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Commonwealth War Graves, Corporal, Driver, Great War, history, illness, India, Ireland, Kent, Lance Corporal, Mesopotamia, photography, Private, Royal Engineers, Royal Navy, Stoker, story, Wales, war

Stoker 1st Class Patrick Tynan

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Stoker 1st Class Patrick Tynan

Patrick Tynan was born in Roscrea, Southern Ireland, on 9th June 1893. He was the eldest of four children to John and Anne Tynan, but sadly, there is no further information available for his early years.

Patrick’s story really picks up on 14th December 1915, when he joined the Royal Engineers as a Private. His service record states that he was living in Bangor, Gwynedd, and that he was a stall keeper at a fairground – a subsequent document noted his trade as a showman. He was noted to be 5ft 8ins (1.72m) tall, weighed 151lbs (68.5kg), and had numerous scars on his back.

Private Tynan did not stay in the UK for long. Assigned the new role of Driver, he was attached to the GHQ Signal Company and sailed from Devonport on 30th June 1916, bound for Mesopotamia. Arriving in Margil – the port connected to Basra – he was based here for more than a year, before moving north to Baghdad.

By this time, Patrick had risen to the rank of Lance Corporal, and was obviously a trustworthy member of the company. Towards the end of 1917, he had again been promoted, this time to Corporal.

During his time in modern day Iraq, Patrick was admitted to hospital a handful of times; there is little information on the conditions he suffered, but none appear to have been life threatening, as they were only for short periods. It’s also interesting to find that his service records confirm a month’s leave in May 1918, spent in India.

When the war came to a close, Corporal Tynan was still in the Middle East. Ready to be demobbed, his company moved to India and boarded the SS Chupra in Calcutta on 26th February 1919, bound for home.

Back in the UK, however, Patrick was not ready to give up the formal military life. Having returned to Gillingham in Kent, where the Royal Engineers were based, he initially found work as a tram conductor, but soon signed up for a five year term with the Royal Navy as a stoker.

He was based on HMS Pembroke II, the shore-based establishment at Chatham Dockyard, but sadly, his time in the navy was to be a short one. Admitted to the Royal Naval Hospital in the town with pneumonia, he passed away form the condition on 1st October 1919. He was just 26 years old.

Patrick Tynan was laid to rest in the Woodlands Cemetery in Gillingham. He had a short but full life, something his modest gravestone doesn’t begin to hint at.

Commonwealth War Graves, East Yorkshire Regiment, Egypt, Great War, history, illness, India, photography, Private, Somerset, story, Wales, war, Wiltshire Regiment

Private Joseph Dodge

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Private Joseph Dodge

Joseph Dodge was born in the summer of 1883, and was one of twelve children, including eleven boys. His parents were David and Eliza Dodge, who raised their growing family in Stoke-sub-Hamdon, a few miles to the east of Yeovil, Somerset.

David was a mason and stone sawyer, but his children went into other roles when they left school; Joseph found work as an agricultural labourer.

In October 1903, Joseph married Elizabeth Ann Case – better known as Annie – who came from just over the Dorset border in the village of Corscombe. Setting up home in Yeovil itself, the couple went on to have two children – both boys – Walter and Norman.

War was coming to Europe, and Joseph was intent on doing his bit. Full service details are not available, but the documents that exist confirm that he enlisted as a Private in the Wiltshire Regiment. Initially assigned to the 1/4th Battalion (which served in Egypt), he transferred to the 2/4th Battalion (which served in India).

Sadly, there is no documentation to give service dates, it is impossible to establish when or if Joseph actually served in these locations. India seems likely, however, as he later transferred to the 1st Garrison Battalion of the East Yorkshire Regiment, which was based in Lucknow.

Private Dodge survived the war and came back to England, but seems to have contracted pneumonia on the journey home. Admitted to hospital in Liverpool, the condition sadly got the better of him. He passed away on 16th February 1919, at the age of 35 years old.

