Robert Peters was born on 27th May 1893 in Dundee. Little information remains documented about his early life, but he was one of at least four children to John and Agnes Peters, and had two sisters, one called Mary, and an older brother. The family lived in towards the west of the city centre, in the now-spartan Annfield Road.
The bulk of the information about Robert comes from one document – his Royal Navy Service Records. He enlisted as an Ordinary Seaman on 4th April 1912, but, because of his work as an iron turner, he seems to have been put on reserve until hostilities broke out two years later.
While on reserve, he received the training that all reservists would have done, which meant that, when he was formally called into action in June 1916, he did so at the rank of Able Seaman. Robert’s service records also show that he was 5ft 5ins (1.65m) tall, had dark hair and brown eyes.
Able Seaman Peters first posting was at HMS Victory – the Naval Dockyard in Portsmouth. After a couple of months’ additional training, he was assigned to HMS Wallington, a depot ship based on the Humber Estuary.
After a year on board, Robert transferred to HMS Pembroke, the Royal Naval Dockyard in Chatham, Kent. The base was a busy place that summer, and temporary accommodation was set up at the Dockyard’s Drill Hall. This is where Robert found himself billeted.
On the 3rd September 1917, the German Air Force carried out its first night air raid: Chatham was heavily bombed and the Drill Hall received a direct hit; Able Seaman Peters was among those killed instantly. He was just 24 years of age.
Robert Peters was laid to rest, along with the other victims of the Chatham Air Raid, in the Woodlands Cemetery, Gillingham. His parents had passed away before the war, and so his sister Mary was confirmed as his next of kin.
William Edward Wakeford was born on 18th April 1885, the oldest of seven children to William and Theresa. William Sr had been born in East London and was a labourer for the engineering company Vickers. Theresa came from south of the Thames, in Greenwich, and it was in South East London that the Wakefords raised their family.
When he left school, William Jr found work as an assistant to a corn dealer. He was set on a better life and career, however, and, on 1st June 1906, at the age of 20, he enlisted in the Royal Navy with the rank of Stoker 2nd Class.
William learnt on the job; he was initially assigned to HMS Acheron and, during his initial five-year term of service, he served on five further vessels, rising to the rank of Stoker 1st Class as a result of his hard work. In between his voyages, however, he was based at HMS Pembroke, the Royal Naval Dockyard at Chatham, Kent.
When his contract came to an end in May 1911, Stoker Wakeford was assigned to the Royal Naval Reserve. With war looming, however, this did not turn out to be for long and, when hostilities begun in 1914, he was called back into action. He was assigned to the battleship HMS Cornwallis, and spent more than two years on board. During this time, the ship saw action in the Eastern Mediterranean, primarily the Dardanelles Campaign, and the fighting around Gallipoli.
By the start of 1917, Stoker Wakeford was back on dry land, and based at HMS Pembroke. For a variety of reasons, that was a particularly busy year at the dockyard, and temporary additional accommodation was set up at the Chatham Drill Hall nearby; this is where William found himself billeted.
On the 3rd September 1917, the German Air Force carried out its first night air raid: Chatham was heavily bombed and the Drill Hall received a direct hit; Stoker 1st Class Wakeford was among those killed instantly. He was 32 years of age.
William Edward Wakeford was laid to rest, along with the other victims of the Chatham Air Raid, in the Woodlands Cemetery, Gillingham.
William’s younger brother Cecil also fought in the Great War. Serving as a Private in the 2nd Battalion Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers, he saw fighting on the Western Front. Caught up in the Battle of St Quentin in March 1918, he was killed as the regiment were cut off by German advances. He was just 22 years old. He was laid to rest in France, and is commemorated at the Pozières Memorial.
Thomas Samuel Cropley was born on 16th November 1882 in the Suffolk village of Mutford. The fifth of eight children, his parents were Robert and Hannah Cropley. Given Mutford’s proximity to the Hundred River Hundred and the coastal town of Lowestoft, it is little surprise that Thomas’ father was a ropemaker. Hannah was also employed, the 1901 census recording her as a monthly nurse – helping women during the month after childbirth.
Thomas’ location to the coast made fishing an ideal choice of work for him, and when he left school he followed his three older brothers into the trade. Indeed, he listed his trade as a deep sea fisherman on his marriage records.
As a young man, he had met bricklayer’s daughter Edith Tuttle, and they tied the knot on 29th May 1906. The couple set up home in Factory Street, Lowestoft, and went on to have seven children.
