George Edward Brown was born on 26th June 1898 in South Petherton, Somerset. An only child, his parents were Escourt and Alice Brown. Originally a millstone dresser, by the time of the 1911 census, Escourt had turned his hand to farm work, while Alice made shirts and did housekeeping to bring in a little more money for the family.
George was only 16 years old when war broke out, but he was keen to play his part as soon as he was able to. In the spring of 1917, he enlisted in the Royal Field Artillery, and was assigned to the 105th Company.
Little information remains of Gunner Brown’s military service, but it is evident that he did his training in Norfolk. While here, he came down with appendicitis, and was admitted to the Norfolk War Hospital in Norwich. He was operated on, but sadly died following the procedure. He passed away on 29th June 1917, having just turned 19 years of age.
George Edward Brown’s body was brought back to Somerset for burial. He was laid to rest in the family grave in South Petherton Cemetery. He was reunited with his parents, when they passed away, Escourt in 1924 and Alice some time later.
James Ward Jones was born on 17th August 1871 in the Denbighshire town of Llangollen. He was the oldest of eleven children to William and Anne Jones. William was a bricklayer’s labourer, and James followed suit when he finished school.
On 30th April 1898, James married fisherman’s daughter Mary Jones. The couple set up home in Llangollen and went on to have ten children.
When war came to Europe, James stepped up to play his part for King and Country. Sadly, little detail of his military service remains available. but it is clear that he enlisted in the Royal Welch Fusiliers and, as a Private, he was assigned to the 47th Provisional Battalion. The troop was based on home soil, and James found himself sent to Norfolk for his war work.
It is unlikely that Private Jones was in camp for long. On Christmas Day 1915 he collapsed having had a seizure, and passed away. He was 44 years of age.
James Ward Jones’ body was brought back to Wales for burial. He was laid to rest in the graveyard of St John’s Church in his home town of Llangollen.
Mary was left with ten children to bring up on her own. She married again, to a Jack Evans, in the autumn of 1916. The couple had two children of their own. Mary passed away in December 1935, aged just 58 years old.
Victor Frank Langdon was born in the autumn of 1897, the only child to Francis and Martha Langdon. Frank was a carter and cowman from Clatworthy in Devon, but it was in Bradford-on-Tone in neighbouring Somerset that Victor was raised.
Victor was 16 years old when war was declared, but he was still keen to play his part. While full details of his military service are not available, he initially enlisted in the Hampshire Yeomanry, before transferring across to the 15th (Service) Battalion of the Hampshire Regiment in 1917.
Records suggest that Private Langdon served as part of a territorial force and, by the summer of 1918, was based in Norfolk. It was here that he fell ill, and, while in the camp hospital on 15th June 1918, he passed away. Details of his condition are lost to time, but it was noted as “disease”. He was just 21 years of age.
Victor Frank Langdon was brought back to Somerset for burial. He lies at rest in the graveyard of St Giles’ Church, in his home town of Bradford-on-Tone.
Harry Barker is one of those people whose lives are likely to remain lost to time as very little information remains that can be directly connected to him.
The only document that can be directly attributed to him is his Royal Navy service record. This confirms Harry’s date and place of birth as 5th January 1896 in West Dereham, Norfolk and confirms that he was a farm labourer before enlisting.
Census records confirm that, in 1901 there was a Harry Barker living in that village. He was residing with his grandparents – Robert and Elisabeth Barker – their son, Cornelius, and five more of their grandchildren.
One of the Barkers’ grandsons, Sidney, appears next to a Harry Barker on the 1911 census. Both were inmates at the Downham Union Workhouse, as does a Cornelius Barker. It seems likely, therefore, that the three are connected, and that this is the Harry Barker who appears on the service records five years later.
Harry’s records show that he enlisted in the Royal Navy as a Stoker 2nd Class on 27th October 1916. He was 5ft 8ins (1.73m) tall, had brown hair, brown eyes and a fresh complexion.
Stoker Barker was initially stationed at HMS Pembroke, the Royal Naval Dockyard in Chatham, Kent. After six months he received his first ocean-going post, aboard the dreadnought battleship HMS Hibernia. He spent five months on board, before returning to Chatham.
He was billeted in the Drill Hall, which had been set up with temporary accommodation during 1917, when the barracks themselves became overcrowded.
On the 3rd September 1917, the German Air Force carried out one of its first night-time air raids on England: Chatham was heavily bombed and the Drill Hall received a direct hit. Stoker Barker was amongst those killed instantly. He was just 20 years of age.
Harry Barker was laid to rest, along with the other victims of the Chatham Air Raid, in the Woodlands Cemetery, Gillingham.
Stafford Edmund Douglas was born on 4th January 1863, the second of four children to Stephen and Mary Douglas. Stafford came from a military family, his father having been a Captain in the Royal Navy. This led to a lot of travelling and, having been born in Donaghadee, County Down, he then moved to South Wales.
