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Commonwealth War Graves, Great War, history, injury, Lance Corporal, London, photography, Royal Army Service Corps, South Africa, story, Sussex, war

Lance Corporal Thomas Marston

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Lance Corporal Thomas Marston

Thomas Henry Robert Marston was born on 12th February 1876, the son of Frederick and Elizabeth Marston. Frederick was a police constable who raised his family in the Paddington area of London.

Sadly, details of Thomas’ early life are tantalisingly scarce. He was not baptised until October 1881, on the same day as his brother, Frederick, who was four years younger.

Thomas seems to have had a sense of adventure; his Commonwealth War Graves Commission records confirm that he served in the South African Campaign – this would put him out of the country during the 1890s, and reinforce why documentation for that time is missing.

The next confirmed information for Thomas is his marriage record. He wed Bessie Ponder by banns in August 1909. The ceremony was at Christ Church in Marylebone, and the couple went on to have two children, Doris, born in 1911, and Hettie, born in 1912.

By the time of the 1911 census, with his military service by now complete, Thomas and Bessie were living on the Caledonian Road in Islington. Still childless at this point (although Bessie was undoubtedly pregnant), Thomas was working as a butcher.

The census gives their address as 54 Wallace Buildings, a Victorian tenement block, and the couple lived in two rooms. Their neighbours at No. 53 were fellow butcher Ralph Bonest, his wife Isabel and their three children, who also all lived in two rooms. On the other side newlywed cab driver William Barnes, lived with his wife Florence and her sister. The Barnes’ had the luxury of No. 55 being a three-roomed flat.

When the Great War broke out, it seems evident that the 38 year old Thomas was either re-mobilised or voluntarily re-enlisted. While the dates are not certain, he had joined the Army Service Corps by March 1917 and was assigned to the Remount Depot at Romsey in Hampshire. This section of the regiment was involved in the provision of horses and mules to other parts of the army.

No further details of Lance Corporal Marston’s military career remain. Sadly, the next record of his life confirm his death. He was admitted to the Hursley Camp Hospital with rupture of viscera (possibly an aneurysm), but died from his injury on 31st October 1917. He was 41 years old.

At some point after the 1911 census, the family had moved to Worthing in West Sussex. The body of Thomas Henry Robert Marston was brought back home, and he was laid to rest in the Broadwater Cemetery in the town.

Commonwealth War Graves, Great War, history, Kent, London, photography, Royal Army Service Corps, Sergeant Major, Somerset, story, suicide, war

Serjeant Major Charles Clarke

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Serjeant Major Charles Clarke

Charles Edward Nesbit Clarke was born in December 1884, the son of Ralph Clarke. Sadly, there is little documentation to flesh out his early life. He had at least one sibling, a sister called Nellie, and was born in London, possibly in Hampstead.

Charles seemed to have been mechanically minded; when he left school, he found work with a motor vehicle fitter, before going on to get employment as an electrical engineer.

He met a woman called Elizabeth Bertha Gould, and the couple married in Islington in November 1908. Four years later, the couple had a child, Edward. The boy’s baptism record shows that the family were living in the St John’s Road Workhouse in Islington, so things seemed to have been really tough for them. (There are no other workhouse records available, so it may be that it was a temporary residence, while Edward was born, but this cannot be confirmed either way.)

The Great War broke out, and Charles enlisted straight away. He had found employment as a foreman fitter by this point, and joined the Army Service Corps, in the Motor Transport Division. He was sent to France a week later, as part of the British Expeditionary Force, and served there for seven months.

When he returned to England, having gained the 1914 Star and the British and Victory Medals for his service, he was assigned to the military camp at Burnham-on-Sea, Somerset.

Five months later, a local newspaper picked up the sorry story of what happened next.

At Weston-super-Mare Hospital… Dr S Craddock held an inquest on the body of Staff Sergeant Major Charles Clark [sic], Army Service Corps, who was admitted to that institution suffering from a mortal and self-inflicted wound received at the Burnham military camp on Sunday morning.

