William Gilbert Tewkesbury was born in Ilchester, Somerset, in the autumn of 1881. The middle of three children (although his older brother died in 1887), his parents were William and Jane Tewkesbury. William Sr was a farm labourer, and this is something that William Jr and his younger brother, Hedley, also went into.
When war arrived on Europe’s shores, William Jr stepped up to play his part. Full details of his military service are, sadly, lost to time, but he enlisted in the Dorsetshire Regiment, and was assigned to the 2nd Battalion. His mother, Jane, passed away in 1915, and it is unclear whether this loss proved to be the catalyst for her son’s enlistment.
Private Tewkesbury’s battalion served in the Middle East for the duration of the conflict.
During the past week we have had three of our local men who have seen active service home for a few days’ leave… Private William Tewkesbury… who has been on active service in Mesopotamia…
Western Chronicle: Friday 8th June 1917
William survived the war, and was awarded the Victory and British Medals for his service. He returned home, and, presumably, took up his previous employment once he was demobbed in February 1919.
The next available record for William is that of his passing, and even this is sketchy. He passed away on 21st March 1920 in Sherborne, Dorset, though the cause is unknown. He was 39 years of age.
William Gilbert Tewkesbury’s body was brought back to Ilchester for burial. He was laid to rest in the village’s parish cemetery. While not recorded, it is likely that this is where Jane had been buried five years earlier, and where William Sr would be laid to rest just months later, when he too passed away.
James Toop was born in the Somerset village of Galhampton on 13th January 1879. He was the fifth of eleven children to William and Elizabeth Toop. William was a farm labourer, and James followed his father’s line of work when he left school.
James disappears from documents for a while, only surfacing again in October 1914, when he enlisted for army service. At this point, he was working as a bricklayer, and notes that he had previously served in the Somerset Light Infantry. He is recorded as being 5ft 8ins (1.73m) tall, weighing 136lbs (61.7kg). He had brown hair, grey eyes, and gave his religion as Congregationalist. James also lied about his age, saying that he was 29 years and 9 months when, in fact, he would have been closer to 36 years old when he joined up.
Sapper Toop was assigned to the Royal Engineers, and spent nine months on home soil, during which time he was promoted to Lance Corporal. On 18th July 1915 he went to France, but returned just five days later.
Admitted to the Royal Victoria War Hospital in Netley, Hampshire, James was recorded as suffering the stress of campaign. He was moved to Napsbury War Hospital, near St Albans in Hertfordshire, after a couple of weeks. This institution – formerly the Middlesex County Asylum – was where servicemen suffering from shell shock were sent for rehabilitation, and Lance Corporal Toop joined the near 2,000 other residents.
James’ diagnosis was recorded as being neurasthenia with depression and, in October 1916, he was medically discharged from the army. The medical report noted that he had “had nervous breakdown, complained of vomiting of his food. Had defective memory. Had religious mania 5 years before enlistment.” While his condition was not the result of his war service, the medical board recorded that his mental debility has been aggravated by the strain.
James falls off the radar again at this point. When he recovered, he returned to bricklaying for work. In 1916 his mother died, followed a year later by his father. Both were laid to rest in the family grave in St Mary Magdalene’s Church, Sparkford, Somerset.
James Toop died on 5th July 1918 at the age of 39 years old. He was also buried in the family plot, reunited with his parents far too soon.
Sidney William Biddiscombe was born in South Cadbury, Somerset, in the spring of 1895. The eighth of sixteen children, his parents were Thomas and Constance Biddiscombe. Thomas was an agricultural labourer, and this is work that Sidney went into when he finished school.
When war came to Europe, Sidney was quick to enlist. Whether this was out of a sense of duty, a keenness to get involved, a need to follow his older brothers, or as an escape from farm labouring is unclear, though. He joined the Somerset Light Infantry in August 1914, and was assigned to the 7th (Service) Battalion.
There is little information available about Private Biddiscombe’s time in the army. He received his training in Hampshire, and was based at Aldershot. The sudden influx of young men from across the country into small, cramped billets meant that illness ran rife, and Sidney, it seems, was not immune. He contracted measles, and was admitted to the camp’s Isolation Hospital.
Sadly, the infection was to get the better of Private Biddiscombe, and he passed away at the hospital on 5th March 1915. He was just 20 years of age.
Sidney William Biddiscombe was brought back to Somerset for burial. He was laid to rest in the graveyard of St Thomas a Becket’s Church in his home village of South Cadbury.
