Tag Archives: Lancashire

accident, Canada, Canadian Infantry, Commonwealth War Graves, Great War, history, Lancashire, Monmouthshire, photography, Private, story, war, Wiltshire

Private Samuel Smith

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Private Samuel Smith

Samuel Herbert Smith was born on 15th March 1886 in Liverpool, Lancashire. He was one of six children to parents Henry – a road labourer for the local council – and Elizabeth.

There is little concrete information about Samuel’s early life. While the 1901 census confirms he was employed as an apprentice, the writing is not legible enough to identify the trade he was in. A later record suggests he spent two years in the Royal Engineers, although, again, no supporting documents evidences this.

Samuel married a woman from South Wales. Her details are lost, but his war pension record gives the name Mrs SH Smith, and gives her address as 34 Albany Street, Newport, Monmouthshire.

It would seem that Samuel was keen to build a bigger and better life for the couple, and left Britain to find work overseas. By 1914 he was living in Valcartier, Quebec, and working as a bartender. War was declared in the summer of that year, however, and he immediately stepped up to serve his country.

Samuel enlisted in the Canadian Expeditionary Force on 23rd September, and was assigned to the 13th Battalion of the Canadian Infantry. His service records suggest he cut a striking figure: he stood 6ft 1in (1.85m) tall and weighed 168lbs (76.2kg). He had light brown hair, hazel eyes and a medium complexion, and his records note that he had a crossed hands tattoo on his right arm.

His unit set sail for England and, by the end of October, Private Smith was installed at Bustard Camp on Salisbury Plain, Wiltshire.

An enquiry was led into the death of Samuel Herbert Smith… Private Smith was travelling… in a motor car, and while the car was passing over uneven ground he fell into the road and was almost instantaneously killed.

George William Hincks, a private in the Canadian Force… was driving from Salisbury… in a motor car, which was meant to carry a machine gun, and was, therefore, open at the sides. Private Smith was seated next to [him] and was inclined to be rather sleepy. He had travelled in the train from Liverpool on the previous day. hey had gone some distance on their journey when deceased said “I want to get out of this.” [Hincks] said “Sit still, Bert. We will be soon be there,” Smith smiled and said “Oh, all right.” Almost immediately the car jolted on a rough piece of road, and Smith pitched on his head in the road. The car was immediately stopped, and [Hincks] went back to him and found him lying with his knees up, on his back, with wounds in his head. He was dead. [Hincks] returned to Salisbury and reported the occurrence to superior officers. The road on which fatality happened was rough and had been badly cut up, more especially at the place where deceased fell from the car.

Salisbury and Winchester Journal: Saturday 31st October 1914

The accident occurred on 29th October, Private Smith was just 28 years of age.

Samuel Herbert Smith’s widow was unable to cover the cost of bringing her husband back to Wales for burial. Instead, he was laid to rest in Amesbury Cemetery, not car from Bustard Camp.

Commonwealth War Graves, Fireman, Great War, history, illness, Kent, Lancashire, Merchant Navy, photography, Stoker, story, Trimmer, war

Stoker Thomas McCall

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Stoker Thomas McCall

Thomas McCall was born in Bootle, Lancashire, in 1892 and was one of two children to Francis and Elizabeth. Frank was a stoker on the steamers leaving Liverpool docks and, after working at the docks himself, Thomas soon followed his father onto the ships. By the summer of 1911, he had worked as a trimmer on at least two liners, the RMS Carmania and the RMS Empress of Britain.

When war came to Europe, Thomas stepped up, joining the Mercantile Marine Reserve – now better known as the Merchant Navy. By the summer of 1915, he was assigned to the seaplane carrier HMS Vindex, which spent most of the war in the North Sea.

Stoker McCall’s time there was to be brief. Details are sparse, but he passed away on 14th October 1915, with records suggesting this was due to disease. He was just 23 years of age.

Finances may have limited Frank and Elizabeth from bringing their son back to Lancashire: Thomas McCall was instead laid to rest in the Roman Catholic section of Woodlands Cemetery in Gillingham, Kent, not far from the dockyard in which he had been based.

