James Gore was born on 13th May 1876 in Steart, a community on the Somerset coast near Bridgwater. An only child, his parents were Robert Brewer and Elizabeth Gore, but parental duties were shared with Robert’s family, and Elizabeth went on to marry Thomas Dibble when James was just 4 years old.
Robert was a fisherman, as was his father, and this was a life into which James would also follow. By 1891 he was working with his paternal grandfather, John Brewer, and within ten years he was running his own boat.
On 12th December 1901, James married Emily Chilcott at the parish church in Stogursey, Somerset. She was the daughter of Richard, Chilcott, a labourer employed on the expanding road network for the area. The couple initially set up home in Steart, but had moved to Burnham-on-Sea by the time of the 1911 census. They would go on to have four children – Harold, Reginald, Margaret and Olive – between 1905 and 1916.
When war broke out, James was 38 years old. He wasn’t called up immediately, but by the closing months of the conflict, the needs of the Royal Navy were strong enough for him to be conscripted. He joined up on 21st August 1918 and, having built a career as a fisherman, he was assigned to the Royal Naval Reserve. His service records confirm that he was 5ft 6ins (1.67m) tall, with a fresh complexion and blue eyes.
Deck Hand Gore was sent to HMS Victory, the Dockyard in Portsmouth, Hampshire, for his initial training. Here, billeted in cramped barracks, perfect breeding grounds for germs and disease, he quickly became ill. Having contracted pneumonia, James was admitted to the Haslar Hospital in Gosport. The condition was to take his life: he passed away on 10th September 1916, less than three weeks after enlisting. He was 40 years of age.
James Gore’s body was taken back to Somerset for burial. He was laid to rest in the peaceful cemetery in Burnham-on-Sea, not far from where Emily and the children were still living.
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.
Leonard Lionel Floyd (or Floyde) was born in the Somerset village of Watchet in 1898. The eldest of five children, his parents were journeyman tailor Thomas Floyde and his wife, Louise.
Interestingly, at the time of the two censuses in 1901 and 1911, Leonard was away from the family home: the earlier document recorded him living with his maternal grandparents on the outskirts of Minehead. Ten years later he was back in Watchet, residing with his mother’s brother and sister.
Little additional information is available to document Leonard’s young life. With war raging across Europe, he appears to have joined up as soon as he came of age. He was assigned to the 1st Battalion of the Princess Charlotte of Wales’ (Royal Berkshire Regiment) and sent to Portsmouth, Hampshire, for training.
Tragically, it seems that Private Floyd fell ill while billeted in the cramped barracks there. He was admitted to the 5th Southern General Hospital in the city, but died soon after. He breathed his last on 21st April 1917, aged just 18 years old.
Leonard Lionel Floyd’s body was brought back to Somerset for burial. He was laid to rest in the sweeping Minehead Cemetery, not far from where his parents lived, on the outskirts of the town.
Henry Edward Rowell was born on 22nd May 1898 in Southwark, Surrey. One of five siblings, of whom only three survived childhood, his parents were Henry and Jane Rowell. Henry Sr was a bricklayer’s labourer from Southwark, and the family were brought up in a small terraced house on Brandon Street, Walworth.
When he finished his schooling, Henry Jr found work as a turner’s improver but, when war came to Europe, he was called upon to play his part. He enlisted on 29th May 1915, and, as a Private, was attached to the 12th (Service) Battalion (Bermondsey) of the East Surrey Regiment. His service records tell a little of the man he was, confirming that he stood 5ft 3.5ins (1.61m) tall, and suggesting that he gave his age a 19 years old (he was just 16 at the time).
Henry seemed to have made an impression on his superiors as, in early October, he was promoted to Lance Corporal. His early service was based on home soil, primarily in Witney, Surrey.
In December 1915, Henry was temporarily released from military duty for munitions work. Sent to work for the engineering company Peter Hooker Ltd, in Walthamstow, Essex, Lance Corporal Rowell was to remain here for the next four months. On 25th March 1916, however, he was called back to service, as his battalion readied itself to move from its base, by that point in Aldershot, Hampshire, to Northern France.
