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Commonwealth War Graves, Devonshire Regiment, Great War, history, illness, Kent, Labour Corps, Middlesex Regiment, photography, Private, story, Surrey, war

Private Herbert Macklin

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Private Herbert Macklin

Herbert Macklin was born in Lambeth, Surrey, on 14th August 1897, the youngest of six children to Enos and Sarah Macklin. Enos was a general labourer and, after his mother died in 1909, Herbert worked around his school as a baker’s errand boy, to bring in a little more money for his family.

After Enos passed away in 1912, and with his older sisters all having families of their own, Herbert and his older brother William did what they could to survive, getting some support from the local poor school.

The outbreak of war gave the brothers a sense of purpose, and both enlisted. William joined the Royal Field Artillery, and was sent to France in September 1915.

Herbert, being six years younger than his brother, enlisted later than his sibling. He joined the Middlesex Regiment, on 10th May 1916, and his service records show that he was 5ft 4.5ins (1.64m) tall, 126lbs (57.2kg) in weight and had a fair physical development. While Herbert had a fair physical development, he was also recorded as having flat feet, which somewhat limited his army service.

Private Macklin transferred across to the Devonshire Regiment a few months after enlisting. He was then assigned to the regiment’s Labour Corps in the summer of 1917, and remained with them for the rest of his service.

While William was serving abroad, Herbert remained on home soil for the duration. By the spring of 1918, he was working in Kent, but was admitted to hospital in Faversham, suffering from acute tonsillitis. Sadly, this was to prove too much for Private Macklin’s body to take: he suffered cardiac failure, and died on 12th April 1918. He was 21 years of age.

Herbert Macklin was laid to rest in the Borough Cemetery of the town in which he passed, Faversham.

Tragedy was to strike again for the Macklin brothers: as the war moved into its closing months, Driver William Macklin was based in Salonika, Greece. He was not to see England’s shores again, sadly: he passed away on 23rd November 1918, aged just 27 years old.

accident, Commonwealth War Graves, Great War, Gunner, history, Kent, Kent Royal Garrison Artillery, killed in action, photography, Royal Garrison Artillery, story, war

Gunner Ernest Millgate

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Gunner Ernest Millgate

Ernest Millgate was born in late 1893, the fifth of six children to Henry and Agnes. Henry was a brewer’s drayman from Boughton, Kent, but it was in nearby Faversham that he and Agnes raised their family.

Ernest found work as a labourer in the town’s Cotton Powder Works, but when war was declared, he was one of the first to enlist. He joined the Royal Garrison Artillery as a Gunner on 5th September 1914, and was billeted nearby on the Isle of Sheppey. His service records show that he stood 5ft 9ins (1.75m) tall, had fair hair, blue eyes and a fresh complexion.

Gunner Millgate’s military service was to be tragically short, as a contemporary local newspaper was to report:

A terrible tragedy occurred at Minster, Sheppey, on Tuesday morning last, Ernest Millgate… who joined the Kent Heavy Battery barely a fortnight ago, being accidentally shot by a comrade, George Walter Cornelius… a gunner of three years’ service in the same Battery.

Gunner Cornelius, it appears, was handling a rifle preparatory to going on sentry duty shortly after eleven o’clock on Tuesday morning. On examining the rifle he had found that the magazine was charged but that there as no charge in the bore. Apparently the cut-off was in operation, for he pulled the trigger and there was no discharge. He examined the breech a second time and, afterwards pulled the trigger again. To his dismay there was this time a discharge and Millgate, who was standing near, fell dead, having been shot through the head. The theory is that Cornelius’ great coat, which he was wearing, caught in and released the cut-off, thereby bringing the magazine into operation.

Faversham Times and Mercury and North-East Kent Journal: Saturday 19th September 1914

An inquest was held, and it was a verdict of accidental death was given.

Gunner Ernest Millgate was just 21 years old, and had been in the service of the army for just eleven days. His body was brought back to Faversham, and he lies at rest in the town’s Borough Cemetery, just a few minutes walk from the home he had left just a fortnight before.

The same newspaper also ran a report on on Ernest’s older brother, Henry.

Private Millgate was a volunteer for the Northumberland Fusiliers, and was called into active service a couple of weeks before his brother. He had been caught up in the fighting at Mons, le Cateau and the Marne, and was, according to the newspaper, injured.

