Alfred Daymond was born on 9th July 1891, in Porlock, Somerset. The second youngest of seven children, his parents were wall mason Albert Daymond and his wife, Maria. By the time of the 1901 census, Albert’s work had moved the family to the sleepy village of Luccombe.
When Alfred finished his schooling, he followed his father into wall building. This was the career he was still following when, in 1914, war broke out.
Alfred was quick to play his part for King and Country. He enlisted on 4th November 1914, joining the Somerset Light Infantry. Private Daymond’s service records show that he was 5ft 10ins (1.78m) tall, with good vision and a fair physical development.
Initially serving as part of a territorial force, Alfred remained on home soil until September 1916. At this point he was transferred over to the Duke of Cornwall’s Light Infantry, and became attached to the 7th (Service) Battalion. Details of his time in the army are sketchy, but his troop certainly fought at the Somme in 1916, and at Ypres the following year.
In May 1917, Alfred returned to British shores. His health appears to have been suffering, although it is not clear from what ailment. On 8th February 1918, Private Daymond was discharged from army service as being no longer physically fit.
Alfred’s trail goes cold at this point. It is likely that he returned home to Luccombe, and this is where he passed away, on 11th November 1918, Armistice Day. He was 27 years of age.
Alfred Daymond was laid to rest in the family plot of St Mary’s Church, Luccombe. He was interred alongside his younger brother, Albert.
Alfred’s younger brother, Albert, also enlisted for war service. Read his story here.
Arthur Reginald Vellacott Thorne was born at the start of 1899 in Bridgwater, Somerset. One of six children, his parents were Sidney and Bessie Thorne. Sidney was a butcher and, by the time of the 1901 census, the family had moved to Chichester, West Sussex, where he had found employment in a sausage factory.
The Thornes’ time on the south coast was not to last long: they had moved to Timberscombe, back in Somerset, by the time Sidney and Bessie’s youngest child, daughter Ivy, was born in March 1908. Tragically their happiness was not to last for long: Sidney passed away in October that year, aged just 35 years old.
With six children under the age of 12 to raise, times would have proved tough for Bessie. Her oldest child – Arthur’s older brother, Sidney – went to live with his paternal uncle’s family in Taunton, and began learning the butchering trade. Bessie took on the role of caretaker at Timberscombe School where her five younger children were being taught.
Being a butcher was not Sidney’s chosen career path. When he turned 17, in March 1914, he enlisted in the Coldstream Guards, lying about his age to do so. Six months later he was promoted to the rank of Lance Corporal and attached to the 3rd Battalion. With war having been declared in Europe, he soon found himself on the Front Line, fighting in the First Battle of Ypres.
Over the next couple of years, Lance Corporal Thorne remained on the Western Front. He was killed in fighting on 15th September 1916: he was just 19 years of age. Sidney’s body was never identified: he is commemorated on the Thiepval Memorial in Picardie.
Arthur’s trail had gone cold at this point, but when he turned 18 years old, his brother having passed just months before, he too was called up. Assigned as a Private in the 35th Training Reserve Battalion, he was sent to Bovington Army Camp in Dorset for his induction. While there, in the cramped conditions of the military barracks, he fell ill. He was admitted to the Salisbury and District Isolation Hospital, which treated infectious diseases, and this was to be where he passed away. Private Thorne was just 18 years of age, and Bessie had lost her two oldest boys.
While Sidney’s remains were never recovered, Arthur Reginald Vellacott Thorne was brought back to Somerset to be laid to rest. He was buried in the peaceful graveyard of St Petrock’s Church in Timberscombe, not far from his father.
Bessie was to our live four of her children. Her youngest two sons, Edwin and Cecil, were to die too young. Cecil passed away in Timberscombe in May 1922, when he was just 16. Edwin died in November 1929, at the age of 26 years old.
Bessie lived on until 1958, passing away in Minehead when she was 84 years of age.
Stanley William Parry was born in the spring of 1890 in St George’s on the outskirts of Bristol, Gloucestershire. One of four children to Herbert and Susannah Parry, Stanley was a twin to brother Roland. Herbert was a commercial clerk for a chemical manufacturer, and this afforded the Parry boys a level of education, with both Roland and Stanley attended the Colston Endowed School in Bristol.
Tragically, Susannah had died when Stanley and Roland were just 3 years old: their younger brother, Wilfred, had died the year before, when just a babe-in-arms. By the time of the 1911 census, Herbert had moved the family to Portishead. He was still working as a clerk, while both of the twins were employed as insurance clerks. Their older brother, Edwin, was also a clerk, in the docks at Bristol, and Herbert had employed a live-in housekeeper, Mary Govier, to look after him and his sons.
