Robert Cantle’s life is one of hope and of tragedy. There is very little documentation on him, but what there is gives a hint to his life.
The 1911 census recorded him a living on Temple Street in Keynsham, Somerset. The head of the household was 86 year old John Cantle, a retired platelayer for Great Western Railway. His wife, Mary, was 22 years his junior, and they shared the house with their son, stationary cutter Ernest, his wife, Elsie, and their daughter, Madge. Robert was noted as being John and Mary’s adopted son. His age was given as 13, but his place of birth is ‘unknown’.
When war broke out, Robert joined the Wiltshire Regiment. Private Cantle set off for camp in Wiltshire in August 1917, and had been there for just two days when tragedy struck.
There were heavy thunderstorms in the Warminster district on Thursday, and while men of a unit of the Wiltshire Regiment were on the parade ground, three of them were struck by lightning. Pte. Robert Cantle, aged 19 years, whose home is at Keynsham, was killed on the spot, and the other two, Pte. Rowe and Pts Murgatroyd, were severely injured…
Sergeant Major HJ Bennett, of the Wilts Regiment, stated [at the inquest] the deceased lad had only just joined them. About 3pm on Thursday a squad was on the parade ground, when the signal was given to dismiss, as a storm was approaching. Immediately after there was a flash and a crash and it seemed to stagger everybody on the parade ground. Witness was brought to his knees, and when he recovered himself he saw three men, who of whom were struggling, on the ground. Private Cantle was found to be dead, and the other men recovered after being attended by a doctor. The squad consisted of recruits, and none of them were carrying arms.
Major Stocker, medical officer, said the crown of deceased’s cap was ripped off, and the body was burned from head to foot.
The jury returned a verdict of “Death from the effects of lightning.”
Somerset Standard: Friday 17th August 1917
Robert Cantle’s body was brought back to Keynsham for burial: he was laid to rest in the town’s cemetery.
John Connolly was born on 7th April 1887 in Liverpool, Lancashire. There is little information available about his early life, although his parents were Thomas and Marianne Connolly. A Roman Catholic, he was baptised at St James Church and went on to marry a woman called Bridget, although details for the wedding are lost to time.
John must have had a level of proficiency when it came to ships and sea-faring as, when war had broke out, he was call up for service with the Royal Naval Reserve (RNR). He enlisted as a Stoker on 1st October 1915, using the surname Campbell. His records show that he was 5ft 6ins (1.68m) tall, had blue eyes and a fair complexion.
Stoker Campbell was based at HMS Pembroke, the Royal Naval Dockyard in Chatham, Kent. His time in service, however, does not seem to have been a happy one. In fact, within a few months of being conscripted, John had absconded and made his way back to Liverpool.
John was caught and was being brought back to Kent under escort, when the unimaginable happened.
John Connolly, a stoker of the RNR, attached to the Royal Naval Barracks, Chatham, was found dead on the railway near Warren House Crossing, between Sole Street and Cuxton, on Wednesday, with terrible injuries to his head.
Connolly, who is known also as Campbell, had been arrested as a deserter at Liverpool, and was returning to Chatham under escort on Tuesday… The train was very full, and deceased, with his escort, stood in the corridor, where several soldiers were also standing.
Some time after the train had left Herne Hill the escort, Leading Stoker John Edward Craig, left his prisoner to proceed to the lavatory, and when he returned one of the soldiers shouted “Jack, your prisoner had gone out the window.” The train was stopped, but the guard suggested that Craig had better proceed to Rochester instead of searching for the deceased, as the night was very dark. At Rochester Bridge the matter was reported to the military authorities, and a search along the line, then ordered, resulted in the discovery of the body of deceased…
A Lance Corporal of the 2/5th King’s Liverpool Regiment, one of the soldiers in the corridor, gave evidence at the inquest… He said he was standing close by deceased, but did not see him go out of the window, which was open at the time.
It was stated that is was usual in the Navy for one man only to act as escort, as all expenses connected with desertions had to be paid by the prisoners.
The jury found the death resulted from injuries received by deceased in a fall from the train, but that there was not sufficient evidence to prove whether the fall was intentional or otherwise.
South Eastern Gazette: Tuesday 8th February 1916
Whether John had intended to throw himself from the train will never be known. All that can be confirmed is that he died of his injuries on 1st February 1916, aged just 28 years old.
