In the naval section of Woodlands Cemetery, Gillingham, Kent, is the grave of Arthur Harrison. A Private in Royal Marine Light Infantry, his headstone suggests that he was born in around 1883. The inscription also confirms that he was killed in the explosion that sank the battleship HMS Bulwark on 26th November 1914.
Beyond these sparse facts, little else is known. No surviving service records remain to illuminate Arthur’s military career, and his name is too common to be reliably traced through census returns or other contemporary documents.
As a result, Arthur Harrison’s life has largely slipped from the historical record. His story is destined to remain fragmented—lost to time, save for this quiet grave and the brief inscription that marks his passing.
Bert Doe was born in Working, Surrey, in 1881. One of twelve children, his parents were France and Louisa Doe. Francis – who went by his middle name, John – was a general labour and, over the years, his work took the family across the south of England. The 1891 census found the Does living in the village of Sopley, Hampshire, and this is where they seemed to settle.
There are large gaps in Bert’s early life, On 19th April 1916, he married Ellen Lackey. She was a broom maker’s daughter from Lyndhurst, Hampshire, and the couple had a son, Francis, who had been born a few weeks before they exchanged vows.
By the summer of 1918, Bert had enlisted in the army. He was attached to the Hampshire Regiment, but at some point had transferred over to the 441st Agricultural Company of the Labour Corps. Moves of this nature were often a way to rehabilitate injured or sick servicemen, and it is apparent that Private Doe fell into the latter category.
In October 1918, Bert had fallen ill with a combination of influenza and pneumonia. He was admitted to the Union Infirmary in Winchester, Hampshire, but the conditions were to prove too severe. He died on 22nd October 1918, at the age of 37 years old.
It would seem that Ellen was living in the East Boldre area of the New Forest by this point, and it was in the village’s St Paul’s Churchyard that her husband was laid to rest.
With a young son to raise, Ellen moved back in with her parents, Silas and Anna Lackey. The 1921 census found them living in Warsash Road, Sarisbury, Hampshire. Silas was employed as a labourer, while two of Ellen’s brothers were working as hawkers. Shockingly to today’s mindset, the census document records the family as ‘gipsies’.
George Rose Topp was born in the autumn of 1891 in the Dorset village of Okeford Fitzpaine. The youngest of four children, he was the second son to Herbert and Louisa Topp. The 1901 census found the family living and working at Knacker’s Hole Farm, alongside George and Olive Savory.
When he finished his schooling, he helped with the farm; by the time of the 1911 census, they had moved on from Okeford Fitzpaine, and had taken up employment at Barter’s Farm in Hinton St Mary, Dorset.
War broke out in the summer of 1914, and George stepped up to play his part. There is little information about his time as a Private in the Queen’s Own Dorset Yeomanry, but a later newspaper report detailed what happened to him.
On Saturday morning a profound sensation was created at Hinton St Mary, when it became known that Mr George Rose Topp… had shot himself. It appears that the deceased was a trooper in the Dorset Yeomanry, who were mobilised in August 1914, and had been home on leave for three weeks, and was to return to camp on the day of the tragedy. Although the deceased had helped his father on the farm for some years, yet during the three weeks he had been home he had not been seen about very much. The deceased was well known throughout the district, and was very highly respected. Much sympathy is felt for the family in the sad occurrence.
An inquest was held on Monday at Barter’s Farm… [Herbert] deposed that his son, who had been living with him, was 23 years of age, and a bachelor… He was home on leave… and was supposed to return on Saturday, July 10th. He had been very bad in his head since he came home and had hardly been out. He had always complained of pains in his head, but not so much lately. He had been seen by the army doctor several times. He did not know of anything else except his head, and he had no trouble that he was aware of. He had never threatened to take his life. He was going by the eleven o’clock train on the day of the tragedy. He got up about seven o’clock and had his breakfast. Witness saw him about 9.45am, and he was getting ready to go to the station. He had packed everything ready to start. It was witness’s gun he used which he was in the habit of using, but had not done so for some time. The gun was kept in the kitchen. He did not think there were any cartridges in the house and he thought he used a “Bonex.” He did not know he was going to use the gun. The gun had a very light pull, and he had never seen any cartridge in the house like the one produced. He left no writing, and the gun had not been lent.