Thomas’ headstone gives MaCall as his surname. This is an error: his name was spelt McCall.

Commonwealth War Graves, Derbyshire, Great War, history, illness, Lancashire, photography, Private, Royal Army Service Corps, Somerset, story, war

Private Thomas Bastow

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Private Thomas Bastow

Thomas Bastow was born in the spring of 1889, the youngest of five children to Frederick and Mary Bastow. Frederick was from Weston-super-Mare in Somerset, but had met his Liverpudlian wife in Lancashire, and it was in the North West of England that the Bastow family had been raised. Mary passed away in 1898, when she was jus 40 years of age. Frederick remarried in 1901, Florence Travis becoming the young Thomas’ stepmother.

Frederick was an inspector for a mineral water company, but when Thomas left school, he found work as a clerk for the land registry. In the autumn of 1916, he married Margaret Hughes. Sadly, there is little more information about her, although their wedding was registered in West Derby.

It may have been that Thomas was in the army at this point, or at least on the verge of going. He enlisted in the Royal Army Service Corps, and was attached to one of the supply units. He seems to have been based in Somerset, as this is where he was hospitalised when he came down with appendicitis.

Private Bastow’s condition was to get the better of him: he passed away on 4th May 1917 while admitted to the Bath War Hospital. He was just 28 years of age.

Finances seem to have limited Margaret’s options when it came to her late husband’s funeral. Rather then being taken back to the north wet for burial, Thomas Bastow was instead interred in Bath’s Locksbrook Cemetery.

Commonwealth War Graves, Cornwall, Devon, Gloucestershire, Great War, history, Lancashire, Lieutenant, photography, Royal Naval Reserve, story, unknown, war

Lieutenant John Martyn

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Lieutenant John Martyn

John Leslie Martyn was born in Egloshayle, Cornwall, on 15th February 1888. He was the youngest of five children, and was the third son to John and Mary Martyn. John Sr was a general merchant, and the household had a couple of live-in servants to help both with the household and the business.

When John Sr died in 1904, William, his middle son, took over the running of what was a decent family business.

John Jr, however, had sought another way of life and, was set on a life at sea. He enlisted on the training ship Conway in 1902. Based on the River Mersey, by the time of the 1911 census, he was boarding in the Sailor’s Home in Liverpool. The document confirms that he held the rank of Ship’s Mate in the merchant service, and it would seem that he was doing what he could to build on his skills.

On 26th August 1912, John received his certificate of competency to be the Master of a foreign-going ship. He received a commission in the Royal Naval Reserve, before joining the New Zealand Shipping Co. two years later. When war came to Europe, however, he was called back into naval service.

After serving a few months on the air defences in the Thames Estuary he sailed on his Majesty’s ship Laconia for the coast of German South-West Africa, where he remained. He became a Lieutenant in 1915, and in 1917 was given his first command of HMS Prattler. It is not too much to say that most promising young life has been given to his country.

Cornish Guardian: Friday 8th November 1918

In the summer of 1918, John came home on leave. On 25th July he married Lucy Dudfield in Stanway, Gloucestershire. Tragically, their married life was not to be a lengthy one.

Lieutenant Martyn returned to Devon, and, for reasons undetermined, was admitted to the Royal Naval Hospital in East Stonehouse, Plymouth in October. Whatever the cause of his ailment, he was not to survive it. He passed away while still admitted, on 25th October 1918. He was 30 years of age.

John Leslie Martyn’s body was taken back to Cornwall for burial. He was laid to rest in the family plot in Egloshayle Cemetery.

Commonwealth War Graves, Great War, history, Lancashire, Manchester Regiment, photography, Private, story, suicide, war, Wiltshire

Private Granville Horrocks

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Private Granville Horrocks

Granville Horrocks was born in Heywood, Lancashire in around 1872. His early life is difficult to piece together, but by the time of the 1901 census, he was living with his widowed mother, Jane Horrocks, and his wife of a year, Mary.

