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Bandsman, Commonwealth War Graves, Great War, history, illness, Kent, photography, Somerset, story, war, Wiltshire Regiment

Bandsman Clifford Alway

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Bandsman Clifford Alway

Clifford Frederick Alway was born on 2nd February 1903 in Wellington, Somerset. He was the fifth of fourteen children to Samuel and Ann Alway. Samuel was a farm labourer and butcher and, when war broke out, he stepped up to play his part, enlisting as a Driver in the Royal Field Artillery.

Clifford also seemed keen to be involved, and it can only be assumed that one or both of his older brothers – William (born 1898) and Wyndham (born 1901) – had joined up. By the summer of 1918, Clifford enlisted in the Wiltshire Regiment. It seems likely, given that he was only fifteen years old, that he had lied about his age, as so many young men did.

He joined the 3rd (Reserve) Battalion of the Wiltshire Regiment as a Bandsman. This was a territorial force, and Clifford was posted to Kent, as part of the Thames and Medway Garrison.

It was here, where it was billeted in crowded barracks, that Bandsman Alway contracted influenza and pneumonia. Admitted to hospital in Aylesford, the conditions proved too much for his system, and he passed away on 3rd December 1918. Tragically, Clifford was just 15 years of age.

Clifford Frederick Alway was brought back to Somerset for burial. He was laid to rest in Wellington Cemetery, not far from where his family still lived.

Samuel survived the war, spending more than three years in France – he was overseas when his son passed away, and so was unable to attend the funeral.

Commonwealth War Graves, Driver, Great War, history, illness, photography, Royal Army Service Corps, Somerset, story, war

Driver John Connett

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Driver John Connett

John Charles Connett was born at the end of 1870 in Holway, on the outskirts of Taunton, Somerset. He was one of seven children to Charles and Thursa Connett. Charles was a farm labourer and, in John’s early years, Thursa worked from home as a glover to bring in a little extra money for the growing family.

In 1897, John married a woman called Annie; the couple settled down in a small cottage near the centre of Wellington, Somerset. John found work as a coachman, and the couple went on to have one child, a daughter called Ethel, in 1900.

When war came to Europe, John was keen to play his part, even though he had turned 43 by the time hostilities were declared. He enlisted, joining the Royal Army Service Corps by November 1915, and was assigned to the 663rd Company.

Driver Connett’s time in the army was to be tragically short, however. He is recorded as passing away at home on 2nd May 1916, having contracted bronchitis and pneumonia while on active service. He was 45 years old.

John Charles Connett was laid to rest in Wellington Cemetery, within walking distance of where his widow and daughter still lived.

Commonwealth War Graves, Devon, Great War, history, illness, photography, Royal Engineers, Sapper, Somerset, story, war, Wiltshire

Sapper John Spry

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Sapper John Spry

Details of John George Spry’s life remain tantalisingly out of reach. He was born in around 1874 in the Devon village of Woolfardisworthy, and was one of eight children to John and Ann Spry. John Sr was a general labourer who died in 1891. By this point the family were living at 14 Honestone Lane, Bideford, and John Jr was working as a stone mason.

John married Emily Langford. She was a blacksmith’s daughter from Taunton, Somerset, but the couple set up home in nearby Wellington, before moving to Twerton, Bath. The went on to have three children: Ivy, Ruby and Frederick. Interestingly, Ivy seems to have been taken in by Emily’s mother, Emma, while Ruby and Frederick remained with their parents.

The 1911 census found Emily, Ruby and Frederick living with John’s mother in Bideford. Ivy was in Wellington with Emma, but John is missing from the records.

When war broke out, John joined up. He enlisted in the Royal Engineers, and was assigned the rank of Sapper. Dates for his service – and where that service was carried out – are lost to time, but by the autumn of 1918, John was based in barracks in Fovant, Wiltshire.

By this time, Sapper Spry had fallen ill. Suffering from influenza and bronchial pneumonia, he was to succumb to the lung diseases, as so many other returning servicemen did. John passed away on 28th November 1918, aged 45 years of age.

John George Spry was brought back to Somerset for burial. He was laid to rest in Wellington Cemetery, not far from where his widow had relocated.

What became of the Spry family after John’s death is unclear. Emily cannot be tracked down in the 1921 census, nor can her middle child, Ruby.

Ivy was boarding at 55 Harrow Road, Paddington, Middlesex, where she was working as a Lieutenant in the Salvation Army. Frederick, meanwhile, had found work as a steersman on a steamroller, and, according to the census, was living with his maternal uncle, Charles, in Bideford.

The 1939 Register picks up Emily once more, living in a small end-of-terrace cottage on the outskirts of Wellington. Now 70 years of age, she was noted as being incapacitated, no doubt being tended to by Ruby, who was also living there, employed as a puttee machinist.

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

Private Thomas Salter

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Private Thomas Salter

Thomas Salter – better known as Tom – was born on 5th June 1877, in the Devon village of Uffculme. He was the only child to John and Selina Salter. John was seventeen years older than his wife and, by the time his son was born, was 57 years old. Selina had been married before and widowed, and had had five children of her own.

