Thomas Peter Ounan was born on 21st July 1894 in St Helier, Jersey. The oldest of three children, his parents were Thomas and Augustine Ounan. Thomas Sr was a groom from England, who had married his Jersey-born wife and settled on the island to raise their family.
There is, in fact, little documented information about young Thomas’ life. From his military service records, it would seem that he found employment as a steward when he left school. When war broke out, he was called upon to play his part and, on 10th June 1916, he enlisted in the Royal Navy as an Officer’s Steward 3rd Class.
Thomas was initially sent to HMS Victory – the Royal Naval Dockyard in Portsmouth, Hampshire – for training. After a month he was assigned to the steam ship HMS Lucia, spending the next few months on board. At this point, he became unwell, having contracted tuberculosis. and was admitted to hospital in Portsmouth for treatment.
On 30th August 1916, Officer’s Steward Ounan was medically discharge from naval duty due to the condition. He returned to Jersey, remaining in the family home for the next year.
Thomas’ condition was to get the better of him, though. He passed away from tuberculosis at home on 6th October 1917: he was 23 years of age.
Thomas Peter Ounan was laid to rest in the peaceful La Croix Cemetery in Grouville.
Details of Fred Maynard’s early life are a challenge to piece together. His First World War service records give his age as 44 years old when he enlisted in September 1914, and confirm his place of birth as Melksham, Wiltshire.
A newspaper report of his funeral gives the name of three brothers – Charles, Frank and Arthur – while only one census return, from 1881, provides a potential match for the family. This suggests Fred’s parents were iron fitter Alfred Maynard and his wife, Deborah, and gives the family’s address as Waterworks Road in Trowbridge.
Fred joined the army in the autumn of 1888. Initially assigned to the Gloucestershire Regiment, he had transferred to the Wiltshire Regiment by the following spring. Private Maynard showed a commitment to duty: in December 1890 he was promoted to Lance Corporal, rising to Corporal in the summer of 1893.
Fred was stood down to reserve status after his seven years’ active duty, but was recalled to the army in December 1899, when war broke out in South Africa. Promoted to Serjeant, he was sent to fight in the Boer War, and was mentioned in dispatches on 2nd April 1901 for special and meritorious service in South Africa. He was stood back down to reserve status in October 1901.
On 21st November 1895, Fred had married Louisa Card. The couple set up home in Trowbridge, but soon moved to London. They went on to have six children: Ernest, Nora and Leslie, who were all born in the London; and Arthur, Martha and Stuart, who were born in Cardiff, the family having moved to Wales by 1910.
The army was not finished with Fred, however, and, within weeks of war breaking out in the summer of 1914, he was called back into service. Given the rank of Serjeant again, he was attached to the South Wales Borderers. Fred was 44 years of age by this point, his service records confirming that he stood 5ft 8ins (1.73m) tall, weighed 164lbs (74.4kg) and had brown hair and hazel eyes.
Attached to one of the regiment’s depots, it seems unlikely that Fred saw service overseas this time around. He was discharged from the army on 1st September 1916 and this seems to have been on medical grounds. Later documents suggest that Serjeant Maynard had been diagnosed with carcinoma of the pylorus, or stomach cancer.
Fred returned to Cardiff, but his time back home was to be short. He was admitted to the Lansdown Road Military Hospital, and passed away on 23rd November 1916. He was 46 years of age.
It seems that Fred’s brother’s had some sway in his funeral. Instead of being laid to rest in Cardiff, where Louisa and the children were living, he was, instead, buried in the Locksbrook Cemetery, Bath, Somerset. His sibling Charles, who was a sergeant in Bath City Police, lived in the city, as did another brother, Frank.
Fred’s headstone also commemorates his and Louisa’s son, Leslie. He had joined the army in the 1920s and, in the summer of 1943, was in Yorkshire, undergoing officer training.
The death of an officer cadet through the accidental discharge of a rifle whose bolt had jammed was described at an inquest…
Captain WH Price said he was in charge of an exercise on the moors which involved the used of small arms and the firing of live ammunition. A squad of cadets lay on the ground in front of a trench firing over a range. All finished firing except Cadet Frank Holroyd, who said his bolt had hammed while firing a second round. [Price] told him to release the bolt by knocking the cocking piece up and back.
