Harold George Shopland was born in the spring of 1893, the youngest of nine children to George and Mary Shopland. George was a joiner and platelayer for Great Western Railways: he died when Harold was just seven years old, which left Mary to raise the family alone. She did this with the support of the community and Harold’s older siblings.
By the time of the 1911 census, Harold, who was now 17 years of age, was the only one of her children to still be living at home: he was a stone mason’s carter, while Mary was getting by as the housekeeper for the local Wesleyan chapel.
When war broke out, Harold stepped up to play his part. Possibly keen to follow in his oldest brother’s footsteps – Private Walter Shopland had died at Bloemfontein in 1901 – he enlisted on 23rd November 1914. Harold joined the Royal Garrison Artillery as a Private, his service records confirming that he was 5ft 10ins (1.77m) tall, and weighed 165lbs (74.8kg).
Harold spent more than two years on home soil, before being sent to France in July 1917, with a promotion to Serjeant. He remained overseas, but fell ill with tuberculosis that winter, and was medically repatriated the following January. He was admitted to the Queen Mary’s Military Hospital in Whalley, Lancashire, and remained there for the next couple of months.
Harold’s condition meant that he was no longer fit for military duty, and was dismissed from service on 8th March 1918. He remained in hospital, however and his condition worsened. He passed away on 28th March 1918, at the age of 24 years old.
Mary brought Harold George Shopland’s body back to Somerset for burial. He was laid to rest in the peaceful setting of St Andrew’s Churchyard in Old Cleeve, not far from his father’s grave.
Wallace Waterman Parsons was born in the autumn of 1893 and was one of thirteen children. His parents were both Somerset-born, David and Mary Parsons, and it was in a small terraced house in Bampton Street, Minehead, that the family were raised.
David was a chimney sweep and by the time of the 1911 census, eight of the then household of nine people were earning a wage. Six of the Parsons children – ranging in age from 15 to 33 – were living with their parents, working variously as a chair caner, a labourer and a French polisher. Wallace, 17 years old by this point, was employed as a stone worker, presumably alongside his older brother, David, who was a mason.
When war came to European shores, at least two of the Parsons brothers enlisted. While full service records no longer exist, it is clear that Wallace joined the Somerset Light Infantry, and was attached to the 8th (Service) Battalion.
Private Parsons arrived in France on 11th October 1915, and may have been involved in the closing days of the Battle of Loos. Over the next year, he would have been caught up in the fighting at the Somme, but by the autumn of 1916, he had fallen ill and returned to Britain.
Whatever condition Wallace had contracted led to his discharge from the army: his final day in service was 19th December 1916. He was awarded a Silver Star for his service: this confirmed his honourable discharge, and he wore it to show that he had served his country and was not, in effect, a coward for walking the streets of his home town, while other sons, brothers and fathers were fighting for their country.
At this point, Wallace’s trail goes cold. It is likely that he returned home, but his health continued to dog him. He passed away from anaemia on 17th July 1920, at the age of 26 years old.
Wallace Waterman Parsons was laid to rest in the sweeping vista of Minehead Cemetery.
Wallace’s older brother Hubert also served in the Somerset Light Infantry. Attached to the 1st/5th Battalion, he fought in the Middle East and rose to the rank of Corporal. Hubert fell ill with enteritis, dying from the condition on 13th April 1916. He was laid to rest 3,500 miles (5632km) from home, in the Kut War Cemetery, Iraq.
The death of Capt. James Wilson Pettinger has taken place in a military hospital at Aldershot. Captain Pettinger came to Kingsbridge [Devon] in 1903, entering into partnership with Dr D de Courcy Harston… He made a wide circle of friends, and was appreciated for his professional skill. Previously to coming to Kingsbridge, he was house surgeon at St George’s Hospital, London. In July 1915, Dr Pettinger volunteered for service in the Royal Army Medical Corps, being appointed Lieutenant to the Plymouth Military Hospital. He quickly gained promotion to captain, and was appointed to a hospital ship, and served in the Mediterranean for several months. He contracted blood poisoning in the arm, and was sent to Netley Hospital [Hampshire]. On recovery he was placed in charge of an infections hospital for several months at Salisbury. He was later ordered to France, and being taken ill was transferred to an Aldershot hospital, where he died from pneumonia. He leaves a widow and one son. Dr Pettinger was 43 years of age.
