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Commonwealth War Graves, Great War, Gunner, history, illness, India, Kent, photography, Royal Garrison Artillery, story, Trumpeter, war

Gunner William Morgan

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Gunner William Morgan

William Francis Morgan was born on 22nd January 1884 in Bengal, India. The youngest of three children, he was the son of James Morgan and his wife Mary. Both came from Ireland, marrying in 1876. They moved to London, before James was posted to India as part of his role in the Royal Horse Artillery.

Sadly James died when William was just a toddler; this prompted Mary to move the family back to England. She married again in 1887, to Edward Curling, who was a carpenter in the Royal Artillery, and the family settled on the Isle of Grain in Kent, living in the fort where Edward worked.

Surrounded by those in military service and with an army heritage himself, is it no surprise that William felt drawn to the life. In September 1898 he enlisted in the Royal Garrison Artillery. Though not yet fifteen years old, he stood 5ft 11ins (1.69m) tall and weighed in at 101lbs (46kg). He had a fresh complexion, grey eyes and light brown hair and four distinctive marks were noted – three scars on his head and one on his right knee.

Trumpeter Morgan certainly got to see a lot of the world during his time in the army. After a period on home soil, he was sent to Egypt on Christmas Eve 1901, staying there for just over a year. He moved on to India, returning to England five years later, by which time he had achieved the rank of Gunner.

War was imminent, and in September 1914 he was sent to France as part of the British Expeditionary Force. Barring a short period at home, Gunner Morgan remained on the Western Front for the remainder of the war, finally returning to the UK in January 1919.

William’s time in the army was one of two halves. He had several bouts of illness during his service, coming down with phimosis in 1901, scarlet fever and gonorrhoea in 1902, a fractured clavicle in 1903, pneumonia in 1904, rheumatism in 1906, ague in 1908, pleurisy in 1909, and had to return from France to England for an operation to remove a carbuncle between his shoulder blades in the summer of 1915.

Gunner Morgan was also pulled up for his conduct a few times too. He was punished for neglect of duty in August 1908, disobeyed orders in May 1909, was pulled up for being improperly dressed while in Portsmouth’s Highbury Arms Pub in November 1909 and went AWOL for ten hours on 31st July 1913.

There were positives to William’s service too, however. He was awarded the British and Victory Medals as well as the 1914 Star during the First World War. He was mentioned in dispatches and received the Military Medal in 1917 an the Long Service and Good Conduct Medal two years later.

Sadly, though, after Gunner Morgan’s positive and lengthy military service, his time out of the army was to be brief. Returning to England on 13th January 1919, he contracted influenza and pneumonia and succumbed to the lung conditions within weeks. He passed away on 27th February 1919, at the age of just 35 years of age.

William Francis Morgan was laid to rest in the Woodlands Cemetery, Gillingham, Kent, just minutes’ walk from where his mother now lived.

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

Private William Bartin

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Private William Bartin

William Bartin was born in the Somerset village of Montacute in the summer of 1893 and was the oldest of four children to Georgina Bartin. Georgina married George Gaylard in 1895 and, while the 1901 and 1911 censuses record William Gaylard as George’s son, later documentation suggests that George may not have been his father. George was a carter and labourer on a farm, and when he left school, William followed suit.

By the time of the 1911 census, most of the family were working – William was listed as a groom and gardener, while his mother and the oldest of his three sisters were employed as seamstresses.

Little specific information remains of William’s military career. He enlisted as a Private in the Somerset Light Infantry under his mother’s maiden name (and his birth name), Bartin. A local newspaper after he passed provides some information:

[He] enlisted in 1914, was badly wounded and for seven months was treated in the Bethnal Green Hospital, and then sent to the Southern General Hospital, Plymouth, where for 17 months he was treated for lung trouble. He was discharged in 1917 and has been practically ever since under treatment by the Ministry of Pensions. Much sympathy is felt with the bereaved widow and child.

Western Chronicle: Friday 19th November 1920

There are no details of William’s wife or child, albeit that his pension record refuses payment to them as he married after being discharged from the army.

