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Commonwealth War Graves, Great War, history, illness, Kent, Labour Corps, photography, Private, Renfrewshire, Royal Army Service Corps, Scotland, story, war

Private William Johnstone

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Private William Johnstone

In the First World War section of St Peter and St Paul’s Churchyard in Aylesford, Kent, is a headstone dedicated to T4/174339 Private W Johnstone of the Royal Army Service Corps. Little other immediate information is apparent, and there are no military records available based on his service number.

The Commonwealth War Graves Commission website confirms that Private Johnstone transferred across to the 697th Agricultural Coy of the Labour Corps. He was given another service number – 440640 – and this allows access to a few more strands of his life.

Private Johnstone’s first name was William, and he had a dependent, Mrs CM Gunn, who lived at Moss Fall in Linwood, Paisley. The records, however, add a little more confusion to the story – Mrs Gunn is recorded as U/Wife and a guardian is also noted: Mrs Catherine McDree.

The waters are muddied further by the Army Register of Soldiers’ Effects. While this confirms that William had enlisted by the spring of 1918, it also highlights that his effects and war gratuity were not actually claimed.

With no date of birth for William, it is impossible to narrow down any further details of his early life: there are too many combinations of William and Catherine in the Paisley area to be able to identify them with any confidence.

The only thing that can be confirmed is that Private William Johnstone died from a combination of influenza and pneumonia on 5th November 1918, at the Preston Hall Military Hospital in Aylesford, Kent. He was buried in the nearby churchyard.

Commonwealth War Graves, Cornwall, Devon, Devonshire Regiment, Great War, history, illness, injury, Lieutenant, photography, Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers, story, war, Yorkshire

Lieutenant Arthur Wellacott

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Lieutenant Arthur Wellacott

Arthur Cecil Baber Wellacott was born the summer of 1897, in the village of Bradworthy, North Devon. Ond of seven children, his parents were William and Ada Wellacott. William was the parish vicar and with his status came additional support for the family.

The 1901 census saw the vicarage employ three members of staff, and William was hosting two students as well as his and Ada’s own children. Ten years later, with Arthur and his younger brother William, boarding at a school in Bude, Cornwall, the Wellacott retinue remained in place.

On leaving boarding school, Arthur studied at Kelly College in Tavistock and, at around the same time his father took up a new post in Totnes. When Arthur left the college, he joined the 7th (Cyclist) Battalion of the Devonshire Regiment. He was subsequently given a commission in th 3rd Battalion of the Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers, and was based in Londonderry.

At Easter 1916, Lieutenant Wellacott took part in quelling the rebellion in Dublin, and was subsequently sent to France. In the battle for Contalmaison his platoon was gassed and buried, and Arthur was badly injured. Suffering from shell shock, the experience had a lasting impact on him “and from that time his health had given cause for anxiety…” [Western Morning News: Tuesday 18th February 1919]

Lieutenant Wellacott returned to England and he was billeted near Leeds. During the winter of 1918/1919, he contracted pneumonia, and was admitted to the Drax Hospital. Sadly, the condition was to prove too much for his already damaged lungs and he died on 16th February 1919. He was just 21 years of age.

Arthur Cecil Baber Wellacott was brought back to Devon for burial. He was laid to rest in the cemetery in Totnes, Devon.

Commonwealth War Graves, Devon, Dorset, Great War, history, illness, Lieutenant, London, Middlesex, photography, Royal Garrison Artillery, Royal Navy, story, Tank Corps, war

Lieutenant Hugh Punchard

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Lieutenant Hugh Punchard

Hugh Punchard was born in February 1895, the oldest of three children to William and Jane Punchard. William was a civil engineer from London, and Hugh was born in Surbiton.

The 1901 census recorded the family living in the 14-room house, Pope’s Garden, in Twickenham. Along with the family, there were four members of staff – a governess, housemaid, cook and a nurse. By the time of the next census, sixteen-year-old Hugh was away at school, boarding with more than 400 others at Haileybury College in Hertfordshire.

War was coming to Europe by this point, and Hugh was keen to play his part. He enlisted in the Royal Navy on 20th October 1914 and, while he was only there for a short period, his records shed some light onto the man he had become. He enlisted as a mechanic, and was noted as being 6ft 4ins (1.93m) tall, with dark brown hair, grey eyes and a fair complexion.