Mr Clifford Rose (cousin of the deceased) corroborated [Herbert’s] evidence, and said that on the morning of the tragedy deceased seemed brighter. He did not think he touched the gun at all before whilst home.
Henry Andrews… was working at Barter’s Farm on Saturday repairing the tibs to the back kitchen. They were out and in the house all the time, but he did not see deceased that morning. He heard a noise before the report of the gun about 10am. He went in and deceased was lying on his back with the gun by his right side. He had his coat on and he called for assistance. They heard the report, and Mrs Topp and Miss Topp were saying he was shot. The door he went in was shut, as was also the other door. He thought Mrs Topp thought he was shot through hearing the gun go off. The head was lying towards the furnace, and the body was in the same position when the police arrived. The gun had not been moved before the police came.
Dr THE Watts-Silvester deposed that he had attended deceased about three months ago for influenza. He knew nothing of the pains in the head. He was called and saw deceased at Barter’s Farm soon after 10am. In the back kitchen the deceased was lying dead on his back with his feet towards the two doors, and head resting on a large saucepan close to the copper. Almost the whole of the top of his head had been blown off to a level below the eyes, both having gone. It had practically disappeared. The gun must have been very close. Below the right chin there was a black mark.
The jury returned their verdict that the cause of death was a gunshot wound in the head whilst of unsound mind.
[Southern Times and Dorset County Herald: Saturday 17th July 1915]
George Rose Topp was just 23 years old when he ended his life on 10th July 1915. He was laid to rest in the church cemetery in the village of Hinton St Mary.
Sidney George Oates was born in the spring of 1895, and was the oldest of three children – all boys – to John and Eliza Oates. John was a general labourer from Parkstone, Dorset, but it was in the village of Odcombe in Somerset that the family were born and raised.
Eliza died in 1899, and John was left to raise three young children on his own. He re-married, to a Lucy Moores, but the a split of the family followed the wedding. Sidney’s younger brothers stayed with their father and his new wife, while Sidney himself was looked after by his maternal grandparents. Job and Elizabeth Green lived in Buckhorn Weston, a village to the west of Gillingham, Dorset.
When he finished his schooling, Sidney was apprenticed to a carpenter. War was on the horizon, however, and he soon stepped up to play his part. As with many others, his service papers have been lost to time, but it is clear that he had enlisted in the Dorsetshire Regiment no earlier than August 1915.
Private Oates was assigned to the 7th (Reserve) Battalion and sent to a training camp near Wool, Dorset. While there, however, he caught pneumonia, and was admitted to a military hospital in the village. The condition was to prove fatal: he passed away on 20th February 1916, aged just 21 years old.
The body of Sidney George Oates was taken back to Buckhorn Weston for burial. He was laid to rest in the village’s cemetery.
Sidney’s younger brother Edward also served in the First World War. A Pioneer in the Royal Engineers, he was killed in action in northern France on 12th April 1917. He was buried in Mory Abbey Military Cemetery to the north of Bapaume.
LOXLEY, WILLIAM, Private, No. 14657, 4th Battn. Coldstream Guards, eldest s. of the late William Loxley, Engine Fitter, by his wife, Ellen, dau. of the late Edward Stringer; b. Ecclesfield, co. York, 26th Oct. 1885; educ. there; was a stove and grate fitter; volunteered and enlisted 9 Jan. 1915; went to France, 15 Aug. 1915, and died in Convalescent Home, Westbury, co. Wilts, 27 Nov. 1915, of wounds received in action during the Battle of Loos, 27-29 September 1915. He m. at Grimsby, 4 Aug. 1912, Edith Mary (3, Burton Street, Langsett Road, Sheffield, widow of Philip Munty, and dau. of the late Frederick Charles Unwin.
De Ruvigny’s Role of Honour
William was the second of four children to William and Ellen. The family lived at 50 Town End Road in Ecclesfield, a small stone-built cottage overlooking grassland on the edge of the village.
Aside from his entry in de Ruvigny’s Role of Honour, there is no further information about his widow, although the British Army Register of Soldiers’ Effects names both Edith and William’s nephew – Faedon Muntz – as beneficiaries.