Sidney’s epitaph notes he is “never forgotten by mother, brothers and sisters”. His father, Thomas, died in 1918, at the age of 62, and so was not commemorated on his son’s headstone, which was erected at a later date.
William Thomas Locke was born at the start of 1900 in the Kent village of Eccles. His parents were Thomas and Annie Locke, although it seems that he was orphaned early on. The 1901 census recorded him as living with his grandparents John and Mary Locke. Their daughter Annie is also recorded as living at the property, although there is nothing to confirm whether she was William’s mother or an aunt.
By the time of the 1911 census John Locke had died. Mary was living in the same house, with two of her sons – Frederick and Alfred – and her grandchildren, William and his cousin Gladys. Both of William’s uncles were labourers in the local cement works, and it seems likely that this would be work that he would have followed them into once he had completed school.
William’s trail goes cold at this point, although he would have been too young to join up at the outbreak of the First World War. Records confirm that he had enlisted by March 1918, and it seems likely that he would have done so as soon as he came of age.
Rifleman Locke joined the 5th Battalion of the King’s (Liverpool Regiment), but this is the only detail of his military service that can be confirmed. The next record for him confirms that he passed away on 5th October 1918, having been admitted to hospital in Oswestry, Shropshire, suffering from intestinal problems. He was just 18 years old when he passed.
William Thomas Locke’s body was brought back to Kent for burial. He was laid to rest in the graveyard of St Peter & St Paul’s Church in Aylesford, the parish church for his home village of Eccles.
The specific location of William’s grave is not known, although it is likely that he was laid to rest near his grandfather. Instead, he is commemorated on a joint headstone in the First World War section of the graveyard. William’s grandmother passed away the following year, and records confirm that his next of kin was noted as his aunt, Mary Ann Longley.
Charles Grigsby was born in Boughton Monchelsea, a village to the south of Maidstone, Kent, in the summer of 1878. His parents were farm labourer William Grigsby and his wife, Elizabeth, and he was one of four children. Charles’ mother passed away when he was just three years old, and William married again – to another Elizabeth. They had six children – half-siblings to Charles.
Charles falls off the radar for a few years – his First World War service records suggest that he had enlisted with the East Kent Regiment, and so may have been serving abroad at the time of the 1891 and 1901 censuses.
In 1904 he was back in Kent, however, where he married Henrietta Harpum. The daughter of a soldier, Henrietta had been born in Shoeburyness, Essex, but the family had moved to Frindsbury, Kent, not long afterwards.
The 1911 census found the Grigsbys living in the village of Eccles, near Aylesford. Charles was working as a blacksmith’s striker at the local cement works, and they had their Henrietta’s nephew, George, living with them at the time the record was taken.
When war was declared, Charles stepped up again to play his part. He enlisted on 24th August 1914, and was assigned to the Queen’s Own (Royal West Kent Regiment). Private Grigsby’s service records confirm that he was 5ft 6.5ins (1.69m) tall, and weighed 129lbs (58.5kg). He had brown hair, blue eyes and tattoos on both arms.
Tragically, Henrietta died not long after her husband joined up, although the exact date and cause of her passing is lost to time. Assigned to the 6th (Service) Battalion, Charles was, by this time, based in Hythe, on the Kent coast.
Private Grigsby’s time back in the army was to be a short one, however. He was admitted to Shorncliffe Military Hospital in January 1915, suffering from bronchial pneumonia, and is was this lung condition that was to take his life just weeks later. He passed away on 22nd February 1915, at the age of 35 years old.
Charles Grigsby was brought back to Aylesford by his siblings. He was laid to rest in the graveyard of St Peter & St Paul’s Churchyard. It is likely that he was buried alongside Henrietta, although the exact location of his grave is not longer known. Instead, he is commemorated on a joint headstone in the First World War section of the graveyard.
Michael Barton was born in the spring of 1863 in the Kent village of Hadlow. The youngest of three children, his parents were farm labourer William Barton and his wife Annie. Michael became a farm labourer when he left school and, when William died in 1890, he remained at home to support his mother.
Annie passed away in 1905, and this proved a turning point for Michael. By the time of the next census in 1911, he was recorded in the Tonbridge Union Workhouse, one of its 600 inmates.