There are similarly no details about the cause of his death, although, based on the newspaper report, it seems likely to have resulted from the lung condition that dogged the last few years of his life.

Private William Bartin died on 17th November 1920, at the age of 27 years old. He was laid to rest in the graveyard of St Catherine’s Church in his home village of Montacute.

George Gaylard had passed away in July 1919, at the age of 47. The Western Chronicle noted that:

There mourners were as follows: Mrs G Gaylard (widow), Mr WC Bartin (step-son), Misses Lucy, Florence and Edith Gaylard (daughters)…

Western Chronicle: Friday 25th July 1919

It was tragic for Georgina to lose both her husband and son within 18 months; it is also sad to note that George’s father – also called George – was still alive, and outlived both his son and step-son.

Commonwealth War Graves, Gloucestershire, Great War, history, London, photography, Private, Royal Army Service Corps, story, Sussex, unknown, war

Private Charles Leach

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Private Charles Leach

Charles George Leach was born in 25th July 1872 and was the second of eight children. His parent were Gloucestershire-born painter William Leach and his laundress wife Ellen who raised the family in Greenwich, South London. William had married previously, but his first wife, Emma, had died in 1868, leaving him a widow at 40, with five children to raise. He had married Ellen shortly after, and the family grew in size.

There is little information on Charles’ young life. It seems like the family had moved down to Sussex at some point; this is where Charles met his future wife, fisherman’s daughter Ellen. By the time William died in 1909, the family had again relocated, this time moving back to Gloucestershire.

The 1911 census gives Charles and Ellen visiting Charles’ sister Alice and her husband. The couple had two children by this point, as did Alice. Charles’ mother Ellen was also living there; a family of nine living in a house in the town of Cinderford.

Details of Charles’ military life as somewhat sketchy. He did enlist, joining the Royal Army Service Corps on 6th December 1915, and certainly served in France, gaining the Victory and British Medals and the 1915 Star. However the records suggest that Private Leach was discharged from the army on medical grounds in the spring of 1916, and the refusal of a war gratuity – paid once soldiers had attained six months’ service – seems to back this up.

There is little more information available on Charles Leach. He and Ellen went on to have four children in all, and moved back to Sussex, close to her family. He passed away on 4th March 1919, at the age of 46, but no cause of death is available.

Charles George Leach lies at rest in the Broadwater Cemetery, in Worthing, West Sussex.

Commonwealth War Graves, Great War, history, illness, Lance Corporal, London, photography, Private, Quartermaster, Royal Army Service Corps, Royal Warwickshire Regiment, Sergeant, Sergeant Major, Staff Sergeant, story, Sussex, war

Serjeant Major Percy Hawkins

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Staff Serjeant Major Percy Hawkins

Percy Harry Hawkins was born in Waltham Green, London, in 1886. One of five children, all boys, his parents were Frederick and Elizabeth Hawkins. Frederick initially worked as a brewer’s collector – collecting rent from tenant pub managers on behalf of the brewery – before working as a tobacconist.

In July 1908, Percy married Gladys Parnell. Sadly, tragedy was to strike and, over the next couple of years both Elizabeth and Frederick passed away in 1909 and 1910 respectively.

By the time of the following year’s census, Percy and Gladys were boarding with a dispensing doctor (or GP), and his wife. Percy listed his occupation as a ‘traveller’, was probably employed as some kind of salesman.

Tragedy was to strike Percy again. Months after the couple had their first child in July 1911, Gladys also passed away, leaving him as a widower and single parent at just 26 years old.

From his later military documentation, it seems that Percy married again in August 1915, this time to a woman called Mildred, and, by September 1919, he had gone on to have three children in total; one boy and two girls.

When war broke out, Percy was quick to enlist. He joined up in Birmingham on 10th August 1914, and gave his profession as a commercial traveller. His records show that he was 28 years and 120 days old, stood 5ft 6ins (1.69m) tall and weighed 131lbs (59.5kg).

After initially joining the Royal Warwickshire Regiment, Private Hawkins was transferred to the Royal Army Service Corps, and was assigned to one of the supply companies.