Joseph’s body was brought back to the county of his birth; he was laid to rest in Yeovil Cemetery.

Joseph came from a very patriotic family, and local newspapers early in the war highlighted that many of the Stoke-sub-Hamdon brothers had enlisted to serve King and Country.

At the time of the article, six had enlisted – Thomas, Arthur and Percy (all in the Somerset Light Infantry), Albert (West Somerset Yeomanry), Evan (Royal Navy) and David (Canadian Infantry).

Corporal David Dodge seems definitely to have distinguished himself. Having emigrated to Canada before the war, he returned to Europe when conflict broke out. An article in the Western Chronicle reported that he had “been awarded the Military Medal for conspicuous bravery on the field under heavy fire.” [Western Chronicle: Friday 15th November 1918]

Amazingly, of the seven brothers who fought in the conflict, only Joseph perished.

An earlier series of articles tells the tragic story of another of Joseph’s siblings. Henry Dodge (known as William) had moved to Senghenydd, to the north of Cardiff, in 1910; mining work was plentiful there and he and a number of his fellow villagers had sought money from the black gold.

On the 14th October 1913, and explosion happened in the mine and together with the resulting fire and subsequent poisonous gas outpouring killed more than 430 miners. Initially reported missing, William was later confirmed dead; he was just twenty years old and left a widow and child.

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

Gunner William Morgan

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Gunner William Morgan

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Commonwealth War Graves, Corporal, Devon, Dorset, Great War, history, illness, India, Lance Serjeant, London, Major, photography, Private, Quartermaster, Royal Air Force, Sergeant, Somerset, Somerset Light Infantry, story, war

Major Stanley Payne

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Major Stanley Payne

Stanley James Payne was born towards the end of 1882, one of eleven children to Stephen and Elizabeth Payne. Stephen was a leather salesman from Essex, who had moved his family to Weston-super-Mare in Somerset in around 1880.

Stanley seems to have been drawn in to a military life from an early age. In January 1900, he enlisted as a Private in the Somerset Light Infantry, and the 1901 census listed him as living at the Raglan Barracks in Devonport, near Plymouth.

Military service took Private Payne to India, where he served for six years. His success and ambition were clear; in 1906 he was promoted to first to Corporal and then to Sergeant. By 1911 – and now back in England – as a Lance Sergeant, Stanley was working as a military clerk at the Royal Horse Artillery Barracks in Dorchester, although he was still attached to the Somerset Light Infantry.

Stanley’s ambition and sense of adventure continued; by July 1912 he had made the transfer over to the newly-formed Royal Flying Corps, as a Sergeant.

It was while he was based in Dorchester that he met Winifred Bell. She was the daughter of a local council worker, and the couple married in the town in September 1912. Stanley and Winifred went on to have a daughter, Doris, who was born in July 1914.

War had arrived in Europe, and on 7th October, the now Warrant Officer Payne was shipped to France. During his nine months on the Western Front, he was mentioned in despatches and received the Croix de Guerre for his gallantry. The local newspaper also reported that he:

…had also the honour of being presented to the King on the occasion of His Majesty’s last visit to the front, and at a home station had also been presented to Queen Mary.

Western Daily Press: Saturday 8th March 1919

Returning to England on 1st June 1915, he was again promoted to Lieutenant and Quartermaster, although here his military records dry up. By this time, he had been in the armed forces for more than fifteen years, but his military records seem to confirm this as the last day of his service.

The next record for Stanley confirms his passing. Admitted to the Central Air Force Hospital in Hampstead with a combination of influenza and pneumonia, he died on 3rd March 1919. He was just 36 years of age.

Brought back to Weston-super-Mare, where his now widowed father was still living, Stanley James Payne was laid to rest in the Milton Cemetery in his home town.

