Tag Archives: 1919

Commonwealth War Graves, Dorsetshire Regiment, Great War, history, illness, North Somerset Yeomanry, photography, Private, Somerset, Somerset Light Infantry, story, war

Private Reginald Day

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Private Reginald Day

Reginald Charlie Day was born in the spring of 1891, the sixth of thirteen children. His parents – George and Charlotte Day – were born and raised in Gloucestershire, but had moved to Wellow in Somerset by the time Reginald was born.

George was originally a shepherd, but Wellow had two key industries – mining and the railways – and it was into the former that he went, presumably to bring in a regular wage for the expanding Day family.

When he left school, Reginald initially followed his father to the pit, but in April 1913, he opted for a more prestigious career, and enlisted in the army. He joined the Somerset Light Infantry as a Private but, because of his profession, he was not formally mobilised until 1916. His service records give away little about his stature, only that he was 5ft 7ins (1.7m) tall, with good vision and good physical development.

In January 1916, Private Day was moved to the North Somerset Yeomanry and, within a matter of weeks was bound for France. By that October, however, he was moved again, and became attached to the 5th (Service) Battalion of the Dorsetshire Regiment. He was assigned to one of the regiment’s depots, and remained close to the Western Front until the end of July 1917.

At this point, Reginald’s health was beginning to suffer, and he was moved back to the UK for treatment. He was admitted to hospital suffering from a pelvic abscess, and this was later diagnosed as carcinoma of the rectum. No longer fit for military service, he was dismissed from the army on 17th February 1918, his medical records noting that he had been fitted with a colostomy belt.

At this point, Reginald’s trail goes cold. It is likely that he returned home, but whether he was able to take up his previous employment – or work at all – is unclear. His headstone records that he died in Bath War Hospital, although again it is uncertain whether he was admitted from the point of leaving the army, or only in later months as his condition deteriorated. He passed away on 18th October 1919, at the age of 28 years old.

Reginald Charlie Day was laid to rest in the family plot in the peaceful Wellow Cemetery.

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

Private Alfred Creese

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Private Alfred Creese

Alfred Isaac Matthew Creese was born in Wellow, Somerset, in the summer of 1889, and was the youngest child to Jacob and Elizabeth Creese. Jacob was a wagon builder for the Somerset & Dorset Railway, working in the village’s station. When Alfred left school, however, he found employment as a farm labourer.

When war came to Europe, Alfred stepped up to play his part. Sadly, few of his military records remain, and those that do give little information away. He enlisted in the Somerset Light Infantry as a Private and, as a result of his war service, he was awarded the Victory, British and Territorial Force War Medal.

Private Creese survived the conflict, but, according to his headstone, he passed away at the Rock House Hospital in Bath. While this does not appear to be a dedicated hospital, there are a number of locations called Rock House in the Bath area, and it is likely to have been a house used for convalescent purposes. Whatever the location, this is where Private Creese passed away on 18th April 1919, at the age of 29 years old.

Alfred Isaac Matthew Creese was brought back to Wellow for burial. He was laid to rest in the family plot in the village’s peaceful cemetery, to be joined there by his mother in 1930, and his father in 1932, a family reunited once more.

Commonwealth War Graves, Great War, history, illness, Kings Royal Rifle Corps, Lieutenant, photography, Rifleman, Somerset, story, war

Lieutenant Edward Bending

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Lieutenant Edward Bending

Edward Owen Bending was born early in 1891, one of seven children to Edward Bending, who was from Bath, Somerset, and Emma, who came from Castle Cary.

Edward Sr worked on the railways, and the family moved across the county with his work: the 1891 census recorded them living in Edington, while he worked as a signalman in nearby Ashcott; ten years later, the family had moved to Bridgwater with his job. The 1911 census return recorded the Bendings as living in Station House, Wellow, with Edward now employed as the station master.

Edward Jr, who was sometimes known by his middle name to avoid confusion with his father, was also employed at the station, where he was working as a clerk. War was coming to Europe, however, and he stepped up to play his part for King and Country.

