Edward Kent was born in the Berkshire village of Little Coxwell on 8th December 1887. One of fourteen children, his parents were John and Agness Kent. John was a mason’s labourer, and by the time of the 1901 census, the family had relocated to Fisherton de la Mare in Wiltshire.
Edward found work as a general labourer when he completed his schooling, but when war broke out, he was called upon to serve his country. Conscripted in the spring of 1916, he enlisted in the Royal Marine Light Infantry as a Private. His service papers show that he was 5ft 6.5ins (1.69m) tall, with brown hair, brown eyes and a fresh complexion. He was also noted as having a scar on the back of his neck.
Private Kent was sent to Deal, Kent, for his training, but by September 1916, he had moved to Portsmouth, Hampshire. Change was afoot, however, and in November Edward was assigned to the 3rd Battalion and sent to the Aegean, where he would remain for the rest of the conflict.
Edward returned to Portsmouth in January 1919, and was admitted to the Haslar Hospital, suffering from pneumonia. The condition would prove fatal, however, and he passed away on 2nd February 1919: he was 31 years of age.
The body of Edward Kent was taken back to Wiltshire for burial. He was laid to rest in the graveyard of St Nicholas’ Church, Fisherton de la Mere.
Charles William Newman was born in Worthing, West Sussex, on 16th April 1880. The younger of two children, he was the only son of John and Eliza Newman. John worked as a plasterer, and the family boarded with Mary Ann Brooker, initially on Stanhope Road, then at Campion Terrace, off Worthing High Street.
By the time of the 1901 census, John and Eliza were living in a place of their own, a terrace house at 14 Lennox Road. Charles had completed his schooling by this point, and was employed as a house painter. Eliza was working as a dressmaker, and the Newmans had a lodger, hawker Harry Fielder.
On 11th October 1903, Charles married Ellen Stilwell. Eight years her new husband’s senior, she was a shepherd’s daughter. The couple married in St Botolph’s Church, to the west of Worthing town centre. The couple would not go on to have any children, and the 1911 census found them living at 24 Lanfranc Road, a small terraced cottage, near West Worthing station.
Charles was still employed as a house painter, but had also taken up work as a member of the ground staff at Worthing Sports Ground. When war broke out, however, he stepped up to serve his country, enlisting in the Royal Field Artillery in the early months of the conflict.
When information last reached us concerning certain local members of the Home Counties Brigade of the Royal Field Artillery, they were at Slough, but recently they were transferred to Westerham, in Kent, where a fatal accident occurred to one of their number, Driver Charles William Newman… who was killed by a runaway horse.
His widow was one of the witnesses examined at the Inquest, and the evidence revealed the fact that the horse was attached to a water van which Newman himself was driving.
Newman… was expected to go home on short leave on Friday, the day of the accident, to see his wife.
[Worthing Gazette: Wednesday 9th June 1915]
Driver Charles William Newman was 35 years old when he died, on 4th June 1915. His body was taken back to Sussex for burial, and he was laid to rest in Broadwater Cemetery, a short walk from where Ellen was still living.
Frederick Isaac Diver was born in Hopton, Suffolk, on 4th July 1888, the third of nine children to Matthew and Louisa Diver. Matthew was a tinsmith from Thetford, Norfolk, and was twenty years older than his wife. He had been married before, but was widowed in 1880, leaving him with six children to raise (tragically he and his first wife, Emily, had lost two children in the year before she died).
Matthew married Louisa in the autumn of 1881 and the couple raised their family at 17 Old Market Street, close to Thetford town centre. Matthew himself died late in 1909, and the census return that was taken two years later found his widow and four of her children still living in the family home. Frederick was the only one bringing in a wage, and was employed as a general labourer.
In the autumn of 1911, Frederick married Ethel Talbot. The daughter of a postman from Brandon, Suffolk, she was a couple of years younger than her new husband. The couple set up home on Castle Street, Thetford, and had three children – Sybil, Arthur and Frederick Jr.