John Connolly was laid to rest in Woodlands Cemetery, Gillingham, not far from the dockyard at which he had been based. His epitaph mentioned both of the names he chose to go by, and the inscription: “Beloved husband of Brigid, her one and only love. Re-united RIP. Jesus mercy Mary help.“
In the graveyard of St Augustine of Hippo Church in Penarth, Glamorgan, lies the Commonwealth War Grave for Private Edward Savage. The headstone confirms that he had died on 25th December 1915 and that he was in the Loyal North Lancashire Regiment.
The Commonwealth War Grave Commission website suggests that he was the son of Edward and Rachel Savage and that he was born in Beccles, Suffolk. Sadly, there are no available census documents to shed any further light on that early life.
The same website suggests that he served in Burma, and in the South African campaign, which would have placed him there in the late 1890s and early 1900s.
It is also noted that Edward was the husband of Emily Savage and that they were living in Fleetwood, Lancashire. Edward’s later pension ledger suggests this was an Emily Shannon, who is, in fact, noted as the guardian of his illegitimate child. Further information, however, is not available.
From a military perspective, it is likely that Private Savage was either still service at the point that the First World War broke out, or that he was called into service – or volunteered his services – shortly after its declaration. He was assigned to No. 5 Supply Company of the 3rd/4th Loyal North Lancashire Regiment and, by the autumn of 1915, he found himself based at Penarth Head Fort near Cardiff.
Edward’s death seems to have been a less than auspicious one, as a local newspaper reported at the time.
The district coroner held an inquest at Penarth on Tuesday touching the death of Private Edward Savage, who was found dead at the billets of the A Company of the Loyal North Lancashire Regiment on Sunday morning. Surgeon-Major Charles Parsons, the local medical officer, stated that the deceased had apparently fallen down some stone steps, causing a fracture of the base of the skull. The jury returned a verdict of “Accidental Death.”
Western Mail: Wednesday 29th December 1915
Private Edward Savage had died on Christmas Day, 25th December 1915. He was 54 years of age. He was laid to rest in the graveyard of St Augustine of Hippo Church in Penarth.
Edwards shares his grave with another member of the Loyal North Lancashire Regiment, Serjeant Frank Carter. Read his story here.
Lewis Morgan was born on 22nd May 1892 in Plymouth, Devon. He was one of six children to former army officer and rector Lewis Harold Gilbert Morgan and his wife, Mary.
Growing up in Plymouth, it seems inevitable that the sea life would take hold in Lewis Jr. He first took up a post in the Merchant Navy, rising to Second Mate in December 1911.
By this point, however, he had set his sights on something more formal and soon enlisted in the Royal Navy. He served on a number of vessels over the years, and was re-engaged when war broke out. By the summer of 1915, he transferred to the Royal Naval Air Service, earning his wings on 5th August that year.
The now Flight Lieutenant Morgan’s service grew as the war continued. The life of air crew at this point in the era of flight was notoriously dangerous, and Lewis was to meet his own fate. On 11th May 1917, he was flying with Probationer Flight Officer Randolph Seed around Edmonton, Middlesex, when an accident occurred. The local newspaper reported on the incident and the subsequent inquest:
Flight-Lieutenant Mitchell gave a graphic account of the accident. He said that about eight o’clock in the evening he was flying at a height of 1,000 feet, and the machine containing the deceased officers was just ahead, but 500 feet higher. The flying conditions were good, and at the time both machines were going steadily. Glancing upwards he notices that the other machine suddenly appeared to collapse, the front extension of the main plane crumpling up. The machine nose-dived, and a black object fell out of it. The machine continued its descent and fell into the Edmonton Sewage Farm… The machine was so entirely broken up that it was impossible to theorise upon the cause of the accident. Morgan was said to have fallen on a concrete path. The deaths were instantaneous.
Taunton Courier and Western Advertiser: Wednesday 23rd May 1917
Lewis Morgan was just 24 years old, and days away from his 25th birthday. His body was brought back to Somerset, and laid to rest in the graveyard of Holy Cross Church in Sampford Arundel. By this point, his parents were living in the nearby Woolcombe House, so their son was, in a way, brought home.
The newspaper article went on to report that Flight Lieutenant Morgan was the third and last son to Lewis and Mary.
Francis Morgan – five years Lewis’ senior – enlisted in the Royal Field Artillery when war broke out. He rose to the rank of Captain, and was mentioned in Despatches for his actions. He was killed in the Dardanelles – potentially at Gallipoli – on 2nd May 1915, at the age of 28 years old.
