Tag Archives: 1919

Commonwealth War Graves, Denbighshire, Great War, history, injury, photography, Private, Shropshire, story, Wales, war

Private Richard Morris

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Private Richard Morris

Richard Levi Morris was born in the village of Carno, mid-Wales, in the autumn of 1895. He was the oldest of five children to John and Hannah Morris. John was a tailor who, when Richard was still a babe in arms, moved the family north to the Denbighshire town of Llangollen.

When he left school, Richard found work as baker’s apprentice. He was employed by the Model Bakery on Church Street, Llangollen, a business that would go on to win, according to its subsequent advertising, a bronze medal for both its white and brown bread in both 1912 and 1913 [North Wales Journal: Friday 7th August 1914].

War was coming to Europe, and Richard stepped up to play his part. Full details of his service are sadly lost to time, but he had enlisted in the King’s Own Yorkshire Light Infantry by the summer of 1918. Initially assigned to the 9th (Service) Battalion, Private Morris subsequently transferred to the 2nd/4th Battalion and was attached to one of the regiment’s depots.

What little documentation around Richard’s actual service confirms that he was sent to the Western Front. At some point towards the end of the conflict – possibly during the final advance in Picardy – he was wounded. Medically evacuated to Britain, he was admitted to a cottage hospital in Oswestry, Shropshire.

Sadly, it was here that Private Morris was to breath his last: he succumbed to his injuries on 18th January 1919, at the tender age of just 24 years old.

The body of Richard Levi Morris was brought back to Wales for burial. He was laid to rest in the quiet Fron Cemetery in Llangollen.

Commonwealth War Graves, Denbighshire, Driver, Great War, history, photography, Royal Field Artillery, story, unknown, Wales, war, Yorkshire

Driver James Roberts

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Driver James Roberts

James Roberts was born in 1885 in Llangollen, Denbighshire. The youngest of three children, he was the son of Elias and Winifred Roberts. Elias was a builder’s labourer and, while James initially went into this line of work when he left school, by the time of the 1911 census, he was listed as being employed as a gamekeeper.

War broke out across Europe, and James was there to play his part for King and Country. Full details of his military service are not available, but he enlisted in the Royal Field Artillery, and was assigned to C Battery of the 161st Brigade. This was a Howitzer unit, and, as a Driver, James would have been involved in leading the horses pulling the cannons to where they needed to be.

There is no actual confirmation that James served overseas. He was, however, awarded the Victory and British Medals for his service. Driver Roberts survived the war, but again, details of what actually happened to him are lost to time.

What can be confirmed is that, by 1919, James had been admitted to the Wharncliffe War Hospital in Sheffield, and this is where, on 27th November that year, he passed away. He was just 34 years of age.

James Roberts was brought back to Llangollen for burial. He was laid to rest in the town’s Fron Cemetery.

Commonwealth War Graves, Cornwall, Devon, Devonshire Regiment, Great War, history, illness, injury, Lieutenant, photography, Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers, story, war, Yorkshire

Lieutenant Arthur Wellacott

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Lieutenant Arthur Wellacott

Arthur Cecil Baber Wellacott was born the summer of 1897, in the village of Bradworthy, North Devon. Ond of seven children, his parents were William and Ada Wellacott. William was the parish vicar and with his status came additional support for the family.

The 1901 census saw the vicarage employ three members of staff, and William was hosting two students as well as his and Ada’s own children. Ten years later, with Arthur and his younger brother William, boarding at a school in Bude, Cornwall, the Wellacott retinue remained in place.

On leaving boarding school, Arthur studied at Kelly College in Tavistock and, at around the same time his father took up a new post in Totnes. When Arthur left the college, he joined the 7th (Cyclist) Battalion of the Devonshire Regiment. He was subsequently given a commission in th 3rd Battalion of the Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers, and was based in Londonderry.

At Easter 1916, Lieutenant Wellacott took part in quelling the rebellion in Dublin, and was subsequently sent to France. In the battle for Contalmaison his platoon was gassed and buried, and Arthur was badly injured. Suffering from shell shock, the experience had a lasting impact on him “and from that time his health had given cause for anxiety…” [Western Morning News: Tuesday 18th February 1919]

Lieutenant Wellacott returned to England and he was billeted near Leeds. During the winter of 1918/1919, he contracted pneumonia, and was admitted to the Drax Hospital. Sadly, the condition was to prove too much for his already damaged lungs and he died on 16th February 1919. He was just 21 years of age.