Michael’s trail is harder to pick up at this point. Despite his age, it seems that he sought a way out of his situation when war broke out and had certainly enlisted in the army by the last year of the conflict. Initially joining the Royal Defence Corps, Private Barton was soon transferred to the Labour Corps, and was assigned to 572nd Agricultural Coy.
The next document relating to Michael is that of his passing. He died on 17th December 1918 at the Preston Hall Military Hospital in Aylesford, Kent, although the cause of his death is not readily available. He was 55 years of age.
Michael Barton was laid to rest in the graveyard of St Peter & St Paul’s Church in Aylesford, not far from the hospital in which he had passed.
The Army Register of Soldiers’ Effects records that Michael’s belongings passed to a Miss Kate Burley when he died. Not one of his immediate relatives, it is likely that she was a friend or other relation.
John Francis Poignand was born in St Brelade, Jersey in 1885. The oldest of four children, his parents were farmers Jean and Louisa Poignand. John followed his parents into farming and moved to nearby St Lawrence.
It was here that he met and married farmer’s daughter Lydia Helleur. The couple set up home in St Lawrence, and went on to have two children, John and Clarence.
War was closing in on Jersey’s shores and, when the call came, it seems that John was keen to play his part. Sadly, full details of his military service have been lost to time, but what remains confirms that he had enlisted in the Wiltshire Regiment by the spring of 1918.
Private Poignand was assigned to the 3rd (Reserve) Battalion, a territorial force that remained on the British mainland. He was to be based in Kent, his troop forming part of the Thames and Medway Garrison.
The only other records of John’s service are that of his passing: he had been admitted to the Preston Hall Military Hospital, suffering from a combination of influenza and pneumonia, and these are what were to take his life. Private Poignand died on 26th November 1918, at the age of 33 years old.
John Francis Poignand was laid to rest in the graveyard of St Peter and St Paul’s Church in Aylesford, not far from where he had died.
Lydia went on to marry a man called Robinson. Her trail goes cold, but her and John’s younger son, Clarence, does appear in later records.
Flight Sergeant Poignand served with the Royal Air Force in the Second World War, and was based at Seletar in Singapore. He was taken as a Prisoner of War by the Japanese on 11th March 1942, but there is no other record for him. His PoW record confirms that he was married and living in Romford, Essex, at the time of his capture.
Henry Charles Dyer was born in January 1865 in the Devon town of Ivybridge. The oldest of five children, his parents were carpenter James and dressmaker Mary Dyer. When he left school, Henry found work as a cordwainer’s apprentice but, after James died in 1886, he sought out a career that would help support his mother.
Henry enlisted in the Army Service Corps on 10th July 1886 and, by the time of the next census was based at barracks in Woolwich, South London. His service records note that he was 5ft 4.5ins (1.64m) tall and weighed 124lbs (56.25kg). He had a dark hair, grey eyes and a dark complexion. He was also noted as having a tattoo of a cross on his left forearm.
Private Dyer served in the regiment on home soil for more than thirteen years, qualifying as a horse collar maker and saddler during this time and rising through the ranks. He was made a Driver in 1889, Corporal in 1895 and Staff Sergeant in October 1899.
Trouble was afoot on the other side of the world by this time and his promotion was linked to Henry being sent to South Africa. He was there for eighteen months, and was awarded the Queen’s South Africa Medal, as well as clasps for service at Tugela Heights, the Relief of Ladysmith, Laing’s Nek, Transvaal and Orange Free State.
Staff Sergeant Dyer went back to Britain in April 1901, where he remained for a further six years. On 4th July 1907, reached the end of his term of service and having completed 21 years with the Army Service Corps he returned to civilian life.
Henry moved back to Devon, moving back in with his mother and younger brother. Mary had remarried after James passed, but her second husband had also passed away, and so having two of her sons home would have been of comfort to her. The 1911 census records the family as living in three rooms of a house in Grenville Street, Plymouth. They shared the property with the Smith family, a husband, wife and two children. Henry was recorded as an army pensioner (saddler), while his brother Ernest was listed as being a watchmaker, while also in the army reserve.
War was on the horizon again, and, Henry was one of the first to step up when it was declared. He was 49 years old by this point, and so technically exempt from enlisting, but as an army life had served him well before, it must have seemed fit for him to serve King and Country once more.
Staff Sergeant Dyer’s new service records noted that he was formally employed as a saddler, and that he had put on 18lbs (8kg) since he initially signed up.