Stanley’s gravestone gives his rank as Major. While there is no documented evidence of any additional promotions after June 1915, the rank is the equivalent of Quartermaster in the Army Reserve. It seems likely, therefore, that the end date of his military service marked the start of his time in the reserves.

Commonwealth War Graves, Great War, history, illness, Lieutenant, photography, Quartermaster, Rifle Brigade, Somerset, story, war

Lieutenant Alfred Betty

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Lieutenant Alfred Betty

Alfred William Betty was born early in 1869, one of ten children to John Betty and his wife Hannah. John was a blacksmith, and the family lived in the Somerset town of Taunton.

After leaving school, Alfred found work as a silk throwster, twisting silk into thread or yarn. Thus was not the long term career that he sought, however, and in 1887 he enlisted in the Rifle Brigade. During a period of service that lasted 21 years, he fought in India and South Africa, rising to the rank of Quartermaster-Sergeant by the end of his tenure in 1908.

In 1896, Alfred had married Elizabeth Johnson, also from Taunton, who was herself the daughter of a soldier. The couple went on to have three children, two of whom survived – daughters Ella and Hazel.

By the time of the 1911 census, the family had set up home in Taunton. Alfred, now back on civvy street, was working as a clerk and had become involved in the town’s Holy Trinity Men’s Club.

War was on the horizon, however, and when hostilities broke out, Alfred quickly re-enlisted. Within a month of re-joining the Rifle Brigade, he was given a commission in the 13th Battalion. After initially being based in Winchester, by the summer of 1915 Lieutenant Betty found himself on the Front Line. He was involved in some of the fiercest fighting, and was caught up in the Battle of the Somme.

It was here that Alfred fell ill. While full details of his condition are not readily available, he contracted a prolonged illness, as a result of “hardship and exposure” [Western Daily Press, Saturday 24th March 1917].

Whatever the condition, it was serious enough for Lieutenant Betty to be invalided back to England and out of the army, and he returned to his family home in Taunton.

Sadly, Alfred’s condition was to take its toll on him, and he finally succumbed to it on 23rd March 1917. He was 48 years old.

Alfred William Betty lies at peace in St Mary’s Churchyard in his home town of Taunton in Somerset.

Bedfordshire Regiment, Commonwealth War Graves, Great War, history, illness, India, photography, Private, Somerset, story, war

Private Robert Mayers

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Private Robert Mayers

Robert William Mayers – also known as Bob – was born in 1888, one of nine children to Charles and Louisa Mayers from Taunton in Somerset. Charles was a solicitor’s clerk, whose work changed direction in the 1890s, and who became a general labourer.

When Robert left school, he became a carpenter, while his older brother became a motor mechanic, and other siblings became messengers, collar machinists and housemaids.

With war on the horizon, Robert enlisted. His full service records no longer exist, but he enrolled in the Bedfordshire Regiment and joined the 3rd Garrison Battalion. While there is no evidence of Private Mayers’ time in the army, it is likely that he saw some service in India and Burma during and after the Great War.

Robert returned to England after being demobbed, but, having survived the war, was suffering from tuberculosis. Sadly, the condition was to get the better of him, and he passed away at his parents’ home on 2nd May 1921. He was 34 years old.

Robert William Mayers lies at rest in St Mary’s Cemetery in Taunton, Somerset.

Commonwealth War Graves, Driver, Great War, history, India, injury, photography, Royal Field Artillery, Somerset, story, unknown, war

Driver Frederick Virgin

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Driver Frederick Virgin

Frederick Henry Virgin was born in 1888, the second eldest of ten children. His parents were carter Thomas Virgin and his wife, Ellen, and the family lived in Taunton, Somerset.

Frederick craved adventure and this came in the form of military service. In August 1906, he enlisted in the Royal Field Artillery, and was assigned as a driver. Initially serving at home, he was shipped to India for four years, returning to England in December 1912.

