William John Withers was born in the spring of 1883, in the Somerset town of Midsomer Norton. He was one of six children to William and Rose Withers. William Sr was a coal miner who went on to become a night bailiff, or caretaker, for the colliery. His son, however, sought different things, and, when he left school, he found work as a grocer’s assistant.
In the summer of 1909, William Jr married Florence Robbins, a miner’s daughter from Radstock. The couple went on to have a son, Allan, in June 1913 but tragically it appears than Florence either died in childbirth, or shortly afterwards.
In the summer of 1914, war came to Europe; by the end of the following year, William had enlisted, joining the Royal Garrison Artillery as a Gunner. His service records show that he stood 5ft 8.5ins (1.74m) tall, and weighted 147lbs (66.7kg). By this time he was working as a shop manager and, as a widower with a young son, it seems that, while he volunteered for service, he wasn’t formally mobilised for another year.
Gunner Withers was initially posted at the Citadel Fortress in Plymouth, but soon moved to Halton Park in Buckinghamshire. He spent time there training to be a Signaller, and in April 1918, he succeeded. That summer, he was posted overseas, serving as part of the 461st Siege Battery in France.
In March 1919, Signaller Withers returned to England. Details are a bit sketchy, but it seems that he was posted to Lincolnshire, and while there he fell ill. He was admitted to the Northern General Hospital in Lincoln with peritoneal adhesions; sadly these proved too much for his body to take; he passed away on 9th April 1919, at the age of 36 years old.
William John Withers’ body was brought back to Somerset for burial. He lies at rest in the graveyard of St Nicholas’ Church in Radstock.
The exact spot of William’s burial is unknown. The grave in the image is of his father, who passed away in 1921. It is likely that William Sr was buried with his son.
Banfield Sidney Carey – who was also known by his middle name – was born in 1868 in Farmborough, Somerset. His father, Abel, was a wheelwright, and both he and Sidney’s mother, Hannah, came from the village.
Sadly, little of Sidney’s life remains documented. He married Janet Morgan in Blackburn, Lancashire, in the autumn of 1912; they had had a daughter, Dorcas, five years before, and Janet had another daughter, Viola, from a previous relationship.
War came to Europe and Sidney enlisted in the Royal Horse Artillery as a Gunner (Wheeler), at some point before February 1918. By that year he was based at the regiment’s cadet school in St John’s Wood, London.
On 30th August Gunner Carey suffered a ruptured aneurysm and, despite being rushed to the nearby Hampstead Military Hospital, he died. He was 49 years old.
Sidney Carey was brought back to Somerset for burial in the family plot. He was laid to rest in the graveyard of All Saints’ Church in his home village of Farmborough.
William Henry Merrifield was born on 29th December 1893, in Newton Abbot, Devon. One of six children to Henry and Kezia Merrifield, his father was an agent for the removal company Pickford’s.
When William left school, he found work as a labourer for a local tannery. War was, by this time, on the horizon, and William soon found himself caught up in it. Full details of his military service are not available, but it is clear that he had a varied career.
William initially worked for the British Red Cross as a cook, and was sent to France in October 1914. He Subsequently joined the Royal Field Artillery as a Gunner, before transferring across to the Royal Garrison Artillery. By June 1915, he had made the move again, and was recorded as a Sapper in the Royal Engineers. During this time, he had been awarded the Victory and British Medals and the 1914 and 1915 Stars for his war efforts.
By this point, William had seen a fair amount of tragedy in his life. Kezia had died in 1905, at the age of 44, and his sister Evelyn had passed away in 1914, aged just 25 years old. The following year, Henry also died, aged 52 years of age.
Sapper Merrifield survived the war and was demobbed in February 1919. At this point, his trail goes cold. He returned to Newton Abbot, and passed away just over a year later, on 22nd April 1920. He was 26 years old.
William Henry Merrifield was laid to rest in Newton Abbot Cemetery; his gravestone marked with the message ‘SO LONG MATEY “AU REVOIR”.
William Percy Avenell seems destined to remain lost to time, and there is little documentation about his life.
He was born in around 1891, and enlisted in the Royal Field Artillery as a Gunner in the summer of 1915, serving in France and earning the Victory and British Medals and the 1915 Star in the process. Gunner Avenell subsequently transferred to the 861st Employment Company of the Labour Corps.