This attempt failed, and he told Holroyd to get back into the trench, turn the rifle magazine upwards, place the butt on the side of the trench, and kick the bolt down with his foot. While Holroyd was doing this he noticed Maynard standing in the trench about 4ft away from Holroyd and on his right-hand side.
Captain Price said he saw the rifle was pointing down the range when Holroyd kicked the butt. The cartridge suddenly exploded and Maynard dropped into the trench, shot in the head, and was dead when they reached him.
[Bradford Observer: Saturday 19th June 1943]
Officer Cadet Leslie Maynard was 36 years of age when he was killed. His body was taken back to Somerset for burial: he was laid to rest in the same grave as Fred, father and son reunited after 27 years.
Louisa remained somewhat elusive as time wore on. Fred’s military records confirm that she had moved from Cardiff to the Isle of Wight by 1922. By the time of her son’s death, she was living in Sidcup, Kent.
Daniel Rees Davies was born on 10th August 1887, one of eight children to Daniel and Katherine Rees. Daniel Sr was a coal miner, born in Brecon, South Wales, and it was in Aberdare that the family were born and raised.
By the time of the 1901 census, five of the Davies family were working as coal miners. However, something changed dramatically over the following decade. The next census return, taken in 1911, found Daniel Sr working as a butcher, with Daniel Jr employed as his assistant. The two Daniels and Katherine were living in a six-roomed house with Daniel’s younger brother, Moses, his older sister, Margaret, and her husband, another Daniel.
In the autumn of 1913, Daniel Jr married Daisy Loud. She was a milliner from Bath, and it was in the Somerset city that the couple exchanged their vows. The couple set up home in Bath, and went on to have two children, Maurice and Norman. He continued working as a butcher and, by the time war was declared, he was employed by Larkhall.
When war came to Europe, Daniel stepped up to play his part. Sadly, full details of his service have been lost to time, but it is clear that he enlisted in the Royal Field Artillery in the spring of 1917 and he was attached to the 88th (Howitzer) Brigade.
Gunner Davies served in Northern France and was badly injured on 3rd June 1918. He was initially hospitalised in Rouen, but then medically evacuated to Britain for treatment. Admitted to Netley Hospital in Hampshire, the wounds he had received to his arm and shoulder were to prove too severe. A telegram was sent to Daisy for her to come to the hospital, but her train was delayed, and she arrived too late to see her husband before he passed away. He died on 17th June 1918, at the age of 30 years old.
The body of Daniel Rees Davies was taken back to Somerset for burial. He was laid to rest in Bath’s majestic Locksbrook Cemetery.
Details of William Alliston Turner’s life are a challenge to track down. According to later military records, he was born on 28th February 1888 in St Helier, Jersey. While there are a couple of census returns that may be connected to him, there is nothing to definitively confirm his early life.
William enlisted in the Royal Navy on 9th January 1904. He was just shy of his 14th birthday, and so was given the rank of Boy 2nd Class. Over the next fifteen months, he was attached to the training ship HMS St Vincent, moored at Haslar in Hampshire. In August 1902, he was promoted to Boy 1st Class, and was given his first posting, on board the cruiser HMS Edgar, in May 1905.
After a short spell at HMS Victory, the Royal Naval Dockyard in Portsmouth, William was assigned to HMS Powerful, a protected cruiser, and he would spend two years on board. During this time, he came of age, and was given the rank of Ordinary Seaman. His service records at the time confirm that he was 5ft 5.5ins (1.66m) tall, with dark hair, brown eyes and a fresh complexion. He was also noted as having two tattoos – a heart on the back of his right hand, and the letter T on the back of his left.
William seemed to have taken to his life at sea with some ease. On 1st January 1907 he was promoted to the rank of Able Seaman, and over the next eight years, he served on twelve different vessels, returning to Portsmouth between each voyage.
What had become a good career for Able Seaman Turner, began to take a bit of a downturn. He spent six separate periods of time in the brig between 1908 and 1914, totalling 121 days in total. On 19th March 1915, William was medically discharged from naval service, suffering from neurasthenia, or PTSD as it is now known.
At this point, William’s trail goes cold. He returned to the Channel Islands, and passed away on 13th April 1917: he was 29 years of age.
William Alliston Turner was laid to rest in the quiet graveyard of St Lawrence Church in Jersey.