Frederick worked at the docks on the town’s river and, when war came to Europe, he would be called upon to play his part. He was conscripted into the Royal Navy and, as a Stoker 2nd Class, was sent to HMS Pembroke, the dockyard in Chatham, Kent, for his training. His service records show that he was just under 5ft 9ins (1.75m) tall, with brown hair, blue eyes and a fresh complexion.
After a couple of months, Stoker Diver was given his first posting, on board the battleship HMS Vanguard. She would remain his home for just under a year, during which time he was promoted to Stoker 1st Class. At the start of July 1917, he was home on leave, Frederick Jr having been born a few months before.
HMS Vanguard was stationed in Scapa Flow, in the Orkneys, when, on 9th July 1917, a series of magazine explosions tore the ship apart. She sank almost at once, and 843 of the 845 crew were killed. Stoker Diver had had a lucky escape.
At the end of his leave, Frederick returned to HMS Pembroke, to await a new assignment. The loss of Vanguard resulted in the dockyard being a busy place – its replacement crew were based there, and were now stuck there as they waited to be re-assigned. Stoker 1st Class Diver was billeted in temporary accommodation in Chatham Drill Hall.
On the 3rd September 1917, the first night air raid carried out by the German Air Force bombarded the town, and scored a direct hit on the Drill Hall; Stoker Diver was not so lucky this time, and was among those killed. He was just 29 years of age.
The body of Frederick Isaac Diver was taken back to Norfolk for burial. He was laid to rest in Thetford Cemetery, not far from where his widow was still living.
[Note: the photo above is of the memorial to the Chatham Air Raid victims, close to the mass grave for those whose bodies were not identified, in Woodlands Cemetery, Gillingham, Kent.]
Herbert Lawrence Cooney was born in Newcastle-upon-Tyne on 26th April 1890. The fourth of five children, his parents were Thomas and Margaret Cooney.
Thomas is notable by his absence: the 1891 census found Margaret and the children living with her mother at 2 Newton Street. Herbert’s mother died in 1897, and the next census record found him living with her brother’s family at 109 Malcolm Street in Byker.
When Herbert finished his schooling, he took work as a miner. By the time of the 1911 census, he had moved north to the Northumbrian town of Blyth, and was boarding with the Oldfield family in a two-up-two-down terraced house, 17 Goschan Street. Head of the household, Robert Oldfield, was a miner, as were three other members of the household: son William, and stepsons Thomas and George Anderson. Robert’s wife Jean, and her daughter Margaret Anderson, made up the extended family.
When war broke out, Herbert was keen to play his part. Calling on some previous seafaring experience, he enlisted in the Royal Naval Reserve on 30th December 1914, and took the rank of Stoker. His service papers show that he was 5ft 11ins (1.8m) tall, with grey eyes and a dark complexion. He was also noted as having two tattoos on his left forearm: his name H Cooney, and hands across the sea.
Stoker Cooney was initially sent to HMS Pembroke, the Royal Naval Dockyard in Chatham, Kent. On 2nd February 1915, however, he was assigned to the seaplane tender HMS Engadine. Love had blossomed for Herbert during his stay with the Oldfield family and, in the spring of 1916, he married Margaret Anderson, the stepdaughter of his former landlord.
Herbert would spend two years on board Engadine, and was part of her crew during the Battle of Jutland. In the course of the skirmish, the cruiser HMS Warrior was attacked and foundered, and Stoker Cooney’s ship drew alongside and rescued the faltering ship’s crew.
In July 1917, Stoker Cooney returned to Chatham to await his next assignment. The dockyard was overly busy that summer, and he was billeted in temporary accommodation in the town’s Drill Hall.
On the night of 3rd September 1917, Chatham suddenly found itself in the firing line as a wave of German aircraft bombed the town. The Drill Hall received a direct hit, and Stoker Cooney was badly injured. He was admitted to the Royal Naval Hospital in the town, but his wounds would prove too severe, and he died the following day. He was 27 years of age.