Arthur Cecil Baber Wellacott was brought back to Devon for burial. He was laid to rest in the cemetery in Totnes, Devon.

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

Stoker 1st Class Thomas Woodman

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Stoker 1st Class Thomas Woodman

Thomas Daniel Woodman was born on 17th March 1892 in the village of Oldland, Gloucestershire. One of sixteen children, his parents were Daniel and Ruth Woodman. Daniel was a fireman, stoking furnaces at a local paper mill, but Thomas wanted bigger and better things.

On 20th April 1910, not long after he turned 18, Thomas enlisted in the Royal Navy. His service records show that, when he joined up, he was 5ft 6ins (1.67m) tall, had brown hair, brown eyes and a fresh complexion. It was also noted that he had a long scar on his left wrist, and a tattoo of a cross on the same spot.

Stoker 2nd Class Woodman was to be based at HMS Vivid, the Royal Naval Dockyard in Devonport. From here he undertook his training, and it was from the Devon port that he began and ended his seafaring. In June 1911, while on board HMS Caesar, he was promoted to Stoker 1st Class.

When war broke out, Thomas continued his naval service. During the course of the conflict, he served on three vessels – HMS Blake, HMS Diligence and HMS Woolwich – returning to Devonport in February 1919.

On 8th March 1919, while on leave, Thomas married Eva Paget at St Barnabas’ Church in Warmley. She was the same age as Thomas and daughter of a sexton. Tragedy was to strike the couple, however as, within a matter of weeks, the young groom contracted meningitis. He passed away at the Royal Naval Hospital in Plymouth on 21st April 1919. He was just 27 years of age.

Brought back to Gloucestershire for burial, Thomas Daniel Woodman was laid to rest in the graveyard of St Barnabas Church, where, just 44 days earlier, he had married his beloved Eva.

Eva herself went on to lead a remarkable life. After the loss of Thomas, she never remarried, and, by the 1930s, was living with her sister, and doing unpaid domestic duties.

On 2nd May 1998, at the age of 105, she became the oldest person in the world to go supersonic, by flying on Concorde on a 90-minute flight around the Bay of Biscay. This was the first time she had ever left Britain, and only the second time she had ever left Bristol.

Eva Woodman passed away in her Bristol nursing home on 17th October 1999. She was 107 years old.

She was buried with her late husband, finally reunited after 80 years apart.

Able Seaman, Commonwealth War Graves, Gloucestershire, Great War, history, illness, photography, Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve, story, war

Able Seaman Frederick Carter

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Able Seaman Frederick Carter

Frederick Carter was born in the autumn of 1896 in the village of Wick, Gloucestershire, midway between Bristol and Bath. He was one of nine children to farm labourer John and his wife, Charlotte.

Sadly, there is little concrete documentation on Frederick’s life. When he left school, he found work in the local shoe trade, as his older siblings had done before him.

At some point he enlisted in the Royal Naval Voluntary Reserve, although, again, exact details on this are scarce. This particular branch of the Royal Navy was there for people with no specific sailing or sea-faring experience behind him, although Frederick must have been dedicated to his duty as he had risen to the rank of Able Seaman.

What is clear is that he survived the war, but was invalided out of service, having contracted pulmonary tuberculosis. He returned to Warmley, Gloucestershire, where his parents were now living. Sadly, this was to be his last home, as well, as he passed away from the condition on 28th August 1919, at the age of just 22 years old.

Frederick Carter was laid to rest in the graveyard of St Barnabas Church, in Warmley, Gloucestershire.

Bombardier, Commonwealth War Graves, Corporal, Great War, history, illness, photography, Royal Field Artillery, Somerset, story, war

Corporal Ernest Jenkins

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Corporal Ernest Jenkins

Ernest Gilbert Jenkins was born on 4th April 1888, the tenth of eleven children to Eli and Julia Jenkins. Eli was a dairyman from Dorset, but the family were born an raised in Marksbury, a village in Somerset. When Eli passed away in 1910, he was laid to rest in the nearby town of Keynsham, and this is where Julia and the family moved.