Frederick Albert Carder was born on 2nd March 1893 in Dartmouth, Devon. The youngest of ten children, his parents were shipwright Samuel Carder and his wife, Julia. Frederick lost both of his parents in 1909, when he was just 14 years of age. He was taken in by his older brother, Ernest – who was better known as James – and his family and, by the time of the 1911 census was working as a porter for the local Co-operative Stores.
War came to Europe in the summer of 1914, and, two years later, Frederick stepped up to play his part. He enlisted in the Royal Navy on 4th July 1916, and was given the rank of Stoker 2nd Class. He was sent to HMS Victory – the Royal Naval Dockyard in Portsmouth, Hampshire – for his initial training.
By the end of August, Stoker Carder was assigned to HMS Broke, a destroyer that formed part of the Dover Patrol, monitoring the waters off the Kent coast. He remained attached to the patrol and was promoted to Stoker 1st Class in January 1917.
On 20th April 1917, the Broke and another ship, HMS Swift, took on six German torpedo boats who were attacking the Dover Barrage – a network of nets and mines in the English Channel, designed to stop U-boats. The Broke rammed the torpedo boat SMS G42, and the two ships became locked together. Enemy sailors boarded the Broke, and hand-to-hand combat ensued. Eventually Broke managed to break free, and the G42 sank.
HMS Broke was towed back to shore, but 21 of her crew had died in the Battle of Dover Strait, including Stoker 1st Class Carder. He was 23 years of age.
The body of Frederick Albert Carder was taken back to Devon for burial. He was laid to rest in Paignton Cemetery, close to his brother, James, who had died in the summer of 1916. Read more about him by clicking here.
Albert Symes was born in Dorset on 6th March 1887. Details of his early life are a challenge to piece together, as his was not an uncommon name in the county – the 1891 census has at least two potential matches, and the 1901 record at least three.
The first concrete information for Albert is that of his military service. Having been working as a general labourer, he enlisted on the 22nd September 1906, joining the Royal Navy as a Stoker 2nd Class. His service records show that he was 5ft 5ins (1.65m) tall, with brown hair, blue eyes and a fresh complexion. He was also noted as having the letters BS (presumably for Bert Symes) tattooed on his right forearm.
The service document gives his place of birth as Yeovil, Dorset, although the town is actually in Somerset. The next census, taken in 1911, suggests he was born in the village of Bradford Abbas, three miles south east and over the Dorset border.
Stoker 2nd Class Symes was first sent to the training ship HMS Nelson. Based in Portsmouth, Hampshire, this is where Albert spent three months, before being assigned to the cruiser HMS Eclipse. Over the next nine years, Albert served on eight ships, returning to a land base – HMS Victory in Portsmouth – in between voyages.
Albert’s commitment to the job is evident – his character was continually noted as being Very Good, while his ability was Superior as each of his annual reviews. In May 1907 he was promoted to Stoker 1st Class; five years later he made Acting Leading Stoker, with a full promotion to the rank in June 1913; on 1st June 1915, while serving on board HMS Hampshire, Albert was promoted again, to Stoker Petty Officer.
Things would change rapidly for Albert, however. Within a matter of weeks, he had contracted pneumonia. He was transferred to the hospital ship Garth Castle, but the condition was to prove too severe. Stoker Petty Officer Symes passed away from the condition on 3rd October 1915: he was 28 years of age.
Albert Symes’ body was brought back to Dorset for burial. He was laid to rest in the peaceful graveyard of St Mary’s Church in the village of Bradford Abbas.
DUTCH, WILLIAM BENJAMIN, Sergt., No. 83812, 47th Brigade, Royal Field Artillery, [son] of William Dutch, of Bladud House, Bath, Accountant, by his wife, Alice, [daughter] of Alderman Alfred Taylor, of The Red House, Bath; b. Lower Weston, Bath, 21 April 1894; educ. Bathforum, and Bath City Secondary School 93 years’ Scholarship), and was employed in the engineering works of Stothert and Pitt Ltd., of Bath. He joined the Army, 17th Aug. 1914; was made Bombardier, 1 November 1914; Corpl., 14 November 1914; and Sergt., 1 January 1915; and died at the Thornhill Isolation Hospital, Aldershot, 11 April 1915, of septic scarlet fever; [unmarried]. He was buried at Locksbrook Cemetery, Bath, will full military honours. His Capt. wrote: “I cannot exaggerate the loss he is to me personally and to the whole battery, had picked up a wonderful knowledge of gunnery and his work in general was out and out the best sergeant I had, and would have gone far in the service.” He was a keen sportsman and a popular football player.