The body of Herbert Lawrence Cooney was taken back to Northumberland for burial. He was laid to rest in Blyth’s Cowpen Cemetery, not far from where his widow was still living with her family.
[Note: the photo above is of the memorial to the Chatham Air Raid victims, close to the mass grave for those whose bodies were not identified, in Woodlands Cemetery, Gillingham, Kent.]
Eric William Fullilove was born in the Kent town of Deal on 25th April 1897. The middle of three children, his parents were Harry and Sarah Fullilove. Harry was a Sergeant in the Royal Marine Light Infantry, and by the turn of the century, the family had rooms at 16 Victoria Street, not far from the seafront.
Harry retired from military service, and the family moved to West Sussex. The 1911 census found the family living in a house on West Street in Worthing. Harry was now working as a bath attendant for the borough council, while Eric was being paid for being an errand boy when he wasn’t at school. The family had four visitors, Henry and Stanley Parsloe from Devon, and Florence and Margaret Gill from London.
Eric sought adventure in his life, and, on the day after his fourteenth birthday, he enlisted in the Royal Marine Light Infantry as a Bugler. His service papers show that he was just 5ft (1.52m) tall, with brown hair, brown eyes and a fair complexion.
Bugler Fullilove was assigned to the newly commissioned HMS Princess Royal, and would remain attached to her for the next four years. n the spring of 1915, he moved ashore, and was based in barracks in Portsmouth, Hampshire. While there, he came of age, and formally inducted into the Royal Marines. Now a Private, his papers show that he had grown 8.5ins (22cm).
Over the next five years, Eric served on two different vessels, returning to his Hampshire base in between assignments. His annual reviews noted a very good character, and a satisfactory/superior ability. Private Fullilove survived the conflict, but his health seems to have been impacted, and he was invalided out of the service on 1st April 1920.
Eric William Fullilove returned home, and his trail goes cold. He passed away on 23rd August 1920, through causes unconfirmed: he was 23 years of age. He was laid to rest in Broadwater Cemetery, to the north of Worthing, West Sussex.
Robert William Collett was born on 20th April 1893 in Barnsbury, now part of Islington, Middlesex. Little information about his early life remains available – he does not feature on any census records – although later records confirm than his parents were called George and Sarah.
When he completed his schooling, Robert found work as a baker, but he had bigger and better things in mind. On 24th August 1911, he enlisted in the Royal Navy. His service papers show that he was 5ft 1.5ins (1.56m) tall, with dark brown hair and eyes, and a fresh complexion.
Stoker 2nd Class Collett was sent to HMS Pembroke, the Royal Naval Dockyard in Chatham, Kent, for his training. In February 1912, he was given his first assignment, on board the battleship HMS Berwick. She would be his home for the next year, during which time he was promoted to Stoker 1st Class.
After a further spell on shore, Robert transferred to another battleship, HMS Swiftsure. She would spend much of the war serving in the Mediterranean, with Stoker Collett on board. He seems to have had a rebellious nature, and this led to his time aboard Swiftsure not being smooth sailing.
During his time on the battleship Robert spent three separate period in the brig: three days in October 1914, and seven days in June 1915. In October that year, things came to a head, and he was convicted of threatening to strike an Engine Room Artificer. For this he was incarcerated again, for 42 days.
Stoker Collett left Swiftsure in May 1916, and transferred to another vessel, the battlecruiser HMS Repulse. After an eight-month stint on board, he returned to Chatham while waiting for a new posting. His time here was not without incident, however, and he was thrown in the brig for a further seven days for an unrecorded misdemeanour.
HMS Pembroke was overcrowded in the summer of 1917, and when he was released Stoker Collett was billeted in temporary accommodation in the dockyard’s Drill Hall.
By this point in the war, the German Air Force was looking to minimise daytime casualties, and was, instead, trialling night raids; on 3rd September, Chatham found itself in their flight path. The Drill Hall received a direct hit, and Stoker 1st Class Collett was killed, along with close to 100 others. He was just 24 years old.
The body of Robert William Collett was taken back to London for burial. He was laid to rest in Islington Cemetery, not far from where his parents were still living.
