George Edward Brown was born on 26th June 1898 in South Petherton, Somerset. An only child, his parents were Escourt and Alice Brown. Originally a millstone dresser, by the time of the 1911 census, Escourt had turned his hand to farm work, while Alice made shirts and did housekeeping to bring in a little more money for the family.
George was only 16 years old when war broke out, but he was keen to play his part as soon as he was able to. In the spring of 1917, he enlisted in the Royal Field Artillery, and was assigned to the 105th Company.
Little information remains of Gunner Brown’s military service, but it is evident that he did his training in Norfolk. While here, he came down with appendicitis, and was admitted to the Norfolk War Hospital in Norwich. He was operated on, but sadly died following the procedure. He passed away on 29th June 1917, having just turned 19 years of age.
George Edward Brown’s body was brought back to Somerset for burial. He was laid to rest in the family grave in South Petherton Cemetery. He was reunited with his parents, when they passed away, Escourt in 1924 and Alice some time later.
Arthur William Gentle was born in 1867 in Whitelackington, Somerset. The son of Maria Gillard, his father is not noted, although he was accepted as one of the family when Maria married Richard Gentle in 1873. The couple went on to have eleven children of their own, giving Arthur a large family of siblings.
Richard was an agricultural labourer, and this was a trade into which Arthur followed. On 23rd October 1897, Arthur married Mary Marsh, a labourer’s daughter from South Petherton. The couple tied the knot in her local church, the illiterate Arthur marking his intent with a cross.
The couple set up home just off Silver Street in South Petherton, and went on to have ten children of their own. The 1911 census recorded Arthur still employed as an agricultural labourer, his oldest son following suit, and Mary – who was also known as Polly – raising the family.
War came to Europe, and, despite his age, Arthur felt a need to play a part. While full service records are no longer available, what remains confirms that he had enlisted by the summer of 1916, and had joined the 300th Protection Company of the Royal Defence Corps.
Sadly, Private Gentle’s military career was to end in the same way as so many of his army colleagues. He contracted pneumonia during the winter of 1916, and passed away at home on 21st February 1917. He was 49 years of age.
Arthur William Gentle was laid to rest in the cemetery of his adopted home town, South Petherton.
Arthur’s brother Frank Gentle also fought in the Great War. Assigned to the 1st Battalion of the Somerset Light Infantry, he was caught up in the fighting in the Somme, and was killed on 14th July 1916. He was just 26 years of age.
Private Frank Gentle is commemorated on the Thiepval Memorial in Northern France.
William John Lydston Poulett was born on 11th September 1883, in Belsize Park, London. The oldest child to William Poulett, 6th Earl Poulett, and his third wife, Rosa, William Jr was known by the title Viscount Hinton.
When William’s father died in January 1899, a battle ensued for the title of the 7th Earl Poulett. The 6th Earl had married his first wife, Elizabeth, in 1849, separating from her within a couple of months, when he learnt that she was pregnant. The alleged father was Captain William Turnour Granville, and when the 6th Earl died, Elizabeth’s son, another William Poulett, claimed the right to take the title. In July 1903, the judge decreed that William and Rosa’s son held the valid claim, and William John Lydston Poulett succeeded him, becoming the 7th Earl. At this point, he was living in Ayston, Rutland, expanding his education and boarding with a Clerk in Holy Orders.
In 1908, William married Sylvia Storey. She was the daughter of actor and dancer Fred Storey, and was herself an actress and Gaiety girl. Given Earl Poulett’s status, it seems this might not have been the most appropriate of matches, as a contemporary newspaper reported:
Another marriage alliance of the stage with the aristocracy, and one of the most remarkable of them all, was brought about yesterday by a quiet ceremony at St James’ Church, Piccadilly, uniting Earl Poulett and Miss Sylvia Lilian Storey, the well-known comedienne.