Lance Corporal Rowell found himself in the thick of things very quickly. From 1st July, the 12th Battalion was caught up in the Battle of the Somme, and he remained entrenched there for the next couple of months.
On 15th September 1916, the British launched an attack on the German front line at Flers-Courcelette, mid-way between Albert and Bapaume. Lance Corporal Rowell was involved in the battle, which lasted until the end of the month, and was cut down on the very first day. He was just 18 years of age.
Henry Edward Rowell was laid to rest in the Bulls Road Cemetery in Flers, Picardie.
Henry Edward Rowell was my paternal grandmother’s first cousin.
Thomas Wood was born in Bristol, Gloucestershire, in the summer of 1862. The third of ten children, he was the oldest son to Thomas and Emma Wood. Thomas Sr was a cabinet maker, but his son was not to follow in his father’s footsteps, seeking a life of adventure instead.
Thomas enlisted in the army and, while documents relating to his early life are not readily available, the 1891 census recorded him as being billeted at the Cambridge Barracks in Portsmouth, Hampshire. A member of the Royal Artillery, he seems to have been enlisted for a while, as he had risen to the rank of Corporal.
In 1894, Thomas married Leah Barrett, who was born in Oxfordshire. The army life underscored where the family would settle. They had four children and, according to their ages, the Woods were in Liverpool by 1895, Gosport, Hampshire, in 1896 and Cork in Ireland by 1899. The 1901 census found the family living in Wicklow, with Thomas having now achieved the rank of Company Sergeant Major.
Ten years later, and Thomas had stepped away from the army life. Now 48 years of age, he and Leah had been married for 17 years. The couple had settled in the Worle, on the outskirts of Weston-super-Mare, Somerset, where Thomas had set himself up as a butcher, with Leah assisting him.
War came to Europe in 1914, and it seems that Thomas felt drawn to play his part once more. He joined the Royal Defence Corps as a Serjeant when it was formed in the spring of 1916, and was assigned to the regiment’s 263rd Company.
Little information is available about Serjeant Wood’s army service, but by the autumn he had been admitted to the Shell Shock Hospital (now the Maudsley Hospital) in Denmark Hill, London. His entry to the hospital, however, was actually due to kidney disease, and this was what would claim his life. Thomas died from a combination of nephritis and uraemia on 21st November 1916. He was 54 years of age.
Thomas Wood was brought back to Somerset for burial. He was laid to rest in the graveyard of St Martin’s Church in Worle.
The early life of Charles Shipp is a challenge to unpick. Born Charles Morgan in Bath, Somerset, in 1872, his father was also called Charles. He found work as a labourer when he finished school.
Charles sought a life of adventure, however, and on 7th January 1890, he enlisted in the army, joining the South Wales Borderers. Private Morgan’s service records show that he was 5ft 5.5ins (1.66m) tall and weighed 116lbs (52.6kg). He had brown hair, grey eyes and a fresh complexion, with tattoos of crossed flags, a crown and VR on his left forearm.
Private Morgan spent three years on home soil, and is recorded as being based in North Camp Barracks in Farnborough, Hampshire, in the 1891 census. His battalion was sent to Egypt in December 1892 and spent the next three years overseas, moving to Gibraltar in the spring of 1895. The only details available for his time abroad relate to a couple of hospital admissions – for a fever in Cairo in August 1894, and for gonorrhoea in Gibraltar in the autumn of 1895. He returned to Britain at the end of November that year.
Charles appears to have been based in South Wales when he returned home and, on 20th December 1896, he married Lottie Walters in Llandough Parish Church. Interestingly, while the new bride’s father’s details are recorded – naval pensioner James Walters – Charles’ have been intentionally left blank. This is also the first document on which his surname is recorded as Shipp, so there seems to have been a deliberate distancing from his family at this point.