Henry was based firmly on home soil this time round, and while he was initially based in Aldershot, Hampshire, he seems to have been moved to barracks in Kent. He served for more than two and a half years, but his health seems to have been suffering by this point. At a medical on 24th July 1917, he was deemed to be no longer fit enough for war service and was discharged from the army.
It is likely that this discharge came while he was admitted to the Preston Hall Military Hospital in Aylesford. While Staff Sergeant Dyer’s earlier military service is fairly detailed, his later career is not. What is clear is that, four days after being discharged, he passed away. He was, by this time, 52 years of age.
A lack of funds may have prevented Mary from bringing her son home to Devon. Instead Henry Charles Dyer was laid to rest in the graveyard of St Peter and St Pauls Church in Aylesford, not far from the Kent hospital in which he passed.
Norman David Roberts was born on 3rd November 1886 in the North Wales town of Llangollen. He was the youngest of three children to weaver John Roberts and his wife, Emma.
When he left school, Norman found work as a clerk on the railways and, by the time of the 1911 census, he had moved over the English border to Chester, and was boarding with an Emma Matheson.
The move to England may have spurred Norman on to other things. At some point after the census, he made the decision to seek a better life overseas. He emigrated to North America and settled in the town of Everett, to the north of Seattle. He continued his trade, however, and recorded himself as doing clerical work in transportation.
War was coming to Europe by this point and, in December 1917, Norman stood up to play his part. He made the crossing to Victoria, in the Canadian state of British Colombia, and enlisted in the Canadian Expeditionary Force.
Private Roberts’ service records show that he was 5ft 11ins (1.80m) tall, had blue eyes, brown hair and a fair complexion. He had no distinguishing marks, but was recorded as having 20/20 vision. His religion was also recorded as Baptist/Congregationalist.
Norman was assigned to the 53rd Company of the Canadian Forestry Corps, and arrived back in Britain on 26th January 1918. Based in Shorncliffe, Kent, he was involved in felling and trimming trees and wood for the war effort.
Private Roberts was given a couple of periods of leave – five days in July 1918, and nine days in December that year. The latter leave was granted so that he could marry Claudia Griffiths back home in Wales.
While the Armistice had been declared, by January, Norman was back in Kent helping the post-war effort. Things were to take a turn, however, as he caught a severe cold, and a nagging cough. Unable to shake it, he grew progressively weaker and, over the next six months, lost 20lbs (9kg) in weight.
Admitted to the camp hospital in June 1919, Private Roberts was diagnosed with bronchitis. He was moved to another hospital in Orpington, Kent, where his diagnosis was upgraded to tuberculosis. Invalided back to Canada that August, within a matter of weeks he was medically discharged from service. His discharge papers noted that was weighed just 122lbs (55.3kg) and has a long flat chest with prominent clavicles. Norman’s once fair complexion was now dark (a combination of his work outside and his health).
Now out of the army, Norman made the journey back to North Wales, and settled in Llangollen with Claudia. The couple went on to have a daughter in 1920, but Norman’s health was deteriorating. He passed away at home on 23rd February 1921, at the age of 34 years old.
Norman David Roberts was laid to rest in Fron Cemetery in his home town of Llangollen. His was a family plot, and he was reunited with Claudia when she passed away.
Thomas Roberts was born in Llangollen, Denbighshire, in 1895. One of seven children, his parents were William and Ellen Roberts. William was a butter merchant, and his wife helped in the business.
When Thomas left school, he found work as a greengrocer’s assistant, but when war was declared he saw an opportunity for glory. While full details of his military service are no longer available, it’s clear that he enlisted in the Royal Welch Fusiliers.
Private Roberts was assigned to the 13th (Service) Battalion (1st North Wales) and on 1st December 1915, found himself in France. For the next eighteen months, he was firmly ensconced on the Western Front, and rose to the rank of Lance Corporal for his service.
In April 1917, Thomas was injured in fighting and was medically evacuated to Britain for treatment to his bullet wounds. Admitted to the Edmonton Military Hospital in North London, his injuries were to prove too severe. Lance Corporal Roberts passed away on 22nd April 1917. He was just 21 years of age.
Brought back to Wales for burial, Thomas Roberts was laid to rest in the family plot in Llangollen’s Fron Cemetery.
Thomas was buried along with his brother David, who had passed away in 1912. They were joined by their father William, who died in 1919, and their sister Elizabeth, who passed away in 1945. The family were finally reunited with Ellen, when she died in 1947, at the age of 86.
Death and Service 