Injured at Loos, a local newspaper provided an obituary:
Giving up his profession for the Army, [William] was drafted out to France, and received a bullet through the forehead. After a long treatment in hospital he was, a fortnight ago, invalided home for ten days, leaving only a few days ago, then appearing to making rapid progress. He had a relapse, and on Friday his memory left him. Later he became delirious and passed away.
[Sheffield Daily Telegraph: Monday 29th November 1915]
William Loxley died at the Haywood House Hospital in Westbury, Wiltshire, on 27th November 1915: he was 30 years of age. His body was laid to rest in the town’s cemetery.
Ernest Ritchens was born in the summer of 1872 in the Wiltshire village of Semington. The youngest of nine children, he was one of seven boys to Isaac and Sarah Ritchens. Isaac was a farm labourer, and this is a job into which Ernest also followed when he completed his schooling.
Farming was not something Ernest wanted to be in for the long term, however, and, after the death of his parents – Isaac in 1895, and Sarah four years later – he joined the army. Details of his military career have been lost to time, but it seems that he joined the Wiltshire Regiment and, as a Private, spent time in South Africa. By the time he was stood down, he had risen to the rank of Lance Corporal.
Back home and, in the summer of 1907, Ernest married Sarah York, a wheelwright’s daughter from Hilperton near Trowbridge, Wiltshire. The newlyweds would set up home in the village, and go on to have four children. The 1911 census found the young family living on Devizes Road, Ernest back working as a farm labourer.
When war broke out, Ernest was again called upon to play his part . He was given the rank of Corporal, and attached to the Wiltshire Regiment (although other records he was assigned to the Hampshire Regiment). He did not appear to have spent any time overseas and, was soon transferred over to the 160th Company of the Labour Corps.
DEATHS
RITCHENS – On February 1st, at No. 1, Australian Hospital, Sutton Veny, Corporal Ernest Ritchens, of the Labour Corps, and formally of the Wilts Regiment, resident of Hilperton…
[Wiltshire News: Friday 7th February 1919]
Ernest Ritchens was 46 years of age when he passed away in 1919. While the cause us not reported, it is likely to have been an illness of some sort. His body was taken back to Hilperton, and he was laid to rest in the village cemetery.
John Albert Gulliver was born in the summer of 1878. He was the second of six children – and the first boy – to farmers John and Ruth Gulliver. The family were raised in the Wiltshire village of Steeple Ashton, but had moved to Hilperton, on the outskirts of Trowbridge, by the time their eldest son had turned ten years old.
John Jr found work as a builder’s labourer when he finished his schooling. The 1911 census recorded him as living with his parents and sister on Horse Road, Hilperton, although the document suggests he was working in Edington, six miles to the south of the village. The Gulliver family also had a visitor – Bristol-born Albert Davies, who was a Lance Corporal in the Coldstream Guards.
When war broke out, John Jr was called upon to play his part. His service records have been lost to time, but it is clear that he had joined up by 1917. There is some confusion over his military service, however.
The Commonwealth War Graves Commission records give Private Gulliver’s initial unit as the 3rd Battalion of the Hampshire Regiment, and he was awarded a ‘wounded stripe’ following an injury on 10th September 1917. However, John’s Medal Roll Index Card suggests he joined the Duke of Cornwall’s Light Infantry. Either way, Private Gulliver did not appear to spend any time overseas and, by the autumn of 1918, he had transferred to the 442nd Agricultural Company of the Labour Corps.
Private Gulliver survived the war, but his health had been impacted. He had contracted pneumonia, and passed away at home on 30th November 1918. He was 40 years of age.
The body of John Albert Gulliver was laid to rest in the tranquil grounds of Hilperton Cemetery, not far from where his grieving parents still lived.
Ernest George Kendall was born in December 1891 and was the fourth of five children to Charles and Mary Kendall. Charles was a farm labourer from Dorset, and the family were living at Shearstock Farm in the town of Gillingham when Ernest was born.
By the time of the 1911 census, Ernest had found work as a farm labourer, alongside his father. When war broke out, however, Ernest felt the need to serve his country.
Full details of Private Kendall’s military service have been lost to time, but he had enlisted in the Dorsetshire Regiment by the autumn of 1915, and was assigned to the 5th (Service) Battalion. His unit left Britain on 15th October, and headed for the Eastern Mediterranean and Gallipoli.