When he left school, Tom found work as a butcher’s assistant at the Uffculme’s Commercial Hotel (now the Ostler Inn on Commercial Road). Food was not destined to be his career, however. By the time of the 1901 census, he had moved from Devon to Gloucestershire, and found employment as a labourer in the engine works at Knowle, Bristol.

His landlady was an Elizabeth Bobbett, who had been born in Trull, near Taunton, and this connection may have pre-destined what was to come. In the spring of 1908, Tom married Florence Taylor, a labourer’s daughter from Wellington, Somerset, five miles (8km) from his landlady’s home village.

Tom and Florence settled in Wellington, close to the centre of the town. They had four children – Harold (born in 1909), Evelyn (1912), Irene (1914) and Edna (1916). Tom found work as a packer at the Fox Bros. woollen mill in nearby Tonedale.

War was coming to Europe by this point and, in January 1917, Tom enlisted. Private Salter joined the 11th Battalion of the Somerset Light Infantry: this was a territorial troop, and Tom found himself based in Yeovil.

There is little concrete information about Private Salter’s military life. All that can be confirmed is that within a couple of months of joining up, he had been admitted to hospital, suffering from bronchial pneumonia. Sadly, he was not to recover from the lung condition: he passed away on 10th May 1917, at the age of 37 years old.

Tom Salter was brought back to Wellington for burial. He was laid to rest in the town’s cemetery.

Bombardier, Commonwealth War Graves, Great War, history, illness, Kent, Lancashire, photography, Royal Field Artillery, story, war

Bombardier John Harris

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Bombardier John Harris

Sadly, much of John Harris’ life is lost to time. Born in Liverpool in around 1896, he was one of at least eight children, but, with a name as common as his, there is little to identify who his parents were.

What information remains available, comes from contemporary newspaper reports of his funeral:

Acting Bombardier Harris, of the 13th Battery, 2/3rd West Lancashire, died from double pneumonia at The Mount Hospital [in Faversham, Kent] last Saturday. He was 20 years of age, belonged to Liverpool, and had been in the Brigade about ten months. Deceased had been ill for about a fortnight. Several of the men at The Mount attended the funeral, and one of the nurses there accompanied the deceased’s sister.

Faversham News: Saturday 25th March 1916

From this it is possible to determine that John enlisted in the 2nd/3rd West Lancashire Artillery of the Royal Field Artillery in May 1915. His was a territorial force that was, by the spring of 1916, based in Kent.

It would seem that Acting Bombardier Harris’ parents had passed on by the time that he died at The Mount. His siblings – brothers Alfred and Edward, sisters Edith, Clara, Louise, Alice, Kate and Elizabeth – were all based in Lancashire.

John Harris, therefore, was buried in the town where he passed away, and was laid to rest in Faversham Borough Cemetery.

Commonwealth War Graves, Essex, Great War, history, illness, Kent, Leading Stoker, Petty Officer, photography, Royal Navy, Stoker, story, Suffolk, war

Stoker Petty Officer Christian Belsey

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Stoker Petty Officer Christian Belsey

Christian Belsey was born on 12th February 1884 in the village of Preston, Kent. He was one of fourteen children to Joseph and Jane Belsey. Joseph was a farm labourer, and Christian followed suit on leaving school.

He wanted bigger and better things, however, and after his older brother Charles had sought out a life in the Royal Navy, he followed suit. Christian enlisted on 28th June 1904; his service records show that he was 6ft (1.83m) tall, had brown hair, brown eyes and a fresh complexion.

Stoker 2nd Class Belsey was based out of HMS Pembroke, the Royal aval Dockyard in Chatham, Kent, and this is where he returned to in between voyages. His first posting was on board the destroyer HMS Acheron, on board which he spent six months.

Over the twelve years of his initial service he was assigned to six different ships, rising through the ranks to Stoker 1st Class (in 1906), Leading Stoker (1911) and Stoker Petty Officer (1912).

When war broke out in August 1914, Christian was back in Chatham; he was soon assigned to HMS Laertes, a destroyer based out of Harwich, which patrolled the North Sea. She was involved in the attempt to head off the German attack on Yarmouth and Lowestoft in April 1916, during which, two of Christian’s colleagues, Stoker Ernest Clarke and Stoker Petty Officer Stephen Pritchard, were awarded the Distinguished Service Medal for their bravery under fire.

After three years on board Laertes, Christian was transferred to HMS Redgauntlet. He served on board for eighteen months until, in October 1918, he fell ill.

Admitted to a hospital in Samford, near Ipswich, Suffolk, Stoker Petty Officer Belsey was suffering from pneumonia. Sadly, the lung condition was to get the better of him, and he passed away on 25th October 1918, at the age of 34 years old,

Christian Belsey was brought back to Kent for burial. He was laid to rest in Faversham Borough Cemetery.

Commonwealth War Graves, Great War, history, illness, Kent, Kent Royal Garrison Artillery, photography, Royal Garrison Artillery, Signaller, story, war, Wiltshire

Signaller William Owen

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Signaller William Owen

William John Owen was born in the spring of 1900, and was one of thirteen children to Henry and Emma Owen. Henry was an oyster dredger turned coal porter from Faversham in Kent, and this is where the family were born and raised.

