James Hurley was born in Timoleague, County Cork, Ireland, on 1st August 1894. His was not an uncommon name so full details of his early life are a challenge to unpick. However, later records confirm that his father was also called James Hurley, and when he finished his schooling, he found work as a farm labourer.
When war broke out in Europe, James Jr was quick to step up and play his part. He enlisted in the Royal Navy on 12th January 1915, and took the role of Stoker 2nd Class. His service records show that he was 5ft 5.5ins (1.66m) tall, with dark brown hair, grey eyes and a fresh complexion.
Stoker 2nd Class Hurley was sent to HMS Pembroke, the Royal Naval Dockyard in Chatham, Kent, for his training. However, his time there was to be tragically brief. He was admitted to the Welcome Hospital when he contracted pneumonia and empyema, but the condition was to prove too severe. He passed away on 6th February 1915, at the age of just 20 years old. He had been in the Royal Navy for just 25 days.
James Hurley’s parents were unable to bring him back to Ireland for burial. Instead, he was laid to rest in the Roman Catholic section of the Woodlands Cemetery in Gillingham, not far from the dockyard in which he had so briefly served.
Robert Carroll was born on 15th October 1874 in Ballymena, Co. Antrim. He was one of three children to Henry and Mary Ann Carroll.
There is little additional information about his early life, but, on 6th April 1896, he married a woman called Martha Keenan. Robert was a plasterer at the time of his wedding, and the couple went on to have four children. Tragically, the youngest, Robert Jr, was just five months old when he passed: even worse, Martha was to die just weeks later, in June 1908.
With three children to raise, the grieving Robert married again, wedding Sarah O’Hara in October 1909. They were to have a son together, another boy they called Robert, the following year.
When war came to European shores, Robert stepped up to play his part. He enlisted in the Royal Irish Regiment and was assigned to the 1st Battalion. By September 1915, Private Carroll was sailing for the Eastern Mediterranean, where he was to remain for more than a year.
Little further information is available for Robert’s life. He was discharged from the army on 27th April 1917. As his service records no longer remain, it is not possible to determine why he left the army, but is likely to be as a result of illness or injury.
Robert returned to Northern Ireland, and his trail goes cold. All that can be confirmed is that he passed away at home on 7th August 1919, at the age of 44 years of age.
Robert Carroll was laid to rest in Crebilly Cemetery, on the hills outside Ballymena.
Owen Lambe was born in Drogheda, Co. Louth, Ireland, in November 1873. There is little information about his early life, but later documentation confirms that he was the son of John and Ellen Lambe, and that he had three brothers and one sister.
When Owen finished his schooling, he found work as a baker. He was also volunteering as a soldier in the 6th Battalion of the Royal Irish Rifles at the time, however, and this sparked a career move for him. On 7th May 1890, he formally enlisted: his medical report shows that he was 5ft 4ins (1.63m) tall, and weighed 128lbs (58kg). He was noted as having brown hair, grey eyes and a dark complexion.
Over the twelve years of his contract, Private Lambe saw a fair bit of the world. After eighteen months on home soil, he was sent to Malta, where he remained until November 1894. His battalion was then moved to India, where they remained for more than three years.
With seven years’ service under his belt, Owen returned to Britain. Put on reserve status, he was recalled to active duty in October 1899, as hostilities broke out in South Africa. He served in the Second Boer War for nearly three years, until, in July 1902, he returned home once more. By this point, he had completed his contract, and formally stepped down from the army on 31st August.
Owen’s trail goes cold at this point, and it is only possible to pick up details from later documents relating to his death. These confirm that he had re-enlisted by the spring of 1916, and that he joined the 8th (Service) Battalion of the Royal Irish Fusiliers. Based on his previous army experience, Private Lambe would have been sent to the Western Front fairly readily, and his battalion was certainly involved in the fighting at the Battle of the Somme.
It was here, on the front line, that Owen was injured. Again, details are sketchy, but he received gun shot wounds severe enough for him to me medically evacuated to Britain for treatment. He was taken to Somerset and admitted to the Volunteer Aid Detachment Hospital in Burnham-on-Sea for treatment. Private Lambe’s wounds were to prove too severe, however: he passed away from his injuries on 3rd September 1916, at the age of 42 years old.
