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Lance Corporal George Ham

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Lance Corporal George Ham

George Ham was born on 19th December 1867 in Twerton, Somerset. His parents were George and Emily Ham, and he was the oldest of their nine children. George Sr was a mason, and initially his first born followed suit, but he was pulled towards something bigger and better and, on 19th January 1886, he enlisted in the Royal Marine Light Infantry.

George’s service records note that he was 5ft 6ins (1.68m) tall, with brown hair, grey eyes and a fresh complexion. He was initially sent to the barracks at Walmer in Kent, and it was from here that Private Ham began a 21 year career in the Royal Marines. Over that time, he served on seven separate ships, and, between voyages, he was based in barracks in Plymouth, Devon. Both his character and ability were consistently noted as being very good.

Private Ham’s career took him around the world and, in 1887, he found himself on the gunboat HMS Banterer, on which he served for three years. His tour of duty included a period of time in Galway, Ireland, and it was here that he met Mary Ann Goode. On 5th July 1889, the couple married in city’s St Nicholas’ Church. The church’s records suggest that the couple went on to have four children – Frederick George; Emily, who died just after her first birthday; Albert; and Katherine.

George’s records from this point become a little disjointed. In October 1890, he returned to his Plymouth base, and the following year’s census recorded him as living in the East Stonehouse Barracks, although his marital status was noted as single.

The next census, in 1901, presents a different picture. George and Mary were, by this time, living in family barracks in East Stonehouse, with two children, (Frederick) George and Albert. Katherine, the couple’s youngest child, was born the following year.

In January 1907, after more than two decades’ service, George was stood down from active service in the Royal Marines. He was placed on reserve status, and took up work as a mason once more. At this point, however, the family seemed to have hit more troubled times, underlined by four separate 1911 census documents.

George, who was 44 by this point, was recorded as being an inmate in the Bath Union Workhouse and Infirmary in Lyncombe, Somerset. Mary and Katherine, meanwhile, were in two rooms in a house in Stonehouse, Devon. Frederick, who was now better known as George, had followed his father into military service, and was a Private in the Royal Marine Light Infantry, serving on HMS Colossus. Albert, who was 13 years old, was one of 946 students boarding at the Royal Hospital School for Sons of Seamen in Greenwich, London.

George spent nine years in the reserves, and, in 1914, was called up again for war service, this time as a Lance Corporal. According to a contemporary newspaper:

[He was] engaged on naval patrol work against submarines off the Canadian coast and elsewhere, and was in charge of a gun on an armed merchant ship. Once the boat he was on was torpedoed, and on another occasion he had a long running fight with a submarine in the Irish Channel. The ship, however, reached Portrush (Ireland), and the inhabitants gave Lance-Corporal Ham a testimonial, and he was also rewarded in other ways, the Cardiff owners of the vessel recognising his skill and gallantry.

Bath Chronicle and Weekly Gazette: Saturday 7th December 1918

Tragedy was to strike in the end, however, and George was to meet a sad end to a distinguished career.

While at Cork [George] fell, either from a boat or the dock, and sustained an injury to the side of his head. It did not appear very serious, and it is understood that he made a trip to Cardiff and back to Londonderry, [where] he became so seriously ill as to necessitate his going to a military hospital in Londonderry. Hemorrhage [sic] of the brain set in, and he died on Monday [2nd December 1918] before his brother, Mr Albert Ham, who had been telegraphed for, could reach him.

Bath Chronicle and Weekly Gazette: Saturday 7th December 1918

Lance Corporal George Ham was days short of his 51st birthday when he died. His body was brought back to Somerset for burial, and he was laid to rest in Twerton Cemetery. The newspaper report give no indication as to whether Mary or their children were in attendance and, in fact, does not mention his wife and family at all.

accident, Commonwealth War Graves, Devon, Great War, history, killed in action, Middlesex, photography, Royal Navy, Somerset, Stoker, story, war

Stoker 1st Class Phillip Clemett

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Stoker 1st Class Phillip Clemett

Phillip George Clemett was born on 5th December 1891, one of eight children to Albert and Mary Jane Clemett. Albert was a carpenter from Devon, Mary Jane came from Somerset, but by the time Phillip was born, the family had moved to Fulham in Middlesex.

