Tag Archives: 1919

Border Regiment, Colour Sergeant, Commonwealth War Graves, Corporal, Great War, history, illness, Lancashire, Middlesex Regiment, photography, Sergeant, Somerset, story, war

Colour Sergeant John Paulin

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Colour Sergeant John Paulin

John Duncan Paulin was born in January 1885 in Liverpool, the youngest of two children. His parents – John Robert (known by his middle name) and Jane Paulin – were born in Scotland, but seemed to have moved to the Lancashire port by the late 1870s.

When he left school, John – who became known as Jack – found work as a clerk, but a life of adventure – and a more reliable career – beckoned. On 14th August 1904, he enlisted in the Border Regiment as a Private for a period of seven years. During that time, he served in barracks across the country – from Carlisle to Plymouth – and, by the time he was put on reserve in 1911, he had reached the rank of Corporal.

When war was declared, those servicemen on reserve were called back into action, and Jack found himself reposted with an increased rank of Sergeant. Over the next few years, he remained based in England and seemed to take on more of a training role, transferring to the Middlesex Regiment and, by the end of 1917, attaining the rank of Colour Sergeant.

At some point Jack met Ethel May Smith, who lived in Frome, Somerset. She was the same age as Jack, and was the daughter of the foreman of one of the cloth manufacturers in the town – she also went on to work in the factory. The couple married in St John’s Church in the town on 1st June 1916, but did not go on to have any children.

Colour Sergeant Paulin’s military career was free of any medical issues or hospital admissions until February 1919. He had not been demobbed by this point, even though the war was over. However, as with many other servicemen at the time, Jack fell ill with influenza, and was admitted to Grove Military Hospital (now St George’s Hospital) in Tooting, South London. Pneumonia set in, and Jack passed away on 12th February 1919, at the age of 34 years old.

Jack Duncan Paulin’s body was brought back to Somerset, and he was laid to rest in the graveyard of Christ Church, Frome. Ethel lived on until 1978; she was laid to rest with her husband.

Coldstream Guards, Commonwealth War Graves, Devon, Great War, Guardsman, history, illness, London, photography, story, unknown, war

Guardsman Alfred Moist

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Guardsman Alfred Moist

Alfred Charles Moist was born early in 1887 in the Devon village of Chudleigh Knighton. His parents were William and Mary Moist, and he was the youngest of eight children. William was a clay miner and his neighbours – who included the young Thomas Willcocks – all worked in the same trade.

William died in 1899, leaving Mary to raise the family alone. By the time of the 1901 census, her widowed daughter Emma had moved back in with her son, and was working from home as a dressmaker. Alfred, meanwhile, and his two older brothers Frank and Reginald were all employed as brick dressers and together they earned enough to keep the family going.

The next census – compiled in 1911 – found Alfred still living with Mary, but the household had a different set up. Emma had remarried and was living in nearby Ilsington with her publican husband. Another of Alfred’s sisters, Bessie, had moved in with her daughter, Florence, and was keeping house for her mother. Reginald was also still living at home and was still employed by the brickyard. Alfred, however, had found now work as a police constable.

Mary passed away in the spring of 1913, by which point, Alfred had met Edith Mary Sampson, a labourer’s daughter from North Devon. The couple married in Broadhempston, near Totnes, on 21st November 1913.

War came to Europe, and Alfred enlisted in December 1915. His job in the police force, however, meant that he was initially placed on reserve, and he was not formally mobilised until April 1918, when he joined the Coldstream Guards. His enlistment papers show that he stood 5ft 11ins (1.8m) tall and weighed in at 10st 4lbs (65kg).

Guardsman Moist was barracked in London, but fell ill in September 1918. He was admitted to the Queen Alexandra Military Hospital with a haematoma and renal calculus (kidney stones). He spent a total of four months in hospital before being discharged back to duty.

At this point, Alfred’s trail goes cold. The next record for him comes in the form of the record of his death, which was registered in Hampstead, London. This suggests that he was either still in the Coldstream Guards or that he had been hospitalised again because of his previous illness. Either way, he died on 28th August 1919, at the age of 32 years old.

Alfred Charles Moist’s body was brought back to Devon. He lies at rest in the Graveyard of St Paul’s Church in his home village of Chudleigh Knighton.

Commonwealth War Graves, Great War, history, injury, photography, Private, Royal Army Medical Corps, Somerset, story, war

Private Charlie Badman

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Private Charlie Badman

Charles Badman – better known as Charlie – was born in 1895 in the Somerset seaside town of Weston-super-Mare. His parents were stonemason Henry Badman and his wife Caroline.

