of age.

When the family had been living near Sherborne, Dorothy had attended the Convent of St Anthony’s school. It was to the convent’s chapel that she was taken following her passing.

After the funeral service was held there, Dorothy Louise Stacey was laid to rest in Roman Catholic section of Sherborne Cemetery.

Commonwealth War Graves, Dorset, Great War, Gunner, history, injury, photography, Royal Field Artillery, story, war

Gunner Thomas Kelly

Leave a comment
Gunner Thomas Kelly

It is often a challenge to find details of the fallen soldiers whose graves pepper the churchyards of the UK.

Sadly, Gunner Thomas Kelly is one of those names lost to time.

Born in 1893, he lived in Alsager, Cheshire and enlisted in the Royal Field Artillery. He served in the Balkans during the war and was wounded. Brought back home to the Yeatman Hospital in Sherborne, Dorset, he died of his wounds on 11th January 1918.

He was buried in the town’s cemetery on 16th January 1918; he was just 25.

Commonwealth War Graves, Devonshire Regiment, Dorset, Great War, history, illness, Labour Corps, photography, Private, story, war

Private Samuel Cook

Leave a comment
Private Samuel Cook

Samuel Cook was born in Bedfordshire, the eldest of two children to Alfred and Phoebe Cook.

Alfred was a forester, which saw the family move around the country; the 1881 census found them living in Rutland, ten years later the family was recorded in Northamptonshire and by the 1911 census, they were in Dorset.

Samuel was quick to follow in his father’s footsteps, supporting his mother and sister after Alfred died in 1906.

The war was underway when Samuel was called up. His Devonshire Regiment service records show that he enlisted on 11th December 1915. His fitness seemed to have determined the path his military career would take.

Initially Private Cook was classified as C1 (free from serious organic diseases and able to serve in garrisons at home, able to walk 5 miles, see to shoot with glasses, and hear well), but was upgraded to B2 within six months. This identified that he was free from serious organic diseases, able to stand service on lines of communication in France, or in garrisons in the tropics and able to walk 5 miles, see and hear sufficiently for ordinary purposes.

Samuel was first enrolled in 13th (Works) Battalion of the Devonshire Regiment, before being transferred to the 311th (HS) Labour Company in Plymouth.

Private Cook was one of the thousands of soldiers who contracted influenza and subsequently died of pneumonia on 1st November 1918.

There seems to be some dispute over how and when Samuel fell ill. A request for a detailed medical report was sent, “as he appeared to have contracted the disease from which he died whilst on leave for the purpose of getting married”. The same request confirms that he was never admitted to hospital while in the company. (There are no records oh Samuel having married, so I am assuming that his leave may have been for wedding preparations, of normal leave.)

The report came back confirming that he has died from “pneumonia complicating influenza which was contracted whilst on service at Beaulieu”.

However and wherever it happened, the disease claimed Private Samuel Cook’s life; he lies at rest in Sherborne Cemetery, Dorset.

Commonwealth War Graves, Great War, history, Kent, photography, Private, story, Surrey Yeomanry, war

Private William Earrey

Leave a comment

William George Earrey was born in 1900, the eldest of three children to William George and Rosina Earrey. While he was baptised William George, later records – including those for his military service – show him as George William; presumably this had avoided any confusion with his father as the young William was growing up.

William Sr worked as a ships boiler maker and, while they appear somewhat disparate over the census records, the Earreys were based in Gillingham, Kent. (Given his employment, this would ensure William Sr’s proximity to the dockyard in Chatham.)

While his enlistment records are not readily available, William Jr appears to have signed up as soon as his age allowed. He enlisted in the Surrey Yeomanry and was shipped to Ireland, where the regiment has two reserve bases.

On 10th October 1918, aged 18 years old, William was returning home on leave from Ireland. He was one of 500 military personnel on board the RMS Leinster, which also had around 200 civilian passengers and 77 crew on board. Just after 10am the ship was around Kish Bank, just off the coast from Dublin, when passengers reported seeing a torpedo pass just in front of the ship’s bow. This was quickly followed by a second torpedo, which hit the ship on the port side. While it was being turned about to seek shelter back in port, a third torpedo struck, causing an explosion and the RMS Leinster sank.

The crew had managed to launch a number of lifeboats, while other passengers were able to get into the sea, clutching life rafts. Many people – William included – died during the sinking, while some of the survivors also subsequently perished.

The exact number of dead in the torpedoing of the RMS Leinster is not known, but it is estimated that at least 560 souls were lost, making it the biggest maritime disaster in the Irish Sea.