Hugh remained in the Royal Navy for only a month, and, while full details of his service are no longer available, it would seem that it was at this point that he transferred to the Royal Garrison Artillery. He appears to have performed his duties well, and achieved the rank of Lieutenant. He also made another transfer, when he was attached to the Tank Corps.

Lieutenant Punchard was based in Dorset by the last year of the war, and it was while he was serving there that he became unwell. He contracted pneumonia, and was admitted to Wareham Military Hospital. Sadly, the condition was to take his life, and he passed away on 31st October 1918, at the age of just 23 years old.

Hugh Punchard’s paternal grandparents lived in Devon, and, as William had passed away two years earlier, the decision was to lay him to rest in Totnes Cemetery.

Hugh’s will left his estate to his mother, Jane. When he passed, she became the beneficiary of his effects, totally some £3,600 7s 6d (around £250,000 in today’s money).

Jane stayed living in Twickenham: when she passed away on 29th July 1937, she was brought to Devon for burial, and was laid to rest with her son.

A number of documents relating to Hugh give his name as R Hugh Punchard. Sadly, I have not been able to unearth details of what his official first name might have been.

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

Private Alec Willmott

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Private Alec Willmott

Alec William Willmott was born in 1886 and was one of six children to Henry and Ellen Willmott. Henry was a farm labourer from Oldland in Gloucestershire, and this is where the family were raised.

When he left school, Alec found work making shoes and boots at a local factory – this was work most of the Willmott children went into. On 24th April 1916, he married Elsie Frost in the local church. The couple set up home in Keynsham, and went on to have a son, Cecil, who was born in August 1917.

Alec played his part during the war. Full service details are not available, but it is clear that he had enlisted in the Royal Army Medical Corps by the spring of 1918. There is no confirmation of whether Private Willmott served at home or overseas, but, by October 1918, he had been admitted to the 2nd London General Hospital in Chelsea, suffering from a combination of influenza and pneumonia.

Sadly, these conditions put a strong pressure on his heart: Private Willmott passed away from cardiac failure on 2nd November 1918, at the age of just 32 years old.

Alec William Willmott was brought back to Gloucestershire for burial. He was laid to rest in the graveyard of St Anne’s Church in his home village, Oldland.

Bedfordshire, Commonwealth War Graves, Great War, history, illness, Kent, Nottinghamshire, photography, Private, Royal Marines, story, war

Private William Jackson

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Private William Jackson

Little concrete documentation remains about the life of William Henry Jackson. He was born in Bedford, Bedfordshire, on 6th February 1872, although it is not possible to identify who his parents were.

He married a woman called Edith in 1903, and the couple settled in her home town of Beeston, Nottinghamshire. By the time of the 1911 census, he was recorded working as an electrician’s labourer at the local telephone works, while Edith, who was five years his senior, earned extra money as a blouse finisher.

Information about William’s wartime efforts are also limited. He enlisted in the Royal Marine Light Infantry, and was assigned to the Chatham Division. He was given the rank of Private and based at the Royal Naval Dockyard in the Kent town.

The only other information available for Private Jackson is that he died on 16th September 1916, having contracted a combination of pneumonia and tuberculosis. He was 44 years of age.

William Henry Jackson was laid to rest in Woodlands Cemetery, Gillingham, not far from the dockyard in which he had served. His headstone gives the initial H, rather than W, although no documents suggest he went by any name other than William.

Commonwealth War Graves, Driver, Great War, Gwynedd, history, illness, photography, Royal Field Artillery, story, Wales, war

Driver Griffith Williams

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Driver Griffith Williams

Griffith Owen Williams was born the autumn of 1876 in Llanberis, Gwynedd. One of nine children, his parents were blacksmith William Williams and his wife, Alice.

Little information remains about Griffith’s teenage years. The 1891 census record that, at 14 years old, he was a scholar, but the next document that can be attributed to him comes fourteen years later.

At this point, on 7th March 1905, he married Margaret Jane Williams at the parish church in Llanberis. Margaret was 24 years old, and the daughter of a quarryman: Griffith gave his profession as Post Office official, and he was living in Caernarfon, eight miles away, on the Menai Strait.