Medically evacuated to England for treatment, at the time of his brother’s funeral he was in a hospital in Newcastle-upon-Tyne.

Henry survived the war; he and his wife, Elizabeth, had two children, and he lived until 1939, passing away at the age of 52 years old.

Commonwealth War Graves, Great War, history, illness, Kent, Labour Corps, photography, Private, Royal West Surrey Regiment, story, war

Private Frank Jacobs

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Private Frank Jacobs

Frank Jacobs was born on 17th March 1892, and was one of fifteen children to George and Amelia Jacobs. George was a machine worker from Ashford in Kent, but the family moved around the county, presumably for work, as the years went on. Frank was born in Riverhead, near Sevenoaks, but within a few years, the family had settle in Faversham.

George and Amelia appear to have separated when Frank was in his early teens. There are no death records for George until the 1920s, but Amelia had a son with her maiden name in 1905 and, by the time of the 1911 census, she was married to a George Appleton, and had been for just under a year.

The same census recorded the Appletons living in Faversham with five of Amelia’s children, including Frank, who was employed in a local tannery.

On 25th October 1913, Frank married Ivy Clark, the Faversham-born daughter of a cement works labourer. The couple went on to have two children, Ronald and Eileen, in 1915 and 1916 respectively.

When was broke out, Frank was keen to play his part. He initially enlisted as a Private in the 10th (Service) Battalion of The Queen’s (Royal West Surrey Regiment), but at some point was transferred across to the Labour Corps. He served throughout the conflict, and was based on home soil for the duration.

Private Jacobs remained on active service through to the summer of 1919. By this point he had returned home to Kent, but the war had taken its toll, and he fell ill. He was admitted to the Military Hospital in Chatham, but died from his illness – possibly one of the lung conditions prevalent at the time – on 30th August 1919. He was 27 years of age.

Frank Jacobs was laid to rest in the Borough Cemetery near his family home in Faversham.

Private Frank Jacobs
(from findagrave.com)

Tragedy was to strike again for the Jacobs family. When the Second World War broke out, Frank and Ivy’s son Ronald enlisted. He joined The Buffs (Royal East Kent Regiment) and, towards the end of the conflict, he was among those fighting in Italy.

Private Ronald Jacobs was killed on 19th April 1945, aged just 30 years old. He was buried in Argenta, Emelia-Romagna.

While Ronald had not left a widow or any children, his mother, Ivy, had now lost her husband and only son to European conflict.

Commonwealth War Graves, Great War, history, illness, India, Kent, photography, Rifle Brigade, Rifleman, story, war

Rifleman Frederick Burstow

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Rifleman Frederick Burstow

Frederick William Burstow was born in the summer of 1893, and was one of thirteen children. His parents were plasterer Alfred Burstow and his wife, Lydia. Both came from Sussex, and it was in Bexhill-on-Sea where they raised their family.

There is little documented about Frederick’s early life, but he sought a life outside of Sussex and, in around 1900, he enlisted in the 2nd Battalion of the Rifle Brigade, serving in India for a time.

Rifleman Burstow was still serving when, in August 1914, war was declared. His battalion was sent to France that November, and he ended up serving two terms on the Western Front.

In the summer of 1915, Frederick married Priscilla Epps. She was from Faversham, Kent, and this is where the couple set up home together.

It was while on his second term in France that Rifleman Burstow became ill. He had contracted enteric fever – also known as typhoid – and, at the beginning of 1916, he was sent home to recuperate. While here, Priscilla gave birth to a child, Alice.

Sadly, however, Frederick’s condition was to get the better of him: he passed away at home on 16th March 1916, at the age of just 24 years old.

Frederick William Burstow was laid to rest in the Borough Cemetery in his adopted home town of Faversham.

Rifleman Frederick Burstow
(from ancestry.co.uk)

Frederick was not the only Burstow family member to die during the war. His older brother, Arthur Edward James Burstow, fought on the Western Front with the 2nd Battalion of the London Regiment.

Private Burstow was caught up in the fighting in Arras in the spring of 1918, and was killed in action on 13th April. He was 38 years of age, and left behind a widow and six children.

Arthur Edward James Burstow is commemorated on the Ploegsteert Memorial in Belgium.