Western Times: Tuesday 16th October 1917
James Wilson Pettinger was born in the spring of 1874 in Moss Side, Lancashire. The youngest of four children, his parents were doctor and surgeon George Pettinger and his wife, Sarah.
James may have been a sickly child: the 1901 census recorded him as being a patient in community hospital in North Meols, near Southport, Lancashire. The oldest of only three patients, the facility was overseen by caretaker John Carr and his matron wife, Susan.
Having gone on to study at Cambridge University, James was carving a career for himself. By the time of the next census he was living in Shaftesbury, Dorset, he was recorded as being a medical practitioner, living on his own in a house near the centre of town.
As the Western Times was to report, James moved to Devon in 1903. On 8th January, he married Clara Risdon, a nursing sister seven years his senior. She came from the Somerset village of Old Cleeve, and the couple married in her local parish church. The couple set up home in Ewart House in Kingsbridge, and went on to have a son, Geoffrey, who was born that November.
James’ career continues to flourish. The 1910 medical directory noted that he was the Honourable Medical Officer for Kingsbridge & District Cottage Hospital, and noted that he had previously worked as an Honourable Physician, Honourable Surgeon, Ophthalmologist, Aural, Obstetric and Dental Assistant and Assistant Surgical Registrar at St George’s Hospital in London.
Little information relating to James’ time in the armed forces is available, and so it falls to his obituary in the Western Times to fill in the gaps. It would seem that Clara and Geoffrey moved to Minehead, Somerset, while James was serving overseas. The town was not far from where she had been born, and family connections may have helped with her husband’s absence.
When James Wilson Pettinger died, on 6th October 1917, his body was brought to Minehead for burial. He was laid to rest in the town’s sweeping cemetery, and was joined there by Clara when she passed away in 1945: a husband and wife reunited.
Charles Sainsbury Bagley was born in the autumn of 1889, one of eleven children to Benjamin and Jane Bagley. The couple’s early life was an intriguing one: they had both been born in Shoreham-by-Sea, West Sussex. The 1891 census recorded the couple living on board the barque Mizpah, with their three oldest children. Benjamin was the vessel’s master and there were ten other members of crew on board.
By the time Charles was born, the family had returned to shore and settled in Minehead, Somerset. By now Benjamin was working as a hairdresser and tobacconist on Park Street near the centre of the town.
Benjamin died in 1910, but left a thriving business to support Jane. At least three of the Bagley siblings went into hairdressing, while Charles’ older brother, Joseph, set up a bakery and confectioner’s in the town with his wife. Charles is absent from the 1911 census, although later records would suggest that he had moved to Lancashire, where he was also working as a hairdresser.
On 3rd July 1915, Charles married Celia Rogers in Lancaster. War was raging across Europe at this point and, in August 1916, he enlisted in the army. His service records confirm that he was 5ft 7.5ins (1.71m) tall and weighed 128lbs (58kg). Private Bagley joined the 5th Battalion of the King’s Own (Royal Lancaster Regiment) and by the end of the year he was on the Western Front, based around the Ypres salient.
The early part of 1917 proved relatively quiet for Private Bagley’s troop. At the end of July, however, he was caught up in the battle of Pilkem Ridge, and was shot in his left leg. Initially treated on site, the wound was severe enough for him to be medically evacuated to Britain for treatment.
Charles was admitted to the Royal Surrey County Hospital in Guildford, but his wounds were to prove to be too severe. He passed away on 28th October 1917, at the age of 27 years old.
The body of Charles Sainsbury Bagley was taken back to Somerset for burial. He was laid to rest in the family plot in Minehead Cemetery, reunited with his parents, Jane having died at the beginning of 1917. The seafaring headstone paid homage to his father’s maritime service.
Arthur Moyle Tudball was born in the spring of 1893 in Minehead, Somerset. One of seven children, his parents were William Tudball and his Cornish wife, Mary.
When he completed his schooling, Arthur found work as a hairdresser. By the time of the 1911 census, there were seven in the Tudball household: William, Mary, four of their children, including Arthur, and their nephew, four-year-old William, who had been born in Ontario, Canada. There were four wages coming in: William, who was working as a general labourer, Arthur’s hairdressing salary. His older brother was a carpenter, and two sisters were employed as dressmakers.
