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Commonwealth War Graves, County Cork, Gloucestershire, Gloucestershire Regiment, Great War, history, illness, Ireland, photography, Private, Royal Engineers, Sapper, Somerset, story, war, Wiltshire

Sapper Abraham Scott

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Sapper Abraham Scott

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.

Commonwealth War Graves, Corporal, County Kildare, Great War, Hampshire, history, illness, Jersey, Lancashire, Lance Corporal, Lance Serjeant, photography, Private, Somerset, Somerset Light Infantry, South Africa, South Lancashire Regiment, story, war

Serjeant Andrew Fox

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Serjeant Andrew Fox

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).

Commonwealth War Graves, County Kildare, Great War, history, illness, Ireland, Northumberland, photography, Private, Shropshire Yeomanry, Somerset, story, war

Private Arthur Devenish

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Private Arthur Devenish

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.

accident, Commonwealth War Graves, Devon, Great War, history, injury, Ireland, Lance Corporal, London, Northern Ireland, photography, Private, Royal Marines, Somerset, story, Wales, war

Lance Corporal George Ham

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Lance Corporal George Ham

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.

Army Veterinary Corps, Bombardier, Commonwealth War Graves, Driver, Great War, Gunner, history, illness, India, Ireland, photography, Private, Royal Field Artillery, South Africa, story, war

Private Frederick Chilcott

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Private Frederick Chilcott

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.

Captain, Commonwealth War Graves, Dragoon Guards, Durham Light Infantry, Great War, Hampshire, history, injury, Ireland, Lieutenant Colonel, photography, Somerset, South Africa, story, war

Lieutenant Colonel Charles Holroyd-Smyth

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Lieutenant Colonel Charles Holroyd-Smyth

Charles Edward Ridley Holroyd-Smyth was born in Ballynatray, Co. Waterford, Ireland, on 16th August 1882. The seventh of nine children, his parents were John and Harriette Holroyd-Smyth. John was a colonel in the army and, while from a a renowned family, there is actually little documented about Charles’ early life.

Given his father’s military career, it seemed natural for Charles to follow suit. His service records are tantalisingly elusive, but he certainly served in South Africa during the Second Boer War at the turn of the century.

When war broke out, Charles took up the rank of Captain in the 3rd Dragoon Guards (Prince of Wales’ Own). He set sail for France on 1st November 1914, and he found himself in the very thick of the fighting, where his battalion fought at Ypres, Loos and Arras. His conduct during the war earned him both the Distinguished Service Order and a Military Cross.

On 29th October 1916, Charles married Norah Layard, the daughter of another army officer, who had been born in Ceylon. Charles was soon back in France, however, and was promoted to Lieutenant-Colonel, and given command of the 15th Battalion of the Durham Light Infantry.

Over the course of 1918, Lieutenant-Colonel Holroyd-Smyth led his troop in the Battles of Bapaume, Messines, Kemmel and Aisne. However, it was during the Battle of Epehy that he was badly wounded. Initially treated on sight, he was quickly evacuated back to Britain for further treatment.

Lieutenant-Colonel Holroyd-Smyth was admitted to the Royal Victoria Hospital in Netley, Southampton, but his wounds were to prove too severe. He passed away on 23rd September 1918, at the age of just 36 years of age.

The body of Charles Edward Ridley Holroyd-Smyth was brought back to Somerset, where Norah was living. His funeral, at St Stephen’s Church, in Bath, was marked with some ceremony, and he was laid to rest in Lansdown Cemetery, overlooking the city.

(from ancestry.co.uk)

Charles’ death came just nine days after the passing of his mother, back in Waterford. He and Norah didn’t have any children, although tragically a newspaper report from July 1918 did note a birth: “On the 3rd July, at East Hayes House, Bath, the wife of Lieutenant-Colonel CE Holroyd-Smyth MC, a son (stillborn).” [Bath Chronicle and Weekly Gazette: Saturday 13th July 1918]

Brigadier General, Commonwealth War Graves, Dorset, Great War, history, India, Ireland, Lieutenant, Major, photography, Royal Field Artillery, Royal Horse Artillery, Somerset, South Africa, story, Tyne & Wear, unknown, war

Brigadier General Wellesley Paget

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Brigadier General Wellesley Paget

Wellesley Lyndoch Henry Paget was born on 2nd March 1858 in Belgaum, India. The sixth of nine children – all boys – his parents were Leopold and Georgina Paget. Leopold was a Colonel in the Royal Artillery, and Wellesley was always destined to follow a military career.

The young Wellesley was schooled at Wellington College, Sandhurst and, went straight into the army: the 1881 census records him as being a Lieutenant in the Royal Artillery, based at the barracks in Newcastle-upon-Tyne. While a baptism record confirms the location of his birth, Wellesley may have been prone to embellishment – the census record suggests he was born on board the ship HMS Charlotte, off Goa in the East Indies.

