Tag Archives: Dorset

Commonwealth War Graves, Dorset, Great War, history, illness, photography, Queen Alexandra Imperial Military Nursing Reserves, Staff Nurse, story, war

Staff Nurse Dorothy Stacey

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Staff Nurse Dorothy Stacey

Dorothy Louise Stacey was born in 1893, the eldest child of Alfred Stacey, a farmer, and his wife Mary.

The family lived at Middle Farm in Charlton Horethorne, a small village midway between Sherborne and Wincanton. Alfred Stacey ran the farm, and by the time of the 1901 census, the family of four had a live-in domestic servant, Beatrice Baker.

Things had moved on by the next census return of 1911. Alfred and Mary had moved the young family 150 miles east, where they were now running Buttons Farm in Wadhurst, East Sussex. I can find no familial link for what would have been a significant move in the early 1900s, but it may be that Alfred was headhunted. The records show that Mary and Dorothy were assisting Alfred in running the farm, along with new domestic servant Mary Hide. The family were joined by Marjorie Anderson, a live-in governess for younger daughter Mollie.

Dorothy Stacey joined the Queen Alexandra’s Imperial Military Nursing Service Reserves (QAIMNS) during the war. The official female unit for medical services in the British Army, those joining had to come from ‘good families’ and be qualified nurses. It can only be assumed, therefore, that Dorothy undertook additional training after 1911, presumably in order for her to be able to join up.

Staff Nurse Stacey was based at Worgret Camp, on the outskirts of Wareham, Dorset. Full details of her time there are no longer available, but she would have been exposed to a variety of illnesses while attending the soldiers under her care. Sadly, this was to prove to be her undoing. She passed away in the facility where she worked on 5th October 1918, having contracted a combination of bronchitis and nephritis. She was just 25 years of age.

When the family had been living near Sherborne, Dorothy had attended the Convent of St Anthony’s school. It was to the convent’s chapel that she was taken following her passing.

After the funeral service was held there, Dorothy Louise Stacey was laid to rest in Roman Catholic section of Sherborne Cemetery.

Commonwealth War Graves, Dorset, Great War, history, illness, Private, Royal Warwickshire Regiment, story, war

Private Nelson Pitman

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Private Nelson Pitman

Nelson Victor Pitman was born in April 1890, the fourth of eight children to George Pitman and Amy Roles Pitman (née Treasure). George was a butcher’s assistant, and the family lived in their home town of Sherborne in Dorset.

As with a number of the other servicemen I have been researching, Nelson’s military records are sparse, probably lost to time. He is not listed as living with his parents on the 1911 census and, in fact, is nowhere to be found.

On 2nd January 1915, Nelson marries Alice Moores at the parish church (Sherborne Abbey). His profession is listed as soldier, so we know that, but this point in the war, he had enlisted.

While there are no records of Private Pitman’s service, his battalion, the 1st Royal Warwickshire Regiment was involved in a number of the key battles of the war, including the second Ypres, Arras and Passchendaele. The battalion was also involved in the Christmas Truce, so there is a slight chance that Nelson played football with his German counterparts in one of the defining moments of the Great War.

Private Pitman survived the war to end all wars, but was discharged on 22nd February 1919 with a disability. He was suffering from bronchitis, and steadily went downhill.

Private Nelson Pitman passed away eighteen months later, on 21st November 1920. He was 31 years old.

He lies at rest in Sherborne Cemetery.

Commonwealth War Graves, Devonshire Regiment, Dorset, Great War, history, illness, Labour Corps, photography, Private, story, war

Private Samuel Cook

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Private Samuel Cook

Samuel Cook was born in Bedfordshire, the eldest of two children to Alfred and Phoebe Cook.

Alfred was a forester, which saw the family move around the country; the 1881 census found them living in Rutland, ten years later the family was recorded in Northamptonshire and by the 1911 census, they were in Dorset.

Samuel was quick to follow in his father’s footsteps, supporting his mother and sister after Alfred died in 1906.

The war was underway when Samuel was called up. His Devonshire Regiment service records show that he enlisted on 11th December 1915. His fitness seemed to have determined the path his military career would take.