Berkshire, Commonwealth War Graves, Egypt, Great War, history, illness, Kent, photography, Private, Royal Defence Corps, Royal West Kent Regiment, story, war

Private Hubert Fox

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Private Hubert Fox

Hubert Edward Fox was born in the spring of 1865, the youngest of five children to Alfred and Eliza Fox. Alfred was a baker, from Faversham, and it was in the town that he and Eliza raised their young family.

When he finished school, Hubert found work as a carter and labourer. He served in the King’s Royal Rifles for eight years, spending two of those stationed in Egypt.

In 1894 John married Elizabeth Rebecca Harris in their home town. The couple set up home in the Abbey Road, to the north of the town, and went on to have six children between 1896 and 1909.

When war broke out, Hubert enlisted to play his part once more. He joined up in 1915, and was assigned to the Royal Defence Corps. Private Fox was on guard duty at the Uplees Munitions Factory on 2 April 1916, when a series of explosions ripped through the base. The loss of life was horrific – more than 100 men and boys were killed – and Hubert was fortunate enough to escape serious injury.

In May 1918, Private Fox was invalided out of the army on medical grounds. He was sent to a hospital in Reading, Berkshire, returning to Kent after around six weeks. He was treated in the town’s nursing home, but never fully recovered from his illness: he passed away on 22nd August 1918, at the age of 53 years of age.

Hubert Edward Fox was laid to rest in the Borough Cemetery of his home town, Faversham, not far from the family home in Abbey Road.

At the time of Hubert’s funeral, his eldest son, also called Hubert, was reported as missing in action.

Hubert Jr had enlisted in the 10th Battalion of the Queen’s Own (Royal West Kent Regiment) in August 1915, embarking for France the following May. After two years, Private Fox Jr moved to Italy with his division, but returned to the Western Front just a few months later.

In April 1918, Hubert was reported missing in action; he was later confirmed to be a Prisoner of War, and was eventually released and repatriated home in December 1918.

Hubert found work as a labourer and night watchman; the 1939 Register records him living in his Abbey Road home with his mother. He died the summer of 1968, at the age of 71 years old.

Commonwealth War Graves, Great War, Gunner, history, Kent, photography, Royal Garrison Artillery, story, unknown, war

Gunner George Boorman

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Gunner George Boorman

George Boorman was born in Lenham, Kent, in the spring of 1886, one of thirteen children to farm labourer George Boorman and his wife, Sarah. There is little further information about his early life, other than that he went into labouring when he finished school.

And agricultural life was not enough for George, however, and, on 15th January 1907, he enlisted in the Royal Garrison Artillery. His records show that he was 5ft 9.5ins (1.77m) tall and weighed 134lbs (60.8kg). George had hazel eyes, brown hair and a fresh complexion.

Full details of Gunner Boorman’s military service are not available, but the 1911 census records him as being attached to the 64th Company, based in Aden.

Further information about George’s life is difficult to piece together. His father died in 1913, and the next evidence of Gunner Boorman is that of his passing, on 18th March 1917. The cause of his death is lost to time, but he was 31 years of age.

George Boorman was laid to rest in the Borough Cemetery in Faversham, Kent.

Tragedy struck Sarah Boorman on more than one occasion. Four of George’s brothers died before they turned eighteen, while only six of her thirteen children outlived their mother.

Captain, Commonwealth War Graves, Great War, history, illness, Lieutenant, Norfolk, photography, Royal Sussex Regiment, story, Sussex, war

Captain Edward Wakeford

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Captain Edward Wakeford

Edward Francis Wakeford was born in Rottingdean, near Brighton, Sussex, in February 1881. He was the younger of two children to curate William Wakeford and his wife, Eliza.

The family home was always a busy one; the 1881 census records one visitor, four boarders and a servant. Ten years later, confirms one boarder and two servants.

By 1901, William had taken up a post in St Peter’s Church, Henfield. This seems to have been a step up: helping look after the family and a visitor were four servants – a gardener, a cook, a housemaid and a kitchenmaid.

In March 1907, Edward married Annie West Thornton; she was the daughter of a well-to-do family – the census records show that her father, William West Thornton, lived by private means, while Annie was sent to Surrey to attend a boarding school.

Edward and Annie couple set up home on the Sussex coast, and, when William passed away in 1912, were soon also living by private means. They went on to have three children: two girls, Olive and Iris, and a boy, who they named William after both of their fathers.

War was coming to Europe by this point. While full details of Edwards military service are not available, he appears to have given a commission in the Royal Sussex Regiment. Initially serving as a Lieutenant, but October 1914, he was promoted to Captain.

