Tag Archives: 1919

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

Petty Officer Stoker Frederick Cheal

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Petty Officer Stoker Frederick Cheal

Frederick James Cheal was born in Reigate, Surrey in July 1880. One of six children, his father Francis was an agricultural labourer and cowman, while his mother Ann looked after their children.

While born in the landlocked Home Counties, Frederick appeared to be drawn to a life on the open seas. He enlisted in the Royal Navy on 26th October 1897, for a period of 12 years.

Stoker Cheal served his time on a number of vessels over that time, ships with names like Hannibal, Warrior and Furious. Having completed his service, Frederick was discharged on 28th October 1910.

Frederick’s wanderlust remained, though, and it appears that his discharge was more of transfer. He immediately enrolled in the fledgling Canadian Navy for a period of five years, dividing his time between land-based instruction and service on the HMS Niobe.

War broke out, and Stoker Cheal’s service was extended beyond the initial five-year term. Again, rather than his service coming to an end, he transferred back to the Royal Navy in August 1916.

Promoted, Petty Officer Stoker Cheal was assigned to the HMS Bacchante, an armoured cruiser that served as an escort to the British convoys off the African coast.

Frederick was admitted to the Royal Naval Hospital in Chatham, Kent, in early 1919 with influenza and pneumonia. He passed away on 22nd February, aged 38.

He lies at rest in the graveyard of St Margaret’s Church in Rainham, Kent.

Here is where a mystery lies. There is no discernible link between Frederick Cheal and Rainham, other than that is where his widow lives.

A lot of Rose Anne Cheal’s life is sadly lost to time. There are no marriage records to link her to Frederick, and I have been unable to identify her maiden name or whether she was even English (the couple could easily have met during Frederick’s time in Canada).

From her later records, it is evident that she lived in Rainham, just around the corner from the church where her husband is buried. The 1939 register confirms that she was a couple of years older than Frederick; she was born on Christmas Eve 1878. The register also confirms that the couple had two children, Francis, who was born in 1914, and Kathleen, born two years later.

Some mysteries are not meant to be solved; Frederick lived a full life on the open seas, spending 22 years serving two navies. He died in the same way as many other returning soldiers and sailors, a victim of the Spanish Flu pandemic. He left a wife and two young children, a sad tale repeated countless times across the continent.

Commonwealth War Graves, Great War, history, illness, Kent, Mechanic, photography, Royal Air Force, story, Uncategorized, war

Air Mechanic Herbert Holdstock

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Air Mechanic Herbert Holdstock

The year is 1897, and Edwin Holdstock has crammed a lot into his 38 years. Born in North Kent, he has travelled well, working as a grocer’s manager in south London. His first wife, Kate, gave him five beautiful children, four girls and a boy, before she died, aged only 35. Edwin married again, to Louisa, and they have already had their first child, a boy.

A new birth is on its way, though, and his third son – Herbert Frederick Victor Holdstock is born. They are living in Thornton Heath, Surrey.

The family up and move again, this time to Grimsbury, near Banbury, Oxfordshire. Edwin has new employment, as a superintendent for Kingsley Sewing Machines in the town.

Edwin appears to be an ambitious man; by the time of the 1911 census, he has moved the family from Oxfordshire back to Kent. He and Louisa have four children now and they live in Rainham, where Edwin works as a Political Agent.

Herbert was keen to make his own way in the world, however, and worked as an apprentice watchmaker and jeweller in both Rainham and nearby Sittingbourne.

He enlisted relatively late into the war; his service records show that Air Mechanic Holdstock started his Royal Air Force service on 20th June 1918. He was stationed in South London.

While there, he contracted pneumonia and was hospitalised. Within a week, Herbert had passed away. He was just 21 years old.