William survived the war and returned to England. He had settled in the Somerset town of Frome (he may have been from the town, but there is nothing to evidence this) with his wife, Lily Beatrice.
Gunner Avenell’s passing is as lost in time as the rest of his life. He died on 22nd February 1920, at the age of just 29 years old.
William Percy Avenell lies at rest in the graveyard of Christ Church in Frome.
George Henry Hewlett was born on 11th July 1892, the oldest of four children to Henry and Louisa Hewlett. Henry was a painter from Hampshire, who travelled for work. George and his youngest sibling were born in Romsey, while his two brothers were born in Swindon, Wiltshire. By the time of the 1901 census, when George was eight years old, the family had settled in Hammersmith, London.
The next census, in 1911, recorded the family as living in Caterham, Surrey. By this time, George and his father were working as gardeners, while his brothers were working as grocers. Louisa, meanwhile, was employed as a live-in housekeeper for a spinster and her mother just around the corner.
War was coming and George was determined to do his bit. Full details are not available, but he enlisted in the Royal Marine Light Infantry, taking on the role of Gunner. In May 1918 he was on board HMS Iris, a Mersey ferry requisitioned by the Royal Navy for support in the planned raid on Zeebrugge.
On 23 April 1918, HMS Iris was towed across the English Channel to Zeebrugge by HMS Vindictive; she was carrying a couple of platoons of the 4th Battalion of the Royal Marines as a raiding party. When the Vindictive neared the Zeebrugge she cast the ferry aside. Iris tried to pull up to the breakwater under heavy fire in order to off-load the raiding parties which were on board. She sustained heavy fire and a shell burst through the deck into an area where the marines were preparing to land. Forty-nine men were killed, including Gunner Hewlett. George was 28 years of age.
George Henry Hewett’s body was brought back to England. He was laid to rest in the Woodlands Cemetery in Gillingham, Kent, not far from the dockyard at which he was based.
George’s two brothers also fought in the First World War.
John William Hewlett, who was two years younger than George, joined the 1st Royal Marine Battalion of the Royal Naval Division as a Private. He fought on the Western Front, and was killed in fighting on 22nd October 1916. He was 21 years of age. John was laid to rest at the Mesnil-Matinsart Cemetery near the town of Albert in Northern France.
Joseph Herbert Hewlett was born three years after George. When war was declared, he enlisted in the Buffs (East Kent Regiment), joining the 4th Battalion as a Private. Dispatched to India, he was initially based in Bombay, but was injured in fighting. He was sent back to England, and treated at the Military Hospital at Netley, near Southampton. Sadly, his wounds proved too severe – he passed away on 4th April 1915, aged just 20 years old.
In the space of three years, Henry and Louisa Hewlett had lost all three of their sons to the war. After George’s death, a local newspaper reported this was their “sad and proud record”. [Dover Express: Friday 31st May 1918]
George Trask was born on 22nd December 1875 and was the oldest of nine children. His parents were Absolam and Sarah Jane Trask, although it seems that the couple did not actually marry until after their first three children had been born. Absolam was an agricultural labourer and the family lived in his and Sarah’s home village of East Coker, near Yeovil in Somerset.
George was destined for a life of adventure; in May 1894, aged just 18, he enlisted in the army, joining the Royal Artillery as a Gunner. His medical examination sheds some light on his physique. He stood 5ft 7ins (1.70m) tall and weighed in at 144lbs (65.3kg). He had a fair complexion, hazel eyes and light brown hair.
Oddly, in the section on distinguishing marks – recorded to help identification should the soldier be killed – the medic only highlighted a ‘small mole midway between pubes and umbilicus’: it seems unlikely that this was the only distinguishing mark that could have been highlighted.
Gunner Trask’s initial service was spent in England. He served four-and-a-half years on the home front, before being shipped to Malta. After six months on the island, he was moved to Crete for a few months, before returning to Malta in September 1899.
George completed his initial term of seven years’ service, and elected to remain to complete a full twelve years of enlistment. As part of this, he was transferred to the Caribbean, spending two years stationed in Bermuda, before moving on to St Lucia for a further two years. By December 1905, Gunner Trask was back home in England, and it was on home soil that he remained.
Back in Somerset, George extended his term of service for another four years. Settled in his home village, he married Elizabeth Garrett on 27th December 1908; the couple would go on to have three children: Ethel (born in 1910), Lilian (1911) and George Jr (1916).
