Holdsworth Elphick was born on 7th June 1891, one of five children to Herbert and Mary Elphick. Herbert was a billiard marker and professional player, who had been born in Brighton. Mary was from Ireland, but the couple raised their family in London, presumably as this is where the best opportunities for work were.
When he left school, Holdsworth found work at the George Hotel in Balham, South London, where he was employed as a barman. The 1911 census shows another barman there called Geoffrey Elphick, who, while not one of Holdsworth’s brothers, may well have been a cousin.
When war broke out, Holdsworth was quick to sign up. He enlisted as a Private in the Buffs (the East Kent Regiment) on 9th September 1914 and, after a year on the Home Front, he was sent out to France as part of the British Expeditionary Force in August 1915.
There is little further information available about Private Elphick’s time in the army. He returned to England on 25th February 1916; this appears to have been a medical evacuation as, two months later, he was discharged from the army as he was no longer physically fit to continue.
Life continued for Holdsworth. In September 1917, he married Lydia Ann Armstrong, a dock labourer’s daughter from Southampton, although this is where his trail seems to end.
The next available evidence for Private Elphick is his gravestone. This confirms that he passed away on 11th November 1918 – Armistice Day – but no further information is available. He was just 27 years of age.
Holdsworth Elphick lies at rest in the Broadwater Cemetery in Worthing, West Sussex (presumably this is where he and Lydia moved after their marriage, although there is nothing to confirm this).
Charles Edward Duke was born in early 1880, the oldest of three children to George and Charlotte Duke. George was a market gardener, but for all of Charles’ childhood censuses – 1881, 1891 and 1901 – his father is absent. Instead, Charlotte is listed as the head of the household, married and working as a launderess. Given that the censuses were all taken in the spring, it is possible that her husband was working away each time the document was recorded, although this is supposition. In every census, though, it is interesting to note that she had taken in lodgers to help pay the bills.
The family lived in Worthing, West Sussex, in a small house near the centre of town. When he left school, Charles found work as an errand boy for a local stationer, before finding more gainful employment as a gardener in one of the multitude of nurseries surrounding the coastal town.
In 1901, Charles married Lucy Barnes, a carter’s daughter from the town; the young couple set up home in Broadwater, to the north of Worthing town centre, and went on to have four children; Alice, Henry, Dorothy and Margaret.
When war arrived on European shores, Charles played his part. Sadly his military records are all but non-existent, but from what remains it’s possible to piece together something of his military life.
Private Duke enlisted in the Machine Gun Corps, and was assigned to the 16th Company. While it is impossible to place him in any specific location, his company was certainly involved in the Battle of the Somme.
Charles survived the war; the next evidence available for him notes that he died on 31st October 1919 in a hospital in Brighton, although o cause is given for his death. The Commonwealth War Graves Commission give his age as 41, although it seems likely he was a couple of years younger than this, based on when his birth was registered.
Charles Edward Duke was buried in the Broadwater Cemetery, a short walk from where his widow and children were living.
Richard Edward Cadenaci was born in Sutton, Surrey, in around 1886. His father, who was also called Richard Edward Cadenaci, was a house painter and, with his wife Maria, had thirteen or fourteen children, of whom Richard Jr was the middle one.
Documentation on the Cadenaci family is scarce. On 5th April 1896, when Richard Jr was 10, he and three siblings were baptised together.
By the turn of the century, the family were living on Merton High Street, in Wimbledon. Richard Sr and Maria were there with their youngest five children.
Richard Jr seemed keen on a life of adventure – the 1911 census lists him as a Private in the 3rd Battalion of the Royal Fusiliers, and that he was based in Mauritius. His full military service records are not available, but it is likely that his term of service with the army was extended as war loomed.
Private Cadenaci was sent to France in January 1915 and, during his time in the Great War, he received the Victory and British Medals and the 1915 Star. At some point during the conflict he was transferred across to the Labour Corps, though the move came with a promotion to Corporal. Again, there is little further information about his service, but records suggest that he was discharged from the army – possibly through health reasons – on 20th September 1918.