Sadly, little information on Thomas’ wartime service remains documented. His knowledge of boats and the sea made the navy an obvious option for him, and he enlisted in the Royal Naval Reserve.
Engineman Cropley was assigned to HMS Pembroke – this Royal Naval Dockyard at Chatham in Kent. While it is likely that he served on ships as well, this is certainly the base to which he returned.
Thomas found himself based here in the summer of 1917, which was a particularly busy place at that point in the war. Additional accommodation was desperately needed and he found himself billeted at Chatham Drill Hall, away from the main barracks.
By 1917, the German Air Force had suffered huge losses during the daylight bombing raids it had been undertaking. It was imperative for them to minimise these losses, and so a new tactic – night time raids – was employed.
The first trial of this approach was on the night of 3rd September 1917, and Chatham suddenly found itself in the firing line, startlingly unready and fundamentally unprotected. One of the German bombers landed a direct hit on the Drill Hall, and Engineman Cropley was killed. He was just 34 years old.
Ninety-eight servicemen perished during the Chatham Air Raid that night. They were buried in a mass funeral at the Woodlands Cemetery in nearby Gillingham. This, too, is where Thomas Samuel Cropley was laid to rest.
The lives of Thomas’ family outlines a lot about living conditions in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, with a large number of his relatives dying young.
His father was 68 when he died in 1916; Hannah had passed away fourteen years before, when she was 56 years old. Of his siblings, two did not survive childhood, one died their 20s, one was aged 40, while three reached their late sixties.
Thomas’ widow died in 1921, at the age of 35; their two youngest children died before their first birthdays. Of the other five, one was 31 when he died, while the others lived much longer – one was in their mid-70s, two in their eighties, and the oldest reached her hundredth birthday. A varied legacy indeed.
Robert Frederick Sydney Smith was born on 24th July 1889 in Peckham, London. One of seven children, his parents were Robert Smith – a tailor and draper – and his wife Ada.
Little more information is available on Robert Jr’s early life. He married Alice Brookman, a leatherworker’s daughter, on 3rd September 1911, and was, by this time, working as a bank clerk. The couple went on to have three children: Sidney, Eileen and Ronald.
War was on the horizon and, at Robert was soon called up. His service records are dated 31st January 1917, and note that he stood 5ft 5.5ins (1.66m) tall, had brown hair, brown eyes and a medium complexion.
Robert was employed as an Ordinary Seaman, and was initially posted to HMS Pembroke, the shore-based establishment at the Royal Naval Dockyard in Chatham, Kent. After a few weeks, he was posted to HMS Crescent, a cruiser that served in the North Sea.
After six months at sea, Ordinary Seaman Smith landed back in Kent. HMS Pembroke was a busy place at that point in the war, and additional accommodation was desperately needed. Robert found himself billeted at Chatham Drill Hall, away from the main barracks.
At this point in the war, the German Air Force had been suffering huge losses during the daylight bombing raids it had been undertaking. It was imperative for them to minimise these losses, and so a new tactic – night time raids – was employed.
The first trial of this approach was on the night of 3rd September 1917, and Chatham suddenly found itself in the firing line, startlingly unready and fundamentally unprotected. One of the German bombs landed a direct hit on the Drill Hall, and Ordinary Seaman Smith was killed. He was just 28 years old.
Ninety-eight servicemen perished during the Chatham Air Raid that night. They were buried in a mass funeral at the Woodlands Cemetery in nearby Gillingham. This, too, is where Robert Frederick Sydney Smith was laid to rest.
Arthur John Humphrey was born on 22nd December 1880 in the Surrey village of Horne. One of seven children, his parents were agricultural labourer Thomas Humphrey and his wife Eliza.
When he left school, Arthur also found labouring work. By 1899 he had moved to the town of Redhill, where he met tailor’s daughter Kate Wilson. The couple married in St Matthew’s Church that year, and went on to have six children.
With a family to look after, Arthur found additional work to help bring money in, and he became a carter for a local bakery. This seems to have spurred him on, and by the time war broke out, he had become more hands on with the baking side of things.
The hostilities brought new opportunities, and the chance of more permanent, better played employment became available. On 25th May 1916, Arthur enlisted in the Royal Navy as a Cook’s Mate. His service records show that he stood at 5ft 5ins (1.65m) tall, had brown hair, grey eyes and a fresh complexion.