Walter Morgan was a year younger than Lewis. He also played his part in the First World War, joining the South Lancashire Regiment, and rising to the rank of Second Lieutenant. Walter was also sent to fight in Gallipoli, and this is where he also lost his life. He was killed just three months after Francis, on 9th August 1915. He was just 22 years of age.
The loss of three sons in two years was to take a further toll on the Morgan family. Mary had suffered from poor health for a while, and the deaths of Francis, Walter and Lewis was to prove too much. She passed away at home on 15th July 1917, aged just 56 years old.
George Charles Walrond Sweet was born on 4th December 1889, the oldest of three children to Reverend Charles Sweet and his wife Maud. A Church of England vicar, Charles moved around with his work, and, when George was born, he was based in Winterborne Kingston in Devon.
George was sent away to school, and, by the time of the 1901 census, Charles and the family had moved to Milton Lilbourne in Wiltshire, to tend the local flock.
After school, George studied at Oxford, then followed in his father’s footsteps by taking holy orders, and was soon appointed rector of Symondsbury, Dorset.
When war broke out, his calling was to serve in the Royal Army Chaplain’s Department. Details of his time during the conflict are unclear, although by the spring of 1919, he was attached to the headquarters of the Army of the Rhine.
It was here that he met Phyllis Squire Hickson, who was serving as a Nurse in the Queen Mary’s Auxiliary Army Corps. The couple fell in love and, in June 1919 they returned to England to marry. The wedding occurred on 6th August 1919, and the newlyweds set off on honeymoon the following day.
On his honeymoon tour, the Revd. George C Walrond Sweet… was drowned on Thursday evening in the Cherwell at Oxford, in the presence of his wife.
Mr and Mrs Sweet engaged a punt at Tims’s boathouse and went for a trip on the river. On returning about seven o’clock, when within 300 yards of the boathouse, the punt pole was embedded in the mud and, in attempting to dislodge it the pole broke.
Mr Sweet fell on the side of the boat and then over-balanced into the river. His wife tried to reach him, but without success, and then jumped into a second punt and from that into another boat, but failed to reach him, and he disappeared. The body was not recovered until a quarter of an hour had elapsed, and life was then extinct.
Mr Sweet, who was an MA of Keble College, was only married on Wednesday at St James’s Church, West Hampstead…
[Phyllis’ father] Mr William Hickson… said his daughter became engaged to Mr Sweet in France. He did not meet him until last Tuesday. They came to England to be married. Mr Sweet met with a bicycle accident some years ago and [he] understood from his daughter that her husband was unable to swim or take any active exercise, but while he had been in France his health had much improved.
It was stated [at the inquest] that Mr and Mrs Sweet had been married only one day when the accident occurred and Dr Brooks, a university coroner, said that the tragedy was one of the saddest that had ever come under his notice.
Taunton Courier and Western Advertiser: Wednesday 13th August 1919
The inquest confirmed that the punt pole had broken about 2.5ft (0.76m) from the top. When George was dragged from the river, artificial respiration was carried out for around 50 minutes, but proved unsuccessful. The inquest returned a verdict of accidental death. George was just 29 years of age.
Reverend George Charles Walrond Sweet’s body was brought to Somerset for burial. He was laid to rest in the graveyard of Holy Cross Church in Sampford Arundel, more than likely because he or his father had been vicars there.
This was the second tragedy to befall the Sweet family. George’s younger brother, Leonard, had been schooled in Sherborne, then at the Military College in Sandhurst. He joined the 1st Battalion of the Hampshire Regiment as Second Lieutenant on 5th February 1913, and was promoted to full Lieutenant in September 1914, and Captain in October 1915.
Captain Sweet was then attached to the 29th Squadron of the Royal Flying Corps, and gained his wings at the British Flying School in Le Crotoy, France, in August 1915. On 22nd June 1916, he was on patrol duty over the British lines, when he was involved in a skirmish, and his plane crashed, killing him instantly. He was just 23 years of age.
Captain Leonard Sweet was laid to rest at the Lijssenthoek Military Cemetery in Poperinge, near Ypres.
Captain Leonard Sweet (from findagrave.com)
Phyllis Sweet never remarried. By the time of the 1939 England and Wales Register, she was living in Bridport, Dorset, and working as a political organiser and speaker. She passed away in August 1944 in Cannock, Staffordshire, at the age of 63 years old.