Here, Richard’s trail goes cold. He died on 23rd March 1920, just eighteen months after the end of this military service, at the age of 32. There is no record of the cause of his passing and nothing to connect him to the town in which he was buried, Worthing, West Sussex.
It is possible that Corporal Cadenaci left the army for medical reasons, and his move out of London was for cleaner air, but this is only presumption on my part, and there is nothing to confirm this either way.
Richard Edward Cadenaci lies at rest in the Broadwater Cemetery in Worthing.
Sometimes research into the names of the fallen runs into obstacles. There are graves I have researched that have brought up very little information, either because the soldier concerned is too young to have a lot of documentation about them, or because information on them has subsequently been lost.
On other occasions, it is the sheer wealth of documentation that proves to be the stumbling block. Such is the case with William Frederick Holden, buried in the Broadwater Cemetery in Worthing, West Sussex.
The grave itself gives some information: he was a Private in the Royal Sussex Regiment, with a service number of 8298970, and died on 16th February 1921, at the age of 26. The Commonwealth War Graves Commission archives give some further information: his father was Frederick Charles Holden, and his stepmother was Elena.
The Find A Grave website adds a little further information – he was born in Sidlesham, near Chichester in West Sussex. The site suggests, however, that he was born in 1897, which would suggest he was 23 or 24 when he died.
Researching on Ancestry throws up a wealth of other information, which begins to make it more of a challenge to identify the correct details. Both William and Frederick were common names in the late Victorian era, and Holden was a familiar Sussex name, and had many spelling variations.
Searching for William’s service number on sites like Fold3 does not provide any results, so that does not provide an opportunity to narrow down the information. Nor is there any record of his passing or burial in contemporary newspapers.
To add to the confusion, when I dug a little deeper, it seems that William’s birth name was, in fact, Frederick William Holden, and he was known by his middle name to avoid confusion with his father. His mother was Fanny Warrington (née Walker), and he seems to have had one sister, Annie. Fanny seems to have passed away in 1903, and Frederick Sr went on to marry Louisa.
So, like a patchwork, vague details of William’s life are pieced together. But huge gaps still remain. Private Holden was assigned to the 4th Battalion of the Royal Sussex Regiment, which fought at Gallipoli and served in Egypt and France before the war was done. However, there is no evidence that William fought abroad.
Sadly, William’s passing is lost to time as well. We know when he died, but there is nothing to confirm a cause of death. Given when it was, it seems likely to have been as a result of one of the invasive lung conditions that ravaged Europe after the First World War. But he could just as easily have succumbed to the ongoing effects of wounds received during fighting. Given the lack of supporting documentation, we are unlikely ever to know.
William Frederick Holden lies at rest in Worthing’s Broadwater Cemetery.
John Frederick Dyer was born in Crediton, Devon, on 3rd July 1864. He was one of twelve children to William Dyer, a shoemaker, and his wife Sarah.
When he left school, John initially found work as a tanner – presumably helping with his father’s business. He soon moved on from this, however, and worked as a labourer and then a stone mason.
In 1888, aged 24, he married a woman called Emily; they went on to have four children. By the time of the 1901 census, John was a fully fledged mason, and the family had moved to Weston-super-Mare in Somerset.
From this point in, there is little information available relating to John’s life. The 1911 census records him as living in the centre of Weston-super-Mare, in a six-room house with his wife, two of his children and his niece.
Storm clouds were on the horizon in Europe, but not much documentation records his military service. He was 50 years old when war was declared, and he was old enough to be exempt from volunteering or conscription. However, he did put his name forward, and enlisted at some point at the beginning of 1915.
Private Dyer joined the 4th Battalion of the Somerset Light Infantry. This was a primarily territorial force, that served in India and the Middle East, although there is no confirmation that he was anywhere outside of the UK during his time in the army.