Cook’s Mate Humphrey’s service was wholly at HMS Pembroke, the Royal Naval Dockyard in Chatham, Kent. While he would have been billeted in the barracks themselves, by the summer of 1917, the dockyard was becoming a very crowded place. The Drill Hall was brought in as additional accommodation and, that summer, this is where Arthur was moved to temporarily.
The German Air Force was suffering significant losses during the daylight raids it was carrying out. In an attempt to stem the flow of casualties, they decided to trial night time raids and, on 3rd September 1917, Chatham found itself in the midst of a bombing raid. The Drill Hall that Cook’s Mate Humphrey was sleeping in received a direct hit, and he was killed. He was just 36 years old.
The 98 servicemen who perished during the Chatham Air Raid that night were buried in a mass funeral at the Woodlands Cemetery in nearby Gillingham. This, too, is where Arthur Humphrey was laid to rest.
Alfred Andrews was born on 23rd August 1897, one of eleven children to George and Louisa Andrews. George was a bricklayer and labourer from Sussex, who had met and married Folkestone-born Louisa and moved to the Kent town.
When Alfred left school, he found similar employment to his father. He wanted bigger and better things, however, and 5th November 1913 he signed up for the Royal Navy.
Alfred’s service papers show that, at the time of enlisting, he stood 5ft 5ins (1.65m) tall, had brown hair, brown eyes and a fresh complexion. It also shows that he gave his year of birth as 1895 – this suggested to the authorities that he was 18 years old, and therefore old enough to join up.
Stoker 2nd Class Andrews’ first posting was HMS Pembroke, the Royal Naval Dockyard in Chatham, Kent. He spent nearly five months there being trained, before being given his first ocean-going posting aboard the battleship HMS Vanguard.
When war was declared, Vanguard was involved in activity in the North Sea, conducting drills and patrolling the waters off the Shetland and Orkney Coasts. By the time Stoker Andrews returned to Kent, he had been on board for more than a year, and had received a promotion to Stoker 1st Class.
Over the next couple of years, Alfred served on two more ships – HMS Daffodil and HMS Hebe. In between assignments, he was based at HMS Pembroke, and it was here that he found himself in the summer of 1917.
That summer was particularly busy for HMS Pembroke; when the barracks there became full, Chatham Drill Hall was used as temporary accommodation and this is where Stoker Andrews found himself billeted.
The German Air Force was suffering significant losses during the daylight raids it carried out. In an attempt to stem the flow of casualties, the decision was taken to trial night time raids and, on 3rd September 1917, Chatham found itself in their line of fire. The Drill Hall that Stoker Andrews was sleeping in received a direct hit, and he was killed. He was just 20 years old.
The 98 servicemen who perished during the Chatham Air Raid that night were laid to rest in the Woodlands Cemetery in nearby Gillingham. This, too, is where Alfred Andrews was buried.
While researching Alfred’s life, it became evident that his older brother, Ernest, died in 1915. Wondering is this was another war-related death in the family, I dug a little deeper into his life.
Ernest George Andrews was born in Folkestone in 1883 and was the oldest of George and Louisa’s children. Like his younger brother, he too enlisted in the armed forces, joining the Royal Garrison Artillery in 1899, at the tender age of 16. Over the following decade, he served all over the world, at bases in Malta, South Africa and India.
Ernest would have cut a domineering figure – he stood at 6ft (1.83m) tall, and had a number of tattoos – clasped hands, men and women on his left forearm and a heart and birds on the right.
By 1910, Lance Corporal Andrew’s initial term of service and he re-enlisted. Based on home soil this time, he was barracked in Aldershot, Hampshire. His time in the army was not faultless, and there are a couple of occasions – while abroad and back at home – where he was pulled up for being drunk on duty, or for disobeying orders.
A further example of the man Ernest had become, led to his discharge from the army on 6th April 1912. This was the date on which he was sentenced to five years’ penal servitude for ‘feloniously and violently ravishing one Jane Kennedy’ [British Army War Records].
I have not been able to find any further information on the incident, which had happened a couple of months earlier, but it seems that Ernest served his time, and then returned to his home town in Kent. His trail goes quiet at this point, and he died on 21st August 1915, at the age of 32. He was buried in his home town.
Archibald Edward Langridge was born on 9th November 1892, one of six children – and the only son – to Edward and Jane Langridge. Edward was a labourer from Sevenoaks, who raised his young family in the town. Archibald had ideas of bigger adventures, however.
In August 1908, he joined the Royal Navy. Still underage – he was only 15 years old – he was granted the rank of Boy 2nd Class and was sent off to HMS Ganges – the naval base in Suffolk – for training.
