Tag Archives: Burma

Burma, Commonwealth War Graves, Corporal, Devon, Devonshire Regiment, Great War, history, illness, India, photography, Royal Engineers, South Africa, story, war

Corporal George Collins

Leave a comment
Corporal George Collins

The funeral of Corporal GH Collins, of the Royal Engineers, who died at Devonport at the age of 46, took place at Tiverton, where his mother and stepfather and sister reside. Corporal Collins’s wife and two children are at present in India. He had been in the army since 1899, and served in the South African War, for which he received the Queen’s and King’s medals with four clasps. He went to India in 1902, where he remained until the outbreak of the present war, when he came to France with his regiment. Corporal Collins was wounded, losing two fingers. He afterwards contracted fever, from which he died. The funeral was accorded military honours.

[Exeter and Plymouth Gazette – Monday 29 October 1917]

George Henry Collins was born in West Anstey, Devon, and was the son of George and Harriett Collins. There is little additional information about his early life available, and his was not an uncommon name in the area at the time.

George married Stella Euphrasia Constance O’Leary on 11th October 1911. At the time he was stationed in Myanmar, and the couple exchanged vows in the town of Maymyo, to the west of Mandalay. They would go on to have two children: Mary was born in August 1912, with Gertrude arriving the following November.

When the First World War broke out, it seems that Corporal Collins initially joined the Devonshire Regiment, but soon transferred to the Royal Engineers. Documentation suggests that he was assigned to the Special Brigade Depot at Saltash, Cornwall. However, this may have been the unit he was nominally allocated to when arrived in Britain for treatment to his injuries.

Frustratingly, there is little additional information available about George’s life. He died on 21st October 1917 was laid to rest in Tiverton Cemetery.

Berkshire, Burma, Commonwealth War Graves, Dorset, Dorsetshire Regiment, Great War, history, illness, India, photography, Private, Rifle Brigade, Royal Defence Corps, Somerset, Somerset Light Infantry, story, war

Private Nicholas Paice

Leave a comment
Private Nicholas Paice

Nicholas John Paice was born in the spring of 1867, the second of five children to John and Olive Paice. John was a railway policeman from Aldermaston in Berkshire, but his oldest son, Nicholas, was born in Poole, Dorset where Olive came from.

The Paice family seemed to move to wherever John’s work took him. The 1871 census found them living back in the Berkshire village of Shrivenham, while a decade later they were to be found in Longfleet, to the north of Poole. By this point, John was employed as a groom, and Olive a laundress.

When he completed his schooling, Nicholas found work as a butcher. He had also enlisted in the local militia, joining the 3rd Dorset Regiment. The army life seemed to suit him and, on 12th July 1886, he enlisted in the Rifle Brigade. His service records show that he was 5ft 7ins (1.7m) tall and weighed 148lbs (67.1kg). At 19 years and three months old, he was noted as having a fresh complexion, grey eyes and brown hair. The papers show that he had a scar on his left eyebrow, and tattoos on his forearms and the middle finger of his left hand.

Joining up for a period of twelve years, Private Paice would spend nearly seven of those in India and Burma. His time in the army was not without incident, however. Just three weeks after enlisting he deserted, and remained at loose for nearly a month. When he was captured, he was imprisoned for desertion for four weeks, his term of service extended to reflect the time he was AWOL.

In August 1896, having been back on home soil for just over two years, Nicholas was arrested again. Convicted of ‘begging’, he was confined for a week, before being released back to duty.

On 16th September 1898, Nicholas completed his contract, and was formally discharged from the army.

The next few years are a mystery for Nicholas. He had married Maria Andrews in 1896, and the couple would go on to have eight children, of which five would survive childhood. By the time of the 1911 census – the next document where we can pick him up – Nicholas and the family were living in two rooms at 2 New Corn Street, Bath, Somerset. Nicholas was working as a cattle drover, along with Maria, the household included her daughter Annie, and granddaughter Lily, and John and Maria’s son, Earnest.

When war came to Europe, Nicholas stepped up to play his part. He enlisted in the Somerset Light Infantry on 26th October 1915 but, with his age against him, he was transferred to the 263rd Coy. of the Royal Defence Corps the following April.

It seems that Private Paice’s health was also being impacted and he spend a month in the Red Cross Hospital in Portishead, having contracted influenza. Released to duty on 16th May 1916, just a month later he was re-admitted for three weeks, this time suffering from bronchial catarrh. On 10th September he was admitted to the hospital for a third time. This time it was identified that he had come down with pulmonary tuberculosis, and on 12th October 1916, he was formally discharged on medical grounds.

It is unclear what happened to Nicholas next. His service records suggest that he wasn’t immediately discharged from the Portishead hospital, and it seems likely that he would have returned home to Bath at some point. The next record for him is that of his passing, from tuberculosis, on 20th December 1919. He was 52 years of age.

Nicholas John Paice was laid to rest in the sweeping Locksbrook Cemetery in his adopted home town of Bath, Somerset.

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

Private Edward Savage

1 Comment
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.

illness

Serjeant Major Charles Cassidy

Leave a comment
Company Serjeant Major Charles Cassidy

Charles Cassidy’s early life is a bit of a challenge to uncover. He was born in County Antrim, Ireland in around 1856, but there is little concrete information to identify his parentage or his movements before the late 1870s.

A newspaper report of his passing confirms that his military career began early. He joined the Somerset Light Infantry, and “saw active service in the Zulu campaign in 1879, and in Burmah 1885-1887.” [Western Times: Tuesday 15th February 1916]

In around 1890, he married a woman called Annie; she came from Wareham in Dorset, and the couple went on to have three children – Daisy, Charles and Margaret.

After completing his military service, Charles continued to work as a messenger for the regiment. However, when war came, he was called up again, acting as Company Serjeant Major in the Taunton Barracks.

Charles’ military service was not to be prolonged, however. On 13th February 1916, he was in the Sergeants’ Mess in the barracks, when he suddenly collapsed with heart failure, dying almost instantaneously. He was 60 years old.

Charles Cassidy lies at rest in St Mary’s Cemetery in Taunton, next to the barracks where he so readily did his duty.