By the 1880s, when Stephen and Mary had set up home in Portsmouth, Stafford had started to carve out a career for himself, and was a Lieutenant in the Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders, based at Edinburgh Castle.
Over the coming years, Lieutenant Douglas, who stood 5ft 8.5ins (1.74m) tall and also spoke French, travelled the world, serving in South Africa, Ceylon (Sri Lanka) and Hong Kong. By 1894 he had made Captain, and he finally retired in 1903, after nineteen years’ service.
On 29th April that year, at the age of 40, Stafford married Mary Louisa Harris. She was the daughter of an army colonel, and the couple wed in St George’s Church, Hanover Square, London. The couple set up home in Exeter, Devon, and went on to have two children – Violet and Stafford Jr.
At this point, Stafford’s trail goes cold. When war broke out in 1914, he was called back into duty, working as a Railway Transport Officer in Norwich. He continued in this role until 1919, before being stood down and returning home.
Stafford Edmund Douglas passed away on 15th February 1920, at the age of 57 years old, although no cause of death is immediately apparent. He was laid to rest in the Milton Road Cemetery in Weston-super-Mare, presumably where his family were, by this time, residing.
Norman Stanley Allard was born on 3rd December 1892 in the village of Corsley, Wiltshire, halfway between Frome and Warminster. The younger of two children, his parents were Benjamin and Mercy Allard. Benjamin was a farmer who passed away when his son was only 14 years old. Mercy, who was born in Frome, moved the family back to her home town and Norman found work as a clerk at a printing firm in the area.
War came to Europe and, in December 1915, Norman was called up. There is little specific information about his military service, although his records show that he was 5ft 9ins (1.75m) tall and had varicocele – enlarged veins in his scrotum – listed as Distinctive Marks.
Initially assigned to the King’s Royal Rifles, Private Allard spent the first year of his service on home soil. He was eventually dispatched to France in March 1917, serving there for a year. On 22nd March 1918, he was wounded in a gas attack, and medically evacuated back to England.
He was called back into service, and assigned to the 9th Battalion of the Northamptonshire Regiment. He remained on home soil, working as part of the Labour Corps in Cley-next-the-Sea in Norfolk. Sadly, however, it seems that his injuries were to prove too much, and the now Corporal Allard was discharged from military service after just three months.
At this point, Norman’s trail goes cold. He returned home, and passed away there on 13th March 1919. He was just 26 years of age.
Norman Stanley Allard was laid to rest in the graveyard of Holy Trinity Church. This became a family grave, and his mother and sister were also buried there when they passed in 1924 and 1940.
William Alfred Littlewood was born on 19th April 1882, the oldest of four children to Henry and Mary. Henry was a labourer for the gasworks in Great Yarmouth, Norfolk, and the couple raised their family in the town.
William also found work with the local gasworks, and this is who he was employed by when, on 19th December 1903, he married Evelyn Harriet Youman. The couple set up home near the centre of the town, and went on to have four children.
When war broke out, William was keen to play his part. On 17th August 1914, he enlisted as a Private in the Army Service Corps and, within a couple of week, was in France. He spent six months on the Western Front, before returning to home soil. The reason for this return to England was an inflammation of the middle ear, and the resulting deafness led to his discharge from the army in June 1915.
William was not to be deterred, however, and within a matter of weeks, he had enlisted again, this time volunteering for the Royal Naval Reserve as a Deck Hand. Over the next two years, he served on a number of different ships, each time returning to HMS Pembroke, the Royal Naval Dockyard in Chatham, Kent.
In August 1917, Deck Hand Littlewood disembarked HMS Acteon, and returned to his shore base. The Dockyard was particularly busy that summer, and the large number of extra servicemen meant that William 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; Deck Hand Littlewood was among those killed instantly. He was 35 years of age.
William Alfred Littlewood was laid to rest, along with the other victims of the Chatham Air Raid, in the Woodlands Cemetery, Gillingham. Tragically, the Navy Death Records state that he was Buried as unidentified in one of the following graves: 516, 522, 642, 735, 935, 937 or 948.
John Robert Loose was born on 3rd March 1891 in the village of Brancaster on the North Norfolk coast. One of seven children his parents were John and Agnes Loose.
John Loose Sr was a fisherman, as were most of the family’s neighbours and the sea was definitely in his oldest son’s blood. Within days of his eighteenth birthday, he had enlisted in the Royal Navy for a 12 year term. His service records show that he was 5ft 9ins (1.75m) tall, with light brown hair, blue eyes and a fresh complexion.
Stoker 2nd Class Loose’s first assignment was on board HMS Acheron and, over the next year he learnt his trade on board her, HMS Vindictive and HMS Hawke. In June 1910, he was serving on HMS Inflexible, and received a promotion to Stoker 1st Class.