Owen Lambe was laid to rest in the Roman Catholic section of Burnham Cemetery. His headstone was paid for by the local Catholic church.
The early life of Joseph Maguire is challenging to decipher. Born in Dublin in 1878, his name is sadly too common to pin down any specific family relationships. Later records suggest that he had a sister, Jane, but again, this does not help narrow down documentation.
It would appear that he had moved to England for work by the time war broke out: he enlisted in the Royal Engineers in Carlisle by November 1917. As a Pioneer, he was attached to the Inland Water Transport Battalion, although it is not possible to ascertain whether he served on the Home or Western Fronts.
Pioneer Maguire died at the Second Southern General Auxiliary Hospital in Weston-super-Mare, Somerset. The cause of his passing is not freely documented, but it seems likely to have been the result of an illness. He was 40 years of age.
Joseph Maguire was laid to rest in the sweeping ground of Minehead Cemetery. Commonwealth War Grave Commission records note that he is interred in the Roman Catholic section of the grounds, and that, when it was erected, his CWGC headstone was paid for by the Honourable Secretary of the British Legion.
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.
Abraham James Scott was born in Bathford, Somerset, in the spring of 1893. He was one of fourteen children to Abraham and Lucy Scott, and became known as James, to avoid any confusion with his father. Abraham was a shepherd, who travelled where work took him: both he and Lucy were from Wiltshire, but had moved to Somerset by the end of the 1880s. When James was just a babe-in-arms, the family had relocated to Gloucestershire, but by the time of the 1901 census, they were back in Wiltshire once more.
Abraham Sr died in 1910, at the age of just 41 years old. The following year’s census found the now widowed Lucy living in North Wraxhall, Wiltshire, with eight of her children. Abraham Jr is absent, and, indeed, does not appear on any of the 1911 censuses.
Lucy needed options and, on Christmas Day 1912, she married carter William Amblin in the village church. Abraham was, by this time, living in Bath and working as a carter.
When war came to Europe, Abraham felt the need to step up and play his part and, on 15th December 1915, he enlisted in the army. His service records show that he was 5ft 5ins (1.65m) tall and weighed 132lbs (59.9kg). He had a vaccination mark on his left arm which, according to the document’s section on ‘distinctive marks’, has a tendency to rupture.
Private Scott was mobilised in March 1916, and was assigned to the 1st/5th Gloucestershire Regiment. He soon found himself on the Western Front, and, having transferred to the 1st/4th Battalion, served at the Somme.
Abraham was in for a chequered time in Northern France. On 26th August 1916, he was injured when he received a gunshot wound to his scalp. He was admitted to the 1st Canadian General Hospital in Etaples, the moved to Rouen to recuperate. Private Scott rejoined his unit on 21st October 1916.
Just weeks later, however, Abraham was back in a hospital in Rouen, having fractured his ankle. After a couple of weeks in the 1st Australian General Hospital, the injury was deemed severe enough for him to be evacuated back to Britain for recuperation, and he was posted to Ballyvonare Camp in County Cork. Abraham returned to his unit in France in September 1917, nine months after his ankle injury.
On 1st March 1918, Abraham transferred to the Royal Engineers where, as a Sapper, he was attached to the Depot in Rouen. He remained there for more than a year, during which time he was admitted to hospital once more, this time with trench fever. Little additional information is available about this spell in hospital, other than that Lucy had written to the regiment thanking them for informing her of her son’s illness, and confirming a new address for her.
Sapper Scott’s health continued to suffer, however. In May 1919, he was admitted to a camp hospital, suffering from appendicitis. He was operated on, and medically evacuated to Britain for further treatment and recuperation. Abraham was admitted to the Bath War Hospital on 25th July 1919, and remained there for four months.