Besides contracting parties, there were only one or two persons present, including the family solicitor and Lady Violet Wingfield, sister of the bridegroom [who was also a Gaiety girl]. There were no bridesmaids.
Before the ceremony, some consternation was caused by an untoward event. The wedding ring was dropped, and there were some perturbing moments while a scrambling hunt was made for it on the floor. Finally it was discovered and pounced upon by the verger.
The time and place of the ceremony had been kept quite a secret, and the bride and bridegroom were on their way from London before the news of their marriage became known. The sudden announcement which was then made greatly enhanced the romance of the affair.
The Earl is just twenty-five years of age, and the new Countess is eighteen…
Shields Daily News: Thursday 3rd September 1908
The secret nuptials couple went on to have two children – George and Bridget – and, by the time of the 1911 census, the family were living in some luxury at Hinton House in Hinton St George, Somerset.
William had also had a distinguished military career by this point. In 1903 he received a commission as Second Lieutenant in the 4th Battalion of the Royal Welch Fusiliers, before being transferred to the 4th Highland Light Infantry.
On 26th February 1913, he was recommissioned, as a Second Lieutenant in the Warwickshire Royal Horse Artillery and, when war broke out, he was sent to France. By November 1915, he had been promoted to Captain, but after three years on the Western Front, his health was beginning to suffer.
Captain Poulett was transferred back to Britain, and assigned to the Royal Warwickshire Regiment. By 1918, he was serving as part of the Anti-Aircraft Corps in Middlesbrough, when he contracted pneumonia. This was to take his life, and he breathed his last on 11th July 1918, at the age of just 34 years old.
William John Lydston Poulett, 7th Earl Poulett, was brought back to Somerset for burial. He was laid to rest in the graveyard of St George’s Church in Hinton St George.
Captain William Poulett (from ancestry.co.uk)
William’s death meant that his nine-year-old son, George, inherited his title and his £187,200 estate (worth £8.2m today). The 8th Earl served during the Second World War, working as an engineer at Woolwich Arsenal and becoming an Associate of the Institute of Railway Signal Engineers and the Institute of British Engineers.
George married three times: he divorced his first wife, Oriel, in 1941; outlived his second wife, Olga, who died in 1961; and was survived by his third wife, Margaret, when he passed away in 1973. When he died, with no children, all of his titles became extinct.
Alan James Howland was born in the spring of 1897 in Plymouth, Devon. One of nine children, his parents were pianist and musician Harman Howland and his Irish wife, Ellen.
The Howland family moved around as, presumably, Harman followed where his work was needed. The 1901 census records them living in Devonport: ten years later they had moved to Barnstaple. Alan, by this time, had left school and was working as an errand boy.
War came to Europe in 1914, and, at some point, Alan stepped up to play his part. Full details of his military service are no longer available, but from what remains it is clear that he enlisted in the Royal Garrison Artillery at some point before the summer of 1917.
Alan enlisted using his mother’s maiden name of Hardie, and was assigned to the 274th Siege Battery. His troop saw action at the Somme and Arras, and a later newspaper report confirmed that Gunner Hardie saw action overseas:
[He] had been previously wounded but was gassed and entered Leicester Hospital on November 2nd 1917.
Taunton Courier and Western Advertiser: Wednesday 30th January 1918
Gunner Hardie had been admitted to the 5th Northern General Hospital following his injury. He seemed to be improving, but developed pneumonia and the lung condition was to take his life. He passed away on 21st January 1918, at the age of just 20 years old.
Alan James Hardie/Howland was brought back to Somerset for burial. He was laid to rest in the cemetery of the town where his family now lived, Ilminster, Somerset.
Alan’s older brother, William Harman Howland, also fought in the First World War. He enlisted in the 1st Battalion of the Hertfordshire Regiment, also using his mother’s maiden name. Again, details of his service are sparse, and Private Hardie seems to have transferred to the Royal Army Service Corps at some point during his military career.
