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accident, Commonwealth War Graves, Devon, Great War, history, photography, Royal Navy, Somerset, Stoker, story, war

Stoker 1st Class Francis Doel

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Stoker 1st Class Francis Doel

Francis Benjamin John Doel was born in Glastonbury, Somerset, on 26th August 1897. The oldest of five children, his parents were Frederick and Alice Doel. Frederick was a mason’s labourer and, by the time of the 1911 census, the family had set up home in the village of Berkley, on the outskirts of Frome. Intriguingly, the census clearly gives Francis’ middle name as Crossman, although no other record confirms this.

When war broke out, Francis had left school, and was employed as a labourer in a brass foundry. By the start of 1916, however, he stepped up to serve his King and Country, and enlisted in the Royal Navy. His service records give his height as 5ft 3.5ins (1.61m) and note that he had brown hair, grey eyes and a fresh complexion.

Francis was assigned the role of Stoker 2nd Class, and was sent to HMS Vivid – the Royal Naval Dockyard in Devonport – for training. Within a matter of weeks, he was given his first posting, on board the cruiser HMS Dublin, although he only remained there for a month.

After having returned to HMS Vivid for a few weeks, Francis was assigned to another cruiser, HMS Essex. He appears to have been good at his job, and in November 1916 was promoted to Stoker 1st Class.

Stoker Doel returned to HMS Vivid in May 1917, preparing for his Leading Stoker exams. They were not to be, however, as on 24th June, he died, having ‘accidentally drowned’. No further information is available on his death, and the newspaper report of his funeral only notes that he “…met his death on Sunday week. His body was landed from his vessel, and was brought home for burial…” [Somerset Standard: Friday 6th July 1917]. He was just 19 years of age.

Francis Benjamin John Doel was brought back to Berkley for burial. He was laid to rest in the village’s church cemetery.

accident, Commonwealth War Graves, Great War, history, injury, photography, Royal Navy, Scotland, Somerset, Stoker, story, war, Yorkshire

Stoker 1st Class Albert Aven

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Stoker 1st Class Albert Aven

Albert Aven was born on 18th December 1896 in the Somerset hamlet of Rodden. One of eleven children, his parents were Alfred and Elizabeth Aven. Alfred was a farm labourer, and farming was certainly something that his sons went into when they finished school.

When war came to Europe’s shores, however, Albert was keen to play his part. On 29th November 1915, he enlisted in the Royal Navy as a Stoker 2nd Class. His service records show that he was 5ft 5.5ins (1.66m) tall, with brown hair, blue eyes and a fresh complexion.

The record also suggests that he lied about his age, giving his year of birth as 1895. It is likely that Albert would have done this because there was a minimum age requirement, although, as he was already over that minimum age, it wouldn’t have made that much difference anyway.

Stoker 2nd Class Aven’s first posting was to HMS Pembroke, the Royal Naval Dockyard in Chatham, Kent, where he spent a couple of months undergoing training. At the end of January 1916, he was moved to HMS Gibraltar, an old cruiser, which patrolled the waters around the Shetland Isles.

After six months on board, and following a further month in Chatham Dockyard, Stoker Aven was assigned to HMS Test. She was a destroyer that patrolled the waters of the Humber Estuary, and Albert spent the next sixteen month with her. During this time, he was promoted to Stoker 1st Class, but the Test was also to be the last ship he served on.

On 8th November 1918, Stoker 1st Class Aven was ashore at the naval base in Hull, when he fell into a dry dock, dying instantly. Little additional information is available – and indeed contemporary newspapers are silent on the matter – but his service records report “Death caused by accidental fall into dry dock at Hull. Verdict of accidental death returned at inquest.” He was just 21 years of age.

Albert Aven’s body was brought home to Somerset for burial. He was laid to rest in the tranquil graveyard of All Saints’ Church in Rodden.

accident, Commonwealth War Graves, Great War, Hampshire, history, killed in action, London, Malaysia, photography, Royal Air Force, Second Lieutenant, Somerset, story, Surrey, war

Lieutenant Gilbert Rippon

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Lieutenant Gilbert Rippon

Gilbert Harold Earle Rippon was born in Paddington, London, in the spring of 1887. The third of seven children, his parents were coal merchant Frederick Rippon and his wife, Eugenie.

When Gilbert left school, he found work as a clerk for a building firm. He was an ambitious young man, however, and, after his mother died in 1903 and his father a few years later, he took on work at a rubber plantation in Jementah, Malaysia.

When war broke out, “he came home on six months’ leave in order to enlist, having an exciting voyage owing to the activities of submarines. He was refused at first owing to a slight physical defect, but after an operation learnt to fly and was given a commission in the Royal Flying Corps.” [Somerset Guardian and Radstock Observer: Friday 9th June 1916]

Second Lieutenant Rippon gained his wings at Brooklands in Surrey on 16th January 1916. By the summer he was attached to a flying school in Gosport, Hampshire, and this is where he was based by the early summer of 1916.