Over the next few months, Ernest was caught up in fierce fighting. He was evacuated to the Greek island of Mudros in December 1915, and spent the winter in Egypt. By the summer of 1916, his unit had moved to France, and fought at the Somme.
At some point, Private Kendall returned to Britain, and transferred to the Labour Corps. The move was likely to be due to an illness or injury, although there is no documentation to confirm this either way. Attached to the 477th Agricultural Company, he seems likely to have been based in Wiltshire. Ernest was admitted to the Military Hospital in Fovant for reasons unknown, and passed away there on 12th November 1918, a day after the Armistice was signed: he was 24 years of age.
The body of Ernest George Kendall was taken back to Dorset for burial. By this point his family had moved to East Stour, and he was laid to rest in the village’s Christ Church graveyard.
Seth Suter was born in the Dorset village of Silton on 8th March 1887. One of five children, he was the son of farm labourer Seth Suter and his wife, Mary. Seth Sr died in 1899, and, by the time of the next census, his son had taken a job as a stable boy at the Silton Farm, next to where the family lived on Waterloo Road.
The 1911 census recorded Seth living with his mother at Church Cottage in the village. Now employed as a domestic gardener, three of his siblings were also living there, and, while Mary was not working, there were four wages coming in to support the family.
At the start of 1916, Seth married Jane Sissons. There is little information about her but, while the couple married in Shaftesbury, she seems to have been born in Driffield, Yorkshire. The couple would not go on to have any children.
Details of Seth’s military life are sparse. With the war entering its final months, he enlisted in the Somerset Light Infantry on 13th May 1918. Assigned to the 3rd (Reserve) Battalion, he was sent to Ireland for training. Private Suter’s time there was not to be lengthy: he passed away through causes unknown just a month after joining up, on 12th June 1918. He was 31 years of age.
The body of Seth Suter was taken back to Dorset for burial. He was laid to rest in the quiet graveyard of St Nicholas’ Church in his home village of Silton.
Seth’s younger brother Richard also served in the First World War. He joined the 7th (Service) Battalion of the Duke of Edinburgh’s (Wiltshire Regiment), and rose to the rank of Lance Corporal.
He was injured during the fighting to the south of Valenciennes in France, dying of his wounds on 4th November 1918, one week before the end of the war. He was laid to rest in Busigny Communal Cemetery.
John Lindsay Morrison was born in Elma, Ontario, Canada, on 1st February 1894. One of eight children, his parents were farmers William and Elizabeth Morrison.
When John completed his schooling, he found employment as a bank clerk. He gave this up, however, when war broke out, enlisting in the Canadian Expeditionary Force on 24th August 1915. His service papers show that he was 5ft 7ins (1.7m) tall, with black hair, grey eyes and a dark complexion. No distinguishing marks were noted, but his religion was given as Presbyterian.
Private Morrison arrived in Britain on 11th April 1916. Assigned to the 32nd Battalion of the Canadian Infantry, he was billeted in Shorncliffe, Kent. His services records note that he arrived in France in June, and was promoted to Lance Corporal in February 1917. By May he was back in Britain, at Hursley Park, undertaking an aeronautics course with the Royal Flying Corps.
This seems to have been the route John wanted to take, and on 18th February 1918, he took a commission as a Second Lieutenant. He was based at the 29th Training Depot Station in East Boldre, Hampshire.
The role of a pilot was fraught with risk and, on 1st May 1918 – a month after the formation of the Royal Air Force – John was injured. His aircraft, an Avro 504, sideslipped while taking off from East Boldre airfield.
The court having viewed the wreckage at the scene of the accident, and having examined the wreckage area are of the opinion that 2nd/Lt. Morrison stalled Avro on a left hand turn and had not sufficient height to extricate the machine from the resulting spin.
Second Lieutenant Morrison would recover from his injuries, but more was to follow. Just three months later, on 31st July 1918, he had taken a Sopwith Camel up, and the aircraft crashed:
The cause of the accident was due to an error of judgement of pilot, in that he probably switched off at top of turn and had not time to get his nose down. Engine cut out at top of turn, causing machine to stall and then spin.
John was not to be so fortunate this time around. He was killed when the aircraft his the ground. He was 24 years of age.
Thousands of miles from home, the body of John Lindsay Morrison was laid to rest alongside colleagues from the squadron in St Paul’s Churchyard, East Boldre.
Death and Service 