William passed away on 18th August 1918, while in Germany. The cause of his death is not clear, but he was 28 years old. He was laid to rest in the Ohlsdorfer Cemetery in Hamburg.
William Hearn Moore – who became known as William Ernest Moore – was born in Churchstanton, Devon, in the summer of 1883. His mother, Mary, was only eighteen at the time but, when she married Henry Westcott in August 1891, he treated William as his own.
Henry found work as a coachman in Ilminster, Somerset, and, when he left school, William took on work as a gardener. In October 1903, he married carter’s daughter Charlotte Tucker: the couple set up home in the centre of the town, and went on to have three children – Gladys, Ethel and Henry.
William was working as a foreman for the Chard Lace Company when war broke out. While his full service records are lost to time, it is clear that he enlisted in the Royal Engineers, and was given the rank of Driver.
Driver Moore was in Aldershot, Hampshire, by the autumn of 1915, when he fell ill. He contracted cerebrospinal meningitis, a condition which took his life on 18th October 1915. He was just 32 years old.
William Ernest Moore was brought back to Somerset for burial. He was laid to rest in the cemetery in Ilminster, where Charlotte and the family were still living.
With three children to raise, Charlotte married again, to a William Dean, on 21st October 1916. They did not have children of their own and lived in Chard. Charlotte passed away in the winter of 1941, at the age of 57 years old.
William Locke was born in the spring of 1885, the sixth of ten children. His parents were George and Sarah Locke, both of whom were from Chard, Somerset, and it was here that William and his siblings were raised.
George worked in the local lace factory, and the 1891 census provides a snapshot of where the Lockes lived. The document notes that the family’s neighbours were a sawyer, launderess and a chimney sweep.
William did not follow in his father’s – or siblings’ – trade when he left school. Instead, he first found work as an ironmonger’s porter, then as a plumber.
On 5th April 1915, William married Mabel Male, a gardener’s daughter from Barrington, Somerset. War had come to Europe, and it seems that William was aware that he would shortly receive notice for him to play his part. The couple were by now living in Parkstone, Dorset, and William had changed career again: his service records confirm that he was a line telegraphist at the time he enlisted.
William enlisted in the Royal Engineers in Bournemouth on 29th July 1915: his records note that he was 5ft 3ins (1.6m) tall, 122lbs (55.3kg) in weight and had blue eyes, brown hair and a fresh complexion.
Sapper Locke spent a year at the regiment’s Stratford Depot, learning the skills he would need for the front line. He had leave before he was then dispatched to the Front Line and arrived in France on 29th May 1916.
In September, Mabel gave birth to a son the couple called Roy. She had, by this time, returned to Somerset, moving to Chard, to be near William’s family.
Sapper Locke remained in France until the autumn of 1918. He came home in November, but was unwell. A doctor attended, and noted influenza that has developed into pneumonia. Sadly, the conditions were to take William’s life. He passed away at home on 7th November 1918, his death, according to the doctor, directly attributable to his army service. He was aged just 34 years old.
Mabel returned to her family home in Barrington, and William Locke was laid to rest in the graveyard of the village’s St Mary’s Church. His burial was on 11th November, the day the armistice was signed.
Arthur Cock was born in around 1885 in Wadebridge, Cornwall. One of eleven children, he was the son of mortar mason William Cock, and his wife, Louisa.
When he left school Arthur helper his father out in the business, but when war came to Europe’s shores, he stepped up to play his part. Sadly, his service records are lost to time, and it is a challenge to piece together his time during the conflict from a confusion of other documents.
It is clear that Arthur enlisted in the Duke of Cornwall’s Light Infantry, as this is what is engraved on his headstone. However, his Medal Roll suggests that he also served in the Gloucestershire Regiment and the Labour Corps. He seems not to have fought overseas, and was awarded the Victory and British Medals for doing his duty.
Private Cock’s entry in the Army Register of Soldier’s Effects confirms that he must have enlisted before February 1919, and that he passed away at Whitchurch Hospital.