On 29th February 1888, Wellesley married Isabelle Swire, a merchant’s daughter from Liverpool. The couple made their vows in All Saints’ Church, Leighton Buzzard, presumably not far from where Lieutenant Paget was then based. The couple went on to have two children, Leo and Mary.

[Wellesley] became Adjutant of the Royal Horse Artillery in 1895… He served in the South African War, where he commanded the 2nd Brigade Division, Royal Field Artillery, and took part in the relief of Ladysmith and operations in Natal and in the Transvaal. He took command of the A Battery (the Chestnut Troop), Royal Horse Artillery, in 1900 and went on service with them in the North-East Transvaal. He was mentioned three times in dispatches for his services in South Africa, was promoted Brevet-Lieutenant-Colonel, and received the Queen’s Medal with six clasps.

Somerset Standard: Friday 21st June 1918

The now Major Paget returned to Britain, and set up home with Isabelle in Dorchester, Dorset. They lived comfortably in a villa in Cornwall Road, and had four servants – a nurse, a cook and two housemaids – to tend their needs.

Leo was sent away to school, and followed his father – and grandfather – into the army. He joined the Rifle Brigade, while his family moved to pastures new. By 1911, Wellesley and Isabelle had moved to Ireland, settling in the village of Ballyellis, near Mallow in County Cork. Again, the family had a retinue of staff, including a teacher for Mary, a cook, a kitchen maid, parlour maid and two housemaids.

Despite being in his fifties when war was declared in 1914, Wellesley stepped up again to play his part. With the rank of Brigadier General, he was again mentioned twice in dispatches for his actions, and was awarded the Companion of the Order of Bath in 1914, and made Companion of the Most Distinguished Order of Saint Michael and Saint George in the King’s Birthday Honours the following year.

By 1916, Wellesley seems to have taken a step back from military life. The Pagets moved to Somerset, setting up home in North Cheriton, near Wincanton. The Brigadier General kept himself busy, however, and, in 1917, was appointed Agricultural Commissioner for Somerset.

At this point, Wellesley Lyndoch Henry Paget’s trail goes cold. He passed away at his home on 11th June 1918, at the age of 60 years old. He was laid to rest in the North Cheriton Cemetery, not far from where his widow still lived.

Commonwealth War Graves, Gloucestershire, Great War, history, illness, Ireland, Lancashire, photography, Private, Royal Army Medical Corps, Somerset, story, war

Private John Maguire

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Private John Maguire

John Maguire was born in Dublin, Ireland, in 1874. There is scant information about his life, and his name is too common to be able to narrow down details of his family.

The only documentation that links to his life is that of his army service. He was working as a labourer when he enlisted in the Royal Army Medical Corps on 27th April 1918. His service records confirm he was 5ft 7ins (1.7m) tall, with blue eyes, grey hair and a sallow complexion. Interestingly, he reported that he did not have any next-of-kin.

Private Maguire seemed to serve on home soil, and was primarily based in Lancashire. It was while here in the January of 1919 that he fell ill with nephritis – kidney disease – and was admitted to the hospital on Adelaide Street, Blackpool.

His condition was such that it led to John’s discharge from military service on medical grounds. On 23rd February he was moved to the 2nd Southern General Hospital in Bristol, and two days later he left army life. John was transferred to the War Hospital in Bath a couple of weeks later, and it was here that he passed away on 16th April 1919. He was 45 years of age.

An addition to John’s initial service records noted that a next-of-kin had been confirmed, and so Mary Prestige, who was living in Bedminster, to the south of Bristol, was informer of her friend’s death.

Respecting the Irishman’s religion, John Maguire was laid to rest in the Roman Catholic Cemetery in Bath, the city in which he died.

John’s friend, Mary Prestige, is also destined to remain a mystery. There are no records of her at the address John’s service records provide – Pipe Cottage, North Street, Bedminster.

There are two census records for Somerset for a Mary Prestige: 1901 records a Durham-born 18 year old Mary working as one of a number of laundry maids at the Marlborough Hill House of Refuge in Bristol.

The 1911 census records the same Mary Prestige visiting a William and Amelia Hockerday in Yatton, Somerset. It is impossible to confirm, however, whether this is the woman John notified the army as his next of kin.

Captain, Commonwealth War Graves, Egypt, Great War, history, Hong Kong, India, Ireland, King's Shropshire Light Infantry, Lieutenant, London, Major, Malta, Pembrokeshire, photography, Somerset, story, unknown, war

Major Richard Jordan

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Major Richard Jordan

Richard Avary Arthur Young Jordan was born on 24th May 1866 in Cashel, Tipperary, Ireland. His father, Richard Jordan, died a week after his son’s birth, leaving his mother, Annabella, to raise him.