Driver Virgin met and married Alice Shattock in April 1914, but had been shipped off to France within months, when war broke out. He served overseas for eighteen months, before transferring back to England again. By this point he was suffering with sciatica, and this is what saw him assigned lighter duties in the Reserve Brigade on the home front.

Alice fell pregnant, and the couple had a little boy in February 1917; sadly, his life was brief, and he passed away at the age of just two days. One can only imagine the impact this had on his parents.

Frederick’s health issues continued to be a problem, and he was medically discharged from the army later that year. While the sciatica was not solely attributed to his military service, his discharge report confirmed that his time in the army contributed to the issue. Driver Virgin’s time with the Royal Field Artillery came to an end in December 1917.

Sadly, it is at this point that Frederick’s trail goes cold. His records confirm that he passed away nearly a year later, on 26th November 1918, but there is no record as to the cause of his death. He was 30 years of age.

Frederick Henry Virgin lies at rest in St Mary’s Cemetery in his home town of Taunton, Somerset.

Captain, Commonwealth War Graves, Great War, history, India, Kent, London, photography, Quartermaster, Royal Engineers, story, unknown, war, Worcestershire

Major Thomas Clark

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Major Thomas Clark

Thomas James Clark was born in Worcester at the beginning of 1853, the oldest of two children to James Clark and his wife Sarah. James was an engine smith and gas fitter, and moved the family with his work, initially to London, then on to the Kent coast.

Documentation relating to Thomas’ early life is difficult to track down; the 1871 census has him listed as a gas fitter like his father, but it is likely that he enlisted in the army fairly shortly after this date.

In 1875, he married a woman called Emily Ann. There life was to take on a grand new adventure as their first child, a boy named after his father, was born in Bombay, India, later that year.

It seems likely that it was Thomas’ military service that took the young family overseas. This was to be the case for at least a decade, as Emily gave birth to four further children in India. James, their fifth child, was born in Bombay in 1884. Their sixth, and last child, Ellen, was born in Gillingham, Kent, ten years later.

Given that the standard time for military service was twelve years, it is possible that Thomas served all of that time overseas, returning to England in around 1887.

Back home in Kent, Thomas is given the commission of Quartermaster in November 1897. By this point, he has been in the Royal Engineers for just under 21 years. He and his family are living in central Gillingham, within easy walking distance of the Royal Engineers Barracks and School of Engineering.

The 1901 census also lists Thomas as Quartermaster for the regiment, while three of his sons are by this time working in the Naval Dockyard as shipwrights and engine fitters.

Ten years later and the family are still living in the same house. By now, and aged 57, Thomas is recorded as a Retired Captain and Quartermaster for the Royal Engineers. He and Emily have been married 36 years, and their three youngest children (now aged 29, 26 and 17) are still living with them.

War was looming by now, although, age 61 when it broke out, it is unlikely that Retired Quartermaster Clark would have been involved in any front line activity. While no military records survive for Thomas, it seems possible that he may have been recalled for a training or administrative role at the barracks nearby.

Any re-commission would not have lasted for long, however, as Quartermaster Clark passed away at home on 10th September 1916. He was 63 years old.

Thomas James Clark lies at peace in the Woodlands Cemetery in Gillingham, Kent.

Thomas’ widow, Emily, passed away just two years after her husband. She was also laid to rest in the Woodlands Cemetery.

Thomas left his estate in the hands of his youngest son, James, who was still living at his parents’ home when they passed away.

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

Private Albert Bellringer

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Private Albert Bellringer

Albert George Bellringer was born in April 1889, the youngest of three children to Charles and Sarah. Charles was a sawyer in a local timber yard, and his son followed suit.

Little detail of Albert’s early life remains, but he married Elizabeth Burge in December 1909, and the couple went on to have three children – Albert Jr, Cecil and Charles.

Albert enlisted when war appeared inevitable, joining the Somerset Light Infantry in June 1914. When his training was complete, his troop – the 2nd Battalion – were shipped off to India, and this is where Private Bellringer spent the majority of the war.