Unfortunately, there is little documented information about Charlie’s early life. By the time of the 1911 census, the family were living in a terraced house in Clevedon Road, Weston-super-Mare, a short distance from the sea. Charlie’s four oldest brothers had left home by this point, but his other two siblings – his dressmaker sister Martha and his plasterer brother Arthur – were still living with their parents. Charlie, at this point, was still at school.

When war was declared, Charlie was keen to do his bit. He enlisted in the Royal Army Medical Corps, and was assigned to the 65th Field Ambulance as a Private. This section was connected to the 21st Division, which saw action on the Western Front at Loos, the Somme, Arras, Passchendaele and Cambrai, although it is not possible to determine how Private Badman was involved in these battles. He was awarded, however, the Victory and British Medals for his service.

The only other concrete information available for Charlie is the inscription on his gravestone. This confirms that he was wounded in France on 7th September 1918. It seems that he was medically evacuated to England, and was admitted to a military hospital in Bristol, not far from his family in Somerset.

Sadly, it seems that his wounds proved too severe; he died at the hospital five months later, on 4th February 1919, aged just 25 years old.

Charlie Badman was brought back to Weston-super-Mare for burial. He lies at rest in the Milton Road Cemetery in the town.

Boatswain, Commonwealth War Graves, Great War, history, Kent, photography, Royal Navy, story, unknown, war

Boatswain Jeremiah Lane

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Boatswain Jeremiah Lane

Jeremiah Lane is one of those names that is sadly to be lost to the annuls of time, as there is just not enough information about him readily available to definitively map out his life.

Buried in the Woodlands Cemetery in Gillingham, Kent, his gravestone confirms that he was a Boatswain in the Royal Navy and was serving on HMS Marlborough. He died on 12th February 1919.

Jeremiah’s Pension Ledger Card confirms he left a widow, Mrs BM Lane, but gives no other information. The Navy Medal Roll shows he was awarded the British and Victory Medals and the 1914/15 Star for his service. The Navy Lists show that he attained the rank of Boatswain on 25th October 1918.

There are naval records for a Jeremiah Lane; these show that he was born in Queenstown, Cork, in 1879, and that he joined the Royal Navy in 1898. He had reached the rank of Petty Officer before leaving the service in 1912. The may be the same sailor, but there is nothing to directly link the two.

Sadly, then, the life of this serviceman, who gave his life for peace, is destined to be lost forever.

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

Stoker 1st Class James Kilmartin

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Stoker 1st Class James Kilmartin

James Kilmartin was born on 24th June 1894, one of four children to James and Mary Kilmartin. James Sr was a farmer from Tobercurry in County Sligo, and this is where he raised his family.

When he left school, James Jr helped his father out on the farm, but by the time he was 22, war was raging in Europe and he received his call-up papers. He joined the Royal Navy as a Stoker 2nd Class on 11th April 1916 and was sent to England for training.

After initially being based at HMS Pembroke – the shore-based establishment at the Naval Dockyard in Chatham – Stoker Kilmartin was assigned to HMS Greenwich. He served on board for nine months, during which time he was promoted to Stoker 1st Class.

James’ next assignment was on board HMS Bacchante, where he spent two years, through the Armistice and beyond. Returning back to HMS Pembroke in February 1919, he fell ill, contracting bronchial pneumonia. Admitted to hospital, the condition sadly got the better of him, and he died on 24th February 1919, aged just 24 years of age.

James Kilmartin was laid to rest in the Woodlands Cemetery, Gillingham, a short walk from the dockyard at which he had been based.

Tragically, less than two weeks after James died, his brother Michael, also passed away, at home in Tobercurry. While I have been unable to locate any specific documentation around military service, it seems likely that he too would have been in some way involved in the conflict.

Cambridgeshire, Commonwealth War Graves, Great War, history, illness, King's (Liverpool Regiment), photography, Private, Somerset, story, war

Private Percy White

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Private Percy White

Percy White was born in the spring of 1890, the youngest of four children to Frank and Fanny White. Frank was a tailor from Frome, Somerset, and this is where the family were raised and settled for most of Percy’s life.

By the time of the 1911 census, Frank and Fanny had been married for 30 years. Frank was still working as a tailor, while Percy’s three older siblings – all girls – were working as silk weavers and packers. Percy had moved away from the family’s clothing heritage, and had found work as a hairdresser.

War was on the horizon, however, and Percy was called upon to do his duty for King and Country. He was initially assigned as a Private to the King’s (Liverpool Regiment) when he joined up in the autumn of 1914. Full details of his military service are not readily available, but it seems that he served on the Front Line in France, but was invalided out late in 1917.

By that point, he had met Bessie Cundick, who had been born in Wiltshire. They married in Andover in the spring of 1916, when they were both 26 years old.