Newspapers of the time heralded the nation’s uproar at such a maritime tragedy – the sinking of the Leinster was the largest loss of life at sea around the British coast since the Lusitania three years earlier. The Derry Journal reported on the ‘fiendish crime’, that had occurred as a result of the ‘German policy of frightfulness at sea’.

The article went on to describe some of the challenges facing Dublin in the immediate aftermath of the disaster.

Owing to a strike in the undertaking trade, considerable difficulty is experienced in making arrangements for the burial of the victims. There is an insufficiency of coffins in Dublin, and all but three posting establishments are closed. The Lord Mayor is endeavouring to arrange the suspension of the strike till the Leinster victims are buried. It is stated that on a very rough estimate about three hundred bodies have been recovered…

Derry Journal: Monday 14th October 1918

Sadly, William Earrey’s body was not one of those to have been recovered; this undoubtedly left a lack of closure for his family at the lost of their young son.

Private Earrey is commemorated at the Hollybrook War Memorial in Southampton.

William George Earrey was my first cousin twice removed.

Commonwealth War Graves, Great War, history, illness, Lance Corporal, photography, story, war, West Surrey Regiment

Lance Corporal Charles Stubbles

Leave a comment

Charles Frederick Stubbles was born in Tottenham in 1892. One of eleven children to Richard and Mary Ann Stubbles, by the time of the 1911 census, the family were living in Edmonton. Charlie and his brother had found employment painting gas stoves, while his father was a building foreman.

Charles enlisted in the army in 1916, aged 25 years and 11 months. His service records show that he stood at 5ft 2ins, weighed in at 69lbs; his health was classified as C2 – Free from serious organic diseases, able to stand service in garrisons at home, able to walk 5 miles, see and hear sufficiently for ordinary purposes.

Joining the Labour Corps of the West Surrey Regiment, Private Stubbles initially served on the home front, before being transferred to France as part of the British Expeditionary Force in March 1917.

Charlie seems to have been a bit of a character and was pulled up a few times during his service. On 10th April, he was charged with “committing a nuisance in the barrack room”, for which he was confined to camp for eight days. On 21st August he went AWOL for nearly a day; he was docked eight days’ pay. On 28th October he appeared unshaven and dirty for the 7:15am parade; he was confined to barracks for seven days.

On 4th January 1918, Charles was admitted to a field hospital with diarrhoea; while there he was diagnosed with tuberculosis; he succumbed to this two days later, dying on 7th January 1918. He was 26 years old.

Lance Corporal Charles Stubbles is buried at the Haringhe Bandaghem Military Cemetery in Poperinge, Belgium.

Charles Frederick Stubbles was my great grandmother Lillian’s younger brother.

Commonwealth War Graves, Great War, history, photography, Private, Rifle Brigade, story, Uncategorized, war

Private Frank Woods

Leave a comment

Frank Ernest Woods was born in 1885, one of seven children to Thomas and Alice. Thomas was a labourer and he raised his family in Worcestershire.

Frank left home early – by the time of the 1901 census, he was living as a gardener for the Cornforth family, who were grain merchants in South Claines, near Worcester.

Frank’s work with the family continued; the 1911 census show that they had relocated to Kensington. The Cornforth family were now running the Eaton Court Hotel, a boarding house with nineteen rooms; the 25-year-old Frank had been elevated to the role of waiter.

Another of the Cornforths’ staff was a housemaid, 20-year-old Ethel Elizabeth James; within a matter of years, the couple were courting, and Frank and Ethel married in November 1915.

The Great War was already being waged across the Channel, and Frank enlisted, joining the Rifle Brigade in June 1916. Within three months, he was fighting on the Western Front.

Private Frank Woods was killed in action in Belgium on 10th October 1918. He was 33 years old. He is remembered on the Tyne Cot Memorial in Zonnebeke.

Frank Ernest Woods was the first husband of my Great Great Great Aunt, Ethel Elizabeth James.

Commonwealth War Graves, Dorset, Great War, history, injury, Lieutenant, photography, Royal Air Force, Second Lieutenant, story, war

Second Lieutenant Sidney Pragnell

2 Comments
Second Lieutenant Sidney Pragnell

Sidney Ralph Pragnell was the eldest of two children of Edward and Ellen Pragnell. Edward grew up in Sherborne, before moving to London to work as a chef; he found employment as a cook in an officer’s mess, which took him and his wife first to Ireland – where Sidney was born – and then to the barracks at Aldershot.

By the time of the 1911 census, Edward had brought his family back to Dorset, and was running the Half Moon Hotel, opposite the Abbey in Sherborne. Sidney, aged 12, was still at school.

When war broke out, Sidney was eager to play his part, even though he was underage. An article in the local newspaper highlights his keenness and how he progressed.