An entry in the local newspaper, reporting on his death, reads as follows:
In loving memory of Pte. Arthur Cock, son of William, and the late Louisa Cock, of Wadebridge, who died August 5th, at Whitchurch War Hospital, Cardiff.
Cornish Guardian: Friday 8th August 1919
Interestingly, the facility Arthur had been admitted to was a psychiatric hospital, but with no other confirmation as to his passing, it is only possible to assume the cause of his death. He was 34 years old when he passed away.
Arthur Cock’s body was brought back to Cornwall for burial. He was laid to rest in the peaceful, wooded graveyard of St Breoke’s Church, next to the family grave in which Louisa had been buried three years previously.
The family grave, by this time, was tragically quite full. William was able to mourn his son, wife and six of Arthur’s siblings – Mary, William, John, Fred, Charles and Ernest – who had all passed in childhood and were laid to rest there.
Arthur’s younger brother – another William – also fought in the First World War. His service records reveal a lot about his life.
Private Cock enlisted in the Australian Imperial Force on 7th September 1914. At the time he was working as a railway porter in Morphettville, now a suburb of Adelaide, Australia. His records confirm that he was 5ft 8.5ins (1.74m) tall, and weighed 158lbs (72kg). He had brown hair, brown eyes an a fresh complexion.
William left Australia for the battlefield on 20th October 1914, and soon found himself in the Eastern Mediterranean. Sadly, this was to be the end of the line for him: he was killed on the battlefields of Gallipoli on 23rd March 1915, aged just 28 year of age.
William Cock was laid to rest in the Shrapnel Valley Cemetery in Gallipoli. He is commemorated on the headstone of the family grave back in St Breock.
Alfred Docking Luke was born in 1869 in the village of St Breock, near Wadebridge, Cornwall. One of thirteen children, his parents were William and Selina Luke. William was a general labourer, and this is a trade into which Alfred followed.
Alfred wanted bigger and better things, however, and, on 27th September 1893, he enlisted in the Royal Garrison Artillery. Gunner Luke’s service records show that he was 5ft 9ins (1.75m) tall, and weighed 146lbs (66kg). He was noted as having blue eyes, brown hair and a fresh complexion. The record also noted a number of tattoos: a cross and a square and compass on his left forearm, the letters AL on the back of his left hand and rings on his middle and little fingers of the same hand.
Initially enlisting for seven years’ service, Alfred soon found himself sent to India. He served his whole time there, and it appears not to have been without incident. He was noted as having sustained a fractured skull on 2nd October 1896, although there is no further detail on the injury.
When Gunner Luke’s initial term of service came to an end, he elected to remain on active duty and, in the end, remained in India until December 1905, before returning home to be demobbed.
Back in Cornwall, Alfred built his life again. He found more labouring work, this time in a manure store in Wadebridge, and married the recently widowed Bessie Williams. She had two children, and the family set up home together.
A sense of duty, or a love of the army life, remained in Alfred’s heart, however and, when war was declared, he was keen to play his part again. He enlisted in the Royal Army Service Corps in July 1915, and, despite being 45 years old by this point, he soon found himself in Northern France.
Private Luke spent the next three years supporting the lines on the Western Front, but by the autumn of 1918, life was taking its toll on him. On 8th November 1918 he was admitted to a camp hospital, having contracted influenza. Tests for tuberculosis proved negative, although his breathing was laboured, and he was medically evacuated back to Britain for further treatment.
Admitted to St John’s Hospital in Cheltenham, the medical report makes for some grim reading:
Patient on admission had paralysis of soft palate lulateral and ptosis rt. eye. Tongue slightly pointing to the left. Difficulty in articulation due not only to palatal paralysis but also to apparently labial and dysphagia for fluids and solids. Fluids returned through nose. The symptoms, in short, of bulbar paralysis.
Private Luke’s condition worsened. He passed away the day after being admitted, on 3rd December 1918. He was 49 years of age.