Edward enlisted in the King’s Royal Rifle Corps as a Rifleman, and was attached to the 60th Rifles. Full details of his military service are lost to time, but a contemporary newspaper report notes that he served both in the Balkans and in France. During his time in the army, he was promoted to the rank of Lieutenant, but contracted an illness, and was invalided out of service.

Whatever his illness, it was to get the better of him: Lieutenant Bending passed away at home on 24th January 1919. He was just 28 years of age.

Edward Owen Bending was laid to rest in the peaceful Wellow Cemetery, overlooking the village where his family still lived.

Edward’s was a family plot. When his younger sister Winifred died just three years later, she was buried with him. When his mother, Emma, passed away in 1924, she was laid to rest in a neighbouring plot.

Edward Bending Sr lived on until 1938. The newspaper report of his funeral, gives an insight into the family man he was:

A native of Combe Down, where his father carried on business as a tailor, Mr Bending spent all his working days in the employ of the Somerset and Dorset Railway. For a time he worked as a reliefman, and later was appointed stationmaster at Cole, being transferred in 1907 to Wellow, where he took part in all the village activities.

In 1920 he was transferred to Stallbridge, Dorset, but after about four years there had to relinquish work just before reaching retiring age, owing to an attach of rheumatoid arthritis. Since then he had been unable to get about and he stayed with his eldest daughter at Reading for a time.

For the past seven years he had stayed at the residence of his younger daughter at Burnham-on-Sea. Unfortunately the malady affected his sight, and for eight years he had been blind, yet throughout his last years his cheerful disposition never failed him, and he was his old self to the last, being keenly interested in his wireless, which brought him such happiness.

His wife died in 1924, and his younger son, Lieut. Edward Owen Bending, King’s Royal Rifle Corps, lost his life in the war; his name is to be found on the War Memorial at St Julian’s Church.

Mr Bending’s elder son, Hubert Alan Bending, is head master of St Julian’s school, Shoscombe. He is also survived by two of his four daughters.

Somerset Guardian and Radstock Observer: Friday 24th June 1938

While Wellow Station was a bustling place, it is highly likely that Edward Jr would have known Leonard Luke, one of the porters at the time Edward Sr was station master. Leonard also went off to war, and his story can be found here.

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

Private Edwin Fricker

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Private Edwin Fricker

Edwin Joseph Fricker was born on 2nd June 1898 in Vobster, Somerset. The youngest of nine children, his parents were Frederick and Ann, both of whom had been born just over the Wiltshire border in Zeals. Frederick was an agricultural labourer and, based on the places of birth of their children, it would seem that the family moved where his work took him.

Frederick died in the spring of 1911, at the age of 58. The census return, which was taken just a few months later, found the now-widowed Ann living at Stone Ash Cottage in Mells, with four of her children: Edwin and three of his older siblings: Pollie, James and Fred. Edwin’s brothers were bringing money into the home – James as a stone quarrier, and Fred as a pony boy, working underground in the local mines.

When war came to Europe, Edwin stepped up to play his part. While his service records have been lost, it is clear that he enlisted in the Devonshire Regiment, and was attached to the 10th (Service) Battalion.

The death of Pte. Edwin Joseph Fricker, of the Somerset Light Infantry, has recently taken place at the early age of 20 years. Deceased was called up from Bristol and was sent to India and after the signing of the Armistice was demobilised to return to his work in the mine. The cause of death was ague and pneumonia.

[Somerset Standard: Friday 28th February 1919]

The newspaper report of Edwin’s passing includes some inconsistencies: Private Fricker was not assigned to the Somerset Light Infantry, nor is there any evidence that he spent any time overseas. He did die from pneumonia, however, passing away on 16th February 1919: he was 20 years of age.

Edwin Joseph Fricker was laid to rest in the graveyard of St Edmund’s Church, Vobster, not far from where his mother still lived.