Details of Arthur’s time in the army are sketchy at best. He certainly enlisted when war broke out, joining the Somerset Light Infantry. His Medal Roll Index Card seems to suggest that he didn’t serve overseas, despite both battalions he served with – the 1st/5th and 2nd/5th – fighting in India.
Private Tudball survived the war, returning to Somerset at the end of the conflict. The next record for him is that of his passing. His death, from disease, was recorded in the Taunton district, which would suggest that he was either still based at the army barracks in the town, or has been hospitalised there. He died on 24th February 1920, at the age of 26 years old.
Arthur Moyle Tudball was buried in Minehead Cemetery, not far from where his grieving family lived. His modest headstone was donated by his army colleagues.
Theodore Slade was born early in 1885 in Buckfastleigh, Devon and was the second of two children to Frederick and Mary Slade. The 1891 census recorded the family four living with Frederick’s widowed mother and younger sister in Minehead, Somerset, where he had himself been born. Frederick was listed as a schoolmaster, while Mary was working as an organist.
Music definitely ran through the Slade family. The next census, in 1901, found Frederick now working as a gunsmith. Mary, meanwhile, was now noted as being a professor of music, while Theodore and his older brother, appropriately named Beethoven, were both employed as music teachers.
Ten years further on, and Beethoven had moved out of the family home, for a life with his wife and her widowed mother. Frederick was still working as a gunsmith, while Mary and Theodore were still teaching music. All three were self-employed, Theodore also working as an organist at St Andrew’s Church, Minehead, for more than a decade.
An interesting side note to the three document is how the census takers relied fully on the information they were given by residents. In 1891, Frederick gave his age as 41 and Mary 40; ten years later, Frederick was noted as being 56 and Mary 53; the 1911 census gave their ages as 71 and 63 respectively.
When war broke out, Theodore enlisted early on. He joined the Somerset Light Infantry, and was initially attached to the 4th (Reserve) Battalion. Private Slade was transferred across to the 1st Battalion, and soon found himself ensconced at Ypres.
Towards the end of 1915 Theodore came down with tuberculosis, and was medically evacuated to Britain for treatment. He was admitted to St John’s Hospital in Penarth, Glamorganshire, and remained in hospital over the winter months. His lungs weakened, he contracted pneumonia, passing away from the condition on 23rd March 1916, at the age of 31 years old.
Theodore Slade’s body was brought back to Somerset for burial. He was laid to rest in the family plot in the sweeping vista of Minehead Cemetery.
Amos William Cornish was born on 16th August 1887 in Dunster, Somerset. One of five children, his parents were George and Elizabeth Cornish. George, who was a brickmaker, died in 1893, and at this point the family relationships seemed to have broken down.
By the time of the 1901 census, Elizabeth had remarried, and was living with her new husband and Amos’ youngest sibling, sister Lily. Two of Amos’ brothers, Walter and George, were living with his maternal grandparents, while Amos himself was one of three hundred inmates at the Horton Kirby Home for Homeless Boys in the Dartford area of Kent.
Amos’ schooling would have finished by the time he was 14 years old, and he quickly sought work that allow him to support himself as a young man with no home to go to. A career in the Royal Navy seemed to provide that regular pay and, on 4th June 1902, he enlisted.
As he was under age, Amos was given the rank of Boy 2nd Class, and sent to the shore-based training ship HMS Impregnable in Devonport, Devon. His service records show that he stood just 5ft 4ins (1.63m) tall, had brown hair, brown eyes and a fresh complexion. He was noted as having a scar in the centre of his forehead, and a tattoo of clasped hands over a heart on his right forearm.
Boy Cornish transferred to another training vessel – HMS Lion – after a month or so, and it was here, in February 1904, that he was promoted to Boy 1st Class.
Over the next eighteen months, Boy Cornish served at two more training bases – HMS Boscawen and HMS Vivid. He was given his first sea-going posting in April 1905, aboard the cruiser HMS Blake. It was on his next assignment, however, that he came into his own.
In May 1905, Amos boarded HMS Carnarvon, an armoured cruiser that had been launched a couple of years before. He was to spend the next two years as part of her crew, gaining the rank of Ordinary Seaman when he came of age in August 1905, and Able Seaman a year later.