The 1911 census records the family as having moved back to Somerset. Mary Jane had been born in the village of Huntspill, and it was here that the Clemetts returned. Albert was now working as a farmer, so it is possible that they had moved to work on the family farm.

Labouring was not a job to satisfy Phillip, though, and he sought a career on the high seas. On 3rd February 1913, he enlisted in the Royal Navy as a Stoker 2nd Class. His service records show that he was 5ft 4ins (1.63m) tall, with brown hair, brown eyes and a fresh complexion.

Stoker Clemett’s was initially sent to HMS Vivid, the Royal Naval Dockyard in Plymouth, Devon. Here he received a few months’ training, before being given his first posting, on board the battleship HMS Indefatigable. He remained on board for the next fifteen months, gaining a promotion to Stoker 1st Class in the process.

Over the next couple of years, Phillip served on a couple more vessels, but on 11th February 1917 he was assigned to the submarine HMS C16. Stoker Clemetts was on board for a couple of months, as she was patrolling off the Essex coast. On 16th April 1917, the C16 was accidentally rammed by the destroyer HMS Melampus. She sank to the bottom and a couple of attempts were made for the crew to escape, but they became trapped and all perished, including Stoker 1st Class Clemetts. He was 25 years of age.

Contemporary newspaper reports give little detail about the accident – stating simply that Phillip ‘perished at sea’ [Western Daily Press – Tuesday 01 May 1917] His service documents are equally cagy about the incident, confirming jus that he ‘lost his life on duty.’ The records, however, show that on each of his five annual reviews, his character was noted as ‘very good’, while his ability was ‘superior’.

When the submarine was salvaged, Phillip George Clemett’s body was brought back to Somerset for burial. He was laid to rest in the peaceful graveyard of St Peter’s Church in Huntspill.

Commonwealth War Graves, Devon, Great War, Gunner, Hampshire, history, illness, photography, Royal Garrison Artillery, Somerset, story, Sussex, war

Gunner Valentine Wilkinson

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Gunner Valentine Wilkinson

Valentine Burnett Wilkinson was born early in 1889 in Combe Down, Somerset. One of eight children, his parents were Harry and Eliza Wilkinson, Harry was from nearby Bath and worked as a gardener, and this is the trade into which Valentine also went when he finished school.

In the spring of 1913, Valentine married Florence Moody. She was the daughter of a stone mason and, at the time of the 1911 census, she was employed as a live-in sewing maid at Monkton Combe Junior School.

Gardening seems to have been a footstep to something bigger for Valentine, and he soon found other employment, as a police constable. He and Florence moved to Street, near Glastonbury, and this is where they were living when war broke out.

Keen to play his part, Valentine enlisted in the Royal Garrison Artillery on 11th December 1915. He was placed on reserve, possibly because of his occupation, and was not formally mobilised until the end of June 1917, just six weeks after Florence had given birth to their first and only child, Joan.

Gunner Wilkinson’s service records note that he was 5ft 11ins (1.8m) tall, and had a scar on his right wrist. He spent five months training, split between No. 3 Depot in Plymouth, Devon, 473 Siege Battery and No. 1 Reinforcing Depot in Bexhill-on-Sea, Sussex. On 3rd November 1917, however, he was sent to France, and was attached to the 234th Siege Battery.

Gunner Wilkinson’s time overseas was to be brief, however. He was caught up in a gas attack in December, and evacuated back to Britain for treatment. His health was now impacted and, during the summer of 1918, he was admitted to hospital having contracted pleurisy. After two months in hospital, Valentine was sent to the Military Convalescent Hospital in Ashton-in-Makerfield, near Wigan.

The war was in its closing stages by this point, and in November 1918 Gunner Wilkinson resumed some of his duties, albeit on home soil. His health was still suffering, and he contracted tuberculosis on the lung and throat. He was formally discharged from the army on 27th February 1919, no longer physically fit to serve.