Commonwealth War Graves, Devonshire Regiment, Great War, Gunner, Hampshire, history, illness, injury, photography, Royal Garrison Artillery, Somerset, story, war

Gunner Alfred Taylor

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Gunner Alfred Taylor

Alfred Taylor was born in the summer of 1888 in Crewkerne, Somerset. The second of twelve children, his parents were Henry and Selina Taylor. Henry, who was also known as Harry, was a stone mason, but when Alfred and his siblings left school, they went into the weaving industry, a key employer in the area.

War came to European shores in the summer of 1914, and Alfred was keen to play his part. He had already been a part of the 3rd (Special Reserve) Dorset Regiment, but formally enlisted on 9th December 1915, joining the Royal Garrison Artillery. His service records note that he was 5ft 9ins (1.77m) tall and weighed 149lbs (67.6kg). The document also confirms his next of kin as his father, who, at 48 years old, had also joined up, and was serving in the Royal Engineers in Canterbury, Kent.

Gunner Taylor was not mobilised until September 1916, and served the next eighteen month on home soil. He did his initial training in Hilsea, Portsmouth, before moving around the country. He finally made it to France in February 1918.

During his time in France, Alfred was caught up in a couple of gas attacks, and was evacuated to Britain at the end of August because of the impact on his lungs. Admitted to the 2nd Eastern General Hospital in Brighton, Sussex, his body finally succumbed to pneumonia. He passed away on 25th January 1919, at the age of 30 years old.

The body of Alfred Taylor was brought back to Somerset for burial. He was laid to rest in the Townsend Cemetery of his home town, Crewkerne. “…All the members of Gunner Taylor’s family were present, except his father and his brother George, who [were] with the Army of Occupation in Germany.” [Western Chronicle: Friday 7th February 1919]

Commonwealth War Graves, Driver, Great War, history, illness, India, Mesopotamia, photography, Royal Field Artillery, Somerset, story, war

Driver Frederick Coombes

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Driver Frederick Coombes

Frederick Walter Coombes was born in 5th July 1891 in Chard, Somerset. He was the oldest of eight children and his parents were mason’s labourer Walter Coombes and his wife, Sarah.

The family moved to nearby Crewkerne and, when he left school, Frederick found work as a weaver. He quickly realised, however, that he needed a career, and the the military could offer one. On 18th October 1909, he enlisted in the the Royal Field Artillery, signing up for three years with the regiment, followed by nine years on reserve.

Frederick’s service record confirms the man he had become. His medical examination gave his height as 5ft 6ins (1.68m) and his weight as 139lbs (63kg). He was noted as having brown hair, hazel eyes and a fresh complexion. He was also recorded as having a tattoo of a man’s head on the back of his right wrist and a small scar on his left hip.

After a year on home soil, Driver Coombes was sent to South Africa. He was to spend a little over two years in the country, the 1911 census recording him at the Roberts Heights Barracks in Transvaal, as part of the 98th Battery.

When his initial three year contract came to an end, Frederick was placed on reserve status and returned home. His trail goes cold for a couple of years, but when war was declared in 1914, he was immediately brought back into active service.

By the middle of August 1914, Driver Coombes was on the Western Front in France. Within a matter of weeks he was caught up in the Retreat from Mons, and was gassed in the process.

He soon recovered and, in December 1915 his troop was moved to Mesopotamia, modern-day Iraq. Within a month, Frederick fell ill again, having contracted malaria. He was treated at the base and, eventually remained in the Middle East for a year.

By December 1916 Frederick was on the move again, this time to India. His lungs had had a battering by this point, however, and he fell ill once more, this time having developed tuberculosis. Initially treated in India, by February 1917 he had been medically evacuated back to Britain. The condition was seen as unlikely to improve, and he was eventually discharged from the army as being no longer fit enough to serve.

Driver Coombes’ medical report confirmed that the condition was fully the result of his army service, and treatment at a sanatorium was recommended. His last day with the Royal Field Artillery was 7th May 1917: his career had lasted 7 years 202 days.

Again, Frederick’s trail goes cold at this point. It seems likely that he would have returned to Somerset and would possibly had been admitted to a medical facility for treatment and recuperation. The next record for him is that of his death, which happened at home on 26th March 1919. He was just 27 years of age.