The family were living in Rock Street, Oldham, where Granville was working as a labourer in an ironworks. Mary was also working, and was employed as a cotton reeler in one of the local mills.

Granville and Mary went on to have five children – Mary, Lilian, Ellen, Wilfred and Jessie. The 1911 census records the family living in two rooms in Bloom Street, Oldham. Granville was employed as an iron turner in the local factory, while Mary remained at home to look after the house and the family.

Conflict broke out in Europe in the summer of 1914, and Granville opted to serve his King and his Country. Sadly, full details of his service are lost to time, but it is clear that he had enlisted in the Manchester Regiment by the autumn of 1915. Private Horrocks was assigned to the 10th Battalion, which saw active service at Gallipoli, and it is likely that Granville spent time in that part of the Mediterranean.

Private Horrocks’ army pension ledger provides details of his passing. The date was 5th April 1916, and the cause given was “suicide by drowning whilst of unsound mind due to disease contracted on [active service].” Little additional information is available about the incident and, surprisingly, there is nothing reported in contemporary newspapers.

Granville was based near Wylye, Wiltshire, when he took his life. He was around 44 years old at the time. Finances must have limited Mary’s options regarding his burial: rather than being taken back to Oldham, he was laid to rest in the peaceful graveyard of St Mary’s Church in the village where he passed.

Commonwealth War Graves, Devonshire Regiment, Great War, history, illness, Labour Corps, Lancashire, photography, Private, Somerset, story, war

Private Albert Toomer

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Private Albert Toomer

Albert Edward Toomer was born in the summer of 1875, one of eleven children to Joseph and Harriet Toomer. Joseph was a labourer from Meare in Somerset, but it was in Highbridge, near Burnham-on-Sea that the family were born and raised.

When he finished his schooling, Albert found work in a local brickyard and, by the time of the 1911 census, when he was the only Toomer child to still be living at home, he was employed as a tile maker. By this point he was 35 years of age, and, as a single man, was in a position to support his parents, who were both in their 70s.

Harriet died in 1914, Joseph following a year later. On 9th January 1915, Albert married Louisa Clark at the Ebenezer Chapel in Brent Knoll. The couple went on to have a child, Arthur, later that year.

By this point, war was raging across Europe. Despite his age, Albert stepped up to play his part, enlisting on 27th November 1915, at the age of 40 years old. Private Toomer’s service documents confirm he was 5ft 3ins (1.6m) tall, and weighed 110lbs (50kg). He was placed in the Army Reserve, and was not formally mobilised until March 1917.

Assigned to the 11th (Reserve) Battalion of the Devonshire Regiment, Albert was sent to France within weeks of being mobilised. He was transferred to the Labour Corps two months later, and remained in France until the autumn of 1918.

By this point, Albert’s health seems to have been suffering. In September, he was admitted to the 7th Canadian General Hospital in Northern France. He was suffering from a carcinoma, although his medical records are not legible enough to confirm what type of cancer. Invalided back to Britain, Private Toomer was sent to a military hospital in Whalley, Lancashire.

Albert’s time in hospital was not to be a lengthy one. He passed away on 8th November 1918, from a combination of the cancer and tuberculous peritonitis. He was 43 years of age.

Albert Edward Toomer was taken back to Somerset for burial. He was laid to rest in Highbridge Cemetery, not far from where his widow and son lived.

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

Private John Hookway

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Private John Hookway

The early life of John Hookway seems destined to be lost to time. He was born in 1876 or 1877 in Lancashire, and the only surviving 1881 census featuring that name would suggest his parents were James, who was a shoeing smith, and Leah Hookway.

The next census on which John appears is in 1911. This confirms that John had married a widow called Rose Ash the year before. They were living in Huntspill, Somerset, with Rose’s three children – daughters Rose, Violet and Lily – and her sister, Emily. John was employed as an ‘improver in grocery trade’, while Violet, who was 17 years old, was noted as being a ‘servant on the Isle of Wight’. Violet’s sister, Rose, the census recorded, was ‘feebleminded’, while Emily was identified as an ‘imbecile’.