In fact, Private Dyer’s service was not destined to be a long one; the next available record shows that he died on 9th July 1915 at the 2nd Southern General Hospital in Bristol. He had just turned 51 years old. Sadly, no details of the cause of death exist.
John Frederick Dyer’s body was brought back to Somerset for burial. He lies at rest in the Milton Road Cemetery in his adopted home town of Weston-super-Mare.
William Alister Flower was born in 1887, one of five children to Joseph and Annie Flower. Joseph was a platelayer for the local railway, and brought the family up in Weston-super-Mare, in his home county of Somerset.
When he left school, William worked as an errand boy for a local greengrocer; he stuck with it, and, by the time of the 1911 census, he was employed as a van driver for the grocer.
War was on the horizon and, while William enlisted in the army, it is difficult to get a complete handle on his military service. There are a number of servicemen with similar names, but the documentation that is available is not easy to directly connect them with the gravestone in the Weston-super-Mare cemetery.
What is clear is that William enlisted as a Private in the Army Service Corps at some point before May 1918. He was assigned to the Motor Transport division (this was likely on the back of his van-driving experience). His time seems to have been spent on home soil, although he was awarded both the Victory and British Medals for his service.
At some point, he had married a woman called Mabel. Exact details again are unclear – ancestry.com confirms the marriage of a William Flower and Mabel Richardson in December 1909, but as this took place in Northamptonshire, it is unlikely to be the Somerset Flowers researched here.
Details of Private Flower’s passing are also scarce. He died on 8th November 1918, in the Military Hospital in Croydon, Surrey, but the is no information as to the cause of his death. He was just 31 years old.
William Alister Flower’s body was brought back to Somerset; he lies at rest in the family grave, in the Milton Cemetery of his home town.
While I was researching William Flower, I was taken by the note of the accidental death of the first name on the family grave.
Edward Thomas Flower was two years William’s senior who, after leaving school, had gone on to be an errand boy for a local butcher.
Edward had decided to follow in his father’s footsteps and join the railways, leaving his home town in 1905 to work in Cornwall. After initially working as an engine cleaner, he progressed to be a fireman, helping to stoke the engine with coal. The local newspaper of the time picked up the story of the accident.
At the moment of the accident, a goods train was standing in the Redruth station, shunting having been temporarily suspended to admit the passage of the down motor rail car.
It appears that the flap of one of the cattle trucks in the goods train… had been allowed to remain down, and the folding doors above it had been insecurely fastened, with the result that as the motor rail car ran into the station the doors of the truck suddenly flew open outward and one of them struck deceased on the side of the face and head, inflicting terrible injuries.
There was a very extensive fracture of the skull, the whole of the left side of the face was driven in and there was also a formidable wound at the back of the head, death occurring within a few moments.
It appears that the rail motor was not proceeding at a greater rate than some five or six miles an hour, according to the statement made at the inquest by the driver, and the latter noticed that when the doors of the goods truck swung open they struck one of the handles on the fore part of the car. He applied the brake immediately, but did not know that Flower had been struck until afterwards.
Weston Mercury: Saturday 7th October 1905
The inquest found that there had been some neglect on the part of the porter and guard in not ensuring that the goods truck’s doors had been secured, and it seems that this was something that had been highlighted previously.
Edward had shortly been due to marry, leaving a fiancée, as well as a family, bereft. He was just 20 years old.
His body was brought back to Weston-super-Mare, and was the first to be buried in the family grave.
In a quiet corner of a cemetery in Somerset stands a gravestone to Private HJ Cowles. It confirms that he passed away on 26th April 1920, and that he was in the Bedfordshire Regiment during the First World War.
Little additional information on HJ Cowles is available. One document, the Medal Roll Index Card, confirms his first name as Henry, and that he had initially joined the Somerset Light Infantry. He was awarded the British Medal for his war service.