When war came to Europe, both Stanley and Roland enlisted. The two of them joined the Royal Field Artillery as Gunners. While full service records are not available, Stanley was assigned to the 40th Trench Mortar Battery, while Roland became attached to A Battery of the 240th Brigade.
Stanley was serving in France in the summer of 1916, when he became ill.
The funeral took place on Saturday afternoon, at Portishead Cemetery, of Gunner Stanley Wm Parry, who… died at Mile End Hospital, London, on September 19th. The deceased, who was 27 years of age, was always somewhat delicate in health, but was anxious to serve his King and country, and joined the [Royal Field Artillery]. He was brought to London from France on the previous Saturday suffering from enteritis, and although he lived until his father reached him, he died shortly after. He was the third son of Mr HC Parry… whose two other sons are also serving, one in France and the other in Egypt.
Bristol Times and Mirror: Monday 25th September 1916
Gunner Stanley William Parry was laid to rest in Portishead Cemetery, just a short distance from the family home.
Gunner Stanley Parry (from findagrave.com)
Roland continued to serve his country in France, but tragedy was to strike the family once more.
Mr HC Parry… has received the sad intelligence that his son, Rowland G Parry [sic], of the [Royal Field Artillery], was killed in action on the 17th September. A letter from deceased’s officer stated that Gunner Parry was returning to the battery when a shell burst on the track, killing deceased instantaneously, death being absolutely painless. The letter further states that Gunner Parry had been a very valuable member of the battery, and will be missed by them all. Gunner Parry was the second of Mr Parry’s three sons to lay down his life in the great fight, a twin brother having died in a military hospital in London last year. The other son, the eldest, is serving in Palestine.
Bristol Times and Mirror: Saturday 29th September 1917
Roland George Parry was 28 years of age when he died. He was laid to rest in the Vlamertinghe New Military Semetery, in Ypres.
Gunner Roland Parry (from findgrave.com)
Herbert Parry passed away in the summer of 1920, at the age of 62. He had outlived three of his sons, as well as being a widower for 27 years. He was laid to rest in Portishead Cemetery with his son Stanley.
Edwin Parry, Stanley and Roland’s older brother, had returned from the First World War by the summer of 1919. He resumed his work as a clerk at the docks in Bristol, and married schoolteacher Annie Homewood in August 1919. They went on to have three children, Barbara, Gwladys and Roland. Edwin died in September 1959, at the age of 71 years old.
The youngest of three children to William and Annie, Walter Harold Fry was born in the summer of 1897 in Shepton Mallet, Somerset. William’s job as a railway guard and porter meant the family moved around the area and, by the time of the 1901 census, they had settled in Twerton, to the west of Bath.
Little information is available about Walter’s early life and, indeed, documents from that time seem to record him as both Walter Harold and Harold Walter. When war came to Europe, He was keen to serve his country, presumably because his older brother, William Jr, was already serving overseas in the Somerset Light Infantry.
Walter enlisted in the Gloucestershire Regiment, and, as a Private, was assigned to the 4th (City of Bristol) Battalion. His initial training took place in Wiltshire and Essex, but by March 1915, the battalion had been sent to the Western Front.
Private Fry’s service records no longer exist, by his headstone, in the family plot, suggests that he was injured in France in March 1916. He was medically evacuated back to Britain, although, again, details are sketchy, and admitted to a military hospital in Aldershot, Hampshire.
At this point, Walter’s trail goes cold. The next record for him is that of his passing, while still admitted to the hospital, on 31st December 1916. He was just 19 years of age.
The body of Walter Harold Fry was brought back to Somerset for burial. He was laid to rest in Bath’s Twerton cemetery, a short walk from the family home.
Walter’s brother William had enlisted in the Somerset Light Infantry by 1911. That year’s census recorded him as being billeted at St Andrew’s Barracks in Malta, but by the time war broke out, his troop, the 2nd Battalion, was based in Quetta, India.
He remained based in this far outpost for the duration of the conflict and, while his service records are no longer available, he seemed to have been dedicated to his job as, by October 1918, he had risen to the rank of Sergeant.
William was based in Rawalpindi by that point, and it was here that he died, through causes unknown, on 31st October 1918. He was 26 years of age.
Buried in Rawalpindi Military Cemetery, Sergeant William Fry is also commemorated on the family grave in Twerton.