In the lead up to the outbreak of the First World War, John served on five further vessels. In between ocean assignments he was based on board HMS Pembroke, the shore-based establishment based at the Royal Naval Dockyard in Chatham, Kent.
While he seemed diligent and hard working, Stoker Loose was not without his flaws, and had a couple of run-ins with authority. In June 1912 he was detained for 90 days for absence, drunkenness and for striking a Leading Seaman. Eighteen months later he was imprisoned for a further 28 days for being absent beyond his allotted leave.
When hostilities commenced, Stoker Loose was serving on board HMS Bacchante, an armoured cruiser that was part of the Royal Navy’s Mediterranean fleet. He spent a total of eighteen months on board, returning to Chatham in February 1916.
A further lengthy posting followed, as he was assigned to HMS Calliope, a light cruiser that served in the North Sea, and which was involved in the Battle of Jutland later that spring. Again, Stoker Loose’s record was not without blemish: he spend a week in the brig, although there is no confirmation of his misdemeanour this time around.
By August 1917, John was back on dry land in Kent. HMS Pembroke was a busy place that summer, and, with its barracks having reached capacity, Chatham Drill Hall was used as temporary accommodation. This is where John found himself billeted.
The German Air Force, by this point was trying to minimise the losses it was suffering during raids it carried out in daytime. Instead, it trialled night flights and, on 3rd September 1917, Chatham found itself in their flight path. The Drill Hall Stoker Loose was sleeping in received a direct hit, and he was killed. He was just 26 years old.
The 98 victims of the Chatham Air Raid were laid to rest in Woodlands Cemetery, Gillingham, walking distance from the Drill Hall where John Robert Loose had been living.
Charles Lemmon was born in Norwich, Norfolk on 12th July 1892. He was one of ten children and the son of bricklayer Henry Lemmon and his wife Sophia.
When Charles left school, he found work as an errand boy; by the time of the 1911 census, he had moved to Cambridge. He was living with John Buol, a Swiss confectioner and pastry chef who had set up a restaurant in the centre of the city, opposite King’s College.
The move from Norfolk to Cambridgeshire must has ignited a yearning for travel, however. Within a year, Charles had enlisted in the Royal Navy, and was taken on as a Stoker 2nd Class. His naval records show that he stood at 5ft 2ins (1.57m) tall, had brown hair, grey eyes and a fair complexion. It was also noted that he had a scar on his left leg.
Stoker Lemmon was set to see the world. After his initial training at HMS Pembroke – the Royal Naval Dockyard in Chatham, Kent – he was assigned to HMS Berwick, an armoured cruiser that sailed between England and the Americas.
The following year, Charles was reassigned to HMS Swiftsure, and received a promotion to Stoker 1st Class. He returned to HMS Pembroke in May 1916, and, after a couple of months on land, boarded HMS Titania, a submarine depot ship that had recently seen action in the Battle of Jutland.
Stoker Lemmon spent just under a year on the Titania, before again returning to Chatham in the spring of 1917. HMS Pembroke was a crowded place that summer, Charles was billeted in temporary accommodation in the dockyard’s Drill Hall.
On 3rd September, the German Air Force was trialling night raids on English locations; Chatham found itself in the line of fire. The Drill Hall received a direct hit, and Stoker 1st Class Lemmon was killed, along with close to 100 other servicemen resting there. He was just 25 years of age.
The servicemen who lost their lives in the Chatham Air Raid, including Charles Lemmon, were laid to rest in the Woodlands Cemetery in nearby Gillingham.
Roland William John Mayes was born on 29th September 1895 in the Norfolk village of Fundenhall. He was the seventh of ten children to Herbert and Anna Mayes, and was the first son. Herbert was a carpenter, and this was a trade his son was to follow him into, finding work at a local piano factory.
By 1914, war was looming, and Roland wanted to put his skills to good use. He enlisted in the Royal Navy on 11th March 1914, joining a carpenter’s crew at HMS Pembroke, the Royal Naval Dockyard in Chatham, Kent. Roland’s service records show that he stood at 5ft 7ins (1.7m) tall, had brown hair, grey eyes and a sallow complexion.
Crewman Mayes’ first sea-bound assignment was aboard HMS Patrol; she was a cruiser that provided defence for the east coast of England. The vessel was badly damaged during the German bombardment of Hartlepool in December that year; Roland remained on board for more than three years.
In August 1917, Crewman Mayes returned to Chatham. HMS Pembroke was a crowded place that summer, additional accommodation was made available in the dockyard’s Drill Hall, and this is where Roland was billeted.
On the night of the 3rd September, the German Air Force was trialling night raids on English locations; Chatham found itself in the direct line of fire. The Drill Hall received a direct hit, and Carpenter’s Crewman Mayes was killed, along with close to 100 other servicemen resting there. He was just 21 years of age.
Along with 97 other victims of the Chatham Air Raid, Roland William John Mayes was laid to rest three days later in the Woodlands Cemetery in nearby Gillingham.
Death and Service 