Edward was assigned to the 6th (Cyclist) Battalion, and served in East Anglia. It seems that he fell ill while there, and was admitted to the Norfolk and Norwich Military Hospital, suffering with appendicitis. Sadly the condition proved too much, and Captain Wakeford passed away following the operation. He died on 23rd February 1915, not long after his 34th birthday.

Edward Francis Wakeford’s body was brought back to Sussex. He was laid to rest in Henfield Cemetery, not far from the church where his father had served for so long.

Captain Edward Wakeford
(from findagrave.com)

The now widowed Annie wed again, marrying Reverend John Gurney in October 1917. Tragedy was to strike again, though, when she passed away just a year later, on 20th October 1918. She was laid to rest Henfield Cemetery, in the plot next to her late husband, Edward.

John Gurney went on to live a full live. He never married again, and settled in Buxted, near Uckfield. He passed away in November 1956, at the age of 76 years old. He was also laid to rest in Henfield Cemetery, where he was buried in the same plot as Annie.

Edward and Annie’s children also went on to have full lives, despite the early loss of their parents.

Olive never married, and passed away in Nottingham in 1986, aged 78 years old.

Iris married in Liverpool in 1934, and went on to have two children. When the marriage failed in the 1940s, she got wed again in 1949. She passed away in Cheltenham in 1965, at the age of 54.

William got married in 1940, at which point he was serving as a Lieutenant in the 1st King’s Shropshire Light Infantry. He saw action in Italy towards the end of the war, and was awarded a Military Cross for his service. When peace came to Europe again, he and his wife settled into a normal life, before emigrating to Australia. William passed away in May 1967, at the age of 54 years old.

accident, Commonwealth War Graves, Devon, Essex, Great War, history, injury, Ireland, photography, Private, Somerset, story, war, Worcestershire Regiment

Private Alfred Beake

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Private Alfred Beake

Alfred Beake was born in December 1898 and was one of nine children to Alfred and Charlotte Beake. Alfred Sr was a baker from Westonzoyland in Somerset, but it was in Chard that he and Charlotte had set up home and raised their family.

There is little documented about Alfred’s life. He played his part in the First World War, and had joined the Worcestershire Regiment by November 1918. His troop – the 5th (Reserve) Battalion – was a territorial force, and he would have split his time between Harwich, Essex, and Plymouth, Devon.

Private Beake survived the war and, by the spring of 1919 had been moved to Dublin. It was here on 18th May that he met with colleagues Private Simpson and Swindlehurst in the centre of the city. The trio caught a tram to the coastal town of Howth for a day out, where tragedy struck.

The Dublin Evening Telegraph reported on what happened next:

Private Sydney Simpson, Royal Engineers, stated… when they got to Howth, they walked along the Cliff Walk for about a mile, when they saw some seagulls down the cliff. [Beake and Swindlehurst] went out of witness’s sight for a while, when he heard a shout from Swindlehurst for help. On hurrying back, he saw Swindlehurst looking towards the sea, and he said the deceased had slipped down. The cliff was so steep that, although they tried to get down, they could not do so. Witness sent for help. None of the party had taken any drink.

Private Swindlehurst… said that he and deceased climbed down the grassy slope to get some seagulls’ eggs, but that the deceased suddenly slipped down. There was no horseplay going on at the time when the accident took place.

Captain Wynne, Royal Army Medical Corps, who made a post mortem examination, described the terrible injuries which the deceased had sustained. Death must have been instantaneous.

Dublin Evening Telegraph: Wednesday 21st May 1919

Private Beake had suffered a fractured skull from the fall. He was just 20 years of age.

Alfred Beake’s body was brought back to Somerset for burial. He was laid to rest in the family plot in Chard Cemetery.

Alfred’s oldest brother, Walter George Beake, had also served in the First World War.

Private Beake fought with the 7th Battalion of the Somerset Light Infantry, and was involved in some of the key skirmishes of the Somme. But it was at Ypres that he was buried alive during an attack, and the resulting shell shock left him totally incapacitated.

Walter was discharged from the army on medical grounds in September 1916. He returned home to try and piece his life together again. He never married, and passed away in December 1978, at the age of 87 years old.