Captain Budibent deposed that at the time the deceased was detained in camp as the result of having been absent from duty for four days without leave. On hearing of his return, witness (who liked the man and recognised his great value, having served with him in France) went to the tent to see him. Deceased was very upset, and in reply to a question said “I can’t account for staying away; I must have been mad.” Witness tried to cheer him up, reminding him that is was not “a hanging matter”, to which Clark replied “No, sir, I wish it was.” When they were in France together Clark confided to witness that a girl who once lived with him desired him to marry her on his returning from the Front, but he stated that he could not do so, as he loved another girl. As he was depressed, witness advised him on returning home to see the girl who considered she had a claim upon him, and, if it were a matter of money, to settle it, and then marry the other girl. On later returning to the Front from England, deceased said his troubles were over, that he had married the other girl, and that he could now do his work with a good heart. Witness, however, believed other troubles had arisen.

Sergeant Belt, ASC, said he had slept in the same tent with the deceased. Clark had a good night, but next morning became very depressed over the fact that half the Company were leaving the came for another destination, and would be losing close friends. He remarked “The last hour has been the worst in my life.” Later, when outside the tent, witness heard a rifle shot and, rushing in, found Clark lying in bed with a rifle wound in his chest. Deceased admitted that he had fired the rifle himself. Death occurred in Weston Hospital, whither he was removed the same night. The medical evidence revealed terrible internal injuries, the bullet having practically severed deceased’s liver.

The jury returned a verdict that Clark committed suicide while temporarily insane.

Taunton Courier & Western Advertiser: Wednesday 18th August 1915

The report, particularly Captain Budibent’s comments, raises some questions. By the time of the First World War, Charles was married to Bertha. There is no record of him having married anyone else, so where the girl he loved, and the other who loved him came into it, it is impossible to say.

Sergeant Major Clarke had taken his own life at the age of just 31 years old. Bertha and their son were living in Chatham, Kent, at the time, and it seems likely that the cost of moving him closer to home may have ruled that out.

Charles Edward Nesbit Clarke’s body was buried instead in the Milton Cemetery in Weston-super-Mare.

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

Major Stanley Payne

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Major Stanley Payne

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Western Daily Press: Saturday 8th March 1919

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

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

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

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

Commonwealth War Graves, Devon, Great War, history, London, Major, photography, Royal Defence Corps, Somerset, story, unknown, war

Major Cecil Beresford

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Major Cecil Beresford

Cecil William Beresford was born in June 1875, the oldest of five children. He shared the same first name as his father, so became known as William. Cecil Sr was a barrister in London and he and his wife, Caroline, brought the family up in Kingsbury, London.

Things certainly went well for the Beresford family. By 1901, Cecil was a county judge, and had relocated the family to Devon. William, by this time, was training to be a barrister, and lived with his parents, siblings and four servants in Weare Hall, overlooking the village of Weare Giffard, near Bideford.

From this point on, information about William is a bit sketchy. He does not appear on the 1911 census – by this time Cecil and Caroline had moved to Weston-super-Mare, where Cecil died a year later. It is likely that William had enlisted in the army by this point, and was posted overseas.

William’s military records are not available, but when war broke out in 1914, he joined the Royal Defence Corps and, through his service, had attained the rank of Major.

In October 1917, a number of the local newspapers ran this brief report:

The death has occurred in a military hospital at Weymouth of Major Cecil William Beresford (RDC), eldest son of his Honour, the late Judge Beresford and Mrs Beresford, late of Wear Gifford Hall, and subsequently of Penquarry, Weston-super-Mare. He was 42 years old.

Western Times: 17th October 1917

Sadly, this is all that remains to document Major Beresford’s passing. There is nothing to confirm whether he had been wounded or had fallen ill, and there are no newspaper reports around his funeral.

Cecil William Beresford was laid to rest in the Milton Cemetery in his mother’s adopted home town of Weston-super-Mare.

Commonwealth War Graves, Great War, history, illness, injury, London, photography, Private, Royal Army Medical Corps, Somerset, story, war

Private Arthur Lavender

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Private Arthur Lavender

Arthur Reginald Lavender was born in Bath on 17th January 1889, the second of two children to George Charles (or Charles George) Lavender and his wife, Elizabeth. George raised the family in Bath and seems to have been a jack of all trades, finding work where he could, as a porter in a warehouse according to the 1891 census and a stationary engine driver ten years later.

On 1st December 1907, at the age of just 18, Arthur married Kate Pearce, a painter’s daughter from Weston-super-Mare. The young couple went on to have a son, Sidney, who was born the following year.