Over the four years of the war, Percy served on home soil, and was promoted a number of times, rising from Private to Lance Corporal, Staff Sergeant to Quartermaster Staff Sergeant. In September 1917, he was again promoted, this time to Staff Sergeant Major, a position he held for the remainder of the conflict, and on into 1919, when he volunteered for an extra year’s service, rather than being demobbed.

In February 1920, Staff Serjeant Major Hawkins fell ill; he was admitted to the military hospital that had been set up in Brighton Pavilion, Sussex. The diagnosis was heart failure, and, sadly, it was to this that he was to succumb. He passed away on 20th February 1920, aged just 34 years old.

Percy’s family was, by this time, living down the coast in Worthing; his body was brought there for burial and he lies at rest in the Broadwater Cemetery in the town.

Canada, Commonwealth War Graves, Great War, history, illness, Kent, photography, Royal Engineers, Sapper, Sergeant, Singapore, story, Sussex, war

Serjeant George Carpenter

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Serjeant George Carpenter

George Palmer Carpenter was born in Worthing, West Sussex, in 1881, one of fourteen children to James and Elizabeth Carpenter. James ran the Steyne Hotel on the seafront, and sent his boys off to the Lucton Boarding School in Henfield for their education.

A regimented life seems to have suited George. When he left school, he enlisted in army, joining the Royal Engineers as a Sapper. The 1901 census found him billeted at the Elphinstone Barracks in Portsmouth.

Sadly, there is little further documentation on the life of Sapper Carpenter. He served through to and during the Great War, attaining the rank of Serjeant. He was sent to France in May 1915, though there is little to confirm his role there, or how long he stayed.

Serjeant Carpenter was subsequently attached to G Depot Company of the Royal Engineers, which received men returned from Expeditionary Force and also men enlisted for Tunnelling Companies, Special Companies and other specialist units. By this time – presumably later on in the conflict – he was based back in England, at the regiment’s barracks in Chatham, Kent.

When the war came to a close, George continued with his army career. With conflict in Europe coming end, he was shipped to Singapore in 1917, where he served through to 1920. A Sussex newspaper picked up his story from there:

Much sympathy will be extended to Mrs Carpenter and her family, of the Steyne Hotel, consequent upon the death of Sergeant George Carpenter, of the Royal Engineers, another of our Worthing boys whose life has been laid down in his country’s service. He arrived home in a bad state of health on the 25th of February last from Singapore, where he had been on duty for three years. Suffering from gastric influenza, it was found necessary that he should undergo an operation, which was carried out at midnight on Saturday. But he sank from weakness, and died at half-past eight on Sunday morning. This is the second son of whom Mrs Carpenter has been bereaved within a year, and there is pathos in the words addressed to us by her: “I have again the sorrowful task of sending the news of the death of one of my sons this morning.

Worthing Gazette: Wednesday 24th March 1920

George Palmer Carpenter was 39 years old. He was laid to rest in the Broadwater Cemetery of his home town, Worthing, in West Sussex.

The other brother referred to in the report was George’s younger brother Norman.

He had emigrated to Canada in 1906, but returned to Europe as part of the Canadian Expeditionary Force when war broke out. Wounded in battle in May 1917, he returned to the UK for treatment and recuperation, and remained on home soil for the rest of the war.

In the spring of 1919, he was admitted to hospital with pleurisy and anaemia, and seems that he never fully recovered, succumbing to the conditions in August of that year. He was just 32 years old.

Chief Yeoman of the Signals, Commonwealth War Graves, Great War, Hampshire, history, illness, photography, Royal Navy, story, Sussex, war

Chief Yeoman of Signals Thomas Funnell

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Chief Yeoman of Signals Thomas Funnell

Thomas Richard Funnell was born on 7th May 1883 and was the second of five children. His father John was a cab driver, his mother Jane a laundress, and the family lived in Worthing, West Sussex. The small terraced house was close to both the central station and the one serving West Worthing, which would have given John plenty of opportunity for customers.