Ernest tried to make his mark by finding a career in the army and enlisted in the Royal Field Artillery on 22nd June 1908. He gave his trade as a electrician for the National Telephone Company and his records noted that he stood 5ft 7ins (1.70m) tall, with good vision and good physical development.

The 1911 census records the widowed Julia and five of her children living on Charlton Road, Keynsham, in a 12-roomed house, with a domestic servant and three visitors. While not noted as such, it would seem that Julia was running a boarding house, but without any further details, this is impossible to confirm.

Ernest may have completed his initial term of service by this point and he was recorded as living with his mother and working as a salesman of cattle feed. Bombardier Jenkins’ military records show uninterrupted service from 1908 to 1917, so it is likely that, at the time of the 1911 census, he was, in fact, on reserve.

When war broke out in 1914, Ernest was called back into duty. By March 1915, he found himself in France, having been promoted to Acting Corporal. He served on the Western Front until June 1916, when he was sent back home.

Corporal Jenkins seems to have been suffering with his health and, in July 1916 was admitted to hospital with pyrexia (fever). Medically evacuated to England for treatment, a heart murmur was also identified, and after treatment, he was relieved of active duty and placed on reserve in January 1917. The heart condition continued, however, and by the end of the year, he was medically discharged from the army.

At this point, Ernest’s trail goes cold. He returned to Bristol and is noted in the 1919 edition of Kelly’s Directory, as living back in Charlton Road with Julia.

The next record for Ernest confirms his passing. He died on 25th July 1919 in a nursing home in Bristol. He was just 31 years of age.

Ernest Gilbert Jenkins was laid to rest in the family plot in Keynsham Cemetery. When Julia passed away in 1929, at the age of 78, she was buried there as well, finally reunited with her husband and son.

Commonwealth War Graves, Devon, Great War, history, illness, photography, Private, story, war, Wiltshire Regiment

Private Clarence Emmett

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Private Clarence Emmett

Clarence Southwood Emmett was born in September 1899 in the Devon village of Ipplepen. The middle of five children, his parents were village butcher Thomas Emmett and his wife, Annie.

There is little information about Clarence’s early life, but when war broke out in 1914, he is evident that he wanted to play his part. He enlisted in the army as soon as he turned 18, and joined the 4th Battalion of the Wiltshire Regiment.

Sadly, full details of his time in the army, although a local contemporary newspaper sheds a little more light onto his health:

He soon contracted measles, and took a chill before he recovered. Since then he has been dangerously ill at different times, and has undergone various operations. He was recently removed to a hospital at Devonport where, until a few weeks ago, it was hoped he might recover.

Western Times: Friday 14th February 1919

Private Clarence Southwood Emmett died in the hospital on 8th February 1919. He was just 19 years of age. His body was brought back to Ipplepen, and he was laid to rest in the graveyard of St Andrew’s Church there.

Private Clarence Emmett
Commonwealth War Graves, Gloucestershire Regiment, Great War, history, Kent, Lance Corporal, Malta, photography, Scotland, Second Lieutenant, Sergeant, story, unknown, war

Lieutenant Thomas Denny

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Lieutenant Thomas Denny

Thomas David William Denny was born on 26th December 1890 in Glasgow, Lanarkshire. There is little information on his early life, other than that his parents were Thomas and Annie Denny.

By the time of the 1911 census, Thomas Jr was serving as a Lance Corporal in the 2nd Battalion of the Gloucestershire Regiment, and was based at the Verdola Barracks in Malta.

When war broke out, the battalion was called back to mainland Europe. By 19th December 1914, Thomas found himself in France; two years later, he was in Salonika, Greece.

Thomas’ bravery was not in doubt. While serving in France, he received the Military Medal for conspicuous gallantry. This went hand in hand with a promotion to Sergeant. In 1917, he received a commission as Second Lieutenant and was moved to the regiment’s 3rd Battalion.

In the spring of 1918, Second Lieutenant Denny married Elsie, a woman from Bearsted, near Maidstone in Kent. Sadly, little else is known of her, and even a later newspaper report only referred to her as “a Bearsted lady” [East Kent Gazette: Saturday 15th March 1919].