Charles was still committed to his military career. He served on home soil until January 1897, when he was placed on reserve, having completed seven years’ service. This respite was not to be for long, however, as he was recalled on three years later, and sent to South Africa, to fight in the Second Boer War.
Private Shipp, as he was now known, served in South Africa for more than two years, and was awarded the Johannesburg, Cape Colony, 1901 and 1902 clasps. In August 1902, he returned to Britain, and was formally stood down from army service.
Charles and Lottie moved to Bath, and set up home in a small cottage in Locksbrook Road. They went on to have seven children, all of them girls and, by the time of the 1911 census, Charles was working as a carter for the local gas works. His heart seems always to have been with his military career, however, and, when war broke out in 1915, he saw this as an opportunity to play his part once more.
On 25th October 1915, Charles enlisted in the Royal Army Service Corps as a Driver. His was not to be a war fought on home turf, and within a month, he was in the Mediterranean, potentially back in Egypt again. In April 1916, his battalion moved to Salonika, and he spent the next three years in Northern Greece.
Charles contracted malaria in the autumn of 1917, and this resulted in a hospital admission for just over two months. He returned to his unit, but spent another couple of months in a Macedonian hospital the following year when the condition recurred.
Driver Shipp survived the war, and returned to Britain in April 1919. His health was again suffering, and he was formally discharged from the army on medical grounds on 29th April.
At this point, Charles’ trail goes cold. He returned home to Lottie and their daughters, but there is nothing to account for the the last eight months of his life. He passed away on 12th December 1919, at the age of 47 years of age.
Charles Shipp was laid to rest in Bath’s majestic Locksbrook Cemetery, not far from where his family lived.
On the main road between Glastonbury and Wells, on the outskirts of the village of Coxley is the old Wesleyan Methodist Chapel. Now converted to a house, its back garden contains the remains of Private WR Parsons, who died in January 1919.
William Reginald Parsons was born on 22nd February 1895 in the hamlet of Chilton Burtle, near Bridgwater. The second of eight children, his parents were Wallace and Harriet Parsons. By the time of the 1901 census, the family had moved to Wells, where William was employed as a platelayer by Great Western Railways.
When he left school, William found employment as a paper maker, and was employed by the St Cuthbert’s Paper Mill to the west of the city. He wanted bigger and better things, however, and, on 11th April 1912, he enlisted in the Royal Marine Light Infantry.
Private Parsons’ service records show that he was 5ft 6.5ins (1.68m) tall, with brown hair, hazel eyes and a fresh complexion. It was also noted that he had a small scar on the right side of his back. Initially sent to the regiment’s depot in Deal, Kent, this is where he was tested for his swimming ability: he passed on 24th June 1912.
William remained in Deal until the end of the year. After seven months in Portsmouth, Hampshire, he embarked on a number of postings that lasted for the next six years. Initially assigned to the battleship HMS Bulwark, Private Parsons’ main posting was on board another battleship, HMS Zealandia.
Primarily based guarding the North Sea Coast, Zealandia also served in the Mediterranean, sailing as far as the Dardanelles towards the end of 1915. In all, Private Parsons spent more than three years on board the battleship.
William’s next posting was on board the cruiser HMS Royalist, on which he served until the end of the First World War. While he was on board, it appears that he became unwell, and he was admitted to the Royal Naval Hospital in Granton, near Edinburgh. Details of his condition are not readily available, but they were serious enough for him to succumb to them: he passed away on 30th January 1919, at the age of just 23 years old.
The body of William Reginald Parsons was brought back to Somerset for burial. He was laid to rest in the quiet churchyard of the Wesleyan Methodist Chapel in Coxley.
(c) Sharky Ward 2025
As the chapel is now a family home, its garden is not readily accessible. The photo of Private Parsons’ grave was taken by Commonwealth War Graves Commission volunteer Sharky Ward, to whom I am indebted for its use.