Ernest Millgate was born in late 1893, the fifth of six children to Henry and Agnes. Henry was a brewer’s drayman from Boughton, Kent, but it was in nearby Faversham that he and Agnes raised their family.
Ernest found work as a labourer in the town’s Cotton Powder Works, but when war was declared, he was one of the first to enlist. He joined the Royal Garrison Artillery as a Gunner on 5th September 1914, and was billeted nearby on the Isle of Sheppey. His service records show that he stood 5ft 9ins (1.75m) tall, had fair hair, blue eyes and a fresh complexion.
Gunner Millgate’s military service was to be tragically short, as a contemporary local newspaper was to report:
A terrible tragedy occurred at Minster, Sheppey, on Tuesday morning last, Ernest Millgate… who joined the Kent Heavy Battery barely a fortnight ago, being accidentally shot by a comrade, George Walter Cornelius… a gunner of three years’ service in the same Battery.
Gunner Cornelius, it appears, was handling a rifle preparatory to going on sentry duty shortly after eleven o’clock on Tuesday morning. On examining the rifle he had found that the magazine was charged but that there as no charge in the bore. Apparently the cut-off was in operation, for he pulled the trigger and there was no discharge. He examined the breech a second time and, afterwards pulled the trigger again. To his dismay there was this time a discharge and Millgate, who was standing near, fell dead, having been shot through the head. The theory is that Cornelius’ great coat, which he was wearing, caught in and released the cut-off, thereby bringing the magazine into operation.
Faversham Times and Mercury and North-East Kent Journal: Saturday 19th September 1914
An inquest was held, and it was a verdict of accidental death was given.
Gunner Ernest Millgate was just 21 years old, and had been in the service of the army for just eleven days. His body was brought back to Faversham, and he lies at rest in the town’s Borough Cemetery, just a few minutes walk from the home he had left just a fortnight before.
The same newspaper also ran a report on on Ernest’s older brother, Henry.
Private Millgate was a volunteer for the Northumberland Fusiliers, and was called into active service a couple of weeks before his brother. He had been caught up in the fighting at Mons, le Cateau and the Marne, and was, according to the newspaper, injured.
Medically evacuated to England for treatment, at the time of his brother’s funeral he was in a hospital in Newcastle-upon-Tyne.
Henry survived the war; he and his wife, Elizabeth, had two children, and he lived until 1939, passing away at the age of 52 years old.
Alfred Beake was born in December 1898 and was one of nine children to Alfred and Charlotte Beake. Alfred Sr was a baker from Westonzoyland in Somerset, but it was in Chard that he and Charlotte had set up home and raised their family.
There is little documented about Alfred’s life. He played his part in the First World War, and had joined the Worcestershire Regiment by November 1918. His troop – the 5th (Reserve) Battalion – was a territorial force, and he would have split his time between Harwich, Essex, and Plymouth, Devon.
Private Beake survived the war and, by the spring of 1919 had been moved to Dublin. It was here on 18th May that he met with colleagues Private Simpson and Swindlehurst in the centre of the city. The trio caught a tram to the coastal town of Howth for a day out, where tragedy struck.
The Dublin Evening Telegraph reported on what happened next:
Private Sydney Simpson, Royal Engineers, stated… when they got to Howth, they walked along the Cliff Walk for about a mile, when they saw some seagulls down the cliff. [Beake and Swindlehurst] went out of witness’s sight for a while, when he heard a shout from Swindlehurst for help. On hurrying back, he saw Swindlehurst looking towards the sea, and he said the deceased had slipped down. The cliff was so steep that, although they tried to get down, they could not do so. Witness sent for help. None of the party had taken any drink.
Private Swindlehurst… said that he and deceased climbed down the grassy slope to get some seagulls’ eggs, but that the deceased suddenly slipped down. There was no horseplay going on at the time when the accident took place.
Captain Wynne, Royal Army Medical Corps, who made a post mortem examination, described the terrible injuries which the deceased had sustained. Death must have been instantaneous.
Dublin Evening Telegraph: Wednesday 21st May 1919
Private Beake had suffered a fractured skull from the fall. He was just 20 years of age.
Alfred Beake’s body was brought back to Somerset for burial. He was laid to rest in the family plot in Chard Cemetery.
Alfred’s oldest brother, Walter George Beake, had also served in the First World War.