Frederick Walter Coombes was laid to rest in Crewkerne’s Townsend Cemetery.

Driver Frederick Coombes
Commonwealth War Graves, Driver, Great War, history, illness, photography, Royal Army Service Corps, Scotland, Somerset, story, war

Driver Henry Sweet

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Driver Henry Sweet

Henry – or Harry – Sweet was born on 31st July 1887 in the Somerset village of Merriott. He was the fourth of seven children to Edward and Emma Sweet. Emma had married Edward after her first husband, John, had died, and so Harry also had three half-siblings.

Edward was an agricultural labourer by trade, but by the time of the 1901 census he had turned his hand to brewing, and listed his trade as a maltster. Harry’s older brother John, was also recorded as a maltster, while he had left school and was noted as being a brewery hand.

The next census, in 1911, found Emma and Edward heading up the family in Crewkerne, brewing for, and working at, the Volunteer Inn. Harry was working with his father, while two of his sisters – Prudence and Beatrice – were still living at home and working as shirt and collar machinists. Making up the household were Harry’s other sister, Ellen, who was a shirt ironer, and her husband George, who was recorded as a web weaver. In all there were seven wages coming into the household, meagre salaries though they may have been.

On 26th December 1911, Harry married Rosina Woodland in the parish church in Crewkerne. She was the daughter of Walter Woodland, a local labourer, although there is little further information on her family.

When war came to Europe, Harry wanted to play his part. Full details of his military service are lost to time, although he had certainly enlisted in the Royal Army Service Corps by the start of 1917. Driver Sweet served in the Eastern Mediterranean, and was ensconced in Salonika, in Northern Greece, for nearly two years.

Harry suffered on and off with dysentery, and was moved to the 4th Scottish General Hospital in Glasgow in January 1919 for treatment. This was initially successful, but while was was admitted he contracted a combination of bronchitis and pneumonia, and these were ultimately to take his life. Driver Sweet passed away on 13th February 1919, at the age of 31 years old.

Henry Sweet’s body was brought back to Somerset for burial. He was laid to rest in the Townsend Cemetery in his home town of Crewkerne.

Commonwealth War Graves, Great War, Hampshire, history, injury, Loyal North Lancashire Regiment, photography, Private, Somerset, story, war

Private William Pinney

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Private William Pinney

The details of William Pinney’s life seem destined to remain a mystery. His headstone – in Crewkerne Cemetery, Somerset – confirms that he was a Private in the Loyal North Lancashire Regiment, and that he died on 14th August 1919.

The British Army Register of Soldiers’ Effects expands a little on this, identifying that he was in the 2nd Battalion of the regiment. The document states that he died of wounds and had been admitted to the War Hospital in Southampton, Hampshire (this is likely to have been the Royal Victoria Hospital in Netley). It also confirms that his effects were to be passed to his widow, Sarah Pinney.

From this point on, some elements of supposition come in to the research.

There is a marriage certificate for a William Pinney and Sarah Jane Witheyman at the parish church in Crewkerne on 6th January 1911. This record gives William’s age as 23, and shows that he was a weaver and the son of weaver William Pinney Sr. Sarah, meanwhile, was five years older than her new husband, worked as a factory hand, and was the daughter of another factory hand, George Witheyman.

The same year’s census gives more information about William Pinney. He was one of eleven children to William and Mercy Pinney, and every member of the family over school age was involved in weaving and spinning. It should be noted, however, that the census was taken on 2nd April 1911, three months after William’s marriage and, while the ages on the document match, the document states that he is single.

The same census for Sarah tells a similar story. She is noted as being one of twelve children to George and Amelia Witheyman. George is noted as being a ‘hand ackler’, or handyman, while Sarah and the two of her teenage brothers still at home are all working as mill hands. The same anomaly arises as William, however, as she is also noted as being single.