Distance from home and family made some soldiers act in ways they otherwise wouldn’t. On 15th August 1917, Albert was admitted to hospital with a venereal sore. He was then admitted to the Dinapore (now Danapur) Station Hospital on 2nd December 1917, “in a very excited condition. He was childish, silly and had grandiose delusions”.

Things were not going well for Private Bellringer’s health. He was transferred back to England for treatment on the Hospital Ship Wandilla – this was torpedoed on the journey home, although the device failed to explode. While on board, he was seen to be “exalted in his ideas, and to have physical signs of GPI [General Paresis (or Paralysis) of the Insane]”.

The ship arrived back in England on 25th April, and Albert was admitted to the Royal Victoria Hospital in Netley, Hampshire. The medical report again showed that “he was foolish, demented and [that] the physical signs of GPI were marked.”

Moved to Dykebar Hospital in Paisley – a mental health institution – for specialist attention, Private Bellringer was eventually discharged from the army. Medical grounds were the reason for his dismissal, and his last day of service was 5th July 1918.

Sadly, however, Albert’s health faltered; he was transferred again, this time to the Somerset and Bath Asylum in Somerset, and it was there that he passed away. Albert George Bellringer died on 5th December 1918; he was 30 years old.

Albert lies at rest in the Wembdon Road Cemetery in his home town of Bridgwater.

So, what was the cause of Albert’s illness and death? His initial hospital admission identified a venereal sore, and, based on his subsequent decline, it is likely that this was syphilis. One of the last symptoms of the disease is mental illness – insanity – and so this underlines the probably diagnosis.

However, mental illness only usually appears on average 10 to 30 years after the STI is first contracted, and then only if it is not treated (which, given that this would have been Victorian England, is it likely not to have been).

What this suggests, therefore, is that Albert contracted syphilis before the war, probably before his marriage to Elizabeth, and he may not have been unfaithful while serving in India.

Commonwealth War Graves, Great War, history, illness, Kent, photography, Private, Royal Army Service Corps, story, war

Private Ernest Austin

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Private Ernest Austin

Ernest George Austin was born in early 1888, one of four children – all boys – to Edward Austin and his wife Harriett. The Austin family lived in the village of Cliffe, in the North Kent countryside, where Edward was a carpenter.

Ernest’s older brother Edward worked as a telegram messenger when he left school, and Ernest followed suit, becoming a postman by the time of the 1911 census. The four boys all lived with their now-widowed mother, their father having died seven years earlier.

Duty soon called, however, and Ernest enlisted in July 1916, joining the Army Service Corps. After training in England, he was shipped overseas that autumn.

Private Austin was discharged from the army just over a year later, and the medical report from that time sheds a lot more light onto this young man’s life:

Father [Edward] died of “consumption”.

Has had a chronic cough since a boy. Developed tubercle of lung in 1907. Went to Chile same year, where all symptoms disappeared. Put on weight and lost his cough completely. Returned to England and joined Army July 1916.

Has been in Mesopotamia three months. Cough has returned. Lost weight. Night sweats. Admitted to [military hospital] with sore throat; TB found present.

Admitted to this hospital 14th June 1917 with above symptoms. High temperature, evidence of infection.

In my opinion, the relighting of a latent infection is entirely attributable to active service in Mesopotamia.

Private Ernest Austin’s medical board record, 23rd Jun 1917

Ernest had been hospitalised in the Cumballa War Hospital, Bombay. He was sent home and ultimately discharged from active service on 8th October 1917.

Demobbed, Ernest married Antoinette Gurton at the start of 1918. The marriage was to be short-lived, however, as Ernest appears to have finally succumbed to his illness less than a year later.

Private Ernest Austin passed away on 14th November 1918. He was 31 years old. He lies at rest in the graveyard of St Helen’s Church in his home village of Cliffe, Kent.