Gunner Trask’s military service continued apace. Reassigned to the Royal Garrison Artillery, he was posted in Portsmouth up until the outbreak of the war. He was awarded a third Good Conduct Medal in addition to the ones he had received in 1900 and 1904.
At this point, details of George’s military service become a little hazy. He achieved 21 years’ military service on 29th May 1915 and was awarded a further Good Conduct Medal. At this point, with the war raging, his period of duty was extended again, until the end of the conflict.
At some point during this time, he was assigned to the Royal Artillery’s School of Experimental Gunnery in Shoeburyness Essex. Sadly, there is nothing to confirm his exact role there, although, given that he was in his 40s by this point, it is likely that he acted as more of a mentor.
And it is here that the story comes to an end. Gunner Trask is noted as passing away in the Military Hospital in Shoeburyness on 31st October 1918, though there is nothing to confirm the cause of his death. He was 43 years of age.
George Trask’s body was brought back to Somerset for burial. Having travelled the world with the army, he was laid to rest in the graveyard of St Mary’s Church in his home village of East Chinnock.
George’s son George was to follow his father into military service.
Working as a press operator for a plastics company, he married Gwendoline Harper in Southend, Essex in April 1940. There is no record of whether he had enlisted at this point, but is seems likely that he had.
When the Second World War broke out, he joined the 4th Battalion of the Suffolk Regiment. After initially helping in the defence of England following the British Army’s evacuation from Dunkirk, late in 1941, he was sent first to Egypt, then to Singapore to help strengthen the garrison there.
Early the following year, the 4th and 5th Battalions fought in the defence of Singapore, before the island surrendered to the Japanese Army. At this point, Lance Corporal Trask found himself a prisoner of war.
The prisoners were put to work building the Burma railway, and suffered great hardship at the hands of their captors. Many succumbed to illness, and George was amongst them, dying from beriberi on 18th December 1943. He was just 27 years old.
George Reginald Trask was laid to rest in the Chungkai Cemetery in Thailand, 100km west of Bangkok.
William Hann was born towards the end of 1871, the son of Harry Hann, who was a stonemason, and his wife Susan. Born in Stoke-under-Ham (now Stoke-sub-Hamdon), he was one of nine children, although sadly five of his siblings passed away at a young age.
Sadly, little of William’s early life remains documented. A newspaper article that reported on his passing, however, confirms that he served in the Royal Field Artillery, and was based in India for four years, before being shipped to South Africa to fight in the Boer War.
Back in Somerset in the early 1900s, he married a woman called Ellen, and the couple went on to have four children – Hilda, Herbert, Kate and Louisa.
At the outbreak of the [First World War], though under no obligation, [Gunner Hann] responded to the call of duty and was among the first to volunteer from Stoke. He was attached to the Indian Expeditionary Force and sent to France, and it is interesting to know that he saw some of the native soldiers whom he had bet while serving in India many years ago.
After serving in France for some time, he was transferred to Mesopotamia, and it was there that his health became impaired, which made him an easy victim of the disease which caused his death.
Western Chronicle: Friday 1st June 1917
Gunner Hann had contracted cellulitis in his right arm, which turned septic. He returned home on sick leave on 22nd May 1917, but died at home from blood poisoning just two days later. He was 48 years of age.
William Hann was laid to rest in the graveyard of St Mary’s Church, in his home village of Stoke-sub-Hamdon.
Harold Henry Lean was born in Gillingham, Kent, in the summer of 1890. The youngest of eight children, his parents were tailor Robert Lean and his wife Sarah. His siblings followed a variety of trades – coachman, painter, shoemaker – but Harold was keen to follow a more long-term career.
When he left school (and after his father’s death in 1901), he enlisted in the army, becoming a Gunner in the Royal Horse Artillery. Little remains of his service documents, but at the time of the 1911 census, he was firmly ensconced in the Artillery Barracks in Leeds.
The next record for Harold comes, sadly, in the form of a news report, detailing the inquest surrounding his death:
SUICIDE OF A SERGEANT AT TOPSHAM BARRACKS
Mr Hamilton Brown, Deputy Coroner for Exeter, held an inquest at Topsham Barracks last evening touching the death of Acting-Sergt. Harold Henry Lean, 26, of the [Royal Field Artillery], who died on Saturday as a result of a self-inflicted wound in the throat.