Valentine returned home to Somerset, and it was here, on 1st April 1919, that his body finally succumbed to the lung conditions that had dogged him for nearly eighteen months. He was just 30 years of age.

Valentine Burnett Wilkinson was laid to rest in the quiet graveyard of St Michael’s Church in the parish of his childhood home, Monkton Combe.

Boy, Commonwealth War Graves, Devon, Great War, Hampshire, history, illness, Leading Signalman, Ordinary Seaman, photography, Royal Navy, Scotland, Signalman, Somerset, story, war, Yeoman of Signals

Yeoman of Signals Alfred Collins

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Yeoman of Signals Alfred Collins

Alfred Henry Collins was born on 22nd August 1886, in the Gloucestershire village of Wotton-under-Edge. One of five children, his parents were cowman and farm labourer Samuel George Collins and his wife, Jane. Samuel’s work took the family south, and by the time of the 1901 census, the Collinses had settled in Whitchurch, near Bristol.

When Alfred finished his schooling, he also found employment labouring on a farm, but he was drawn to a more reliable career and a life at sea. On 9th March 1903, Alfred enlisted in the Royal Navy. His service records show the young man he was becoming. He was 5ft 4ins tall, with brown hair, brown eyes and a fresh complexion.

Alfred was still underage in the navy’s eyes, and so he was given the rank of Boy 2nd Class. He was assigned to HMS Northampton, a training ship, and must have shown some promise, as within three months he had been promoted.

In June 1903, Boy 1st Class Collins was assigned to HMS Victory, the Royal Naval Dockyard in Portsmouth, Hampshire, and his trajectory was still upwards. When he turned seventeen on 22nd August, Alfred was formally enrolled in the Royal Navy, and was given the rank of Ordinary Seaman. However, his training in Portsmouth continued, and by November he had become a Signalman.

In December 1903 he was posted to the cruiser HMS Isis and, over the next decade he served on ten different ships, returning to HMS Vivid, the Royal Naval Dockyard in Devonport, in between voyages. During this time he was promoted to Leading Signalman, and his annual reviews showed him as having a very good character and a superior ability.

With war now brewing across Europe, the role of the navy intensified. When conflict was declared, Leading Signalman Collins was serving on board the cruiser HMS Pomone and, after nine months back at HMS Vivid, possibly in a training role, Alfred was assigned to the newly-refitted battleship HMS Bellerophon, on board which he would serve for more than two years.

Bellerophon served at the Battle of Jutland, and remained patrolling the southern part of the North Sea for the rest of the war. In July 1917, Alfred was promoted again, to Yeoman of the Signals, and transferred to HMS King George. He remained in the North Sea, but his new ship was there to protect the convoys transporting good between the UK and Norway, so he was based in Scotland.

Yeoman of the Signals Collins survived the war, but in February 1919 he was admitted to the Royal Naval Hospital in Granton, near Edinburgh, suffering from pneumonia. Sadly, the condition was to get the better of him and he died on 14th February 1919, at the age of 32 years old. He had served for just short of sixteen years.

The body of Alfred Henry Collins was brought back to Somerset for burial. He was laid to rest in the graveyard of St Nicholas’ Church in Whitchurch.

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.

Commonwealth War Graves, Devon, Great War, history, illness, photography, Private, Somerset, Somerset Light Infantry, South Africa, story, war

Private George Taylor

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Private George Taylor

George William Taylor was born on 14th July 1884 in Holcombe, Somerset. He was one of ten children, and his parents were John and Martha Taylor. John was a coal miner and for a while after finishing school, George followed his father to the pit. But he wanted bigger and better things, and was drawn to a career in the army.

On 16th September 1901, George enlisted in the Somerset Light Infantry. His service records confirm that he was 5ft 7ins (1.69m) tall, and weighed 131lbs (59.4kg). It was also noted that he had brown hair, grey eyes and a fresh complexion, and that he had a scar on his right shin and another on his left arm.