Abraham’s health seemed to improve, albeit slowly, and he was moved to the Pension’s Hospital in Bath on 27th November. The head wound, broken ankle and bout of trench fever appear to have taken their toll on his body which, by this point, seems to have been too weak to recover. On 28th February 1920, two months after being transferred to the Pension’s Hospital, he passed away there from a combination of appendicitis and pelvic cellulitis. He was just 26 years of age.
Abraham James Scott’s body did not have to travel far after this point. He was laid to rest in the sprawling Locksbrook Cemetery in his adopted home city of Bath.
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).
Arthur John Walderow Devenish was born in the spring of 1900, and was the oldest of ten children. His parents, John and Ada Devenish, were both born in Maiden Newton, Dorset, and this is where Arthur and his younger sibling Albert were born. By 1905, however, plumber and glazier John had moved the family thirty miles north-west, across the Somerset border to the village of Thurlbear.
There is little concrete information about young Arthur’s life. When war broke out, he was too young to enlist, but had definitely joined up by the spring of 1918, presumably as soon as he came of age. Private Devenish was assigned to the 2nd/1st Battalion of the Shropshire Yeomanry. The troop remained on home soil, and, by the time Arthur enlisted, was a cyclist unit, based in Northumberland.
Early in 1918, Private Devenish’s battalion moved to County Kildare, Southern Ireland. He was billeted in barracks in Curragh Camp, and remained there for the rest of the conflict. Tightly packed accommodation was a breeding ground for a range of illnesses and, by November 1918, Arthur had contracted pneumonia. He was admitted to the camp hospital for treatment, but the condition was to get the better of him, and he passed away there on 1st December 1918, aged just 18 years of age.
The body of Arthur John Walderow Devenish was brought back to Somerset for burial. He was laid to rest in the quiet graveyard of St Michael’s Church, in Orchard Portman, not far from where the family lived in neighbouring Thurlbear.
George Ham was born on 19th December 1867 in Twerton, Somerset. His parents were George and Emily Ham, and he was the oldest of their nine children. George Sr was a mason, and initially his first born followed suit, but he was pulled towards something bigger and better and, on 19th January 1886, he enlisted in the Royal Marine Light Infantry.
George’s service records note that he was 5ft 6ins (1.68m) tall, with brown hair, grey eyes and a fresh complexion. He was initially sent to the barracks at Walmer in Kent, and it was from here that Private Ham began a 21 year career in the Royal Marines. Over that time, he served on seven separate ships, and, between voyages, he was based in barracks in Plymouth, Devon. Both his character and ability were consistently noted as being very good.
Private Ham’s career took him around the world and, in 1887, he found himself on the gunboat HMS Banterer, on which he served for three years. His tour of duty included a period of time in Galway, Ireland, and it was here that he met Mary Ann Goode. On 5th July 1889, the couple married in city’s St Nicholas’ Church. The church’s records suggest that the couple went on to have four children – Frederick George; Emily, who died just after her first birthday; Albert; and Katherine.
George’s records from this point become a little disjointed. In October 1890, he returned to his Plymouth base, and the following year’s census recorded him as living in the East Stonehouse Barracks, although his marital status was noted as single.
The next census, in 1901, presents a different picture. George and Mary were, by this time, living in family barracks in East Stonehouse, with two children, (Frederick) George and Albert. Katherine, the couple’s youngest child, was born the following year.
In January 1907, after more than two decades’ service, George was stood down from active service in the Royal Marines. He was placed on reserve status, and took up work as a mason once more. At this point, however, the family seemed to have hit more troubled times, underlined by four separate 1911 census documents.
George, who was 44 by this point, was recorded as being an inmate in the Bath Union Workhouse and Infirmary in Lyncombe, Somerset. Mary and Katherine, meanwhile, were in two rooms in a house in Stonehouse, Devon. Frederick, who was now better known as George, had followed his father into military service, and was a Private in the Royal Marine Light Infantry, serving on HMS Colossus. Albert, who was 13 years old, was one of 946 students boarding at the Royal Hospital School for Sons of Seamen in Greenwich, London.