On 7th June, Gilbert was flying a de Havilland DH2 aircraft, when an accident occurred. According to a newspaper report: “Evidence showed that the machine, when 300 feet [91m] up, made a double turn, as though the aviator was trying to return. It then slipped and made a nose-dive to the ground, killing the pilot instantaneously. He had only been in the air three minutes. The previous evening the same monoplane had ascended 14,000 ft [4267m].” [Somerset Guardian and Radstock Observer: Friday 9th June 1916]

Second Lieutenant Rippon was 29 years of age. The same report confirmed that he was the older brother of two Bath and Somerset cricketers – twins Dudley and Sydney Rippon – and that his oldest brother, New York-based Secretary of the Board of Correction Frank Rippon, “had the unhappy experience of being in the aerodrome when the accident occurred, and saw his brother fall to the ground.”

Gilbert Harold Earle Rippon was laid to rest in the family plot St James Cemetery, Bath, Somerset. There seems to have been a family connection with the city: this is where both Frederick and Eugenie were buried, and where, after their parents’ deaths, the twins and the youngest Rippon son, Percy, were taken to live.

accident, Army Veterinary Corps, Commonwealth War Graves, Dragoon Guards, Farrier, Great War, history, injury, photography, Reserve Cavalry Regiment, Sergeant Major, Somerset, story, war, Wiltshire

Serjeant Major Ernest Simmons

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Serjeant Major Ernest Simmons

Ernest Simmons was born in Priddy, Somerset, in 1869, the oldest child to Henry and Ellen Simmons. Henry was a mason who, by the time of the 1881 census, was employing ten men and a boy. Three doors down lived another Simmons family, Daniel and Elizabeth, and it is likely that Ernest’s father was somehow related to them.

Ernest sought a bigger and better life away from the Somerset countryside, and enlisted in the army, joining the Army Veterinary Corps. “[He] served for 28 years… 10 of which were spent in India and 5 in South Africa.” [Wells Journal: Friday 23rd August 1918]

His service did him well, and he progressed through the ranks. The 1911 census recorded him back in the UK, renting a room in a terraced house in Preston, near Brighton. He was still serving in the army, however, and was listed as being a Farrier Sergeant Major in the 4th Battalion of the Dragoon Guards.

When war was declared, Ernest was quick to return to the fray, arriving in France on 16th August 1914. He served his battalion well, and was mentioned in dispatches for his action in the retreat from Mons the following month.

Farrier Sergeant Major Simmons returned to Britain, and transferred across to the 6th Reserve Regiment of Cavalry. This new regiment, formed in 1917, trained men for a number of regiments, including the 3rd, 4th, 6th and 7th Battalions of the Dragoon Guards. Ernest’s previous experience with horses, including his time in the Army Veterinary Corps, likely stood him in good stead for the role.

It was while he was at the camp in Tidworth, on Salisbury Plain, Wiltshire, that Ernest met with an accident. “[He] was thrown through his horse tripping over some wire. He was found in an unconscious state and died the same day.” [Wells Journal: Friday 23rd August 1918] Farrier Sergeant Major Simmons died on 26th July 1918: he was 49 years of age.

Ernest Simmons’ body was brought back to Somerset for burial. He was laid to rest in the peaceful graveyard of St Lawrence’s Church in his home village of Priddy.

Commonwealth War Graves, Great War, history, injury, Kings Royal Rifle Corps, Oxfordshire, photography, Private, Second Lieutenant, Somerset, Somerset Light Infantry, story, suicide, war, Yorkshire

Second Lieutenant Cedric Pepper

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Second Lieutenant Cedric Pepper

Cedric William Pepper was born in 1895 in South Kirkby, Yorkshire. He was the middle of three children to William and Harriette Pepper. William was a colliery owner from Leeds, and the family lived in some comfort in Rawdon Hill in Wharfdale. The 1901 census records show that they employed a governess, cook, two housemaids, a kitchen maid and a page.

By the time of the next census, in 1911, the Pepper family had moved to Shipton in Oxfordshire, where they lived in the 27-room Shipton Court. Cedric, by this time, was still studying, having been taught at Winchester College, where he lasted only a year, Tonbridge School, and then Worcester College in Oxford.

When war broke out, he had taken time away from his studies, and was working on a ranch in Rhodesia (present-day Zimbabwe). He returned to Britain at the start of the conflict and enlisted in the King’s Royal Rifle Corps. Assigned to the 2nd Battalion, Private Pepper arrived in France in November 1914, and was wounded in his thigh the summer of 1915.

Private Pepper returned to Britain to recuperate and, when he had recovered, he was given a commission in the 3rd Battalion of the Somerset Light Infantry. It was while he was training in Oxfordshire that the now Second Lieutenant Pepper met his end.

The evidence at the inquest… suggested that the death from a bullet wound… was accidental.

Second-Lieutenant William Eric Warburton… stated that early last week Lieutenant Pepper told him he was in some difficulty with a woman, but he did not explain it. Lieutenant Warburton did not think that this caused him to take his life. In his opinion Lieutenant Pepper knew nothing of the working of an automatic pistol he possessed.

The medical evidence was that a bullet entered the centre of the forehead. The doctor said that if the wound was self-inflicted it was quite possible that it was accidental.