Thomas had a definite sense of adventure and helping his dad after he finished school was never going to be enough. He enlisted in the Royal Navy and, after an initial six months at the rank of Boy, he came of age, and began his training as a signalman.

Over the twelve years of his service, Thomas served on thirteen vessels, including the shore-based training ships. He rose through the signal ranks, eventually becoming Yeoman of Signals.

He ended his engagement in May 1913 although, with war on the horizon, this was extended to the completion of hostilities. His naval service continued through the war, and he rose to the rank of Chief Yeoman of Signals in August 1915, while aboard HMS Dido.

Away from his life at sea, Thomas met and married Frances McGregor, the daughter of a coastguard from Hampshire. They went on to have two children: Gurtrude was born in 1915, Nora in 1921. While her husband was at sea, Frances set up home in Portsmouth, where she raised the family.

When the war came to a close, Thomas was moved to shore-based vessels where, presumably, he used his years of experience to help train and develop others. In September 1920, he was assigned to HMS Greenwich. Sadly, his time there was short, on 20th January 1921, Thomas collapsed. Admitted to the Haslar Hospital in Portsmouth with a cerebral abscess he passed away. He was 37 years of age.

Rather than being buried close to his widow and family, Thomas’ body was brought back to his home town of Worthing for burial. He lies at ret in the Broadwater Cemetery to the north of the town centre.

Boy, Commonwealth War Graves, Great War, history, illness, photography, Royal Navy, story, Suffolk, Sussex, war

Boy 2nd Class George Sandell

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Boy George Sandell

George William Sandell was born on 13th August 1902, the oldest of five children to William and Mary Sandell. While George was born in Chichester, William raised the family in Worthing; he was a carpenter and joiner by trade, and came from a local building family.

When George left school, he found work as a porter on the railways. Too young to be directly involved in the 1914-1918 conflict, he was definitely for adventure, and, on 5th February 1919, he enlisted in the Royal Navy.

Assigned the rank of Boy – because of his age – he was sent to HMS Ganges II, a training establishment in Suffolk. His decision to enlist was set to be young George’s undoing; within weeks he had contracted pneumonia, and he passed away on 10th March 1919. Tragically, he was just 16 years old.

William and Mary brought their boy back to Worthing; he was buried in the Broadwater Cemetery there, within walking distance of their home.

For me, a huge coincidence to this story is that I lived in the house George was brought up in. He was raised at 27 Southfield Road, in Worthing, up until he was sent for training in 1919. I lived at the same address for a number of years in the early 2000s.

Commonwealth War Graves, Great War, history, Machine Gun Corps, photography, Private, story, Sussex, unknown, war

Private Charles Duke

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Private Charles Duke

Charles Edward Duke was born in early 1880, the oldest of three children to George and Charlotte Duke. George was a market gardener, but for all of Charles’ childhood censuses – 1881, 1891 and 1901 – his father is absent. Instead, Charlotte is listed as the head of the household, married and working as a launderess. Given that the censuses were all taken in the spring, it is possible that her husband was working away each time the document was recorded, although this is supposition. In every census, though, it is interesting to note that she had taken in lodgers to help pay the bills.

The family lived in Worthing, West Sussex, in a small house near the centre of town. When he left school, Charles found work as an errand boy for a local stationer, before finding more gainful employment as a gardener in one of the multitude of nurseries surrounding the coastal town.

In 1901, Charles married Lucy Barnes, a carter’s daughter from the town; the young couple set up home in Broadwater, to the north of Worthing town centre, and went on to have four children; Alice, Henry, Dorothy and Margaret.

When war arrived on European shores, Charles played his part. Sadly his military records are all but non-existent, but from what remains it’s possible to piece together something of his military life.

Private Duke enlisted in the Machine Gun Corps, and was assigned to the 16th Company. While it is impossible to place him in any specific location, his company was certainly involved in the Battle of the Somme.

Charles survived the war; the next evidence available for him notes that he died on 31st October 1919 in a hospital in Brighton, although o cause is given for his death. The Commonwealth War Graves Commission give his age as 41, although it seems likely he was a couple of years younger than this, based on when his birth was registered.