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

Private Sidney Budd

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Private Sidney Budd

Sidney John Budd was born in the spring of 1888, the middle of three children to Abel and Mary Budd. Abel was a gardener from Tiverton, Devon, and this is where the family were born and raised. In the late 1890s, the family moved to West Monkton, near Taunton in Somerset.

When he finished school, Sidney found work as a house painter, and, by the time of the 1911 census, was boarding in a house near Minehead. Within a few years, he had moved again, this time to Chard, and had met Florence Moulding, the daughter of a shepherd from the town. The couple married on 1st August 1914, just days before the outbreak of war.

There is little information available relating to Sidney’s military service. He enlisted before the end of 1917, joining the 3rd (Reserve) Battalion of the Somerset Light Infantry as a Private. This was a wholly territorial troop, and Private Budd would have served in Somerset and Devon.

One of the downsides to being in close proximity to servicemen from other parts of the country in tightly-packed barracks was the ease with which disease could spread. Sadly, Private Budd was not immune from this and, in the spring of 1917, he contracted pulmonary tuberculosis. He was admitted to the Ford House Hospital in Plymouth, but his condition deteriorated and he passed away on 31st May 1917. He was just 29 years of age.

Sidney John Budd’s body was brought back to Chard for burial: he lies at rest in the town’s cemetery.

Florence went on to marry again, wedding Harry Golesworthy in the spring of 1918. Sadly, her happiness was to be short-lived: she passed away just two years later, at the age of 28 years old.

Sidney’s older brother, named Abel after his father, was an interesting character. When he left school, he found work as an apprentice to a photographer.

In July 1909, though, he was brought to court for stealing a bicycle. It seems that he had rented one from a dealer in West Monkton in order to visit friends in Cullompton, but not returned it at the end of the day, as expected.

The dealer contacted Abel’s parents, and he was found to have stayed over in Cullompton. It seems that while there, he had run low on funds, and had sold the bicycle to a dealer in the town. A week later, he returned to the Cullompton dealer, asking to buy the bike back, but hadn’t brought any money with him.

Eventually, Abel’s father went to Cullompton, bought the bicycle, then took it to the original dealer in West Monkton. By this point, however, Abel had been charged with theft, and pled guilty. His father stood witness, and, according to the Taunton Courier and Western Advertiser [Wednesday 14th July 1909], admitted that Abel “was rather weak of mind” and had not intended to steal the bicycle.

Abel was bound over for twelve months, with his father standing surety of five pounds.

The later parts of Abel’s life seem a mystery. There is a record of him travelling to Brisbane, Australia, in the spring of 1914, where he was to work as a farm labourer. He must have returned home, possibly as part of the war effort, and five years later he married Annie Talbot in Taunton, Somerset.

At this point, however, he falls off the radar, and there is no further information about him.

Commonwealth War Graves, Great War, history, illness, photography, Private, Somerset, Somerset Light Infantry, story, war, Wiltshire

Private Joseph Vickery

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Private Joseph Vickery

Joseph William Vickery was born in the spring of 1865 in the Somerset village of Isle Abbots. He was the older of two children to farm carter James Vickery and his wife Sarah. James died when Joseph was around six years old, and Sarah remarried, going on to have five children with her new husband, John Kitch.

The new family moved to North Curry, where Joseph found work as a farm labourer when he finished school. The years passed and, on 15th September 1894, Joseph married Elizabeth Ann Saturday, a labourer’s daughter from Chard. The couple settled in the town, and went on to have five children.

By the time war broke out in 1914, Joseph was approaching 50 years old. He still felt a duty to play his part, however, and enlisted towards the end of the following year. Little information survives of Joseph’s military career, but he enlisted in the Somerset Light Infantry and was assigned to the 1/5th Battalion.

Sent to Salisbury Plain for training, Private Vickery was billeted at Tidworth, Wiltshire. While there, he contracted bronchitis and was admitted to hospital. Sadly, the lung condition was to prove too much for his body to bear, and he passed away on 12th December 1915, at the age of 50 years old.

Joseph William Vickery was brought back to Somerset for burial. He was laid to rest in Chard Cemetery.

Joseph and Elizabeth’s son Victor also played his part in the conflict.

Born in 1900, he was too young to enlist at the start of the war, but, by April 1918, he had joined the Scots Guards as a Private. There is no evidence of him serving overseas, and his service seems to have passed uneventfully. He was demobbed in February 1919, and returned to Somerset to continue his work as a furnaceman.