Tag Archives: nephritis

Commonwealth War Graves, Egypt, Great War, history, illness, London Regiment, Malta, photography, Rifleman, Somerset, story, unknown, war

Rifleman Edward Drewett

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Rifleman Edward Drewett

Edward Phillips Drewett was born on 22nd September 1893 in the Somerset town of Castle Cary. He was one of four children to Richard and Martha Drewett; his mother had been widowed before marrying Richard, and had a child from that marriage, Edward’s half-sister.

Richard was a solicitor’s clerk, but when he left school Edward found employment as a grocer’s assistant. It was this that he was doing when war broke out in 1914 and, in November 1915, he joined up to do his bit for King and Country.

Edward joined the 17th Battalion of the London Regiment as a Rifleman: his service records show that he stood 5ft 7.5ins (1.71m) tall, weighed in at 9st (57.2kg) and was of good physical development.

Rifleman Drewett ended up spending three-and-a-half years in the army, and travelled a lot. After nine months on home soil, he was sent to France, Salonika, Malta and Egypt, spending between four and nine months in each place. By July 1918, he was back in France, and by Christmas that year was on home soil again.

By this point, Rifleman Drewett was unwell, and suffering from nephritis – inflamed kidneys. The condition was severe enough for him to be stood down from the army, and he was formally discharged from military service on 31st March 1919, while admitted to the Bath War Hospital.

At this point, Edward’s trail goes cold. He passed away on 28th August 1919 and, while the cause is unclear, it seems likely to have been kidney-related. He was just 25 years of age.

Edward Phillips Drewett was laid to rest in the cemetery of his home town, Castle Cary.

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

Private James Plympton

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Private James Plympton

James Plympton was born in the spring of 1875, one of four children to Richard and Mary Plympton from Yeovil, Somerset. They raised the family in a cottage to the south of the town centre, where Richard was a labourer and Mary a glover. When they left school, James and his two brothers followed in their father’s footsteps, finding labouring work in the local area.

In the summer of 1899, when James was 24, he married Elizabeth Maria Holt, an agricultural labourer’s daughter from the village of Misterton, near Crewkerne. The couple would go on to have six children, but, according to the 1901 census, they had set up home near the centre of Yeovil, with their first born, Dorothy, and James’ recently widowed mother.

Mary, at 69, was no longer working, and so Elizabeth found employment as a cloth ripper – presumably for the local glove industry – earning a little extra money to support James’ labouring work. This was a job that he continued to do: the 1911 census found James and Elizabeth living in a five-roomed cottage in Yeovil; Mary had by this time passed away, as had young Dorothy, but the couple were surrounded by their other five children, Elizabeth looking after them and James working as a jobbing mason.

By now war was imminent, and James enlisted to play his part. While full details of his service are no longer available, it is evident that he had joined up by the summer of 1915. He was a Private in the Somerset Light Infantry and was assigned to the 7th (Service) Battalion. He was shipped to France on 24th July 1915, and, for his service, was awarded the 1915 Star and the British and Victory Medals.

Private Plympton returned from France at the start of 1916; he was suffering from nephritis – inflamed kidneys – and was admitted to St Bartholomew’s Hospital in London. Sadly, it seems that his treatment came too late; he passed away on 31st January 1916, at the age of 41.

James’ body was brought back to his home town; he was laid to rest in Yeovil Cemetery.

A local newspaper, the Western Chronicle, reported on James’ funeral; interestingly it gave his rank as Sergeant, although none of the official military documentation corroborates this.

Commonwealth War Graves, Corporal, Great War, history, illness, photography, Royal Sussex Regiment, story, Sussex, war

Corporal William Giles

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Corporal William Giles

William Percy Giles was born in the autumn of 1879, in the West Sussex town of Storrington. His father was also called William, and his mother was Esther. William Sr was a carpenter, and this was to be a trade that his son followed him into.

In 1905, William married a woman called Ellen; the young couple moved to the seaside town of Worthing, and went on to have a son, Frederick, two years later. William, by this time, was working full time as a carpenter.

War was on the horizon and, while full service details are not available, it is clear that William joined the Royal Sussex Regiment at some point before March 1918. He was assigned to the 4th Battalion, though no further details of his time in the army remain, other than the fact that he reached the rank of Corporal during the conflict.

In the autumn of 1918, Corporal Giles was admitted to the 2nd East General Hospital in Brighton, suffering from nephritis. Sadly, he was to succumb to the condition, and he passed away on 28th October 1918. He was 40 years old.

William Percy Giles’ body was brought back to Worthing for burial. He lies at rest in the Broadwater Cemetery, not far from where his widow and son were living.

Commonwealth War Graves, Corporal, East Yorkshire Regiment, Essex, Great War, history, illness, Kent, photography, Private, story, war

Corporal Charles Cornell

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Corporal Charles Cornell

Charles Cornell was born in July 1885, the youngest of six children to Philip and Martha Cornell, from Ashdon in Essex. Philip was an agricultural labourer, and Charles and his older brother Daniel followed their father into the trade.

Charles was keen to further himself, however, and enlisted in the army. The 1911 census records him as a Private soldier at the Salamanca Barracks in Aldershot.

Private Cornell married Elizabeth Fanny Hoare in Strood, Kent, in October 1913. Beyond this there is little information on either Charles or Elizabeth.

Charles was assigned to the 3rd Battalion of the East Yorkshire Regiment and was promoted to Corporal. This reserve battalion was initially based in the town of Beverley, before moving to Hull and then nearby Withernsea. It seems unlikely, therefore, that Corporal Cornell saw active service on the Western Front.

His passing seems to have been sudden; his pension record shows that he had been admitted to the Military Hospital at Wharncliffe with nephritis (inflamed kidneys). He passed away on 27th January 1918, aged 32 years old.

Corporal Charles Cornell is buried in the graveyard of St Helen’s Church in Cliffe, Kent, the village his widow’s family were from. He is also commemorated in his own family’s village of Ashdon in Essex (where the memorial states he had attained the rank of Sergeant).

The majority of the the Commonwealth War Graves Commission headstones in the UK are made from Portland stone, although, in face, over 50 different natural stones have been used.

Corporal Cornell’s headstone is one of two in St Helen’s Churchyard that have been fashioned from dark grey slate.