Private Taylor was assigned to the 2nd Battalion, and spent the next ten months training on home soil. In July 1902, however, he set off on his first big adventure, travelling to South Africa with his troop. He returned home in the spring of 1903, and spent the remainder of his seven years’ term of service on British soil.

On Christmas Day 1906, George married Ellen Hitchcock. She was the daughter of a blacksmith from Bath, and their marriage certificate adds further details to George’s life. He was living in Plymouth, Devon, when they married, and he gave his trade as a Bugler in the Somerset Light Infantry.

During the rest of his army contract, George had a number of admissions to hospital, for recurring conjunctivitis, a sprained ankle in November 1905 and a bout of scabies in January 1908. That autumn, having served for seven years, he was stood down to reserve status.

By the time of the 1911 census, George had settled back into civilian life. The young couple set up home in Holcombe, and George took up work back in the colliery there, where he was employed as a carter. A boarder helped them bring in a bit more money, but the document shows evidence of tragedy as it notes that Ellen had given birth to two children, but that both had died.

When war came to Europe in 1914, George was called back into active service. Initially assigned to the 1st Battalion of the Somerset Light Infantry, he arrived in France in July 1915. He only remained there for a matter of months, however, and, by October Private Taylor was back in Britain and reassigned to the 3rd Battalion.

It appears that his repatriation may have been for health reasons. On 31st January 1916, George was admitted to the 4th Southern General Hospital in Plymouth. The handwriting in the notes for this admission is difficult to read, but the basic headline is starkly clear: ‘bronchitis and subsequently mental’.

Private Taylor remained in hospital for a couple of weeks, before being moved to the Wells Asylum in Somerset. He was assessed by the military doctor after a couple of months’ treatment, and was declared unfit to continue in active service, due to ‘general paralysis of the insane’ or shellshock/PTSD as it is known today. His illness was wholly attributed to his military service, and sheds some light on what he must have gone through during his short time in France, compared to his previous seven years’ service. George’s last day in the army was on 13th April 1916, and he had served for a total of 14 years, 211 days.

George’s trail goes cold at this point. He passed away on 22nd December 1916, at the age of 32 years old. Although records do not confirm this, it seems likely that he died while he was still admitted to the asylum, as his death was recorded in Wells.

George William Taylor was brought back to Holcombe for burial. He was laid to rest in the family plot in the graveyard of St Andrew’s Church.

Commonwealth War Graves, Devon, Great War, history, illness, Leading Stoker, Petty Officer, photography, Royal Navy, Scotland, Somerset, Stoker, story, war

Petty Officer Stoker William Dyer

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Petty Officer Stoker William Dyer

William Henry Dyer was born on 26th March 1895, in Bath, Somerset. He was the only child of William and Elizabeth Dyer. Elizabeth had had a son prior to her marriage to William Sr, and so William Jr had a half-brother, Sidney.

Elizabeth tragically passed away in December when her youngest was only a toddler. William Sr went on to marry again, to a Sarah Chivers. The couple went on to have a family of their own, giving William Jr and Sidney a further five half-siblings.

William Sr was a carman and, when his son left school, he also found carting work, the 1911 census recording him as being a milk carrier. He wanted bigger and better things, however, and, on 8th April 1913, a fortnight after his eighteenth birthday, he joined the Royal Navy.

William’s service records show that he was working as a van guard on the railway at the time of his enlistment. He was 5ft 7ins (1.7m) tall, with light hair, grey eyes and a fresh complexion. He joined as a Stoker 2nd Class, and was initially assigned to HMS Vivid, the Royal Naval Dockyard in Devonport.

After six months’ training, William was assigned to the dreadnought battleship HMS Ajax. She became his home for the next four years, patrolling the North Sea during the conflict and, in June 1916, was involved in the Battle of Jutland. During his time on board, William rose through the ranks, becoming Stoker 1st Class in August 1914, Leading Stoker in August 1916 and Petty Officer Stoker in October 1917.

In January 1918, William returned to HMS Vivid for a few weeks He was then given a new posting, on board HMS Sandhurst, based at Scapa Flow in the Orkneys. Petty Officer Stoker Dyer was to spend the next ten months here, albeit with a short break that autumn.