By 1911, Arthur was working in Weston-super-Mare as a warehouseman at a local laundry and, on the day of that year’s census, was staying with his father-in-law. Kate, meanwhile, had taken Sidney to see her brother, Frank, who lived in Bristol.

War was coming to Europe, and, in November 1915, Arthur signed up, joining the Royal Army Medical Corps as a Private. After initial training – including a course on First Aid, he was sent overseas on 11th April 1916, where he was assigned to the 27th Casualty Clearing Station.

Private Lavender’s time in the RAMC seems to have been a complicated one. He was admitted to a field hospital within a month of arriving in France with a double inguinal hernia, a condition that continued to dog him over the coming months.

Arthur was eventually shipped to England in March 1917 for an operation at the Metropolitan Hospital in London. The operation itself seemed to have been a success, but, while admitted, he contracted pneumonia, and it was this lung condition that was to end his life. Private Lavender passed away on 7th May 1917, aged just 28 years old.

Arthur Reginald Lavender was laid to rest in the Milton Cemetery in Weston-super-Mare.

Chief Stoker, Commonwealth War Graves, Great War, history, illness, Kent, London, Petty Officer, photography, Royal Navy, Somerset, Stoker, story, war

Stoker Petty Officer John Harriss

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Stoker Petty Officer John Harriss

John Thomas Harriss was born on 22nd February 1878, one of seven children to George and Mary. George was a jeweller, who moved the family from London to Weston-Super-Mare when John was three or four years old.

Following in his father’s footsteps was not something John was going to do, and the move to the coast seemed to have sparked an interest in the sea. He enlisted for twelve years’ service in the Royal Navy in March 1900, working as a stoker.

After initial training at HMS Pembroke in Chatham, Kent, Stoker 2nd Class Harriss was assigned to HMS Terpsichore and, over the length of his service, he worked on a further ten vessels. During this time, he was promoted a couple of times, reaching the role of Leading Stoker by 1911, while he was serving aboard HMS Magnificent.

With war imminent, when John completed his period of service, his term was extended until the end of hostilities. He had, by the beginning of 1914, attained the rank of Stoker Petty Officer, and was assigned to HMS Russell.

After the start of the war, this ship was assigned to the Grand Fleet and worked on the Northern Patrol, and in November 1914, she bombarded German-occupied Zeebrugge. The following year, HMS Russell was sent to the Mediterranean to support the Dardanelles Campaign, though she did not see extensive use there.

On 27 April 1916 HMS Russell was sailing off Malta when she struck two mines laid by a German U-boat. Most of her crew survived the sinking, though 125 souls lost their lives. Stoker Petty Office Harriss was one of the survivors; his service records note that he was ‘commended for [the] great coolness shown on the occasion of the loss of HMS Russell’.

Brought back to the UK, John contracted pneumonia, and spent time at home with his family, in Weston-Super-Mare. It was here, sadly, that he was to succumb to the lung condition, and he passed away on 7th June 1916. He was 38 years old.

John Thomas Harriss lies at rest in Milton Cemetery in Weston-Super-Mare.

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

Private Bertram Coates

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Private Bertram Coates

Bertram Noel Coates was born in the sleepy Somerset village of Walton-in-Gordano in the spring of 1890. He was the middle of three children to Herbert and Florence Coates. Herbert was a solicitor, and clerical work seemed to have been in the Coates blood.

While he did not follow in his father’s exact footsteps, by the time of the 1911 census, Bertram had found work as a bank clerk, and was boarding with his employer, James Barry, in Chipping Sodbury, Gloucestershire.

Bertram was obviously made very welcome in Chipping Sodbury, as, on 27th May 1914, he married his employer’s daughter, Mary Barry. The couple would go on to have a daughter – Eileen – who was born in February 1916.

By the time of his wedding, Bertram had moved to London, and was working as a bank clerk in South Woodford, so was obviously showing an ambitious streak.

War was beckoning, however, and in December 1915, Bertram enlisted. Placed in the Army Reserve, he was finally mobilised in January 1917, and assigned to the 28th Battalion of the London Regiment, which was also known as the Artists Rifles.