When his time on board Carnarvon came to an end, Amos returned to shore, to HMS Pembroke, the Royal Naval Dockyard in Chatham, Kent, which was to be his base on and off for the next eight years. During that time, he served on six more ships, and rose to the rank of Leading Seaman in December 1911. This new rank, however, seemed not to suit Amos, and he reverted back to his previous rank eight months later.
Able Seaman Cornish’s longest posting was on board the cruiser HMS Antrim. He joined her crew in September 1913 and, over the next three-and-a-half years he travelled far and wide. Initially patrolling the North Sea – particularly around the Scottish Isles – Amos was on board for a journey to Arkhangelsk in Russia. The ship then transferred to the Western Atlantic, patrolling around America and the West Indies.
Able Seaman Cornish returned to British shores in April 1917, to be based at HMS Vivid, the Royal Naval Dockyard in Devonport, for the nest nine months. During this time, he became ill and was admitted to the Royal Naval Hospital in Truro with double pneumonia. Tragically, this was something he was not to recover from: Amos passed away on 4th February 1918, at the age of 30 years old.
While somewhat stretched, Amos’ family bond still remained. Elizabeth was living in Minehead by this point, with husband Alfred and their two children. It was to the Somerset town, therefore, that Amos William Cornish’s body was brought. He was laid to rest in the town’s sweeping cemetery.
George’s death in 1893, and Elizabeth’s remarriage a few years later split the family, and Amos’ siblings all followed separate paths.
The oldest of his siblings, Walter, also followed a military path. He joined the Royal Garrison Artillery as a Gunner and, by the time of the census, was based in Gibraltar. On completing his service, he returned to Somerset, marrying Florence Peddle in 1925. The 1939 Register found the couple living with his cousin, Amelia, while he worked as a gardener. Walter died in Weston-super-Mare in 1962, at the age of 74.
Amos’ next sibling, brother Harold, seems to have had a less fortunate time of things. Absent from the 1901 census, he appears in prison records four years later. He was incarcerated for six months’ hard labour in Brecon Prison, having been found guilty of “Gross Indecency with another male person”. Harold was 14 years and three months old at the time. A newspaper report from around this time suggests that the other party was a George Williams, but there is no further information about him. Harold seems to have come out the other side of his experience, however: the 1911 census recorded him as living and working with draper and grocer James Ridler and his family in Dunster, Somerset.
Amos’ third sibling, sister Lily, found work as a servant to bakers Joseph and Minnie Bagley in Minehead. She married painter and decorator William Whitting in 1916 and the couple went on to have a daughter, Kathleen, eight years later. The family settled in Weston-super-Mare, Lily passing away in 1968, at the age of 75.
The youngest of the Cornish siblings was George. He remained living with his maternal grandparents in Dunster, and found work as a printer. In the spring of 1921, he married Clara Govier and, by the time of the 1939 Register, they couple were living in Aylesbury, Buckinghamshire, where George was working as a printer and compositor. He died in 1957, at the age of 62 years old.
Walter Stone was born at the start of 1880 in Lympsham, Somerset. The middle of three children, his parents were coal merchant George Stone and his wife, Ellen.
When he finished his schooling, Walter found work as a painter and plumber. In January 1902 he married Alice Charman. Eighteen years older than Walter, she was the widow of a milkman from Bristol, and had raised her son, Edgar, since her husband had passed away a few months before. The couple settled in the village of Brent Knoll, and went on to have three children of their own: Albert, Florence and Alice.
When war came to Europe, Walter was called upon to play his part. He enlisted after June 1916, and joined the Royal Engineers as a Sapper. He was attached to the Inland Waterways and Docks division, but, as no documentation remains to confirm his service, it is not possible to confirm whether he saw any action overseas
Sapper Stone’s time in the army was not to be a long one. The next record for him is that of his admission to a military hospital in Herne Bay, Kent. He was suffering from pneumonia, and this would take his life on 18th January 1917. He was 36 years of age.
Walter Stone’s body was brought back to Somerset for burial. He was laid to rest in the tranquil graveyard of St Michael’s Church in Brent Knoll.
Further tragedy was to strike Walter’s widow, Alice. Edgar, her son from her first marriage, enlisted in the Somerset Light Infantry when war broke out. Attached to the 7th (Service) Battalion, he found himself on the Front Line by the end of July 1915.
Private Stone is reported to have been accidentally killed on 1st May 1917. No other detail is given, but he was just 24 years of age when he passed. He was buried at the Thiepval Memorial at the Somme.