…he was keen to serve his country and joined every local organisation his age would allow him to. He was an early member of the Sherborne VTC and Red Cross Detachment, and was actually the youngest member of the Volunteers to wear the uniform. Whilst still under age, he enlisted in the Royal Naval Division at the Crystal Palace and after a period of training was drafted as a qualified naval gunner to a merchant steamer carrying His Majesty’s mails and in this capacity went practically round the world. In February he joined the RNAS and after some air training in England went to France to an air station, where he passed all the tests with honours and gained the ‘wings’ of the qualified pilot. Lieutenant Pragnell then decided to go in for scouting and came back to England for advanced training in the special flying necessary for this qualification and it was whilst engaged in this that he met with the accident which resulted in his death.

Western Chronicle: Friday 16th August 1918.

The esteem in which Second Lieutenant Pragnell was held continues in the article, which quotes the condolence letter sent to his parents by his commander, Major Kelly.

It is with deep regret that I have to write you of the death of your son, Second-Lieutenant SR Pragnell. Your boy was one of the keenest young officers I have ever had under my command and was extremely popular with us all and his place will be extremely hard to fill.

The service can ill afford to lose officers of the type of which Lieutenant Pragnell was an excellent example and it seems such a pity this promising career was cut short when he had practically finished his training. May I convey the heartfelt sympathy of all officers and men in my command to you in this your hour of sorrow.

Western Chronical: Friday 16th August 1918.

What I find most interesting about this article is that the letter from Major Kelly detail how Edward and Ellen’s son died, and this this too is quoted by the newspaper.

Your son had been sent up to practice formation flying and was flying around the aerodrome at about 500 feet with his engine throttled down waiting for his instruction to ‘take off’. Whiles waiting your boy tried to turn when his machine had little forward speed. This caused him to ‘stall’ and spin and from this low altitude he had no chance to recover control and his machine fell to earth just on the edge of the aerodrome and was completely wrecked. A doctor was there within a minute, but your boy had been killed instantaneously.

Western Chronicle: Friday 16th August 1918.

Further research shows that the aerodrome Second Lieutenant Pragnell was training at was RAF Freiston in Lincolnshire, which had been designated Number 4 Fighting School with the specific task of training pilots for fighting scout squadrons. He had been flying a Sopwith Camel when he died.

Second Lieutenant Sidney Ralph Pragnell lies at rest in the cemetery of his Dorset home, Sherborne.

Canadian Engineers, Commonwealth War Graves, Great War, history, illness, photography, Sapper, story, war

Sapper Percy Rodgers

Leave a comment
Sapper Percy Rodgers

Percy Wright Rodgers was born in June 1888 in Pilton, Somerset. He was the fifth of eleven children to Levi and Elizabeth Rodgers.

In the 1901 census Levi was listed as a butcher and publican; ten years later, he listed himself as a butcher, slaughter man and shopkeeper.

Percy followed in his father’s footsteps – by the time of the 1911 census, he was boarding with a family in Swanage, Dorset, and worked as a butcher’s assistant.

1913 was a busy year for Percy. He married Frances Bower, they had their first child, Percy Augustus, and he emigrated to the United States (Frances and Percy Jr followed a year later).

In the 1915 New York census, Percy and his family are listed in in the town of Cortland, around 200 miles north of New York City. Percy describes himself as a meat cutter – following in his father’s footsteps – and he and his wife now have a second child, Vera, who was born in the States.

Sapper Rodgers joined the Canadian Engineers in May 1918; he was shipped abroad, back to Europe, but his service appeared short-lived. He contracted pneumonia, and was admitted to the Canadian Hospital in Eastbourne, East Sussex. He passed away on 5th November 1918, at 30 years of age.

Sapper Percy Wright Rodgers lies at rest in the churchyard of St John the Baptist in his home village of Pilton. His grave is topped with a cross dedicated by his widow, Frances.

Commonwealth War Graves, Great War, history, illness, photography, Royal Navy, Stoker, story, war

Stoker Wilfrid Baker

Leave a comment
Stoker Wilfrid Baker

Wilfrid David Baker was born in 1889 in Upchurch, Kent. One of ten children, to Charles and Margaret Baker, he followed his father into the brickmaking industry.

When the Great War came, Wilfrid signed up, enlisting in the Royal Navy in March 1917, as Stoker 2nd Class. During his training in Woolwich, he was promoted to Stoker 1st Class, before being assigned to the HMS Columbine naval base in Scotland.

During his work there, Stoker Baker came down with influenza and was transferred to the HMHS Garth Castle hospital ship. Wilfrid’s illness developed into pneumonia, and he passed away on 20th October 1918. He was 29 years of age.

Stoker 1st Class Wilfrid Baker is buried in the churchyard of St Mary the Virgin in his home village, Upchurch.