Albert Lowman was born in Crewkerne, Somerset, in the autumn of 1876. He was the younger of two children to Charles and Sarah Lowman. The 1881 census recorded the family – Charles, Sarah and their boys Charles Jr and Albert – living in Back Lane. Charles Sr was noted as being a labourer, although in the column highlighting any medical conditions (‘deaf-and-dumb’, ‘blind’, ‘imbecile or idiot’, ‘lunatic’), is one word: “afflicted”.
Charles Sr passed away in 1886, when Albert was just 9 years old. The next census, in 1891, found Sarah working as a charwoman, while her youngest, who had left school by this point, was employed as a labourer. Mother and son also had a lodger, Alice, who was a dressmaker. Charles Jr, by this point, had left home, and was living in Penarth, Glamorganshire, where he was apprenticed to his paternal uncle, who was a tailor.
On 28th November 1896, Albert married Sarah Ann Dodge, a weaver’s daughter who was also from Crewkerne. Albert recorded his job as a drayman, although this seems to have been piecemeal employment.
The next census found more permanent work, as he was cited as being a shirt factory packer, while Sarah was employed by the factory as a machinist. Making up the household was young Charles Lowman, the couple’s first son, who was just a month old although sadly, he survived only a couple of months more before dying.
Further tragedy is highlighted by the 1911 census, as it highlights that the couple had had a further child, who had also died when just a babe-in-arms. The Lowmans were now living on Hermitage Street near the centre of the town. Albert was still a shirt packer, and, even though their cottage was small, they had two boarders and a visitor staying. The lodgers brought the couple a little rent, which meant that Sarah no longer had to work.
War was closing in on Europe and, while his full military records are lost to time, it is clear that Albert had stepped up to play his part. He had enlisted by January 1918, and was attached to the Devonshire Regiment, through which he served with the 380 Company of the Labour Corps.
Private Lowman was barracked on Salisbury Plain, Wiltshire, and in July he was admitted to the military hospital in Salisbury itself, suffering from appendicitis. He was operated on, but died following complications. He passed away on 10th July 1918, at the age of 41 years old.
Albert Lowman was brought back to Somerset for burial. He was laid to rest in the cemetery of his home town, Crewkerne.
Private Lowman’s pension ledger record shows the beneficiaries of his army service. The document identified Sarah as his widow, but also Phillis Annie Matilda Denning, the couple’s adopted daughter, who had been born in August 1904.
Sarah was not to outlive her late husband for long, however.
The death occurred with tragic suddenness on Sunday afternoon, January 7th, at her residence in Hermitage-street, of Mrs Sarah Ann Lowman… The deceased, who was of middle age, was about as usual attending to her ordinary household duties in the morning. Just before dinner hour, however, she complained of not feeling well and went upstairs to lie down. Her niece took her up a cup of how water, and she then apparently went to sleep. She awoke about 3:40pm, and then had to get out of bed owing to sickness. Upon going back into bed again she expired almost immediately. Dr Wolfenstein was called, but he could only pronounce life extinct.
Langport & Somerton Herald: Saturday 20th January 1923
Sarah was 47 years of age when she passed away. It is likely that she was laid to rest near her husband, although records to confirm this have been lost.
Albert’s brother, Charles, survived his sibling by less than six months. He had left tailoring behind him in South Wales, and instead embarked on a military career. He joined the Royal Field Artillery in 1895 and, over the course of his twelve years’ service, served in the Caribbean and the Mediterranean.
Charles married Florence Dodge in 1908, and the couple went on to have two children – Cecil and Freda. When war broke out in 1914, he stepped up once more. Having already risen through the ranks from Gunner to Bombardier and Corporal, he re-entered service as a Sergeant in the Royal Garrison Artillery.
Based in Le Harve, Northern France, Sergeant Lowman was admitted to a hospital in Harfleur, having contracted bronchial pneumonia. Sadly, he passed away while admitted, on 8th November 1918, just three days before the end of the conflict. He was 43 years of age.
Charles Lowman was laid to rest in the Sainte Marie Cemetery, near the centre of Le Harve.
Albert Henry Townsend was born on 7th November 1890 in Bath, Somerset. One of thirteen children, his parents were George and Annie Townsend. George was a painter by trade, but when he died in the autumn of 1895, Annie was left to take in laundry to earn money to support her and the four of her children still living at home.
By the time of the 1911 census, Albert was 21, and had found work as a baker. He was still living with his mother, two siblings and a nephew in a house in the centre of the city. All but Annie’s grandson were earning money by this point, and, with five rooms, the family were in a better position than some of their neighbours. Next door was Albert Smith, a coal carter, who had to support a family of ten people.
In the summer of 1914 war broke out, and within months, three of the Townsend brothers – Albert and his older brothers Arthur and Charles – had enlisted.