Private Beake fought with the 7th Battalion of the Somerset Light Infantry, and was involved in some of the key skirmishes of the Somme. But it was at Ypres that he was buried alive during an attack, and the resulting shell shock left him totally incapacitated.
Walter was discharged from the army on medical grounds in September 1916. He returned home to try and piece his life together again. He never married, and passed away in December 1978, at the age of 87 years old.
Joseph William Soper was born at the start of 1876, the third of eleven children to John and Elizabeth Soper. Both of his parents had been born in Dorset but it was in the Devon town of Axminster that their children were raised. John was a labourer, but, when he finished school, Joseph found work as an ostler or groom.
John passed away at the end of 1894, just months after his youngest son, Arthur, was born. Joseph, by this point, had found work as a postman, and, in the spring of 1897, he married Charlotte Annie Lee in his home town. The couple moved across the border to Somerset and settled in Chard. They went on to have a son, Arthur, who was born in the summer of 1900.
Postal work seemed not to have suited Joseph, and he made the move to labouring for a mason. Money appears to have been tight: the 1911 census recorded Charlotte working as a charwoman, while her younger brother, Herbert, was also lodging with them, and working as a grocer’s porter.
War was coming to Europe, but much of Joseph’s military career is a mystery. He had joined up by the autumn of 1916, and was assigned to the 13th (Works) Battalion of the Devonshire Regiment. He was based in Saltash and Plymouth, and served as part of the territorial force.
The only other documents available are Private Soper’s pension ledger and his entry on the Register of Soldier’s Effects. Both confirm that he died on 12th April 1917, and that the cause was “accidental injury received on active service“. Sadly, there is no further information about this. He was 41 years of age when he passed.
Joseph William Soper’s body was brought back to Somerset for burial. He lies at rest in Chard Cemetery, walking distance from where his widow and son still lived.
Wilfred Vines was born on 19th March 1897 and was one of seventeen children to John and Emma Vines. John was an elastic web maker or braider from Stroud, Gloucestershire, and it was in nearby Wotton-under-Edge that he and Emma raised their growing family.
Braiding and weaving ran in the family: the 1911 census recorded six of the Vines’ children who were over school age were employed in the local mill. This included Wilfred, who was working as a bobbin collector.
War came to Europe, and Wilfred was keen to play his part. He enlisted on 25th May 1915, joining the 15th Battalion of the Gloucestershire Regiment as a Private. His records show that he stood just 5ft 2ins (1.57m) tall.
Private Vines was sent for training to the camp at Chiseldon, Wiltshire. It seems that, while he was there, he was injured and, although full details are not available, his wounds were serious enough for him to be discharged from the army because of them. He was formally released on 30th May 1916, and returned home to recover and recuperate.
At this point, Wilfred’s trail goes cold. All that is recorded is that, on 5th November 1917, he passed away at home from his injuries. He was just 20 years of age.
Wilfred was laid to rest in the graveyard of St Mary the Virgin Church in his home town. He shares his grave with his younger brother, Leslie, who died the following year.
William Cecil Rowell was born on 29th November 1892 in Wolborough, Newton Abbot, Devon. He was the youngest of three children to architectural surveyor Spencer Rowell and his wife, Annie.
The 1911 census recorded that William had left the family home to study to be a civil servant, and was boarding with a family in Fulham, London. His studies complete, he was driven by a need to serve his country and, on 22nd January 1913, aged just 20 years old, he enlisted in the Loyal North Lancashire Regiment.
Full details of his service are not available, but it is clear that he was committed to his purpose. He was promoted to Second Lieutenant soon after enlisting, rose to full Lieutenant in November 1914, and Captain a year later. It’s not possible to pinpoint where he served, he was wounded twice and, after his second recovery, he made a transfer to the Royal Flying Corps (later moving to the new Royal Air Force when it was founded in 1918).
Captain Rowell was based at Bekesbourne Airfield in Kent. He qualified as a pilot with 50 Squadron in October 1918, but was injured when, on the 12th November, his Sopwith Camel collided with the hanger. William was admitted to the Military Hospital in nearby Canterbury, but the injuries to his leg proved too severe for it to be saved, and he underwent an amputation in January 1919.
Tragically, while the initial prognosis was good, within a few weeks sepsis set in; Captain Rowell passed away on 22nd May 1919, aged just 26 years old.
William Cecil Rowell’s body was brought back to Devon for burial. He was laid to rest in the family plot in the graveyard of St Mary’s Church in Wolborough.
Death and Service 