Charles Edward Duke was buried in the Broadwater Cemetery, a short walk from where his widow and children were living.

Commonwealth War Graves, Great War, history, photography, Private, Royal Sussex Regiment, story, Sussex, unknown, war

Private William Holden

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Private William Holden

Sometimes research into the names of the fallen runs into obstacles. There are graves I have researched that have brought up very little information, either because the soldier concerned is too young to have a lot of documentation about them, or because information on them has subsequently been lost.

On other occasions, it is the sheer wealth of documentation that proves to be the stumbling block. Such is the case with William Frederick Holden, buried in the Broadwater Cemetery in Worthing, West Sussex.

The grave itself gives some information: he was a Private in the Royal Sussex Regiment, with a service number of 8298970, and died on 16th February 1921, at the age of 26. The Commonwealth War Graves Commission archives give some further information: his father was Frederick Charles Holden, and his stepmother was Elena.

The Find A Grave website adds a little further information – he was born in Sidlesham, near Chichester in West Sussex. The site suggests, however, that he was born in 1897, which would suggest he was 23 or 24 when he died.

Researching on Ancestry throws up a wealth of other information, which begins to make it more of a challenge to identify the correct details. Both William and Frederick were common names in the late Victorian era, and Holden was a familiar Sussex name, and had many spelling variations.

Searching for William’s service number on sites like Fold3 does not provide any results, so that does not provide an opportunity to narrow down the information. Nor is there any record of his passing or burial in contemporary newspapers.

To add to the confusion, when I dug a little deeper, it seems that William’s birth name was, in fact, Frederick William Holden, and he was known by his middle name to avoid confusion with his father. His mother was Fanny Warrington (née Walker), and he seems to have had one sister, Annie. Fanny seems to have passed away in 1903, and Frederick Sr went on to marry Louisa.

So, like a patchwork, vague details of William’s life are pieced together. But huge gaps still remain. Private Holden was assigned to the 4th Battalion of the Royal Sussex Regiment, which fought at Gallipoli and served in Egypt and France before the war was done. However, there is no evidence that William fought abroad.

Sadly, William’s passing is lost to time as well. We know when he died, but there is nothing to confirm a cause of death. Given when it was, it seems likely to have been as a result of one of the invasive lung conditions that ravaged Europe after the First World War. But he could just as easily have succumbed to the ongoing effects of wounds received during fighting. Given the lack of supporting documentation, we are unlikely ever to know.

William Frederick Holden lies at rest in Worthing’s Broadwater Cemetery.

Commonwealth War Graves, Great War, history, illness, photography, Private, Reserve Cavalry Regiment, story, Sussex, war

Private John Saunders

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Private John Saunders

John Henry Saunders was born at the end of 1899, in the West Sussex village of East Preston. One of five children, his parents were agricultural labourer John and his wife Louisa. John Sr sadly passed away in 1904, when his son was just 4 years old.

Louisa went on to marry again in 1909, to a man named Charman. While no marriage records remain, it seems that he might have been a widower. The 1911 census finds Louisa living in Worthing with her four surviving children (her eldest, Lilian, having passed away earlier in the year), a stepson of 16 and new babe-in-arms.

With the outbreak of war in 1914, John looked to do his part. Sadly, his military records are not available, but what is clear is that he joined the Cavalry Regiment at some point after September 1917. He was assigned to the 3rd Reserve Regiment, which trained men for the Dragoon Guards, and Northamptonshire, Surrey and Sussex Yeomanry units.

Sadly, Private Saunders’ time in the armed forces was limited. He was admitted to the Military Isolation Hospital in Aldershot and, while it is not clear what the admission was for, it seems likely that he was moved from the main hospital because of a contagious condition like tuberculosis or pneumonia.

John Henry Saunders’ time in hospital was brief. He passed away on 16th March 1918, aged just 18 years of age. His body was brought back to Worthing, and he was buried in the Broadwater Cemetery to the north of the town.