[De Ruvigny’s Roll of Honour, 1914-1919]
William Benjamin Dutch was the second of five children to William and Alice. His father initially worked as a grocer and wine and spirit shopkeeper, and the 1901 census found the family living above the shop on the corner of Chelsea Road and Park Road, Bath.
By the time of the 1911 census, however, things had changed. The Dutches had moved to Walcot, nearer the centre of Bath, and William was working as a tramway clerk. Alice was running the family home – 3 Bladud Buildings – as a boarding house, and employed a housemaid and kitchen maid to help look after the lodgings.
William’s dedication to his army role – and his rapid rise through the ranks – is outlined in the article above. He seems, however, to have spent his time on home soil, remaining at his Hampshire base from his enlistment to his passing. His service records give an insight into his physical nature: he stood 5ft 6.5ins (1.69m) tall, and weighed 153lbs (69.4kg). He had light brown hair, grey eyes and a fresh complexion.
Serjeant Dutch’s illness seems to have come on him quickly:
On Sunday a telegram reached [his parents] saying that their son… was seriously ill in hospital at Aldershot. Mr Dutch went thither at once, only to find that his son had passed away. He was attacked last week with bronchial pneumonia, and tracheotomy was performed in the hope of saving his life, but in vain. The deceased was… a young soldier of rare promise and fine physique.
[Bath Chronicle and Weekly Gazette – Saturday 17 April 1915]
William Benjamin Dutch was just 20 years old when he passed away. His body was taken back to Somerset for burial. He was laid to rest in the family plot in Bath’s sweeping Locksbrook Cemetery, within sight of William Sr’s former shop on Chelsea Road.
William Henry Whitmore was born in Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire, on 21st May 1875. One of nine children, his parents were William and Mary Whitmore. He was not the first of their sons to be called William – a brother born nine years previously was also called by that name, but he died when just a few months old.
William Sr was a journeyman joiner, and seems not to have played much of a part in his family’s life. The 1881 and 1891 census returns found Mary raising her children as the head of the household, and this seems to have paid a toll. By the time of the 1901 census, she was one of 150 patients at the North Staffordshire Infirmary in Stoke-on-Trent. She died in 1907, at the age of 67 years old.
William Jr, meanwhile, had been making a life for himself. On 28th August 1895, he enlisted in the Royal Marine Light Infantry, set on a career at sea. His service records confirm that he was 5ft 8ins (1.73m) tall, with brown hair, grey eyes and a fresh complexion. The document also highlights two tattoos on his left forearm, one of a crossed heart.
Private Whitmore was sent to Walmer in Kent for his initial training. He spent nine months on site, before moving to what would become his shore base, the Royal Naval Dockyard in Portsmouth. Over the twelve years of his contact, he would go on to serve on six ships, each time returning to the Hampshire port.
On 18th February 1904, William married Margaret Cook. She was the daughter of a farm labourer from Somerset, but the couple wed in the parish church of Eastry, near the Royal Marines base in Walmer.
William’s term of service came to an end in September 1907, and he was placed into the Royal Fleet Reserve. He and Margaret, together with daughter Kathleen, settled in Wellingborough, Northamptonshire. Their home was a small terraced cottage on Salisbury Road, close to the train station. William had found employment as a labourer in a blast furnace not far from home. A second child, daughter Nora, was born in 1910, and the family was complete.
Private Whitmore was called into service once more when war was declared. After initially returning to Portsmouth, he was assigned to the converted liner HMS Carmania, spending nearly two years on board. After a brief spell back on dry land, William found himself assigned to the steam ship SS Anna Sophie.
On 23rd July 1918, the ship was en route from Rouen to South Wales, when she was torpedoed the German submarine U-55 off Trevose Head, Cornwall. The Anna Sofie was sunk, and one member of the crew died. Others subsequently passed from their injuries, including the now Lance Corporal Whitmore. He was 43 years of age.
William Henry Whitmore’s body was recovered, but his family were unable to cover the cost of bringing him back to Northamptonshire for burial. Instead, he was laid to rest in Padstow Cemetery, in a shared grave with fellow crewman Gunner William Moore.