Andrew Michael Fox was born on 25th May 1871, the oldest of six children, to Michael and Eliza Fox. Michael was a Private in the 40th Regiment of Foot, and was based in Curragh Camp, Kildare, Ireland, when Andrew was born.
The family travelled where Michael’s work took him: Andrew’s oldest siblings were born in Uttar Pradesh, India, and the family were in England by the time of the 1881 census.
Given Michael’s military connections, it is no surprise that Andrew followed him into the army. He enlisted in August 1884, joining the South Lancashire Regiment. His service records give his age as 14 – he was, in fact, just 13 years old – and note his height as 4ft 9ins (1.44cm) and his weight as 73lbs (32.7kg). Andrew was recorded as having hazel eyes, brown hair and a fair complexion: his religion was also confirmed as Roman Catholic.
Andrew’s service records have become damaged over time, and a lot of his details are illegible. Because of his age when he enlisted, he was initially given the rank of Boy. In July 1887, he was formally mobilised, with the rank of Private. He remained on home soil for the next ten years, with the 1891 census listing him as being barracked in Fort Regent, Jersey.
It was in the Channel Islands that Andrew met Kathleen Dooling. The couple married on 7th January 1892, and went on to have ten children. Over the next couple of years, Andrew progressed through the ranks, achieving Lance Corporal in September 1892, Corporal in June 1894 and Lance Serjeant in August 1897.
In 1899, the Second Boer War led to the newly-promoted Serjeant Fox being posted overseas. He remained in South Africa for six months, while the conflict raged on. Andrew returned to Britain in April 1900, and was officially stood down from the army on 31st December that year, as he was deemed no longer fit for military service.
The 1901 census found Andrew and Kathleen still living in family barracks in Aldershot with their three eldest children, Andrew Margaret and Edith. Andrew was recorded as being an officer’s valet, likely now in a civilian role. The family remained in Aldershot until 1910, with five more of their children being born there.
Another change came at that point, however, as the following year’s census found the family living in Brighton Street, Warrington, Lancashire. Andrew was, by this point, working as a salesman for the Singer Sewing Machine Company, and the family were cramped into a four-roomed end-of-terrace house.
War came to Europe in the summer of 1914, and Andrew stepped up to play his part once more. Again, full details have been lost to time, but he took up the rank of Serjeant once more, and was attached to the Somerset Light Infantry. This necessitated another relocation for the family, and they moved to Cannington, near Taunton, Somerset.
Serjeant Fox was assigned to the 7th (Service) Battalion, but was not to remain in his role for long. He contracted phthisis, or tuberculosis, and passed away from the condition on 20th April 1915, just weeks before his regiment departed for the Western Front. He was 43 years of age.
Andrew Michael Fox was laid to rest in the peaceful Cannington Cemetery, not far from the family home.
Private Andrew M Fox
In the plot next to Serjeant Andrew Fox is another, similar headstone. Not quite having the same form as the Commonwealth War Grave Commission headstone that Serjeant Fox has, this is dedicated to a Private Andrew M Fox, of the 2nd South Lancashire Regiment.
Andrew Moyse Fox was the eldest son of Andrew and Kathleen. Born on 31st March 1894 in Ireland, he wanted to follow his father and grandfather into the army.
Andrew Jr enlisted in the South Lancashire Regiment in August 1908. His service records confirmed that he was just 14 years of age, standing 5ft (1.52m) tall, and weighing 5st 2lbs (32.7kg). He was noted as having dark brown hair, hazel eyes and a fresh complexion, and that he has a scar on his right buttock.
As is the case with his father, there is limited information about Andrew Jr’s army career. He spent just under six years serving with the regiment, and was formally mobilised when he came of age in 1912. On 27th March 1914, however, Private Fox was discharged from the army on medical grounds, for reasons unclear. The next record available for him is that of his passing, just nine days after his father. He was 21 years of age.