Arthur Townsend had joined the Duke of Cornwall’s Light Infantry earlier in the year, and within weeks of conflict being declared, he was on the Western Front. He was to be one of the early casualties of the conflict, and was killed in action during the Battle of the Marne on 9th September. He was just 29 years old and, while his body was never identified, he was commemorated on the La Ferte-sous-Jouarre Memorial.
Albert’s service records have been lost to time, so it is not possible to identify when he enlisted. He joined the Somerset Light Infantry, and was assigned to the 4th Battalion, who set sail for India in October 1914. Private Townsend was not to travel with them, however as he had contracted septicaemia while camped on Salisbury Plain, Wiltshire. He was transferred to the Royal United Hospital in Bath for further treatment, but his condition was to prove too severe. He passed away while still admitted on 19th October 1914. He was just 23 years of age.
Albert Henry Townsend was laid to rest in the St James’ Cemetery in his home city, Bath.
Annie Townsend had now been a widow for nearly twenty years and, within a matter of weeks, had lost two of her sons. Tragically, the war was not done with her family yet.
Charles Townsend was still serving, having enlisted in the 8th Battalion of the Somerset Light Infantry. He arrived in France in July 1915, and over the next year, wascaught up in some of the fiercest fighting of the conflict. On 1st July 1916, the Battle of the Somme began, the darkest day in history for the British Army. Twenty thousand soldiers were killed, and Private Charles Townsend was amongst the fallen. He was just 30 years of age. He was commemorated on the Theipval Memorial.
Annie had lost a third son to the conflict in a little under two years, and her pain must have been unimaginable. She lived on until 1923, when she died at home in Bath. She was laid to rest close to her husband and Albert, a family partly reunited once more.
Henry William Edward Wheeler was born in early 1890, the fifth of thirteen children – and the oldest son – to Henry and Anne Wheeler. Henry Sr was a labourer from Witham Friary in Somerset, and this is where the family were born and raised.
When he left school, young Henry – who became known as Harry to avoid confusion with his father – found work as a postman. When war broke out, however, he enlisted as a Private in the Somerset Light Infantry. Full details of his military service are unclear, but his marriage certificate confirms that he was a soldier by the spring of 1915.
Harry’s wedding was to a woman called Mabel Hulbert, who was working as a domestic servant in Wotton-under-Edge, Gloucestershire. It was in the village’s church that the couple exchanged vows, and within a matter of weeks, Private Wheeler was sent to France.
Harry’s troop – the 1st Battalion – was involved in some of the fiercest fighting of the war, and it is likely that he was involved at The Somme in July 1916. At some point, though, he moved across to the 5th (Service) Battalion of the Dorsetshire Regiment, who had moved to France, having been fighting at Gallipoli. The specifics of Private Wheeler’s time in the army are, however, destined to be lost to time.
Private Wheeler’s trail can be picked up again after the end of the war, presumably when he had returned to Britain prior to being demobbed. Sadly, however, he was admitted to a military hospital in Wilton, Wiltshire, suffering from ‘disease’. He passed away on 8th February 1919, at the age of 29 years old.
The body of Henry William Edward Wheeler was brought back to Somerset for burial. He was laid to rest in the quiet graveyard of St Mary’s Church in his home village of Witham Friary.
Henry’s younger brother, John, also served in the First World War. He enlisted in the 8th (Service) Battalion of the Somerset Light Infantry, and arrived in France on 4th October 1915, just a couple of months after his older brother.
John was killed in fighting on 11th October 1917 – possibly as part of the opening salvos of the Battle of Passchendaele – and was just 20 years old. He was laid to rest in the Outtersteene Communal Cemetery in northern France.
Bernard Charles Sugg was born in the spring of 1895 and was the third of eight children to Charles and Emma. Charles was a farm labourer from Somerset and the family were raised in Templecombe, to the south of Wincanton.
While Bernard’s older brother William followed their father into farm labouring, Bernard found employment working with a builder and mason when he left school.
When war broke out, the Sugg brothers wanted to step up and play their part for King and Country. William enlisted in the Royal Engineers in May 1915, while Bernard joined the Devonshire Regiment the following February.
Little information is available about Private Bernard Sugg’s military life. He was assigned to the 12th (Labour) Battalion, and was sent to France within a couple of months. He spent a year on the Western Front, but fell ill in the spring of 1917, and was brought back to Britain for treatment. Admitted to the Ladywell Hospital in Bermondsey, South London, with a fever, he passed away on 4th April 1917, aged just 22 years old.