Back in England, and discharged from the King’s (Liverpool Regiment), Percy was transferred to the Labour Corps and, for the last year of the war had done agricultural work in Cambridgeshire. After the armistice was signed, Frank fell ill and died on 4th February 1919.

Private White attended the funeral at the Vallis Road Cemetery in Frome with his family, before returning to his unit. By this point, however, he had himself fallen ill with influenza, and was admitted to the East General Hospital in Cambridge. The condition was to prove too much, however, and he passed away on 16th March, less than six weeks after his father’s death. He was just 29 years of age.

Percy’s body was brought back to Frome; he too was laid to rest in the Dissenters’ Cemetery in Vallis Road, Frome.

Commonwealth War Graves, Dorsetshire Regiment, Great War, history, illness, photography, Sergeant, Somerset, story, war

Serjeant Edwin Lloyd

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Serjeant Edwin Lloyd

Edwin Lloyd was born at the start of 1885 and was the youngest of ten children. His father, Henry, was from Bristol; while his mother, Mary, had been born in Ireland.

Henry had been a Serjeant in the armed forces, and his postings are reflected in the places where Edwin and his siblings were born. Henry and Mary’s oldest two children were born in Aden, Arabia (now Yemen), but by 1875, the family were back in England and their next oldest child was born in Dover, Kent. Sarah, the youngest of Edwin’s sisters, was born in Colchester, Essex the following year, but by 1879, Henry had left the army, and had moved the family to Frome, Somerset.

In his retirement, Henry took a job as a grocer, the family living above the shop on the main thoroughfare into the town. Edwin did not follow his father’s trade when he left school; instead the 1901 census lists him as a metal engineer, one of only two of the siblings still living above Henry’s shop.

Henry died in 1907 – a lot of the documentation about his life suggests he was a bit free about his age. The notice in the Somerset Standard announcing his passing gives his age as 69, although it is likely that he was closer to 80.

The following year, Edwin married Florence Emily Letchford in St Matthew’s Church, Bristol. Florence was the daughter of a travelling salesman, but their marriage record sheds more light onto Edwin’s life by this stage and he was recorded as a police constable.

Edwin’s time in the police seems to have been short-lived, however, as, by the census three years later, his role had reverted to memorial brass engraver.

War was coming to Europe, and, while Edwin’s full service records are not available, it’s possible to piece together some of his life in the army. He enlisted in 1915, joining the Dorsetshire Regiment, and was assigned to the 5th (Service) Battalion.

Edwin’s battalion fought at Gallipoli and served in Egypt, moving finally to France in the summer of 1916. He was obviously a diligent soldier, as, by the end of the conflict, he had made the rank of Serjeant.

A local newspaper reported on the end of his army life:

He had served with the forces for about four years, and on his way home from France he was taken ill, and was, when he arrived at home, in a somewhat critical condition. The fatigue of the journey told still further upon him, and he passed away three days after his arrival.

Somerset Standard: Friday 7th March 1919

Serjeant Lloyd’s pension record gives the cause his passing as influenza, pneumonia and syncope, sadly none of which were uncommon for soldiers returning from the front. He was just 34 years old when he died on 25th February 1919.

Edwin Lloyd was laid to rest in the Vallis Road Cemetery (also known as the Dissenters’ Cemetery) in Frome.

Commonwealth War Graves, County Durham, Great War, history, illness, Kent, photography, Royal Naval Reserve, Scotland, story, Trimmer, war

Trimmer Cuthbert Kean

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Trimmer Cuthbert Kean

Cuthbert Kean was born on 2nd October 1862, the eldest of four children to John and Jane Kean. John was a tailor from Manchester, who brought his young family up in the town of Crook, County Durham.

Cuthbert followed in his father’s footsteps and, by the time of the 1891 census – when he was 26 years old – was lodging in central Edinburgh, and was working as a tailor.

There is little more information available on Cuthbert’s early years. When war broke out, he enlisted in the Royal Navy, joining up on 26th October 1914. His papers show that he stood 5ft 2ins (1.57m) tall, had a fair complexion and grey eyes.

By 1917, having turned 55, he was transferred to the Royal Naval Reserve, and worked as a Trimmer – an alternative title for a Stoker. He had served on a number of vessels, joining HMS Firefly towards the end of the war.

Early in 1919, Trimmer Kean was admitted to the Royal Naval Hospital in Chatham, Kent, suffering from a sarcoma of the neck. Sadly, he was to succumb to this, and he passed away on 4th March 1919. He was 58 years old. His records give his next of kin as his sister Mary, who was living in Durham.

Cuthbert Kean was laid to rest in the Woodlands Cemetery in Gillingham, Kent.

Commonwealth War Graves, Great War, Hampshire, history, illness, Ireland, Kent, London, Private, Royal Marines, story, war

Private Henry Teahen

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Private Henry Teahen

Henry Teahen (or Teahan) was born in around 1898 in Castlegregory, County Kerry, Ireland. One of twelve children – eight of whom survived infancy – his parents were John and Catherine Teahan.