The evidence given by Bombardier JE Driscoll, of the [Royal Military Police], Trumpeter Sydney Russell, deceased’s batman, Bombardier Biddlescombe and Corporal J Williams signalling instructor was that Sergeant Lean, who had some time ago been ill, on Saturday morning was in his room with Russell, but did not speak all the morning.
Shortly after eleven o’clock he took his razor from a shelf in the corner of the room where he kept his shaving materials. Going to his bed he lay across it with his knees nearly touching the floor and drew the razor across his throat. Russell ran to him and caught him by the shoulders, but deceased pushed him away. Russell then called the assistance of Driscoll and Biddlescombe from an adjoining room.
Williams, who was a personal friend and worked with deceased as a signaller, said that deceased worried about the illness from which he had suffered, and two days previously said he thought he was going insane. He had never threatened to take his life.
Captain RW Statham, [Royal Army Medical Corps], said deceased joined that unit in October 1916, and a month later he reported sick. He was sent away to a military hospital, but was returned this year cured and reported for full duty. The illness had a tendency to create mental depression.
On Saturday morning had entered his name on the sick list, but did not attend the sick parade at 9am. At 11:10 when witness was called to him he found him dead. Witness described the wound, which was a very severe one.
The jury returned a verdict of “Suicide during temporary insanity”.
Wester Times: Tuesday 15th May 1917
Serjeant Harold Henry Lean’s body was brought back to Kent from Devon. He was laid to rest in the Woodlands Cemetery in Gillingham.
Fred Ford was born in the Wiltshire town of Mere in 1877. One of eight children to John and Charlotte, his father was an agricultural labourer from the village.
When he left school, Fred initially found work as an errand boy; he soon moved into labouring and, by the time of the 1901 census, was employed as a bricklayer.
In 1904, Fred married Florence Phillips; she was the daughter of an agricultural labour from Somerset. Fred, by this time, had found work as a coal miner in the county, and the young couple set up home in the village of Babington, near Frome. They went on to have four children.
Conflict was on the horizon and, while full details of his military service are not available, it’s clear that he enlisted as soon as he was able to, almost as was was declared. Gunner Ford joined the Royal Field Artillery, and was assigned to the 108th Brigade of the regiment’s Ammunition Corps.
Initially based in Taunton, Fred was soon moved to Portsmouth and then Worthing, and it was here, in the first winter of the war, that he contracted influenza and pneumonia. Admitted to St Cecil’s Red Cross Military Hospital in the Sussex town, sadly the condition proved too much for him. He passed away on 8th February 1915, tragically hours before Florence arrived from Somerset. Gunner Ford was just 37 years old.
Finances not enabling her to transport his remains back home, Florence Ford laid Fred’s body to rest in Broadwater Cemetery in Worthing, the town where he died.
Alfred R Taylor was born in Portsmouth, Hampshire, in 1886, and was one of six children to James and Agnes Taylor. James was a jobbing gardener, who had been born near Chichester in West Sussex.
Agnes had been born in Tarring, near Worthing, and strong connections to her home town seemed to remain. In the 1891 census, Alfred was boarding with his aunt – Agnes’ sister – in Worthing and, ten years later, both of his parents and all of his siblings were also living there.
By 1911, Alfred was working as a nursery gardener – given his father’s work, this is not surprising, and, at the time, the coastal slopes of the South Downs were filled with orchards, farms and nursery greenhouses.
Tantalisingly, there is not a lot more documentation relating to Alfred’s life. When war broke out, he enlisted in the Royal Field Artillery as a Gunner. He joined up in October 1915 and was sent to the Balkans and, as a result of his service, was awarded the Victory and British Medals and the 1915 Star.
Back home on leave, Gunner Taylor married Ellen Mary Sayers at the start of 1918. She was a plumber’s daughter from Worthing, and this was where she and Alfred married.
When the Armistice was declared, Alfred was transferred to the Labour Corps, as part of the Army Reserve force. He passed away on 23rd April 1919, and, while there are no details of his death, it is likely that he fell victim to one of the lung conditions impacting the returning troops at the time. He was just 33 years of age when he died.
Alfred R Taylor was laid to rest in the Broadwater Cemetery in Worthing, not far from where his widow lived.
There are some further details about Ellen Taylor. She and Alfred did not have any children, and she never married again. She passed away in the spring of 1968 in her home town, at the age of 88 years old.
Death and Service 