Initially Private Cook was classified as C1 (free from serious organic diseases and able to serve in garrisons at home, able to walk 5 miles, see to shoot with glasses, and hear well), but was upgraded to B2 within six months. This identified that he was free from serious organic diseases, able to stand service on lines of communication in France, or in garrisons in the tropics and able to walk 5 miles, see and hear sufficiently for ordinary purposes.

Samuel was first enrolled in 13th (Works) Battalion of the Devonshire Regiment, before being transferred to the 311th (HS) Labour Company in Plymouth.

Private Cook was one of the thousands of soldiers who contracted influenza and subsequently died of pneumonia on 1st November 1918.

There seems to be some dispute over how and when Samuel fell ill. A request for a detailed medical report was sent, “as he appeared to have contracted the disease from which he died whilst on leave for the purpose of getting married”. The same request confirms that he was never admitted to hospital while in the company. (There are no records oh Samuel having married, so I am assuming that his leave may have been for wedding preparations, of normal leave.)

The report came back confirming that he has died from “pneumonia complicating influenza which was contracted whilst on service at Beaulieu”.

However and wherever it happened, the disease claimed Private Samuel Cook’s life; he lies at rest in Sherborne Cemetery, Dorset.

Commonwealth War Graves, Dorset, Great War, history, illness, photography, Private, Royal Army Service Corps, story, war

Private Thomas Daines

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Private Thomas Daines

Born in 1871, Thomas Daines was one of fourteen children. His parents, Charles and Sarah, worked on a farm a few miles from Halstead in Essex.

After leaving school, Thomas followed in his father’s footsteps and, by the time of the 1891 census was also listed as an agricultural labourer. He married Kate Rawlinson in the spring of 1893, and they had two children – Matilda and Lewis – before relocating to South East London in around 1898.

The reason for the move was, more than like, job opportunities, and Thomas was soon working at the Royal Arsenal in Woolwich.

Settling into their new city life, Thomas and Kate had five further children: Annie, Thomas, Alfred, Charles and Beatrice. Thomas continued as a labourer, before enlisting in the army within three months of war being declared in October 1914.

Sadly, Private Daines’ service was not to be a long one. Having suffered a bout of influenza, Thomas was admitted to a Red Cross Hospital in Sherborne, Dorset. He died of pneumonia on 22nd February 2015.

Private Thomas Daines lies at peace in the Sherborne Cemetery.

As a sad aside to Thomas and Kate’s story, their eldest son, Lewis, enlisted in the 16th Battalion of the Lancashire Fusiliers. He fought on the Western Front, and was killed in action in Pozières on 26th March 1918.

The Great War had claimed both father and son.

Commonwealth War Graves, Dorset, Great War, history, injury, Lieutenant, photography, Royal Air Force, Second Lieutenant, story, war

Second Lieutenant Sidney Pragnell

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Second Lieutenant Sidney Pragnell

Sidney Ralph Pragnell was the eldest of two children of Edward and Ellen Pragnell. Edward grew up in Sherborne, before moving to London to work as a chef; he found employment as a cook in an officer’s mess, which took him and his wife first to Ireland – where Sidney was born – and then to the barracks at Aldershot.

By the time of the 1911 census, Edward had brought his family back to Dorset, and was running the Half Moon Hotel, opposite the Abbey in Sherborne. Sidney, aged 12, was still at school.

When war broke out, Sidney was eager to play his part, even though he was underage. An article in the local newspaper highlights his keenness and how he progressed.

…he was keen to serve his country and joined every local organisation his age would allow him to. He was an early member of the Sherborne VTC and Red Cross Detachment, and was actually the youngest member of the Volunteers to wear the uniform. Whilst still under age, he enlisted in the Royal Naval Division at the Crystal Palace and after a period of training was drafted as a qualified naval gunner to a merchant steamer carrying His Majesty’s mails and in this capacity went practically round the world. In February he joined the RNAS and after some air training in England went to France to an air station, where he passed all the tests with honours and gained the ‘wings’ of the qualified pilot. Lieutenant Pragnell then decided to go in for scouting and came back to England for advanced training in the special flying necessary for this qualification and it was whilst engaged in this that he met with the accident which resulted in his death.

Western Chronicle: Friday 16th August 1918.

The esteem in which Second Lieutenant Pragnell was held continues in the article, which quotes the condolence letter sent to his parents by his commander, Major Kelly.