[Note: the photo above is of the memorial to the Chatham Air Raid victims, close to the mass grave for those whose bodies were not identified, in Woodlands Cemetery, Gillingham, Kent.]
Charles Alfred Clarke was born in Lowestoft, Suffolk on 1st June 1888. The middle of eleven children, his parents were William and Jane Clarke. William was a fisherman, and, according to the 1901 census, the family lived at Coopers Cottages, on Hemplands, close to the town centre, and not far from the seafront.
Given his father’s trade, and the fact that his older brothers also followed suit, it is no surprise that Charles found work as a fisherman. The 1911 census recorded him as one of eight crew on board the John & Sarah, a 36ft steam boat, that had moored in Penzance, Cornwall. Charles was noted as being an engineman and fish packer.
Away from the sea, Charles had found love. Clara Fletcher was two years his junior, and was the daughter of publican Samuel, who ran the Mechanic’s Arms on Lowestoft’s Crown Street. The couple exchanged vows in the summer of 1916, the wedding being registered in Mutford, to the south east of their home town.
By this point, and with war raging across Europe, Charles had been called into military duty. Attached to the Royal Naval Reserve from May 1915, he was attached to the torpedo gunboat HMS Halcyon, which acted as a depot ship off the Suffolk coast. His service papers note that he was 5ft 6ins (1.68m) tall, with hazel eyes and a fresh complexion.
Engineman Clarke remained with Halcyon until the summer of 1917, when he was transferred to HMS Pembroke, the Royal Naval Dockyard in Chatham, Kent. The base was a particularly busy place at that point in the war and temporary accommodation was set up. Engineman Clarke found himself billeted at The Drill Hall, away from the main barracks.
On the night of 3rd September 1917, Chatham suddenly found itself in the firing line, as the German Air Force launched a bombing raid. Two bombs landed squarely on the Drill Hall, shattering its glass roof, and Engineman Clarke was amongst the dozens killed. He was 29 years of age.
The body of Charles Alfred Clarke was taken back to Suffolk for burial. He was laid to rest in the town’s cemetery on Normanston Drive.
[Note: the photo above is of the memorial to the Chatham Air Raid victims, close to the mass grave for those whose bodies were not identified, in Woodlands Cemetery, Gillingham, Kent.]
Thomas Fisher was born in Lyminge, Kent, on 7th October 1876. One of eleven children, his parents were agricultural labourer William Fisher and his wife, Frances.
William moved the family to where the work was. The 1881 census found them living away from the coast to Crundale, Kent; they had moved to Rough Common near Canterbury by 1891.
Thomas followed in his father’s footsteps, and by the time of the 1901 census, he was the oldest of three of the Fisher siblings to still be living at home. Frances died in 1910, and William moved in with his son Albert’s family in Rough Common. Albert was employed as a stoker with the Royal Navy, so presumably this gave his wife, Daisy, and their children, Albert Jr and Esther, some support.
Thomas, meanwhile, was boarding with his sister, Harriet, and her children, also in Rough Common. Again, this was probably to provide her with some financial support while her husband Charles, who was a Stoker Petty Officer in the navy, was also away at sea.
When war broke out, Thomas was called upon to play his part. He enlisted on 22nd March 1916, joining the Royal Navy as a Stoker 2nd Class. His service records show that he was 5ft 4.5ins (1.63m) tall, with brown hair, blue eyes and a fresh complexion.
Thomas was sent to HMS Pembroke, the Royal Naval Dockyard in Chatham, Kent, for his training, but his time there was not to be lengthy. By the end of April, he had been admitted to the naval hospital in the town, suffering from pneumonia. The condition would prove his undoing: he passed away on 4th May 1916, at the age of 39 years old. He had been in the Royal Navy for just six weeks.
The body of Thomas Fisher was laid to rest in Woodlands Cemetery, Gillingham, Kent, not far from the base at which he had spent his naval career.