The local newspaper reported on his funeral:

Only so recently as November Mr EC Holsdtock of Orchard-street, Rainham, the Secretary of the Sittingbourne District War Pensions Committee, sustained a sad bereavement in the death of his wife [Louisa], who succumbed to an attack of influenza and pneumonia. Mr Holdstock has now suffered another bereavement in the death of his second son, Herbert Frederick Victor Holdstock, who died in the Royal Herbert Hospital, Woolwich… A little over eight months ago he joined the Royal Air Force, as a mechanic, as was stationed at Kidbrook, near Woolwich. Never robust, he contracted pneumonia, and after a week’s illness succumbed. He was a bright, cheery young man, and much liked.

East Kent Gazette: Saturday 1st March 1919.

Air Mechanic Herbert Holdstock lies at rest in the graveyard of St Margaret’s Church in Rainham, Kent.

Commonwealth War Graves, Deck Hand, Great War, history, illness, Kent, photography, Royal Naval Reserve, story, war

Deck Hand Harry Cook

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Deck Hand Harry Cook

Harry Sidney Cook was born in April 1892, the youngest of six children. His parents John, a clay digger, and Ann lived in Rainham, Kent, and had two other boys and three girls.

By the 1911 census, the family seem to have gone their separate ways. John and his youngest son were boarding away from the rest of the family, and Harry listed himself as a fisherman. There is no immediate record of his mother, Ann, while his oldest brother Arthur had passed away, and his closest sibling Albert was working as a labourer in Essex.

Shortly after the census was taken, he married Alice Pearce. They lived in a house by Rainham Station and soon had a son, Frank Sidney.

Harry enrolled in the Royal Navy in March 1916, and served on a number of vessels during the war and in the months afterwards. Shortly after enrolling, he and Alice had twins, Daisy and Edith.

Deck Hand Cook was serving on HMS Hermione in February 1919. A guard ship in Southampton, towards the end of the war, she became the HQ Ship for motor launches and coastal motor boats serving the Solent.

It was while he was working there that Harry contracted pneumonia. He was admitted to the Haslar Royal Naval Hospital in Gosport, but passed away on 14th March 1919. At 26 years old, he had become a father for the fourth time just three weeks before; it is likely that he never got to meet his youngest daughter, Alice.

Deck Hand Harry Cook was brought back to his home town of Rainham to be buried. He lies at rest in the St Margaret’s Churchyard, Rainham.

Bombardier, Commonwealth War Graves, Great War, history, injury, Kent, photography, Royal Field Artillery, story, war

Bombardier Albert Packham

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Bombardier Albert Packham

Albert Thomas Packham was born in the Kent village of Milton in 1874. The fourth of nine children to George and Mary, he quickly followed into his father footsteps, becoming a general labourer.

In September 1903, he married Ellen Amelia Manktelow; their first child – Ernest – was born in November of that year. By the time of the 1911 census, the couple had three further children – Albert, Ellen and Sydney – and the family had set up home in the village of Bobbing, near Sittingbourne.

Albert received his call up papers in late 1915, by which time sons Stanley and William had joined the family group. Enlisted to the Royal Field Artillery (Reserve), Bombardier Packham undertook his service on home soil. His records show that he was “not to be compulsorily posted for service under Military Service (Review of Exceptions) Oct 1917”.

Bombardier Packham was discharged as physically unfit for service on 15th June 1918; his pension records show that he was suffering from mitral aortic cardiac disease. His papers records that he was a “steady, sober and industrious” individual.

Ellen gave birth to their sixth son – and seventh child – in November 1918. Less than three months later, however, Albert had died. He was 44 years old.

Albert Thomas Packham lies at peace in the graveyard of St Bartholomew’s Church in the village of Bobbing.

Albert was not initially commemorated with a Commonwealth War Grave – presumably as he had been discharged from the RFA. This oversight was subsequently rectified, and a gravestone erected in his honour. However, this was only done many years after his passing, by which time his original burial place had been lost. His stone therefore bears the inscription “Buried elsewhere in this churchyard”.