Tragically, Private Coates’ military service was to be a short one. While training, he contracted measles, which turned septic with additional complications. He sadly passed away on 31st March 1917, less than three months after being mobilised. He was just 27 years old.

Bertram Noel Coates was brought back to Somerset. He lies at peace in the churchyard of St Mary’s in Walton Clevedon, near his parents’ home in Somerset.

accident, Commonwealth War Graves, Essex, Great War, history, killed in action, Lance Corporal, London, Middlesex Regiment, photography, Royal Air Force, Second Lieutenant, Somerset, Somerset Light Infantry, story, war

Second Lieutenant Harold Hatcher

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Second Lieutenant Harold Hatcher

Harold Blake Hatcher was born on 11th February 1895, one of nine children to Robert Hatcher and his wife Ellen. Robert was a draper, and brought his family up in his home town of Taunton in Somerset. At least one of his children followed him into the cloth business, and, after he died in 1908, this seems to have fallen to Harold’s older brothers, Arthur and Ernest.

After leaving school, Harold became a dental student. Initially studying with Kendrick’s in his home town, he was about to begin training at Guy’s Hospital in London when war broke out.

Harold joined up in May 1915, and was initially assigned as a Lance Corporal to the 6th Battalion of the Somerset Light Infantry, before being transferred to the Middlesex Regiment.

In November 1917, he was badly injured in while fighting at Bourlon Woods, as part of the Battle of Cambrai. It was while he was recuperating that he transferred again, this time to the fledgling Royal Air Force.

Second Lieutenant Hatcher gained his wings in June 1918, and soon became a flying instructor. It was while he was working at RAF Fairlop in North West London, that an incident occurred. A local newspaper picked up the story.

Many in Taunton have learnt with sincere regret of the accidental death whilst flying of Lieutenant Harold Blake Hatcher of the Royal Air Force, third son of the late Mr Robert Hatcher of Taunton, and of Mrs Hatcher, now of Bristol.

The accident in which he met his death on Monday was a triple fatality, two other airmen being killed at the same time, Second Lieutenant Laurie Bell, of Bournemouth, and Flight Sergeant AR Bean, of Burslem.

At the inquest… it was stated in evidence that while Lieutenant Hatcher and Sergeant Bean were flying at a height of about 500ft, Second Lieutenant Bell, who w flying a single-seater, dived from a position some 700 feet higher, his machine striking and cutting clean through the double-seater, which folded its wings, hovered a few second, and then crashed to the earth. The three men were instantaneously killed.

A verdict of Accidental Death was returned.

Taunton Courier and Western Advertiser: Wednesday 7th August 1918

Further witness testimony described how the Sopwith Camel, piloted by Bell, cutting the AVRO airplane it in two. Hatcher fell out of the wrecked two-seater as the Camel’s wings slowly folded into a V and fluttered free following the fuselage to the ground. All three airmen lost their lives. Bean was found in a sitting position, still strapped in the front half of the AVRO’s fuselage, his instructor’s body was found unmarked thirty yards away in the grass where it had fallen. The wingless Camel crashed close by and Bell was found to have almost every bone in his body broken.

The accident took place on 30th July 1918. Second Lieutenant Hatcher was just 23 years old.

Harold Blake Hatcher lies at rest in St Mary’s Cemetery in his home town of Taunton, Somerset.

Cameronians (Scottish Rifles), Commonwealth War Graves, Great War, history, India, injury, Lance Corporal, London, photography, Private, Somerset, story, Surrey, Sussex, unknown, war

Lance Corporal Ernest Hawkins

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Lance Corporal Ernest Hawkins

Ernest Frederick Hawkins was born in Street, Somerset, in 1884. He was the youngest of six children to Charles Hawkins and his wife Elizabeth. Both of Ernest’s parents were shoemakers in the Clark’s Factory in the town, and this was the trade Elizabeth continued in after her husband’s death in 1887.

Ernest’s life has some mysteries about it and there is a sense that he spent time trying to escape from something. In August 1904, he enlisted in the army, joining the Scottish Rifles (also known as the Cameronians). He did this under an assumed name, preferring to be called James Fisher.

“James” gave his next of kin as his parents, listing them as George and Annie in South Acton (even though these were not his actual parents’ names, and that his father had passed away 17 years previously).