The 1871 census records mother and son living in Woolwich, London, with Annabella’s widowed mother, Grace. They were obviously a well-connected family, with Grace living as an annuitant, or pensioner, one son a Surgeon Major in the army and another as a Colonel in a different regiment. Annabella herself was recorded as a landowner, and the family had support with a cook and housemaid living in.

Surrounded by army servicemen as he was, it is no surprise that a military career called to Richard. He enlisted on 10th November 1886, joining the King’s Shropshire Light Infantry as a Lieutenant. Assigned to the 1st Battalion, his service records confirm that he had attended Burney’s Gosport School – a military academy – and was 5ft 7.5ins (1.71m) tall.

Richard was sent to Egypt just before Christmas that year, and over the next five years, he served both there and in Malta. On 11th May 1889 he attained the rank of Captain and, in December 1891 he was sent further afield, to Hong Kong.

After three years in the Far East, returned to Britain, and spent the majority of 1895 back on home soil. His travels were not at an end, however, and by the end of the year, Captain Jordan found himself in India. He spent three-and-a-half years in the sub continent, returning to the UK in May 1899.

At this point, details of Richard’s life get a little sketchy. He seems to have settled in Pembroke Dock, South Wales, and, on 18th April 1904, he married Ella Mary Caroline Grove. She was eight years his junior, and the daughter of a late Lieutenant in the Highland Light Infantry. The couple married at St George’s Church, Hanover Square, London.

Richard’s trail goes gold again, for a couple of years. He retired from the army on 8th August 1906, after nearly twenty years’ service. By the time of the 1911 census, he and Ella had set up home in Heywood House, on the outskirts of Tenby, Pembrokeshire, with two servants – Beatrice and Edith – as two live-in staff.

War came to Europe in the summer of 1914, and Richard seemed to keen to play his part once again. He enlisted again in August 1915, and was assigned the rank of Major in his former regiment. While it is not possible to determine Major Jordan’s complete service at this time, he definitely arrived in France the following month. If he remained in France, it is likely that he saw fighting at the Somme in 1916, Cambrai in 1917 and at Lys and on the Hindenburg Line in 1918.

Again, Major Jordan’s post-war life remains tantalisingly elusive. By the summer of 1920, he and Ella were living at Holcombe Lodge in Bathampton, on the outskirts of Bath. It was here on 14th June, that Richard passed away. He was 54 years of age.

Despite all his travelling, it seems that Ella was comfortable living in Bathampton, and this is where she laid her late husband to rest. Richard Avary Arthur Young Jordan was buried in the graveyard of St Nicholas’ Church in the village.

The widowed Ella married again, to Captain Clare Garsia, on 9th October 1921. She remained in Bathampton, and lived to the age of 77, passing away on 13th August 1951. She was laid to rest in the same plot as her late husband.

When Captain Garsia died the following year, he was also buried in St Nicholas’ Churchyard, in a neighbouring plot to his beloved Ella.

Commonwealth War Graves, Cornwall, Corporal, Great War, history, illness, Ireland, photography, Private, Royal Dublin Fusiliers, story, war

Corporal Thomas Teague

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Corporal Thomas Teague

Thomas Teague was born in the spring of 1884 in the Cornish town of Tintagel. He was one of ten children to quarryman and road labourer John Teague and his wife, Ellen. When he first left school, Thomas found work as a farm labourer. By the time of the 1911 census, he was still living in the family home, but had found more skilled work as a stone mason.

Much of the rest of Thomas’ life remains a mystery. John passed away in September 1914, and it is clear that, with war now raging across Europe, Thomas stepped up to play his part. He enlisted in the Royal Dublin Fusiliers, and was assigned to the 7th Battalion. The regiment served in Gallipoli, Salonika and Egypt, although it is not possible to identify where Private Teague served.

At some point, potentially because of health reasons, Thomas was transferred to the 655 Home Service Coy of the Labour Corps. Again, exact details of his service are unclear, but he had been promoted to the rank of Corporal, and appears to have been based in Curragh Camp, not far from Kildare, Southern Ireland.

The only other confirmed record relating to Corporal Teague is that of his passing. He died of heart disease in the camp, on the 2nd October 1917. He was 33 years of age.

Thomas Teague’s body was brought back to Cornwall for burial. He was laid to rest in the peaceful graveyard of St Materiana’s Church, overlooking his home village of Tintagel.

Thomas was buried in the family plot, alongside his father. When his mother, Ellen, passed away in 1930, she was reunited with her husband and son.