Alice had lost her husband and her oldest child within a matter of months.
Henry George Yard was born on 25th October 1884 in the Somerset village of Burnham-on-Sea. The second of seven children, his parents were John and Elizabeth Yard. John was a railway porter, but Henry chose a different route, becoming a mason’s labourer.
Henry’s work took him to South Wales, where he took up a position as a pit mason. The 1911 census recorded him as boarding in a six-roomed house in Abertillery, Monmouthshire. From the document there can be no mistaking that this was a mining community. The head of the household for 70 New Gladstone Street was 28-year-old Albert Francis, colliery banksman. He lived there with his wife, Martha, who was fifteen years older than him, and her three children: William, Herbert and Horace.
Martha had been married previously, to coal miner Walter Mutter. Both had been born in Somerset, and had come to South Wales like so many other families, because of the work. Walter died at the beginning of 1909, leaving his widow to raise three children on her own. It seems likely that this is where Albert stepped up: it was not unknown for mine workers to support each other in times of dire need. He married his former colleague’s widow in the autumn, securing a future for her and her family.
According to the census record, the Francis family had one other boarder and all but Martha and Horace worked in the local colliery in one way or another.
There seemed to have been money in Henry’s career move, as it set him up to marry Gertrude Coombes on 6th August 1912. She was a gardener’s daughter from Berrow in Somerset, and eight years younger than her husband. The couple married at St Mary’s Church, Berrow, and appeared to settle back in South Wales. They went on to have two children: Gertrude, who was born the following year, and Daisy, who came along in 1916.
When war came to Europe, Henry was called upon to play his part. He enlisted in October 1915, and was initially assigned to the 3rd Battalion of the Welch Regiment. His service records show that he was 5ft 6ins (1.68m) tall, and weighed 133lbs (60.3kg). He was noted to be of good physical development, although dental treatment was required.
Private Yard transferred to the Machine Gun Corps at some point, and by the autumn of 1916 was sent to Greece. He remained there for nearly two years, but became dogged by malaria in later months there. Initially coming down with the condition in August 1917, he spent the remainder of the war in and out of hospital as attacks of the condition came and went.
Initially returning to home soil and placed on reserve status, Henry was eventually discharged on medical grounds at the end of 1918. He returned to the family home. He was not to be there for long, however: debilitated by malaria, Henry passed away in Bedwellty on 23rd March 1919, at the age of 34 years old.
With strong family connections in Somerset, Gertrude took her husband back there to be laid to rest. Henry George Yard was buried in the tranquil graveyard of St Mary’s Church in Berrow.
Lot Evans was born in Street, Somerset, on 30th October 1895. The second of two children, his parents were George and Elizabeth Evans. Lot’s mother had four children from a previous marriage and, by the time of the 1901 census, the family had set up home in the coastal village of Brean. George was employed as a farm labourer there, as were Lot’s older half-brothers.
When Lot completed his schooling, he also found work as a farm labourer. The next census return, in 1911, recorded the family of four still living in Brean. George had eased up on the manual work – he was 67 by this point – and was employed as a domestic gardener. Lot’s older brother Ben was a bricklayer’s labourer, so there were three wages – albeit probably meagre ones – coming in to support the household.
When war came to European shores, both Lot and Ben stepped up to play their part. Lot enlisted on 10th November 1915, but was not actually mobilised until January 1918. He joined the Royal Garrison Artillery as a Gunner, and was assigned to the 4th Siege Battery.
On 28th March 1918, Lot married his sweetheart, Hester Puddy. Theirs was to be a brief honeymoon, as he was sent to France just three days later.
Gunner Evans remained overseas until the end of the year, returning home on 5th February 1919 in advance of being demobbed.
He was very ill with influenza. He went to bed and we had the Doctor. It developed into pneumonia and he died last night [13th February 1919].
Letter from Private Ben Evans to the Royal Garrison Artillery
Gunner Evans was just 23 years old when he died. The letter sent by his brother – who was also at home and waiting to be demobbed from the Wiltshire Regiment – explained that Hester was living with their family and his question to the regiment concerned how to claim his brother’s pension.
Lot Evans was laid to rest in the graveyard of St Bridget’s Church in Brean. Now surrounded by caravan parks and holidaymakers, at the time, this would have been a place of sanctuary bordering the Somerset coastline.
Death and Service 