The jury returned a verdict of Death from a bullet from an automatic pistol, but that there was no evidence to show how the wound was inflicted.

Central Somerset Gazette: Friday 29th October 1915

Second Lieutenant Pepper died from the bullet wound on 21st October 1915. He was just 20 years of age.

Pepper Family Memorial

Cedric William Pepper’s family were, by this time, living in Redlynch House, near Bruton, Somerset. He was cremated, and his ashes immured in the wall of St Peter’s Church in the hamlet.

Second Lieutenant Cedric Pepper
(from findagrave.com)

In researching Cedric’s life, there is a definite sense of a young man desperately looking to please his father. A successful Yorkshire colliery owner, he may have expected more from his oldest son, a drop out from Winchester College, possibly sent to Southern Africa to find himself. While an immediate return to Britain to serve his country would have been commonplace, the suggestion of difficulty with a woman and the subsequent accident with his gun just adds to the sense of a need for Cedric to not disappoint his father.

accident, Commonwealth War Graves, Great War, history, killed in action, Oxfordshire, photography, Royal Air Force, Shropshire, Somerset, story, war

Flight Cadet John Fox

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Flight Cadet John Fox

John Francis Fox was born early in 1898 in the village of Alkerton, Oxfordshire. One of eight children, he was the only son to miller-turned-butcher George Fox, and his wife, Ann. The family remained in Oxfordshire until at least the outbreak of war, when George and Ann appeared to have moved to Somerset.

When John left school, he took up an apprenticeship at Stothert & Pitt’s engineering works in Bath and in May 1918, with the First World War entering its last few bloody months, he was finally old enough to enlist. He joined the Royal Air Force as a Flight Cadet and was based at the 13th Training Depot Station near Market Drayton, Shropshire.

On 21st December 1918, Flight Cadet Fox was undertaking his first solo flight, on board an Avro 504K. His aircraft collided with another, which was piloted by a Captain Edgar Beamer. Both were killed in the accident: John was just 20 years of age.

An inquest into the crash, which also involved a third man, Captain Harrison, who was a passenger in Beamer’s plane, returned verdicts of accidental death.

John Francis Fox’s body was brought back to Somerset for burial. He was laid to rest in the graveyard of St Mary the Virgin’s Church, Bath.

accident, Canada, Commonwealth War Graves, Flight Lieutenant, Great War, history, Pembrokeshire, photography, Royal Air Force, Somerset, story, Wales, war

Flight Lieutenant Richard Bush

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Flight Lieutenant Richard Bush

Richard Eldon Bush was born on 16th June 1891 in Keynsham, Somerset. The second of four children (all of whom were boys), his parents were Philip and Maria Bush. Philip was a solicitor, and with that status came opportunity for his children.

The 1911 census recorded the Bush family living in Keynsham with two servants – cook Clara Jones and parlour maid Laura Day. The two older boys – Richard and his older brother, Whittington, were both listed as Cambridge undergraduates, while his two young brothers were boarding at a private school in Repton, Yorkshire.

Richard had aspirations for a good life. In March 1914, he set sail for a life in Canada, looking to take up architecture in the colony. His time overseas wasn’t to be long, though, and, when war broke out in Europe, he returned home.

Full details of Richard’s military service are not available, but he joined the Royal Naval Air Service and, on 20th August 1915, he gained his wings. Richard rose to the rank of Flight Lieutenant, but tragedy was ahead.

On 24th April 1917, he was piloting a scout seaplane around the harbour in Fishguard, Pembrokeshire.

[He] failed to clear some overhead wires, and the seaplane swerved against the cliff with considerable violence, smashing the machine, which the petrol set alight, and crashed to the earth. When liberated from the blazing machine Lieutenant Bush rolled and extinguished his burning clothes.

Somerset Guardian and Radstock Observer: Friday 27th April 1917

Sadly, Flight Lieutenant Bush’s injuries proved too severe. He passed away a couple of days later, on 24th April 1917, at the age of 25 years old.

Brought back to Somerset for burial, Richard Eldon Bush was laid to rest in the cemetery of his home town, Keynsham.

Flight Lieutenant Richard Bush
(from astreetnearyou.org)

The same newspaper report noted that Richard’s brother Graham was an officer in the Royal Flying Corps. He had also been badly injured in a flying accident, but was, according to the report, “flying again now.“

accident, Commonwealth War Graves, Great War, history, injury, photography, Private, Somerset, story, war, Wiltshire, Wiltshire Regiment

Private Robert Cantle

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Private Robert Cantle

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.

accident, Commonwealth War Graves, Great War, history, injury, Kent, Lancashire, photography, Royal Naval Reserve, Stoker, story, war

Stoker John Campbell, AKA John Connolly

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Stoker John Campbell, AKA John Connolly

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.“

accident, Burma, Commonwealth War Graves, Glamorganshire, Great War, history, Lancashire, Loyal North Lancashire Regiment, photography, Private, South Africa, story, Suffolk, war

Private Edward Savage

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Private Edward Savage

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.