John was a wayman (or road surveyor), who was born in Kerry. Catherine was born in Wandsworth and it was in London that the couple met and married. By the time Henry was born, the family had moved back to Ireland, although Catherine had made the journey back to England in the early 1900s, after John passed away.

The 1911 census found the family living in Forest Gate in the east of the capital; Henry’s oldest brother, Joseph, was head of the household and, at 24, was working as a police constable. Schoolboy Henry was there, as was his mother, two more of his brothers, one of his sisters and his niece and nephew.

War was imminent, though, and, within a week of hostilities breaking out, Henry – who had been working as a waiter – enlisted in the Royal Marine Light Infantry. Private Teahen’s service records show that he was 5ft 8ins (1.72m) tall, had a fair complexion, grey eyes and brown hair. They also give his date of birth as 22nd June 1896, although he may have adapted this, as he would have been underage at the point he joined up.

Over the next few years, he served on a number of ships, switching between the Plymouth and Chatham divisions of the regiment. Full details of his duties are not immediately apparent, although is seems that he was injured while on board HMS Valiant in February 1916 – six months before her involvement in the Battle of Jutland – receiving a contusion to his right knee.

By the closing months of the war, Private Teahen had transferred back to the Naval Dockyard in Chatham, Kent. It was while here, early in 1919, that he fell ill. Details of his condition are lost to time, but it is known that he succumbed to them, passing away on 1st March 1919; he was 21 years old when he died.

Henry Teahen was laid to rest in the Woodlands Cemetery in Gillingham, within walking distance of the dockyard at which he was based.

Henry’s older brother James, also fought in the First World War. Full details are not clear, but documents show that he enlisted in the 6th City of London Regiment (also known as the City of London Rifles).

James’ regiment fought in many of the fiercest battles on the Western Front, including Loos, Vimy, High Wood and Messines, but it was at Ypres in the late summer of 1917, that he was injured. He died of his wounds on 30th September, aged just 23 years old.

Private James Teahan was laid to rest at the Mendinghem Military Cemetery in Poperinghe, Belgium.

Boy, Chief Petty Officer Telegraphist, Commonwealth War Graves, County Durham, Great War, Hampshire, history, illness, Kent, Leading Signalman, Petty Officer Telegraphist, photography, Royal Navy, Scotland, Signalman, story, Suffolk, war

Chief Petty Officer Telegraphist William Field

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Chief Petty Officer Telegraphist William Field

William John Field was born on 8th October 1885 in Boston, Lincolnshire. The eldest of four children, his parents were Charles and Ellen. Charles was a boatman for the coastguard; his job, by the time of the 1891 census, had taken the family to the village of Dawdon on the County Durham coastline.

Given his father’s job, it is not unsurprising that William was destined for a life at sea. As soon as he left school in the spring of 1901, he joined the Royal Navy and was sent to HMS Ganges, the shore-based training establishment in Suffolk. Being underage, he was initially assigned the role of Boy, moving, after a year, to HMS Pembroke, also known as the Naval Dockyard in Chatham, Kent.

By November 1902 Boy Field was moved to HMS Venerable, a ship that was to be his home for the next three years. During this time, William came of age, and was formally enrolled in the Royal Navy as a Signalman. He evidently worked hard on the Venerable, rising through the ranks to Qualified Signalman and Leading Signalman.

In June 1905, William was moved to HMS Leviathan, where he was again promoted, to Second Yeoman of Signals, before again being assigned to Chatham Naval Dockyard six months later.

While based in Kent, William met Nelly Watt, the daughter of a labourer at the dockyard. The couple married in 1906, and went on to have four children.

Over the next few years, the now Petty Officer Telegraphist Field spent an almost equal amount of time at sea and on shore. War was coming and when his initial term of service came to an end in October 1915, he immediately renewed his contract through to the end of the hostilities.

All of William’s time was now spent on land, primarily at HMS Pembroke, but also at HMS Actaeon in Portsmouth, HMS Victory VI at Crystal Palace, London and HMS Bacchante in Aberdeen.

While Chief Petty Officer Telegraphist Field’s naval service records are quite detailed, his passing is anything but. The war over, he moved back to Chatham Dockyard in January 1919. At some point he was admitted to the Royal Naval Hospital in the town, and died from ‘disease’ on 13th March that year. He was just 33 years of age.

William John Field was laid to rest in the Woodlands Cemetery in nearby Gillingham.

A sad aside to the story is that, at the time of he husband’s death, Nellie was pregnant with the couple’s fourth child. John William Field was born on 16th October 1919, destined never to know his father.