Bernard Charles Sugg was brought back to Somerset for burial. He was laid to rest in the family plot in the graveyard of St Mary’s Church in his home village of Templecombe. Understandably distraught at her boy’s untimely death because of the conflict, on his mother’s wishes, his funeral was not accorded military honours.
Private William Sugg had an active career with the army. Having joined the Royal Engineers after being a platelayer for the local railway, he transferred across to the 2nd/4th Battalion of the York and Lancaster Regiment.
William was caught up in the fighting on the Western Front in the closing months of the war, and was killed on 25th August 1918. He was 25 years old, and was laid to rest at Gommecourt South Cemetery.
Charles and Emma had lost their two eldest boys to the Great War, but their younger three sons – Arthur, Reginald and Harold – were too young to be called up.
Charles Edward Hoare Hales was born in Bournemouth, Dorset, in the summer of 1886. The fourth of five children, his parents were Arthur Hales – a Major General in the Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers – and his wife, Maria.
Arthur’s career stood the family in good stead: the 1891 census records the Hales living in a house in Crystal Palace Park, South London, with five servants supporting their – and their two visitors’ – every need. Arthur also believed in education for this two sons: Charles was dispatched to Hartwood House School in Hartley Wintney, Hampshire.
Arthur died in 1904 and at this point the Hales family disappears – there is no record for Maria or her five children in any of the 1911 census returns.
When war came to Europe, Charles and his older brother Arthur, stepped up to play their part. Both joined the Wiltshire Regiment, both being attached to the 1st Battalion. Sadly, neither of the brothers’ service records remain, so it is difficult to piece together their military careers.
Arthur achieved the rank of Captain, gained a Military Cross for his dedication and service. He was caught up in the Battle of Albert – one of the phases of the fighting at The Somme – in 1916. He was initially reported killed in action, then, to the elation of Maria, this was changed to missing. Tragically, he was subsequently confirmed as dead, having passed away on 6th July 1916, aged 34 years of age. He is commemorated on the Thiepval memorial in Northern France.
A further tragedy was to strike the Hales family the following year, when Charles, who had risen to the rank of Second Lieutenant, also passed away.
The internment took place in Bathwick Cemetery on Monday, of Mr Chas. Edward Hoare Hales, 2nd-Lieutenant Wiltshire Regiment, who died on Thursday, after a long illness contracted on active service. He was the last surviving son of the late Major-General A Hales, Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers, Commandant of the Straits Settlements, and of Mrs Hales… The young officer, whose body was brought from Buxton, was buried in the same grave where rest the remains of his father, who died in April 1904.
Bath Chronicle and Weekly Gazette: Saturday 1st December 1917
Details of Charles’ illness, from which he passed on 22nd November 1917, are unclear. He was 31 years old when he died. He left his estate – which amounted to £6524 18s 1d (the equivalent of £579,000 in today’s money) to his youngest sister, Sophia.
Maria Hales passed away in 1924, at the age of 74. She was buried in the family ploy, reunited with husband and younger son once more.
Second Lieutenant Charles Hales (from findagrave.com)
Kenneth Gordon Harding was born in the autumn of 1896, in the Somerset village of Batheaston. The oldest of nine children, his parents were Lawrence and Fanny Harding. Lawrence was a market gardener when Kenneth was born, but by the time of the 1911 census – and with a growing family to support – he found other employment as a roadman.
When he left school, Kenneth found work as a gardener, but he had his sight set on distant shores. On 25th September 1913 he enlisted in the Royal Marine Light Infantry, determined to see the world. His service records show that he was 5ft 3ins (1.6m) tall, with light hair, blue eyes and a light complexion.
For the duration of his naval career, Private Harding was based out of Plymouth Dockyard, returning there in between each of his voyages. Over the next four years, he served on three different vessels – HMS Heroic, HMS Duke of Edinburgh and HMS Skirmisher. His service records shows that he maintained a satisfactory level of conduct, and that his general character was very good.
By January 1917, Kenneth had fallen ill, and was medically discharged from the army, having contracted tuberculosis. He returned home, but his illness continued to dog him.
On 22nd May 1918, Kenneth’s younger brother, Leonard Harding, who was serving with the Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers, was killed while fighting in France. Private Leonard Harding was just 19 years old. He was laid to rest in the Duhallow ADS Cemetery at Ypres.
With Kenneth’s own health not looking good, his parents must have feared the worst. The worst was to some, sadly, when he breathed his last at home on 29th December 1918. He was just 22 years of age.
Kenneth Gordon Harding was laid to rest in the graveyard of St John the Baptist Church in his home village, Batheaston.
Death and Service 