Alfred Docking Luke’s body was brought back to Cornwall for burial. He was laid to rest in the peaceful, wooded graveyard of St Breoke’s Church in his home village.
St Breoke’s was the family church, and the Luke family were to be reunited again. Alfred’s mother Selina passed away a month after her son, at the age of 68; his father William followed in May 1919, at the age of 78.
William Julian was born in the spring of 1879, in the Cornish village of St Breock. He was one of five children to agricultural labourer John Julian and his wife Mary. Mary appears to have died when William was young as, by the time of the 1891 census, John was married to an Emily Julian, whose 10-year-old daughter, Fanny Jane Pinch, was also living in the family home.
At this point, it becomes difficult to accurately track young William’s life. The surname Julian is not uncommon in Cornwall at this point, and, while the 1901 census confirms he had moved out of the family home, gives a couple of potential alternatives. The most likely is a William Julian, boarding in St Germans, Cornwall, who working as a waggoner, although it is impossible to categorically connect the census return to this William Julian.
The next census, however, gives more confirmation of William’s location. He was working as a tin miner, and lodging with Richard and Jane Sweet in Withiel, Cornwall.
It is not long after this that he married Maud Brenton. The couple set up home in the hamlet of Burlawn, to the south of Wadebridge, and went on to have four children: William, born in 1912, John, born in 1914, and twins Jeremiah and Samuel, who were born in 1915.
By this point war was raging across Europe, and, while, as a miner William would have been in a protected profession, his time came to step up and serve King and Country. In the spring of 1917, he did just that, joining the Labour Corps as a Private. Little detail of his military service survives, but is is likely that he did his duty on home soil.
Private Julian’s time in the army was not to be a long one, however, and he developed haemoptysis, possibly as a result of a lung condition. This was to lead to his passing; he died on 29th August 1917, at the age of 38 years old.
William Julian was brought back to Cornwall for burial. He was laid to rest in the tranquil graveyard of St Breoke’s Church, the parish in which he was born and lived
William Thomas Hooper was born in St Breock, near Wadebridge, Cornwall, in the summer of 1890. One of three children his parents were gardener William Hooper and his wife, Sarah.
When he left school, William Jr found work as a warehouseman and salesman, up in London, but when war broke out, he stepped up to play his part. He enlisted in December 1915, joining the Rifle Brigade, but was not formally mobilised for another couple of months.
Little detail of Rifleman Hooper’s military service survives, but records confirm that he was 5ft 6ins (1.68m) tall, and weighed 124lbs (56.3kg). It also notes that his left testicle had not descended, but that his condition was not severe enough for William to be refused for military service.
Rifleman Hooper’s was initially assigned to the 5th Battalion, based on the Isle of Sheppey, Kent, as part of the Thames & Medway Garrison. By the spring of 1916, however, he had been transferred to the 1st Battalion, and sent to France. He was involved in the Battle of Albert, and returned to the UK in August 1916 .
William appears to have been transferred back to the 5th Battalion and, in the spring of 1917, was hospitalised for three month, suffering from trench foot and rheumatism. By September that year, however, he was back with his unit.
Rifleman Hooper’s service documents become a little confused at this point. One record suggests that he was discharged from the army on 2nd January 1918 as being no longer medically fit for duty, while a second entry confirms that he passed away while on leave pending discharge.
Either way, William was back at home in St Breock when, on 21st June 1918, he passed away from a combination of pericarditis and pericardial effusion. He was just 27 years of age.
William Thomas Hooper was laid to rest in the wooded graveyard of St Breoke’s Church, in his home village.
An entry in the local newspaper confirmed that “Mr and Mrs Hooper and family… and Miss Ive Jones, London” [Cornish Guardian: Friday 18th June 1918] offered their thanks for the sympathy they had been shown in the bereavement. This suggests that, when he passed, William had been courting, his loss felt further.
Death and Service 