It was during this period of leave that William married Lily Sarah Bethia Durbin. She was the daughter of a miner, and the couple married in Clutton, Somerset. Their time together was to be brief, however, as William soon returned to Scotland.

It was while Petty Officer Stoker Dyer was back at HMS Sandhurst that he developed pneumonia. Sadly, the condition was to get the better of him. He passed away on board on 27th November 1918, at the age of just 23 years old.

William Henry Dyer’s body was brought back to Somerset for burial. He was laid to rest in St James’ Cemetery in Bath.

Lily had been a wife for just a matter of weeks, and was now left a widow. In 1926 she remarried, to baker and confectioner Albert Farmer. The couple lived a long and happy life, celebrating their 59th wedding anniversary before Albert died in 1985. Lily lived on, passing away in January 1997, at the ripe of age of 98 years old.

Able Seaman, Boy, Commonwealth War Graves, Devon, Egypt, Great War, history, illness, India, Mesopotamia, Ordinary Seaman, photography, Royal Navy, Scotland, Somerset, story, war

Able Seaman William Green

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Able Seaman William Green

William Charles Green was born on 27th December 1897, one of five children – and the only son – to William and Mary Green. The family’s backstory is a bit hard to decipher.

William Sr was born in the Bath Union Workhouse in 1869 and the only details of his parentage comes in his marriage certificate, which suggests that his father was also called William Green, who was deceased. The same document records the groom as being a miner, and that he and Mary were living in Widcombe, Bath.

The Greens do not appear on the 1901 census – or at least that census record for them is lost to time. The next census return, in 1911, does have the family recorded as living in three room in St George’s Place, Widcombe. This particular census was the first to put the onus on the resident to complete the form, and, in William Green Sr’s case, this has led to a handful of anomalies in the record.

William Sr notes his trade as “going out with commercial travellers and hotel work also”. He confirms that he was “Somerset-born”, but suggests that Mary was born in “South Wells” (a spelling error, which should be South Wales), even though her birth and marriage certificate confirm she came from Bath.

The Greens certainly spent some time in Wales – their eldest daughter was born in Merthyr Tydfil, while William Sr was working as a miner there. By the time of William Jr’s birth, however, the family seem to have returned to England – he is recorded as coming from Bath.

William was 13 years old at the time of the 1911 census, and still at school. When he left education, he found work at a fishmonger, but with war closing in on Europe by this point, he was keen to serve his King and Country.

On 7th May 1915, William enlisted in the Royal Navy and, as he was just under age, he was given the rank of Boy 2nd Class. His service records note that he was 5ft 1in (1.55m) tall, with brown hair, blue eyes and a fresh complexion. Intriguingly the records give the place of his birth as Aberdare, Glamorganshire, but whether it is this document or the 1911 census that is incorrect is impossible to confirm.

Boy Green was initially sent to HMS Impregnable, the training establishment based in Devonport, Devon. He spent four months there and, on the day he was promoted to Boy 1st Class, he was assigned to HMS Defiance, the navy’s Torpedo School, off the Plymouth coast. In October 1915 he was assigned to HMS Fox, and remained on board for the next three years.

Fox was a cruiser that patrolled the seas from the East Indies to Egypt and the Red Sea. While on board, William came of age, and was formally enrolled in the Royal Navy as an Ordinary Seaman. With a character that was classed very good, even if his ability was noted as satisfactory, within eighteen months he was promoted again, to Able Seaman.

In August 1918, William was assigned to HMS Mantis, a river gunboat that patrolled the Tigris around Baghdad. He remained on board until the end of the year, when he was assigned to HMS Vivid, the Royal Naval Dockyard in Plymouth.

Over the next fifteen months, Able Seaman Green’s time was split between Plymouth and HMS Columbine, the naval base at Port Edgar on the Firth of Forth. It was when he was back in Devon, early in 1920, however, that he fell ill.

Able Seaman Green had contracted influenza, which had developed into pneumonia, and it was the combination of lung conditions that was to ultimately take his life. He passed away at the naval base on 5th March 1920, at the age of just 22 years old.