When war broke out, John stepped up to enlist. His age may have excluded him from any compulsion to join up – he was nearly 40 years old when he signed his attestation papers in December 1915. This may suggest that he had served in the army before, hence the absence from the 1891 and 1901 census records.

Private Hookway’s service records noted that he was a grocer, and that he had been born in Devon, although this is at odds with other, earlier, documents. He was 5ft 4ins (1.64m) tall and weighed 137lbs (62.1kg). He was assigned to the Somerset Light Infantry, and he joined the 13th (Home Service) Battalion. As the name suggests, John saw no action overseas, and his time appears to have been split between Somerset and Suffolk.

John’s time in the army was not without issue. In September 1916, he was admitted to a local Volunteer Aid Detachment Hospital with appendicitis, which saw him laid up for more than six weeks. In November 1918, the war having come to an end, Private Hookway was sent to the 2nd Southern General Hospital in Bristol, Gloucestershire, with an aneurysm of the abdominal aorta. This was, understandably, severe enough for him to be discharged from the army, and he was formally stood down on 12th March 1919.

John returned home to be with his family. The next record for him is that of his passing, on 4th June 1919. He was around 43 years of age.

John Hookway was laid to rest in Highbridge Cemetery, Somerset. Rose, who had now been widowed twice in ten years, never remarried. She was laid to rest near her second husband when she passed in 1946.

Bedfordshire Regiment, Commonwealth War Graves, Great War, history, injury, Lancashire, photography, Private, Somerset, story, war

Private William Lock

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Private William Lock

William Charles Shallis Lock was born in the spring of 1894, the eldest child to Harriet Lock. Born out of wedlock, Harriet went on to marry William’s father, Charles Shallis, in 1897. The couple would go on to have two more children – Walter and Lilian – before Harriet’s untimely death in 1900.

The 1901 census recorded William living with his maternal grandparents, Daniel and Ellen Lock, in the family’s home village of Bishops Lydeard, Somerset. Daniel was a farm labourer and, by the time of the 1911 census, William was making his own way in the world, boarding at Rainbow Wood Farm in Claverton, to the east of Bath. The document seems to indicate that William had ditched his first name, and was now using Charles as his preference.

War came to Europe in the summer of 1914, and Charles stepped up to play his part. Sadly, full service records are no longer available for him, but it is clear that he had enlisted in the opening months of the conflict, and that he joined the Bedfordshire Regiment.

Assigned to the 7th (Service) Battalion, Private Lock found himself in France by the end of August 1915. Charles would have found himself in the thick of the fighting, and was entrenched at both the Somme in 1916 and Passchendaele the following year.

It seems likely that Private Lock’s luck ran out at either the Battle of St Quentin in March 1918, or at the Battle of the Avre, just a few weeks later. That he was wounded is certain, as he was medically evacuated back to Britain, and admitted to Liverpool Infirmary. Charles’ injuries were to prove too severe, however, and he died while admitted on 5th April 1918. He was just 24 years of age.

The body of William Charles Shallis Lock was taken back to Somerset for burial. He was laid to rest towards the front of the graveyard of St Mary’s Church, in his home village, Bishops Lydeard.

Commonwealth War Graves, Great War, history, illness, Lancashire, photography, Private, Royal Garrison Artillery, Sergeant, Somerset, story, war

Serjeant Harold Shopland

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Serjeant Harold Shopland

Harold George Shopland was born in the spring of 1893, the youngest of nine children to George and Mary Shopland. George was a joiner and platelayer for Great Western Railways: he died when Harold was just seven years old, which left Mary to raise the family alone. She did this with the support of the community and Harold’s older siblings.

By the time of the 1911 census, Harold, who was now 17 years of age, was the only one of her children to still be living at home: he was a stone mason’s carter, while Mary was getting by as the housekeeper for the local Wesleyan chapel.