Within a year, Archibald had been promoted to Boy 1st Class, and was soon assigned to his first ship, HMS Berwick, an armoured cruiser. After three months on board, he was assigned to HMS Pembroke, the shore-based establishment at the Royal Naval Dockyard in Chatham, Kent, and it was here that he returned to in between voyages.
His next sea assignment was the battleship HMS London, which he joined on 8th February 1910, and where he spent two years. During this time Archibald turned 18, and was formally enlisted in the Royal Navy, attaining the rank of Ordinary Seaman. His service records show that he was 5ft 2ins (1.57m) tall had light hair, blue eyes and a fresh complexion. They also show that he had a scar below his right eye and another on the back of his head. He also had a number of tattoos – a woman’s head, good luck and horseshoe on his right forearm and a cross and star on his left.
Ordinary Seaman Langridge’s naval career continued and, by the time hostilities broke out in 1914, he had served on two more ships – HMS Antrim and HMS Boadicea – and had been promoted to Able Seaman.
When war was declared, Archibald was serving on Boadicea, a ship on board which he spent a total of three years. He was again promoted during this time, reaching the rank of Leading Seaman.
By the spring of 1916, he was back serving in Chatham. Archibald had met Gladys Godfrey, who came from his home town, and the couple married in Sevenoaks in May. They went on to have a son, George, who was born in March the following year.
Leading Seaman Langridge was now permanently based at HMS Pembroke, and spent spent nearly eighteen months at the dockyard. HMS Pembroke was a busy place in the summer of 1917, and its barracks reached capacity. Chatham Drill Hall was used as temporary accommodation, and this is where Archibald found himself billeted.
By this point in the war, the German Air Force was trying to minimise the losses it suffered during daytime raids, and was, instead, trialling night flights; on 3rd September 1917, Chatham found itself in their flight path. The Drill Hall received a direct hit, and Leading Seaman Langridge was killed, along with close to 100 others. He was just 24 years old.
The victims of the Chatham Air Raid were laid to rest in Woodlands Cemetery, Gillingham, walking distance from the Drill Hall where Archibald Edward Langridge and his colleagues had died.
There is a sad epilogue to this tale. Four months after Archibald’s death, Gladys gave birth to their second child, Charles. He would never know his father.
William Walton was born in St Neots, Cambridgeshire, early in 1868, the oldest child of William Moran and Hannah Walton. The couple married shortly after William’s birth and went on to have six further children. William Sr was a bricklayer’s labourer from Cambridgeshire, and until his mother’s death in 1903, William Jr used his father’s surname.
By the time of the 1881 census, William Sr had moved the family to London, where work was more plentiful. It was here that his eldest son met Annie Vigo; they married in Bethnal Green in August 1886 – using Hannah’s maiden name – and went on to have a son – also called William – the same year.
William was also working as a labourer by this point, but by the mid-1890s he and Annie had five children, and he needed a steadier income. In August 1895, he enlisted in the Royal Navy for a period of 12 years. His service record show that he stood 5ft 4ins (1.63m) tall, had brown hair, blue eyes and a fair complexion. He was also noted to have a scar on his head and an anchor tattoo on his left forearm.
Stoker 2nd Class Walton was initially based at HMS Victory, the training base in Portsmouth. By April 1896 he had been given his first off-shore assignment, HMS Fox. This was a cruiser, and he spent more than three years aboard, gaining a promotion to Stoker 1st Class in the process.
The summer of 1899 saw William back on land, as he was assigned to HMS Pembroke, the shore-based establishment at the Royal Naval Dockyard in Chatham. He remained here for the next three years, and returned to the dockyard in between assignments at sea.
In August 1907 Stoker Walton’s term of service with the navy came to an end, and he was placed on reserve. By this point he and Annie had had two more children, bringing the total to seven. The 1911 census found the family living in London, where William was still recorded as a stoker.
War was imminent, and, when hostilities broke out, William was recalled. This time, and probably because of his age, he was wholly based on land, spending nine months in Portsmouth, and the rest of the time in Chatham.
HMS Pembroke was a busy place and, in the summer of 1917, it had reached capacity. The Drill Hall was used as temporary accommodation, and this is where Stoker Walton found himself billeted.
On 3rd September, the German Air Force was trialling night raids on English locations to avoid suffering casualties in daylight; that night Chatham found itself in their flight path. The Drill Hall received a direct hit, and Stoker 1st Class Walton was killed, along with close to 100 others. He was 49 years old [the gravestone suggests a different age].
