Tag Archives: 1919

Commonwealth War Graves, Great War, Gunner, history, illness, Kent, Kent Royal Garrison Artillery, photography, story, war

Gunner Frederick Brooks

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Gunner Frederick Brooks

Frederick Brooks was born in the spring of 1897, the ninth of eleven children to Stephen and Grace Brooks. Stephen worked as a woodsman in Bredhurst, Kent, a trade his eldest sons followed him into.

Yewtree Cottages in Bredhurst, home to the Brooks Family

Frederick’s service records show that, when he enlisted in nearby Rainham, he was working as a fence maker. He was 5ft 6ins (168cm) tall, weighed 143lbs (65kg) and had fair physical development. He joined up in September 1915 and was assigned to the 2/1 Company Kent Royal Garrison Artillery.

Gunner Brooks’ early service was on home soil as part of the Territorial Force. However, he was transferred overseas as part of the British Expeditionary Force on 10th March 1917, where he served for nearly two years.

Frederick fell ill in January 1919, and was brought back to the UK for treatment. He was admitted to the Weir Red Cross Hospital in Balham, London, with bronchial pneumonia. He succumbed to heart failure just a few days later, on 4th February 1919. He was just 21 years old.

Gunner Frederick Brooks lies at rest in a peaceful corner of the secluded graveyard of St Peter’s Church in his home village of Bredhurst.

Frederick’s life throws a couple of coincidences my way. I used to live within spitting distance of his village, Bredhurst, and, indeed, have driven past his family home countless times. I also happened to have been born in the same hospital – the Weir in Balham – where Frederick had passed away 53 years earlier.

Commonwealth War Graves, Dorset, Great War, history, illness, photography, Royal Air Force, Sergeant, story, war

Serjeant Nicholas Leadbetter

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Serjeant Nicholas Leadbetter

Born in Lancashire in 1877, Nicholas Leadbetter was the eldest of the four children of fisherman and merchant Isaac and his wife Elizabeth. He was quick to follow in his father’s line of work and set up his own fish shop in St Anne’s-on-the-Sea (nowadays known as Lytham St Anne’s).

Nicholas married Alice Griffiths in 1900, and their first child – Isaac – was born that Christmas.

Living near the station in Lytham, the young couple took on boarders to supplement Nicholas’ work. By the time of the 1901 census they had Dionysius Howarth, a chemist’s assistant, and Edgar Charles Randolph Jones, a grocer’s assistant, staying with them.

The Leadbetters don’t appear on the 1911 census, but from later records it is evident that they moved from Lancashire to the South West, where Nicholas ran a fish, game and poultry store in Yeovil. By this time, they were a family of four, as a daughter – Alice – was born in 1906.

Nicholas moved his family across the border to Sherborne, where he continued to ply his trade as a fishmonger and poultry dealer.

War broke out and, at the age of 39, he enlisted in the fledgling Royal Air Force, serving in France for the remainder of the fighting.

Serjeant Nicholas Leadbetter was demobbed in February 1919 and returned home to his family on Valentine’s Day. A local newspaper picks up his story from there.

He was feeling unwell at the time and immediately went to bed. Double pneumonia set in, and, despite the best medical aid, he passed away on Tuesday, leaving a widow, one son, and one daughter to mourn their loss.

Western Gazette: Friday 21st February 1919.

Serjeant Leadbetter’s funeral was a fitting one:

[It] was of military character, members of the Sherborne detachment of the 1st Volunteer Battalion Dorset Regiment being present. The coffin, which was covered with the Union Jack, was borne by members of the detachment, and at the Cemetery a firing party fired three volleys over the grave, and the buglers of the Church Lads’ Brigade sounded the last post.

There were many floral tributes. Mrs Leadbetter wishes to return thanks for the many letters of sympathy received from kind friends, and which she finds it impossible to answer individually.

Western Gazette: Friday 28th February 1919.

Serjeant Nicholas Leadbetter’s records confirm he was 42 years old. He lies at peace in Sherborne Cemetery.

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

Boy 2nd Class Sidney Stagg

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Boy 2nd Class Sidney Stagg

Sidney Herbert Stagg was born in 1901. The eldest child of bootmaker Sidney Stagg and his wife Frances, Sidney Jr was too young to fight in the when war broke out.

He enlisted in the Royal Navy at the beginning of 1919, and was assigned to HMS Powerful, a training vessel based in Plymouth.

Boy Petty Officer Stagg’s time in the navy was heartbreakingly short. Within a few weeks he had contracted pneumonia and succumbed to the disease on 27th February 1919. He was just 17 years old, and had been in service for 36 days.

The Western Gazette reported on his funeral:

[He] left Sherborne just over a month ago to join the Royal Navy, a career for which he had expressed a great liking, and was attached to HMS Powerful, being made Boy PO within a fortnight of his joining that ship. A short time afterwards he contracted influenza, and pneumonia supervening, he died on Thursday at the Royal Naval Hospital, at Plymouth.

A service was held in the Congregational Church, and continued at the graveside, where three volleys were fired by a firing party of the Volunteers [the Sherborne Detachment 1st Volunteer Battalion, Dorset Regiment], and buglers sounded the last post. The Rev. W Melville Harris (uncle of the deceased) officiated, and the principal mourners were Mr Stagg (father), Miss Joyce Stagg (sister), Mr H Hounsell (uncle), and members of the business establishment.

Western Gazette: Friday 7th March 1919.

Sidney Herbert Stagg lies at peace in the cemetery in his home town of Sherborne.

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”.