In the naval section of Woodlands Cemetery, Gillingham, Kent, is the grave of Ship’s Steward J Williams, of HMT (or Hired Military Transport) Slav, who died on 4th June 1916, at the age of 53 years old.
The Commonwealth War Graves Commission confirms that his first name was Joseph, but their documents do not confirm a place of birth or any relative’s names.
No crew records remain for the Slav, and she was not scrapped until after the war. There are no articles or obituaries in contemporary newspapers for Joseph’s funeral.
The life and times of Ship’s Steward Joseph Williams are therefore destined to remain a mystery, taken with him to the grave in that Kent cemetery.
Frederick Russell was born in Woolwich, Kent, on 8th August 1868, and was the younger of two children to Elizabeth Russell. Of Frederick’s father there is no trace, and it is likely that he passed away soon after his son’s birth. Only Elizabeth’s name appears on her son’s baptism record, the ceremony carried out at St Nicholas’ Church, Plumstead, Kent, on 1st August 1869.
The 1871 census found Elizabeth and her children – Caroline and Frederick – living in rooms at 1 Armstrong Place, Plumstead. She was employed as a hat trimmer, and the document confirms that she had been born in Matlock, Derbyshire.
Money must have incredibly tight, and by the 1881 census, Frederick was one of 115 students at the South Metropolitan Schools Branch in Herne Bay, Kent. The former Pier Hotel on the seafront, this had been set up as a convalescent home for pauper children from the Woolwich area.
The next record for Frederick shows the start what would become a thirty year naval career. He enlisted as a Boy 2nd Class on 10th January 1884, and was assigned to the Royal Navy’s school ship, HMS Impregnable. She would remain his home for the next eighteen months, and he was promoted to Boy 1st Class during his time on board.
In August 1885, Boy Russell was given his first sea-going assignment, on the battleship HMS Ajax. The following spring, he transferred to the corvette HMS Comus, and she would become his home for the next six years. During this time, he came of age, and was formally inducted into the Royal Navy as an Ordinary Seaman. His papers show that he was 5ft 1in (1.55m) tall, with brown hair, grey eyes and a fresh complexion. They also note an abscess scar under his jaw and a dog bite on his right arm.
Frederick was a determined young man, and his commitment to the navy paid off. Over the ten years of his contract, he would serve on three ships after Comus, and was promoted three times – to Able Seaman in April 1888, Leading Seaman in 1894 and Petty Officer 2nd Class on 1st January 1895.
In August 1896, Frederick’s contract with the navy came to an end, but he immediately re-enlisted. Over the next decade he added a further six vessels to the list of those he had served on, and had been promoted again, to Petty Officer 1st Class, taking the rank in August 1897. As time wore on, more and more of his service was spent on shore, and he spent the last two years of his second contract based at HMS Pembroke, the Royal Naval Dockyard in Chatham, Kent.
Petty Officer Russell’s contract came to an end in August 1906 and his trail goes cold for a few years. An entry on the 1911 census suggests that he may have found work as a servant in the St Aloysius School on Hornsey Lane, Upper Holloway, Middlesex.
Frederick had also met someone by this point, and on 7th January 1911, he was due to marry Elizabeth Stone at Holy Trinity Church on Haverstock Hill. The nuptials did not take place, however, the vicar noting that the entry was cancelled, ‘the parties not having presented themselves at the time appointed.’ The couple were still very much together, however, and went on to have four children: Frederick, Gladys, Ernest and George.
When war broke out, Frederick was called back into service in his previous role of Petty Officer 1st Class. Over the course of two years, he spent six months on board the battleship HMS Duncan. The rest of the time he served at his former base HMS Pembroke, and is seems likely that this was so that he was closer to his family.
By the summer of 1916, Frederick’s health was starting to fail. He contracted pneumonia, and the condition would get the better of him. He passed away on 29th July 1916, a few days short of his 48th birthday.
The body of Frederick Russell was laid to rest in the military section of Woodlands Cemetery, Gillingham, Kent, not far from the base he had called home for a lot of his navy career.
Death and Service 