George spent nine years in the reserves, and, in 1914, was called up again for war service, this time as a Lance Corporal. According to a contemporary newspaper:
[He was] engaged on naval patrol work against submarines off the Canadian coast and elsewhere, and was in charge of a gun on an armed merchant ship. Once the boat he was on was torpedoed, and on another occasion he had a long running fight with a submarine in the Irish Channel. The ship, however, reached Portrush (Ireland), and the inhabitants gave Lance-Corporal Ham a testimonial, and he was also rewarded in other ways, the Cardiff owners of the vessel recognising his skill and gallantry.
Bath Chronicle and Weekly Gazette: Saturday 7th December 1918
Tragedy was to strike in the end, however, and George was to meet a sad end to a distinguished career.
While at Cork [George] fell, either from a boat or the dock, and sustained an injury to the side of his head. It did not appear very serious, and it is understood that he made a trip to Cardiff and back to Londonderry, [where] he became so seriously ill as to necessitate his going to a military hospital in Londonderry. Hemorrhage [sic] of the brain set in, and he died on Monday [2nd December 1918] before his brother, Mr Albert Ham, who had been telegraphed for, could reach him.
Bath Chronicle and Weekly Gazette: Saturday 7th December 1918
Lance Corporal George Ham was days short of his 51st birthday when he died. His body was brought back to Somerset for burial, and he was laid to rest in Twerton Cemetery. The newspaper report give no indication as to whether Mary or their children were in attendance and, in fact, does not mention his wife and family at all.
Frederick Chilcott was born in Bridgwater, Somerset, early in 1867. He was the fifth of thirteen children to labourer and kiln worker Henry Chilcott and his wife, Ellen.
When he finished his schooling, Frederick also found labouring work. He wanted bigger and better things, however, and the opportunity for a career in the army offered him just that. On 14th January 1888 he enlisted in the Royal Artillery. His service records confirm he was 5ft 6ins (1.68m) tall, and weighed 119lbs (54kg). He was noted as having dark brown hair, dark hazel eyes and a fresh complexion. He also had a scar on his forehead and a tattooed dot on his right forearm.
Frederick was initially given the rank of Driver and was assigned to the regiment’s 3rd Brigade Depot. He was sent to India in February 1889, and remained there until November the following year, when his troop returned to Britain.
Back on home soil Frederick’s role changed and he was given the rank of Gunner. On 1st January 1892, he was promoted to Acting Bombardier, but, on his own request, he reverted to his previous rank just three months later. On 15th January 1895, Gunner Chilcott was stood down to reserve status, having completed seven years’ service.
On 16th April 1895, Frederick married Eliza Stockham. She was a labourer’s daughter from the village of Puriton, to the north of Bridgwater, and it was here that the couple settled. Living in a small cottage, they went on to have six children between 1898 and 1911.
Frederick’s time in the army, however, wasn’t quite done. With the Second Boer War breaking out, he was recalled to the now Royal Field Artillery in January 1900. Sent to South Africa, Gunner Chilcott remained overseas for a year and was recognised for his commitment in the campaign.
Frederick returned to Britain on 3rd January 1901, and was finally stood down from the army in March that year, having fulfilled his twelve years’ contract. He returned home to Puriton, his service records noting that his character was ‘very good’.
The 1911 census found Frederick employed as a labourer in the local cement works. He and Eliza living in a small cottage in Puriton with four of the children (their oldest son was with Eliza’s parents, while she was pregnant with their youngest).
Conflict was knocking on England’s shore by this point, and when conflict broke out, Frederick appears to have stepped up to play his part once more. He was 47 years old when war was declared and, as such, would not have been required to enlist. Full details of his service are no longer available, but he had certainly joined the Army Veterinary Corps by the summer of 1917.
Private Chilcott is likely to have remained on home soil, but towards the end of his service was based in Curragh, County Kildare, Ireland. It was while here, on 23rd December 1917, that he suffered an aneurysm, passing away in the town’s military hospital as a result. He was 50 years of age.
Frederick Chilcott’s body was brought back to Somerset for burial. He was laid to rest in the quiet graveyard of St Michael’s Church in his home village, Puriton.
Death and Service 