His enlistment papers give an interesting insight into the young man. He was listed as 22 years old, 5ft 4ins (1.62m) tall, with brown eyes, black hair and a sallow complexion. His arms were adorned with a number of tattoos, including Buffalo Bill on his upper right arm and a ship surrounded by flags on his upper left.

Private Fisher served for a year on home soil, before being shipped out to India. He returned to the UK in October 1907, and transferred to the Army Reserve.

Ernest returned to Somerset, and it was here that he met Sarah Jane Manning. The couple married in a registry office in Bristol, and went on to have two children, Hubert and Iris.

War broke out, and Private Fisher was remobilised. By August 1914 he was promoted to Lance Corporal, and sent to France as part of the British Expeditionary Force. Here he became caught up in a number of the key battles of the conflict.

On 24th July 1916, during the British attacks on High Wood at the Somme, he was wounded in the right arm, and invalided back to England for treatment. Admitted to the War Hospital in Guildford, Surrey, it was confirmed that he had received a gun-shot wound to his right arm, which had resulted in a compound fracture of the humerus, radius and ulna. Sadly for Ernest, the only option was a full amputation of his right arm.

After some time to recover, Ernest was transferred to the Pavilion Military Hospital in Brighton where he was fitted for an artificial limb. He spent three months in the Brighton facility, before being moved to the Queen Mary’s Convalescent Home in Roehampton to recuperate. He was eventually discharged – from the hospital and the army – on 10th March 1917, and returned to his wife and family in Somerset.

There is little further documented information about Ernest. He and Sarah went on to have a further child – Leslie – in 1917. Sadly, where Ernest had been a toddler when his father had died, Leslie was consigned to be a babe-in-arms when Ernest passed away.

Ernest Frederick Hawkins – also known as James Fisher – died in Swindon on 2nd July 1918, at the age of 34. He lies at rest in St Mary’s Cemetery in his adopted home town of Taunton, Somerset.

Ernest’s gravestone also commemorates his brother Frank Hawkins. Frank was nine years older than Ernest, and, like his younger brother, had decided that the military life was for him.

Frank enlisted in the Royal Navy in November 1894 and was assigned a Boy 2nd Class on HMS Impregnable – the training ship based in Chatham, Kent. Over the period of his twelve years’ service, Frank rose through the ranks to Able Seaman. When his term was up, he joined the Royal Fleet Reserve for a further five years.

When war came, Able Seaman Hawkins was immediately called back into action. He was assigned to HMS Goliath, serving off German East Africa and the Dardanelles. On the night of the 12th May 1915, the ship was guarding the water off Gallipoli, when it was struck by three Ottoman torpedoes. The resulting explosions caused the ship to sink quickly, and 570 souls – out of a total complement of 750 crew – were lost.

Able Seaman Hawkins was one of those lost, and was subsequently commemorated on his brother’s gravestone.

Berkshire, Commonwealth War Graves, Dorset, Great War, Hampshire, Hampshire Regiment, history, illness, Labour Corps, London, photography, Private, Somerset, story, war

Private John Thick

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Private John Thick

John Valentine Thick was born in 1883, the youngest of two children to John Thick and his wife Anna. John Sr was a plumber, and evidently moved around with his work. He was born in Surrey, Anna came from Berkshire; their older child, Grace was born in Hampshire, while John Jr was also born in Berkshire.

By the time of the 1891 census, John Sr had moved the family down to Blandford Forum in Dorset. Little more is known about his son’s early life, but by 1907, he was back in Berkshire, and married Henrietta Entwistle, who had grown up in Chelsea.

The young couple went on to have three children – John, Muriel and Margaret – and settled down in Reading, Berkshire. John, by this time, was working as a domestic gardener.

Little documentation exists relating to John’s military service. He enlisted in the Hampshire Regiment, and was assigned to the 1st Labour Company. Private Thick would have been part of the regiment’s territorial force, presumably using his gardening skills to help with the war effort.

While it is difficult to confirm the dates of his service, it seems that John had enlisted towards the end of 1916. It was early the following year that he fell ill, and was soon admitted to hospital with bronchitis. Sadly, this condition was to get the better of him, and Private Thick passed away on 8th March 1917. He was just 34 years old.

John Valentine Thick lies at rest in St Mary’s Cemetery in Taunton, Somerset.