The young couple went on to have a daughter, Maggie, in January 1906. Sadly, Margaret died on 5th May 1908, when she was just 27 years of age. While the young family had been living in Caernarfon, she was laid to rest in the graveyard of St Peris Church in Llanberis.

At this point, Griffith’s trail goes cold once more. When war broke out, he enlisted in the Royal Field Artillery, and was assigned as a Driver in the 248th (Howitzer) Brigade. By April 1915, Griffith found himself on the Western Front and, by the next spring he was fighting at the Somme.

During the winter of 1916/17, Driver Williams fell ill. He contracted bronchial pneumonia, and was medically evacuated to Britain to recuperate. Sadly, the condition was to prove too much for his body to take. He passed away on 23rd February 1917, at the age of 46 years old.

Griffith Owen Williams’ was laid to rest with his late wife in St Peris Churchyard, in their home village of Llanberis.

Commonwealth War Graves, Denbighshire, Great War, history, illness, London, photography, Royal Engineers, Sapper, story, Wales, war

Sapper James Tod

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Sapper James Tod

James Tod was born in the spring of 1891 in Chirk, Denbighshire, and was one of nine children. His parents were builder John Tod, who was from Scotland, and Margaret Tod, who had been born in Llangollen.

John passed away when James was in his teens and, when he left school, James found work as a joiner to help support his mother financially.

When war came to Europe, James was called upon to play his part. Full details of his military service are not available, but he had enlisted by the beginning of 1917. James joined the Royal Engineers as a Sapper, and was assigned to the London Electrical Engineers.

It is unclear whether Sapper Tod served overseas, but he certainly would have been based in the London area, carrying out repair works as needed. The London Electrical Engineers were also pioneers in the use of searchlights to spot enemy aircraft and Zeppelins raiding the capital. A detachment was also sent to France to position and man searchlights on the Western Front, although, again, it is not clear whether James was one of those involved.

It is clear that James was back in Wales at the start of 1917, however, as, on 18th January, he married his sweetheart, Emily Mary Edwards, at the parish church in his home town. Emily was the daughter of a gamekeeper from nearby Pontfadog, but it was in Chirk that the coupler were to make their home.

Sapper Tod was soon back on duty, however, and the next evidence available for him is that of his admission to the Grove Military Hospital in Tooting, South London. He had contracted a combination of influenza and pneumonia, and these lung conditions were sadly to get the better of him: he passed away on Armistice Day, the 11th November 1918. He was just 27 years of age.

James Tod was brought back to Wales for burial. He was laid to rest in the family plot in the graveyard of St Mary’s Church in the town.

It seems that James had been in some debt when he passed, as some of his war pension was held over to cover those costs.

Tragically, Emily was five months pregnant when James died. She gave birth to a son, who she named after his father, on 9th March 1919.

Emily never remarried, and, by the time of the 1939 Register for England and Wales, was recorded as the Lodgekeeper for Deer Park Lodge, which was attached to Chirk Castle. She passed away on 19th December 1973, at the age of 84 years old. She was laid to rest with her late husband, a couple reunited at last after more than five decades.

James Jr lived a long life, passing away in the spring of 1999, in his eightieth year.

Air Mechanic, Commonwealth War Graves, Great War, history, illness, Kent, Middlesex, photography, Royal Air Force, story, Sussex, war

Air Mechanic 1st Class Harold Weston

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Air Mechanic 1st Class Harold Weston

Harold Stanley Weston’s early life is destined to remain a mystery. He was born, according to his Royal Air Force service records, in Southgate, Middlesex in 1887 and, before war broke our, was working as a waiter before enlisting.

On 3rd August 1915, he married a woman called Gertrude in Hastings, Eat Sussex, and it appears that this is where the couple set up home. Harold has initially enlisted in the army, but transferred across to the Royal Flying Corps on 28th October 1915. Air Mechanic 2nd Class Weston’s service records show that he stood just 5ft 2.5ins (1.59m) tall.

Over the next three years, Harold rose through the ranks to Air Mechanic 1st Class, and served in France for nine months during 1916. He then returned to England, and was based at an airfield near Detling, Kent. When the Royal Flying Corps and the Royal Naval Air Service merged in April 1918, he transferred across to the newly-formed Royal Air Force, and was attached to 27 Squadron.