Andrew Fox Jr was laid to rest next to his father in Cannington Cemetery. The heartbreak for Kathleen, to have lost husband and oldest boy within two weeks, must have been indescribable. While her son’s headstone is similar in design to her husband’s, he was not subsequently entitled to an official Commonwealth War Grave, as he had left the army before the outbreak of war: the Commission’s qualification dates (4th August 1914 to 31st August 1921).
Francis Frederick Herbert Rich was born in Sherborne, Dorset, in the spring of 1896. The youngest of three children, his parents were Frederick and Alice Rich. Frederick was a grocer’s assistant, who had left Sherborne by the time of the 1901 census for Weston-super-Mare, Somerset, to find work. Alice remained with their children, but, by 1911, the family were back together and living in Bridgwater.
Frederick was now working as a grocer, and his two daughters were employed as pressers in a local blouse factory. Frederick, meanwhile, was apprenticed to an outfitter’s in the town.
War came to Europe, and Francis stepped up to service his King and Country. Full details of his time in the army are lost to time, but it is clear that he joined the Royal Engineers, and was attached to the 20th Territorial Force Depot. This was based in Pier Road, Gillingham, Kent, but it seems likely that he spent at least some time overseas.
A contemporary newspaper suggested that he worked as a dispatch rider for his battalion. The location of his passing – the Royal Victoria Hospital in Netley, near Southampton – would intimate that he had been brought there from the Western Front, having been wounded there.
Corporal Rich had been awarded the Military Medal before he passed, although again, the reason for this award is lost to the ages. He died, through causes unknown, on 16th May 1918, at the age of just 22 years old.
The body of Francis Frederick Herbert Rich was brought back to Somerset for burial. He was laid to rest in North Petherton Cemetery, not far from where his family still lived, on Taunton Road, Bridgwater.
John Bruce Cooper was born on 21st July 1869 in Croydon, Surrey. He was the oldest of eight children, all but one boys, to John and Maria Cooper. John Sr was a boot and shoe manufacturer whose business, by the time of the 1881 census, was employing around 600 people.
By 1901, the business was doing well. The family had moved to Northamptonshire, and were living at Delapré Abbey, on the outskirts of Northampton. They were now supported by fourteen servants living on site, while grooms, coachmen and gardeners were housed on the estate.
John Sr died in August 1906, while Maria passed away less than six months later. Their children, now aged between 25 and 37, went on to live their separate lives. Five of John Jr’s brothers remained in bootmaking, in Leicestershire, Northamptonshire and Surrey, while one of them, Philip, took holy orders. John, however, sought a different route.
In April 1907, John married Violet Mary Gordon in Kensington, London. She was the daughter of a general in the Indian Army, and had been born in Simla. The couple settled in a house in Basingstoke, Hampshire, and went on to have two children: Thomas and Richard. The 1911 census records the family residing in Daneshill Cottage, with two live-in domestics. By this point John was noted as being a dealer in motor cars.
When war broke out, John felt duty bound to serve his country. Little information about his military career remains documented, but a contemporary newspaper report of his funeral provides some indication of his service.
Captain Bruce Cooper… was formerly an officer of Territorial [Royal Army Medical Corps], being transport officer of the 2nd South-Western Mounted Brigade, and was stationed at Frome [Somerset]. Obtaining a commission in the [Army Service Corps], he was promoted captain, and was so proficient and zealous that he became Officer Commanding Vehicles at Bulford Camp, where he was held in the greatest esteem.
Bath Chronicle and Weekly Gazette: Saturday 27th November 1915
Captain Cooper fell ill in October 1915, and was suffering from phlebitis, or inflammation the veins. This was to prove fatal, and he passed away at the family home in Bath, Somerset, on 21st November 1915. He was 46 years of age.
John Bruce Cooper was laid to rest in a family plot in the cemetery of Bath Abbey. His older son, Thomas was laid to rest with him, when he passed away in 1949. Violet was reunited with her husband and son when she was buried with them in 1972.
Death and Service 