Cowles is a fairly common name in the Somerset area, and, without any additional information – date of birth, familial connections – it is impossible to narrow down the name on the gravestone to a specific Henry Cowles from the area or beyond.
There is also nothing in any contemporary newspapers to suggest that Private Cowles’ passing was anything out of the ordinary.
Sadly, therefore, he remains a name lost to history. Henry J Cowles, whoever he was, and however he died, lies at rest in the Milton Cemetery in Weston-super-Mare, Somerset.
In a corner of the Milton Cemetery in Weston-super-Mare, Somerset, stands the gravestone of Edward Sams. It gives little information away, other than the fact that he passed away on 5th April 1916, and that he served as a Private in the Somerset Light Infantry.
There is no documentation – military or otherwise – that can be concretely connected to Private Sams. None of the available documents for Edward Sams include the service number on his gravestone, and there is nothing to provide a definite date of birth or familial connections.
Sams was not an uncommon Somerset name at the start of the twentieth century, and there are a number men by that name called Edward in the area at the time. Again, however, the information is lacking that allows us to directly connect any of these names with the gravestone in the Weston-super-Mare cemetery.
There is nothing in any contemporary newspapers to suggest that Private Sams’ passing was anything out of the ordinary.
Sadly, therefore, he remains a name lost to history. Edward Sams, whoever he was, and however he died, lies at rest in a Somerset cemetery.
In the Milton Cemetery in Weston-super-Mare is a gravestone to Alfred Harry Howe. He seems destined, sadly, to be one of those servicemen whose stories are lost to time. The stone confirms that he died on 6th April 1916 and that he was a Private in the Gloucestershire Regiment. Further research adds that he was assigned to the 3rd/4th Battalion.
The UK Army Register of Soldier’s Effects gives his father’s name as William. It also confirms that he was not eligible for a war gratuity, as he had insufficient service; given the date of his death, it is likely, therefore, that he enlisted on or after October 1915.
Beyond this information, however, there is little documentation to confirm exactly who Alfred was. As there is no date or place of birth, it is difficult to get an exact match. There are at least three William/Alfred matches in the Somerset/Bristol area, but nothing to connect them to the headstone in Weston-super-Mare, and nothing to even confirm that Alfred was from the South West.
There is nothing in any contemporary newspapers to suggest that Private Howe’s passing was anything out of the ordinary.
Sadly, therefore, he remains a name lost to history. Alfred Harry Howe, whoever he was, and however he died, lies at rest in a Somerset cemetery.
Montague Ashley Palmer was born in Weston-super-Mare, Somerset, in 1886, one of five children to Alfred and Martha. Montague’s father was a postman in the town for 25 years, retiring through ill health in February 1898. Sadly, Alfred’s retirement was not to last long, and he passed away that July aged 48, when his son was just 12 years old.
When he left school, Montague found work as a bus conductor and was now the oldest of Martha’s children to still be living at home. He was obviously an ambitious and inventive young man; by the time of the 1911 census, he had started work for the Ordnance Survey, and had moved to Didcot in Berkshire where he was boarding with Frances Battison, a suiter and greengrocer.
At this point, details of Montague’s life become a little hazier. At some point, he married a woman called Matilda, who either came from, or would go on to live in, Helston, Cornwall.
With war on the horizon, Montague enlisted – documented dates for this, again, are missing. He joined the 12th Battalion of the Somerset Light Infantry, which initially served in Egypt, before transferring to France in May 1918.
Where and for how long Private Palmer served is not clear, although he was definitely caught up in the fighting, and injured, towards the end of the war. Details of his wounds are not clear, but they were enough for him to be repatriated to England, and he was admitted to the Royal Hospital in Salford.
Private Palmer’s injuries appear to have been too severe for him to survive; he passed away in hospital on 5th January 1919. He was just 32 years old.
Montague Ashley Palmer’s body was brought back to Somerset, and he was laid to rest in the Milton Cemetery in Weston-super-Mare.
Death and Service 