By early 1919, Thomas was back in Britain. Whether he had been demobbed is unclear, but is seems more likely that he had returned home for medical treatment. On 6th March, he passed away in Maidstone. He was just 28 years of age.

Thomas David William Denny was laid to rest in the graveyard of Holy Cross Church in Bearsted close to where the now-widowed Elsie must have lived.

Commonwealth War Graves, East Yorkshire Regiment, Great War, history, illness, photography, Private, story, Sussex, war

Private George Sinclair

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Private George Sinclair

In a quiet corner of the village cemetery in Cuckfield, West Sussex, is a headstone dedicated to Private WG Sinclair. Attached to the East Yorkshire Regiment, he passed away on 12th February 1919.

A search of military records gives a little more detail: this was a George William Sinclair, who had died from pneumonia at the West Hylands Institution, which was Cuckfield’s workhouse. George was 29 years old, but there is little concrete information about his early life.

A newspaper report from the day before Private Sinclair’s death, however, begins to shed a little more light onto his life:

George William Sinclair was charged with being a deserter from the Cuckfield Union Workhouse, on November 6th, and carrying away clothing to the value of £1, the property of the Guardians of the Cuckfield Union. PC Upton said that he arrested the prisoner at the Somerstown Police Station. Prisoner was remanded, but as he was taken ill he was removed to the Workhouse Infirmary.

Mid Sussex Times: Tuesday 11th February 1919

George’s entry in the Army Register of Soldier’s Effects does not give a next of kin, so it is not possible to determine categorically where he was born and raised, or who his parents were.

A little more digging found a George William Sinclair recorded in the UK Calendar of Prisoners in 1916. He had been arrested for “feloniously breaking and entering the dwelling house of Sarah Waddingham, and stealing one bicycle, one pair of shoes, one purse, one tobacco box, one tobacco pipe and one microscope, the property of said Sarah Waddingham, at West Halton [near Hull], on the 7th July 1916.“

It is not possible to say definitively that this George William Sinclair is the same one buried in Cuckfield Cemetery, but, given the regiment he was attached to, and the newspaper report prior to his passing, it is likely to be more than just a coincidence.

George pleaded guilty, and was sentenced to six months’ hard labour. This was not his first offence, and had had spent a total of more than eighteen months behind bars over a period of ten years up to this point. On each occasion, he was convicted of theft.

It is possible, given that the country was at war by this point, that George was given the option to enlist, rather than serve his sentence. Again, this is an assumption, however, but Private Sinclair’s Pension Ledger confirms that he was discharged from the army on 6th November 1918.

George William Sinclair appears on another workhouse register, this time in Westminster, London, where he spent a couple of nights just before Christmas that year.

If these records all relate to the same man, his life seems to have been a troubled one. I can only hope that he found peace in that quiet corner of West Sussex.

Commonwealth War Graves, Great War, history, illness, Lieutenant, photography, Royal West Surrey Regiment, story, Surrey, Sussex, war

Lieutenant Frederick Tugwell

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Lieutenant Frederick Tugwell

Frederick William Tugwell was born in Cuckfield, West Sussex, in the autumn of 1888. The youngest of three children to John and Mary Tugwell, his father was a tailor in the village.

Little more is known about Frederick’s early life, but, when war broke out, he wad there to play his part. He enlisted in The Queen’s (Royal West Surrey Regiment) and, by July 1916 was in France. Frederick obviously made an impression in the army and rose through the ranks, reaching Lieutenant by the time the Armistice was declared in November 1918.

Lieutenant Tugwell remained overseas when the war ended and was based in Cologne. In March 1919, he returned home on leave, staying with his sister, Constance, who lived in Guildford, Surrey. It was here that he fell ill and here that he passed away, breathing his last on 2nd March 1919. He was just 30 years old.

Frederick William Tugwell was brought back to West Sussex for burial – he lies at rest in the cemetery of his home village, Cuckfield.

A mystery surrounds Frederick’s next of kin. His medal record suggests that it was his widow – Mrs FW Tugwell – who applied for that recognition. The address given for her is the same as for Constance. The newspaper report of his death gives no mention of a widow, only that he died at his sister’s home. There is also no clear evidence for Frederick getting married, although this may have been lost to the passage of time. His widow may, of course, have been living with her sister-in-law, but again, this cannot be confirmed either way.