William Walton was laid to rest in the Woodlands Cemetery in Gillingham, within walking distance of the dockyard that had become his home. He was buried alongside the other victims of the Chatham Air Raid.
William’s younger brother Arthur Moran was also involved in the hostilities of the First World War. As a Bombardier in the Royal Garrison Artillery, he was caught up in the fighting on the Western Front, losing his life on 6th February 1917, seven months before his older brother. He was laid to rest in the Cité Bonjean Military Cemetery in Armentières, France.
Alfred Charles Moist was born early in 1887 in the Devon village of Chudleigh Knighton. His parents were William and Mary Moist, and he was the youngest of eight children. William was a clay miner and his neighbours – who included the young Thomas Willcocks – all worked in the same trade.
William died in 1899, leaving Mary to raise the family alone. By the time of the 1901 census, her widowed daughter Emma had moved back in with her son, and was working from home as a dressmaker. Alfred, meanwhile, and his two older brothers Frank and Reginald were all employed as brick dressers and together they earned enough to keep the family going.
The next census – compiled in 1911 – found Alfred still living with Mary, but the household had a different set up. Emma had remarried and was living in nearby Ilsington with her publican husband. Another of Alfred’s sisters, Bessie, had moved in with her daughter, Florence, and was keeping house for her mother. Reginald was also still living at home and was still employed by the brickyard. Alfred, however, had found now work as a police constable.
Mary passed away in the spring of 1913, by which point, Alfred had met Edith Mary Sampson, a labourer’s daughter from North Devon. The couple married in Broadhempston, near Totnes, on 21st November 1913.
War came to Europe, and Alfred enlisted in December 1915. His job in the police force, however, meant that he was initially placed on reserve, and he was not formally mobilised until April 1918, when he joined the Coldstream Guards. His enlistment papers show that he stood 5ft 11ins (1.8m) tall and weighed in at 10st 4lbs (65kg).
Guardsman Moist was barracked in London, but fell ill in September 1918. He was admitted to the Queen Alexandra Military Hospital with a haematoma and renal calculus (kidney stones). He spent a total of four months in hospital before being discharged back to duty.
At this point, Alfred’s trail goes cold. The next record for him comes in the form of the record of his death, which was registered in Hampstead, London. This suggests that he was either still in the Coldstream Guards or that he had been hospitalised again because of his previous illness. Either way, he died on 28th August 1919, at the age of 32 years old.
Alfred Charles Moist’s body was brought back to Devon. He lies at rest in the Graveyard of St Paul’s Church in his home village of Chudleigh Knighton.
Thomas George Willcocks was born on 18th April 1882, in the Devon village of Chudleigh Knighton. The oldest of five children, his parents were William Willcocks and his wife Emma. William worked as a clay cutter, and this was a trade Thomas followed when he left school.
By 1899, Thomas had met Sophy Gale, a clay cutter’s daughter from nearby Hennock; the couple married and had a daughter, Violet. Thomas was also working as a cutter, and moved into his in-laws house to start raising his young family.
Life can be cruel: the 1911 census shows that Thomas and Sophy had moved to Chudleigh Knighton – where Sophy was originally from. Violet had, by this point, sadly passed away; Thomas’ brother-in-law, Albert, had moved in with the couple to help pay their way.
War was coming to Europe and, although full details of Thomas’ service no longer remain, it is possible to piece together some of his time in the army.
Private Willcocks enlisted in the Duke of Cornwall’s Light Infantry at some point before January 1917, although he soon transferred across to the Hampshire Regiment. His battalion – the 15th – were moved to France in the summer of 1916, and it seems that Thomas was caught up in a gas attack, while in the trenches of the Western Front.
Private Willcocks’ health deteriorated and he was medically evacuated back to the UK for treatment. He was admitted to the Red Cross Hospital in Glasgow, but reports are confused – some identify the impact of the gas on his lungs, while others suggest he was suffering from rheumatism and trench fever. Regardless of the cause, he passed away on 23rd July 1917 at the age of 35 years old.
The body of Thomas George Willcocks was brought back to Devon for burial. He was laid to rest in the graveyard of St Paul’s Church in Chudleigh Knighton.
Thomas’ brother in law, Albert, also died as a result of the First World War; he lies in the grave next to Thomas. His story can be found here.
Thomas’ neighbour was Alfred Moist. He also lies in the same churchyard and his story can be found here.
Death and Service 