Lance Corporal William Whitmore (from ancestry.co.uk)
The life Albert Bendell is one of dedication to naval service. Born in Portsmouth on 28th May 1865, his parents were Master at Arms John Bendell and his Jersey-born wife, Eliza.
The family had moved to St Martin, Jersey, by the time of the 1871 census. Given the amount of time her husband spent at sea, it would seem likely that Eliza, who had three young children to raise on her own, wanted to be close to her family.
Albert was keen to follow in his father’s footsteps and, on 6th December 1880 he enlisted in the Royal Navy. Just fifteen years old, his service records show that he was just 5ft 1.5ins (1.56m) tall, with blue eyes, light hair and a fair complexion.
Albert’s dedication to the role was obvious: starting off as Boy 2nd Class, he steadily – and rapidly – rose through the ranks. Over the next twelve years, he served on seven ships and shore bases. He was promoted to Boy 1st Class in September 1891, while serving on the training ship HMS St Vincent.
When he came of age in May 1883, he was given the rank of Ordinary Seaman: within a year he had risen to Able Seaman, and achieved the role of Leading Seaman in January 1888. Just three months later, Petty Officer Bendell was beginning a two-year service on board HMS Fearless.
In April 1893, Albert received a further promotion, and a change in direction within the Royal Navy. He was now a Gunner, a standing officer’s role, permanently attached to HMS Duke of Wellington – returning to the first ship he had been assigned to nine years earlier.
On 17th September 1900, Albert married Amelia Renouf, the daughter of a land proprietor from St Martin, Jersey. The couple wed in St Helier, Albert giving his profession as Warrant Officer. At 37, Amelia was a year older than her new husband: the couple would not go on to have any children.
Albert’s rise through the ranks continued. The 1911 census found him moored in Malta. He was Chief Gunner on HMS Egmont: the importance of his role on board highlighted by the fact that he was the 11th person out of 188 to be recorded on the document.
When war came to Europe, Albert served his King and Country proud. He was promoted to the rank of Lieutenant and, in June 1919, he was awarded the MBE “for valuable services as Officer-in-Charge, Defensively Armed Merchant Ships, Southampton.” [The Edinburgh Gazette, 1st July 1919]
This distinguished life was beginning to take its toll, however, and, on 16th March 1920, after nearly 40 years in naval service, Albert was medically stood down. Suffering from dyspepsia, he returned to Jersey, and his home, La Rosaye, in St Martin.
Albert Bendell’s health was to get the better of him. He passed away on 26th April 1920, at the age of 54 years of age. He was laid to rest in the peaceful graveyard of St Martin’s Church, Jersey.
Amelia remained on the island for the remainder of her life. She passed away on 31st August 1943, at the height of Jersey’s German occupation, at the age of 80 years old. She was laid to rest with Albert, husband and wife reunited after more than 23 years.
Samuel Robert Graham was born in Cork, Ireland, in 1895. He was one of six children to Samuel and Alice Graham. Samuel was a postman from Liverpool, while Alice had been born in St Helier, Jersey.
Information about Samuel Jr’s early life is scarce: the 1901 census found Alice and the children visiting her mother in Jersey, while he husband is missing from census records. The next return in 1911 recorded Samuel Sr, Alice and three of their children living in the Trinity area of Jersey, but Samuel Jr is missing.
On 9th September 1913, Samuel Jr enlisted in the Royal Navy. He had been working as a blacksmith, and sought a career at sea. His service records show that he was 5ft 5ins (1,65m) tall, with brown hair, hazel eyes and a fresh complexion.
Stoker 2nd Class Graham signed up for a period of twelve years’ service. Based at HMS Victory, the Royal Naval Dockyard in Portsmouth, Hampshire, his first formal posting was on board the cruiser HMS Bristol. He remained on board for nearly two years, and was promoted to Stoker 1st Class in the process.
During the First World War, Samuel served on two more ships and, by the end of the conflict, he was based at HMS Columbine, the naval base at Port Edgar on the Firth of Forth, Scotland. He fell ill while barracked there, and was admitted to the Royal Naval Hospital in nearby Queensferry. Whatever Stoker 1st Class Graham’s condition, it was to prove too severe: he passed away on 1st December 1918, at the age of 23 years old.
Samuel Robert Graham’s body was taken back to Jersey for burial. He was laid to rest in Trinity Churchyard, not far from where his family still lived.
Death and Service 