It is with deep regret that I have to write you of the death of your son, Second-Lieutenant SR Pragnell. Your boy was one of the keenest young officers I have ever had under my command and was extremely popular with us all and his place will be extremely hard to fill.

The service can ill afford to lose officers of the type of which Lieutenant Pragnell was an excellent example and it seems such a pity this promising career was cut short when he had practically finished his training. May I convey the heartfelt sympathy of all officers and men in my command to you in this your hour of sorrow.

Western Chronical: Friday 16th August 1918.

What I find most interesting about this article is that the letter from Major Kelly detail how Edward and Ellen’s son died, and this this too is quoted by the newspaper.

Your son had been sent up to practice formation flying and was flying around the aerodrome at about 500 feet with his engine throttled down waiting for his instruction to ‘take off’. Whiles waiting your boy tried to turn when his machine had little forward speed. This caused him to ‘stall’ and spin and from this low altitude he had no chance to recover control and his machine fell to earth just on the edge of the aerodrome and was completely wrecked. A doctor was there within a minute, but your boy had been killed instantaneously.

Western Chronicle: Friday 16th August 1918.

Further research shows that the aerodrome Second Lieutenant Pragnell was training at was RAF Freiston in Lincolnshire, which had been designated Number 4 Fighting School with the specific task of training pilots for fighting scout squadrons. He had been flying a Sopwith Camel when he died.

Second Lieutenant Sidney Ralph Pragnell lies at rest in the cemetery of his Dorset home, Sherborne.

Commonwealth War Graves, Dorset, Great War, history, injury, photography, Private, Royal Welsh Fusiliers, story, war

Private Richard Elcocks

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Private Richard Elcocks

Richard William Elcocks was born in Wellington, Shropshire, the second son of foundryman Thomas Elcocks and his wife Emma. Born in June 1883, he was one of nine children.

After initially becoming a printer’s apprentice, he enlisted in the Royal Welsh Fusiliers in May 1903. After his initial training and service, Private Elcocks was transferred to the Army Reserve in 1911.

In January 1914, Richard married Charlotte Shenton. Charlotte was a widow ten years his senior, and had two children, Albert and Fred.

When war broke out, Private Elcocks was again called up and shipped to France as part of the British Expeditionary Force. His records confirm that he received a gunshot wound to the left arm on 31st October 1914; the injury was enough for him to be shipped back to the UK for treatment.

He was treated in the Yeatman Hospital in Sherborne, Dorset, and appears to have been there for some time. His records state that he died on 26th June 1915 from an ‘intestical [intestinal?] obstruction following gun shot wound of left humerous’. He was 32 years of age.

Private Richard Elcocks lies at rest in Sherborne cemetery.

Commonwealth War Graves, Dorset, Dorsetshire Regiment, Great War, history, photography, Private, story, war

Private Stanley Sansom

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Some of the research on the Commonwealth War Graves has been fairly straightforward – information has been readily available on sites like Ancestry, or the death has been unusual or sudden enough for it to have made contemporary newspapers.

Other times, the search goes on for a while and only the tiniest of leads manages to turn up some information.

Private Stanley Sansom falls firmly into the second category.

Private Stanley Sansom

In a corner of Sherborne Cemetery stands a gravestone. It is dedicated to 20023 Private S Sansom of the Dorsetshire Regiment. He died on 31st March 1921, aged 27 years.

Searching just on a surname doesn’t turn up a great deal, even for one as seemingly uncommon as Sansom.

My default first sites for this research are the Commonwealth War Graves Commission and Find A Grave. Both sites, however, list the soldier’s name as Sanson, even though the stone clearly says Sansom.

The FAG site provides no other information, although the CWGC page does name the soldier’s father, Thomas Sanson of Sherborne. Again, an Ancestry search does not bring anyone by that name in Dorset.

My next option is usually the British Newspaper Archive; no Sansons are recorded, but the surname Sansom does turn up just after the date on the stone:

Mrs Sansom desires to thank all friends who have expressed sympathy with her in the sad bereavement she has sustained by the death of her husband.

Western Gazette: Friday 22nd April 1921

Nothing conclusive, but it did suggest that Sansom may be the correct spelling.