In November that year, Harold was admitted to the Military Hospital in Maidstone, also in Kent, having contracted influenza and pneumonia. Sadly, the lung conditions were to get the better of him, and he passed away on 1st November 1918, at the age of just 31 years old.

Air Mechanic 1st Class Harold Stanley Weston’s body was laid to rest in the quiet graveyard of St Martin’s Church in Detling, not far from the base at which he served. Gertrude posted her thanks to “all [their] friends for their kindness and sympathy shown to her in her sad bereavement, more especially Captain Saunders, RAF, Major Chapman, KCC [Kent County Council?], Sergeant Fowle, KCC, and Sergeant Weller, RAMC [Royal Army Medical Corps]” [Maidstone Telegraph: Saturday 9th November 1918]

Commonwealth War Graves, East Yorkshire Regiment, Great War, history, illness, photography, Private, story, Sussex, war

Private George Sinclair

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Private George Sinclair

In a quiet corner of the village cemetery in Cuckfield, West Sussex, is a headstone dedicated to Private WG Sinclair. Attached to the East Yorkshire Regiment, he passed away on 12th February 1919.

A search of military records gives a little more detail: this was a George William Sinclair, who had died from pneumonia at the West Hylands Institution, which was Cuckfield’s workhouse. George was 29 years old, but there is little concrete information about his early life.

A newspaper report from the day before Private Sinclair’s death, however, begins to shed a little more light onto his life:

George William Sinclair was charged with being a deserter from the Cuckfield Union Workhouse, on November 6th, and carrying away clothing to the value of £1, the property of the Guardians of the Cuckfield Union. PC Upton said that he arrested the prisoner at the Somerstown Police Station. Prisoner was remanded, but as he was taken ill he was removed to the Workhouse Infirmary.

Mid Sussex Times: Tuesday 11th February 1919

George’s entry in the Army Register of Soldier’s Effects does not give a next of kin, so it is not possible to determine categorically where he was born and raised, or who his parents were.

A little more digging found a George William Sinclair recorded in the UK Calendar of Prisoners in 1916. He had been arrested for “feloniously breaking and entering the dwelling house of Sarah Waddingham, and stealing one bicycle, one pair of shoes, one purse, one tobacco box, one tobacco pipe and one microscope, the property of said Sarah Waddingham, at West Halton [near Hull], on the 7th July 1916.“

It is not possible to say definitively that this George William Sinclair is the same one buried in Cuckfield Cemetery, but, given the regiment he was attached to, and the newspaper report prior to his passing, it is likely to be more than just a coincidence.

George pleaded guilty, and was sentenced to six months’ hard labour. This was not his first offence, and had had spent a total of more than eighteen months behind bars over a period of ten years up to this point. On each occasion, he was convicted of theft.

It is possible, given that the country was at war by this point, that George was given the option to enlist, rather than serve his sentence. Again, this is an assumption, however, but Private Sinclair’s Pension Ledger confirms that he was discharged from the army on 6th November 1918.

George William Sinclair appears on another workhouse register, this time in Westminster, London, where he spent a couple of nights just before Christmas that year.

If these records all relate to the same man, his life seems to have been a troubled one. I can only hope that he found peace in that quiet corner of West Sussex.

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

Lance Corporal James Matthews

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Lance Corporal James Matthews

James Matthews was born in the summer of 1894, the youngest of five children to James and Margaret Matthews. James Sr was a farm worker from Cuckfield in West Sussex, and it was on Hodshrove Farm in nearby Ansty that the family were raised.

James Jr worked on the farm when he left school, but when war broke out, he found a bigger calling for himself. Full details of his military service are not available, but he seemed to have enlisted early on in the conflict, joining the 9th (Service) Battalion of the Royal Sussex Regiment. Originally formed in Chichester, West Sussex, he soon found himself billeted in the South Down near Portslade.

James must have impressed his superiors, as he was soon promoted to Lance Corporal for his work. All was not to go well, however, as, during the early months of 1915, he contracted pneumonia.

Lance Corporal Matthews was admitted to the 2nd Eastern General Hospital in Brighton, but the lung condition was to get the better of him, and he passed away on 7th March 1915. He was just 20 years of age.

James Matthews was brought back to his home village for burial. He lies at rest in Cuckfield Cemetery, in the shadow of Holy Trinity Church.