There is little concrete information about William’s life, but it is clear that, by April 1918, he had joined the Royal Garrison Artillery, and was assigned to the 2/1st Kent Heavy Battery. Signaller Owen was sent to Larkhill Camp in Wiltshire for training.

The only further information is that William was admitted to the Fargo Military Hospital on Salisbury Plain, suffering from pneumonia. Sadly the lung condition was to get the better of him: he passed away on 11nd October 1918, aged just 18 years old.

William John Owen was brought back to Kent for burial. He was laid to rest in Faversham Borough Cemetery, just a few minutes’ walk from his family home.

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

Private Bert Adley

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Private Bert Adley

Bert Bennett Adley was born in the spring of 1895, the youngest of eleven children to George and Alma Adley. George was a brickmaker’s labourer from Canterbury, Kent, but it was in nearby Faversham that he and Alma raised their family.

Bert – who was affectionately known as Bertie – found work with a local baker when he left school, and this stood him in good stead when war broke out. He was called up in June 1915, and joined the Army Service Corps as a Private. His service records give little personal information, but they do give his height as 5ft 5ins (1.65m) and his weight as 9st 2lbs (58kg).

Private Adley’s military life was to be tragically short. Based in Aldershot, Hampshire, it is likely that the sudden mixing of recruits from across the country was key in his contracting pneumonia. He was admitted to hospital on 26th June, and died two weeks later, on 11th July 1915. He was just 20 years of age, and had been in the Army Service Corps for just 28 days.

Bert Bennett Adley’s body was brought back to Kent for burial. He was laid to rest in his home town, in the Faversham Borough Cemetery.

Commonwealth War Graves, Great War, Gunner, Hampshire, history, illness, Kent, photography, Royal Field Artillery, story, war, Yorkshire

Gunner William Wyborn

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Gunner William Wyborn

William Aubrey Wyborn was born on 15th November 1897, the middle of three children to farmer-cum-greengrocer-cum-butcher Henry Wyborn and his wife, Esther. The family lived in the Kent village of Tilmanstone, not far from Deal, but soon moved to Faversham in the north of the county.

William proved to be an astute student. After being a pupil at Faversham District Schools, he gained a scholarship to the towns Grammar School. He spent six years there, and proved to be a studious pupil, gaining a prize for maths. He was then granted a scholarship to the Sheffield School of Engineering, and, while studying for his degree there, war broke out.

William joined the West Lancashire Royal Field Artillery in June 1916 and was sent to Aldershot for training. sadly, Gunner Wyborn’s career was to be cut short – while training, he contracted diphtheria and pneumonia, passing away from a combination of the illnesses on 3rd November 1916. He was just short of his 19th birthday.

William Aubrey Wyborn was brought back to Kent for burial. He lies at rest in the family plot in the Faversham Borough Cemetery.

Commonwealth War Graves, Corporal, Great War, history, illness, Kent, photography, Quartermaster, Royal Garrison Artillery, Sergeant, story, war

Quartermaster Serjeant George Bunting

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Quartermaster Serjeant George Bunting

George William Willis Bunting was born in Faversham, Kent, in the spring of 1889. The middle of eleven children to George and Mary Ann Bunting, he was also the oldest boy. George Sr was a labourer in the town’s munitions works, and his son followed suit, and was recorded as a cordite labourer there in the 1911 census.

When war came to Europe, George Jr was keen to play his part. He enlisted in the Royal Garrison Artillery, and was assigned to the 343rd Siege Battery. While full details of his service are not available, George’s life was laid out in a newspaper report following his death:

The death has occurred in quite pathetic circumstances of Battery Quartermaster Sergeant George William Bunting, 1st Kent Heavy Battery, Royal Garrison Artillery… who, after serving throughout the war, and coming unscathed through more than three years service in France, though he had several narrow escapes, had died of pneumonia at his home, just as he was anticipating return to civil life.

BQMS Bunting joined the Faversham Volunteer Corps (in which his father also formerly served) some seven years before the war, and when was broke out he was at the annual training with the Battery. War service immediately followed and in 1915 he went to France and, except for leave, had been out there ever since until a few weeks back when he returned for demobilisation. He was not feeling at all well when he arrived home, indeed he seems to have been so unwell that when he got indoors he remarked “I’m done.”

His words, unhappily, were only too prophetic, for he never left the house again, pneumonia developing and culminating in his death on February 27th, only nice days after his arrival.

Prior to the war the deceased, who was in his 30th year and unmarried, had been employed at the Cotton Powder Works ever since he left school. At the commencement of his war service, he was a Corporal, but his keenness at his work steadily gained him promotion and eventually he reached the rank of Battery Quarter Master Sergeant. Keen and conscientious himself, he expected the same in others, and it says much for his example and influence that he was held in the very highest regard by the men of his Battery, while to his officers he was a greatly valued NCO.

Faversham News: Saturday 15th March 1919

Quartermaster Serjeant George William Willis Bunting died at his Faversham home on 27th February 1919. He was just 29 years of age. He was laid to rest in the town’s Borough Cemetery.