Returning to the marriage certificate, an answer to the anomaly in the dates seems to resolve itself, however. The marriages are noted in chronological order, and the previous wedding to be solemnised in Crewkerne Parish Church was on 26th December 1911, while the following one was on 14th February 1912. It would appear, therefore, that Leonard Jackson, the curate of the church, entered the incorrect date on the certificate.

The census records and marriage certificate all seem to fit the William and Sarah Pinney who were separated by William’s death in 1919. There are certainly no documents suggesting another William Pinney in the Crewkerne area around that time period. It is reasonable to assume, therefore, that they do all connect to the gravestone in the town’s cemetery.

Private Pinney’s military records are missing, or no longer available, so it is not possible to trace his actions during the First World War. The 2nd Battalion of the Loyal North Lancashire Regiment served in India during the first half of the conflict, moving to Egypt in 1917 and to France the following year. It is not possible to confirm where William served, but wherever he fought, he was wounded, and these injuries were to prove fatal. He passed away in the Southampton hospital on 14th August 1919, nine months after the end of the war, aged around 31 years old.

Commonwealth War Graves, Essex Regiment, Great War, history, illness, photography, Private, Somerset, story, war

Private William Harris

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Private William Harris

The life of William Henry Harris is destined to remain shrouded in the mists of time. His headstone, in the Townsend Cemetery in Crewkerne, confirms he was a Private in the Essex Regiment, and that he died on 19th April 1911, at the age of 31 years old.

The Army Register of Soldiers’ Effects confirms that he was attached to to the 1st/5th Battalion and that he died of sickness in Rugeley Camp, Staffordshire. His widow, who is noted as Ada Harris, received a war gratuity, which suggests that he had enlisted prior to October 1918.

Private Harris’ Pension Ledger shows that Ada was living in Hermitage Street, Crewkerne, and that the couple did not have any children.

While William’s name is too common to try and identify family links through census records, his marriage index provides Ada’s maiden name, Furzer, which is easier to track.

Ada Furzer was born in Crewkerne on 22nd November 1887, the second of eight children to James and Ellen Furzer. James was a haulier, while Ada and her older sister Mabel, found work as machinists in a local shirt factory when they left school.

Ada did not remarry when William passed away: she died in Yeovil in the autumn of 1971, at the age of 83.

Commonwealth War Graves, Egypt, Great War, history, illness, India, Lance Corporal, photography, Somerset, Somerset Light Infantry, story, war

Lance Corporal Alfred Sowden

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Lance Corporal Alfred Sowden

Alfred Edward Sowden was born in the autumn of 1883, in Bath, Somerset. He was the youngest of seven children to Robert and Mary Sowden. Robert had died by the time of the 1891 census, and Mary turned to charring to bring in money for the family.

In the summer of 1904, Alfred married Harriet Sumsion, a baker’s daughter also from Bath. The couple set up home in a small cottage on the main road to Bristol, and had a son, William, who was born the following year. Alfred was working as a house painter by this point, and the young family had a lodger, William Gabb, who was a local chef.

When war came to Britain’s shores, Alfred stepped up to play his part. He may have had some previous military experience, because he joined the Somerset Light Infantry as a Lance Corporal. Assigned to the 2nd/4th Battalion, by August 1915, he was on his way to India. His troop remained there for two years, before moving to Egypt in the autumn of 1917, then on to France the following June.

With the end of the conflict, the Empire’s forces were slowly demobbed. While he was waiting to be stood down, Lance Corporal Sowden fell ill. He developed influenza and septic pneumonia, and the combination was to prove fatal. He passed away on 30th January 1919, at the age of 35 years old.

Alfred Edward Sowden’s body was brought back to Bath for burial, where he was laid to rest in the city’s St James’ Cemetery.

Alfred’s widow had had a tragic few years. Her father, Walter, had passed away in February 1916, and her mother died just three months after Alfred.

Harriet never remarried after her husband’s passing. She remained in the family home for the rest of her life and, by the time of the 1939 Register, had a boarder, billiard marker James Jones. She was close to family, however, as her brother William lived just three doors away.

Harriet died in September 1941 at the age of just 56. She was laid to rest near her husband, reunited after 22 years.