When war broke out, Harold stepped up to play his part. Possibly keen to follow in his oldest brother’s footsteps – Private Walter Shopland had died at Bloemfontein in 1901 – he enlisted on 23rd November 1914. Harold joined the Royal Garrison Artillery as a Private, his service records confirming that he was 5ft 10ins (1.77m) tall, and weighed 165lbs (74.8kg).

Harold spent more than two years on home soil, before being sent to France in July 1917, with a promotion to Serjeant. He remained overseas, but fell ill with tuberculosis that winter, and was medically repatriated the following January. He was admitted to the Queen Mary’s Military Hospital in Whalley, Lancashire, and remained there for the next couple of months.

Harold’s condition meant that he was no longer fit for military duty, and was dismissed from service on 8th March 1918. He remained in hospital, however and his condition worsened. He passed away on 28th March 1918, at the age of 24 years old.

Mary brought Harold George Shopland’s body back to Somerset for burial. He was laid to rest in the peaceful setting of St Andrew’s Churchyard in Old Cleeve, not far from his father’s grave.

Captain, Commonwealth War Graves, Devon, Dorset, Great War, Hampshire, history, illness, Lancashire, Lieutenant, London, photography, Royal Army Medical Corps, Somerset, story, Surrey, war, Wiltshire

Captain James Pettinger

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Captain James Pettinger

The death of Capt. James Wilson Pettinger has taken place in a military hospital at Aldershot. Captain Pettinger came to Kingsbridge [Devon] in 1903, entering into partnership with Dr D de Courcy Harston… He made a wide circle of friends, and was appreciated for his professional skill. Previously to coming to Kingsbridge, he was house surgeon at St George’s Hospital, London. In July 1915, Dr Pettinger volunteered for service in the Royal Army Medical Corps, being appointed Lieutenant to the Plymouth Military Hospital. He quickly gained promotion to captain, and was appointed to a hospital ship, and served in the Mediterranean for several months. He contracted blood poisoning in the arm, and was sent to Netley Hospital [Hampshire]. On recovery he was placed in charge of an infections hospital for several months at Salisbury. He was later ordered to France, and being taken ill was transferred to an Aldershot hospital, where he died from pneumonia. He leaves a widow and one son. Dr Pettinger was 43 years of age.

Western Times: Tuesday 16th October 1917

James Wilson Pettinger was born in the spring of 1874 in Moss Side, Lancashire. The youngest of four children, his parents were doctor and surgeon George Pettinger and his wife, Sarah.

James may have been a sickly child: the 1901 census recorded him as being a patient in community hospital in North Meols, near Southport, Lancashire. The oldest of only three patients, the facility was overseen by caretaker John Carr and his matron wife, Susan.

Having gone on to study at Cambridge University, James was carving a career for himself. By the time of the next census he was living in Shaftesbury, Dorset, he was recorded as being a medical practitioner, living on his own in a house near the centre of town.

As the Western Times was to report, James moved to Devon in 1903. On 8th January, he married Clara Risdon, a nursing sister seven years his senior. She came from the Somerset village of Old Cleeve, and the couple married in her local parish church. The couple set up home in Ewart House in Kingsbridge, and went on to have a son, Geoffrey, who was born that November.

James’ career continues to flourish. The 1910 medical directory noted that he was the Honourable Medical Officer for Kingsbridge & District Cottage Hospital, and noted that he had previously worked as an Honourable Physician, Honourable Surgeon, Ophthalmologist, Aural, Obstetric and Dental Assistant and Assistant Surgical Registrar at St George’s Hospital in London.

Little information relating to James’ time in the armed forces is available, and so it falls to his obituary in the Western Times to fill in the gaps. It would seem that Clara and Geoffrey moved to Minehead, Somerset, while James was serving overseas. The town was not far from where she had been born, and family connections may have helped with her husband’s absence.

When James Wilson Pettinger died, on 6th October 1917, his body was brought to Minehead for burial. He was laid to rest in the town’s sweeping cemetery, and was joined there by Clara when she passed away in 1945: a husband and wife reunited.