Back on Ancestry, Thomas Sansom doesn’t turn up anything, but a random check on the surname and specific date of death did show a few family trees for a Stanley Sansom, born in 1892. Again nothing conclusive here, particularly as none of the trees include any military records or spouses, but there was enough information to collate an overview of his life.

Stanley Sansom was born in September 1892 in Sherborne. He was one of six children to Thomas Sansom, a glove cutter, and his wife Jane.

The cloth business was a large employed in the Dorset town, and after leaving school, Stanley became an apprentice tailor.

There don’t appear to be any records of Private Sansom’s military service. However, he enlisted in the Dorsetshire Regiment, and his Service Number identifies that he served in the 1st/4th Battalion.

According to the Dorsetshire Regiment records, this battalion sailed for India on 9th October 1914, so Private Sansom must have enlisted at the outbreak of hostilities.

After a year’s training, his battalion moved to the Eastern Front, where soldiers saw action against the Turks in what is now Iraq. From what records there are, it can only be assumed that Private Sansom survived the war pretty much unscathed and returned to England in 1918 to be demobbed.

There is no record of Stanley marrying, so whether the Western Gazette’s article relates to him, or to another Sherborne Sansom is unclear.

All that can be confirmed is that Private Stanley Sansom died on 31st March 1921, aged 27.

He lies at rest in the cemetery of his home town in Dorset.

As I was writing this post, I happened to notice an additional inscription at the bottom of Stanley’s gravestone:

Also of Private J Sansom, Dorsetshire Regiment. Died at Basra June 1916

Stanley had a younger brother, Jack, who also enlisted in the 1st/4th Battalion. The brothers were shipped to India and Mesopotamia together; while Stanley came home, Jack died in battle and is buried in Basra War Cemetery. He was just 20 years old.

Army Veterinary Corps, Commonwealth War Graves, Dorset, Great War, history, illness, photography, story, war

Private Jonathan Lewin

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Private Jonathan Lewin

There is tantalisingly little information available about Private J Lewin, and what I have been able to identify has come from a variety of disparate sources.

Jonathan William Lewin was born in 1877/8 in Essex. By the time of the 1911 census, he was working as a painter in Colchester. He was living in the town with his wife, Agnes Cudmore, who he had married in early 1902. The couple had no children.

The remainder of the information of Private Lewin’s life comes from a piece in the Western Gazette:

The death has occurred at the Yeatman Hospital [Sherborne, Dorset] of Private Jonathan Lewin, of the Army Veterinary Corps. The deceased soldier had been at the Front for a year, and about three months ago was brought home sick and sent to the Yeatman Hospital. He was there found to be suffering from a malignant disease, and his recovery from the first was hopeless. Deceased, who belinged to Colchester, and was 38 years of age, leaves a widow but no children. The funeral took place yesterday and was attended by a number of wounded soldiers and the members of the VTC.

Western Gazette: Friday 7th July 1916.

Private Jonathan Lewin lies at rest in Sherborne Cemetery.

One of the reasons I love researching this type of history, is trying to discover the person behind the name on the gravestone. It seems such an additional loss, therefore, when the life of a brave soldier, like Private Lewin, has disappeared through time.

Commonwealth War Graves, Corporal, Dorset, Great War, history, injury, Lincolnshire Regiment, photography, story, war

Corporal Louis Townsend

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Corporal Louis Henry Townsend

Louis Henry Townsend, also known as Henry, was born in the spring of 1881 in Leytonstone, Essex.

Much of Louis’ life remains elusive, he first appears on the census in 1911, and from this we know that he married Florence Annie Ridley (known as Annie) in December 1906. The couple had three children, Thomas, Florence and George.

Louis’ marriage record suggests his father’s name was Thomas Clark, although he also remains a bit of a mystery.

Again, Louis’ military service appears lost to time. He enlisted in the Lincolnshire Regiment, and fought on the Western Front.

The Western Chronicle (26th March 1915) confirms that Corporal Townsend was brought to the Greenhill Voluntary Aid Detachment Hospital in Sherborne, suffering from “a shot through the brain, and from the first was in an extremely precarious condition”.

Louis passed away from his wounds on 20th March 1915, aged 34. He lies at rest in Sherborne Cemetery.