William Charles Green’s body was brought back to Somerset for burial. He was laid to rest in St James Cemetery, Bath, to be reunited with his parents when William Sr died in 1938 and Mary passed away in 1959.

Commonwealth War Graves, Devon, Great War, history, killed in action, photography, Royal Navy, Somerset, Stoker, story, war

Stoker 2nd Class Tom Mounter

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Stoker 2nd Class Tom Mounter

Tom Mounter was born on 24th March 1890 in the quiet Somerset village of Kingsbury Episcopi. He was one of ten children to Robert and Ellen Mounter. Robert was a farm labourer, while Ellen earned a little more money for the family by stripping withy – or willow – branches for use in a variety of ways, such as basket weaving.

When Tom left school, he followed his father into agricultural work, employed to grow and manage the withy fields. In April 1911, he married Ellen Talbot, a farm labourer’s daughter from the village. The couple went on to have three children, Frederick, Martha and Horatio.

When war came to Europe, Tom stepped up to play his part. On 14th December 1916, he joined the Royal Navy, along with four others from the village.

Tom’s service records show that he was 5ft 6ins (1.68m) tall, with brown hair, blue eyes and a fresh complexion. Stoker 2nd Class Mounter was initially sent to HMS Vivid, the Royal Naval Dockyard in Devonport, for training, before being assigned to the cruiser HMS Ariadne on 31st March 1917.

The Ariadne had been converted into a minelayer that year, and worked in the English Channel. On 26th July 1917, she was torpedoed by the German submarine UC-65, and sunk, with the loss of all 38 hands, including Stoker Mounter. He was just 27 years of age.

Tom Mounter’s body was brought back to Somerset for burial. He was laid to rest in the peaceful Kingsbury Episcopi Cemetery, next to George Bonning, who had enlisted on the same day as him, and who had died six months before.

The local newspaper, when reporting on Stoker Mounter’s funeral, noted that he was “the seventeenth Kingsbury Episcopi man who has died for his King and country. It is stated that he had a strong presentiment that he would be killed.” [Langport & Somerton Herald: Saturday 4th August 1917]

Stoker 2nd Class Tom Mounter
(from findagrave.com)
Commonwealth War Graves, Devon, Great War, history, illness, photography, Royal Navy, Somerset, Stoker, story, war

Stoker 2nd Class George Bonning

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Stoker 2nd Class George Bonning

George Thomas Bonning – whose forenames seem to have been interchangeable – was born on 9th August 1887 in the Somerset village of Kingsbury Episcopi. His parents were farm workers James and Elizabeth Bonning, and George also entered farm work when he finished school.

In 1909, George marred Olive Harvey, the daughter of another agricultural labourer from the village. The couple set up home together in the village, and went on to have a daughter, Lilian, the following year. It was around the time of their daughter’s birth that George’s mother passed away, happiness and sadness in a short space of time for the young family.

By 1911, George was employed as a carter in a factory, presumably a financial step up from his previous employment on the farm. The money was still not a great deal, however, and Olive was also working, machining gloves at home for the local factory.

War came to Europe, and on 14th December 1916, George enlisted in the Royal Navy, along with four other men from the village, including friend and neighbour Tom Mounter. His service records show that he was 5th 11.5ins (1.82m) tall, with black hair, hazel eyes and a fresh complexion.

Stoker 2nd Class Bonning was sent to HMS Vivid, the Royal Naval Dockyard in Devonport, for training, and it was here that he contracted a chill. Tragically, this developed into pneumonia, and he died in the barracks on 20th January 1917. He was 29 years of age, and had been in service for just 37 days.

George Thomas Bonning’s body was brought back to Somerset for burial. He was laid to rest in the peaceful Kingsbury Episcopi Cemetery.

Olive never remarried after losing her husband. She remained in the village, raising Lilian and finding occasional employment to help pay the bills. She passed away on 26th March 1968, at the age of 79, and was laid to rest with George, husband and wife reunited after more than fifty years.