Tag Archives: Private

Commonwealth War Graves, Cumbria, Devonshire Regiment, Glamorganshire, Great War, history, illness, London, photography, Private, Somerset, story, Wales, war

Private William Parry

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Private William Parry

In St James’ Cemetery, Bath, is a headstone dedicated to one William Parry, once a Private in Devonshire Regiment. A lot of his life is lost to time, but his death highlights the length to which soldiers returning from the Great War were often left to fend for themselves.

On 4th November 1919, Private Parry “was found in an exhausted state lying under an arch in a suburb of [Bath], and told the police he had been there for 17 days. Crawling there to rest, he found himself afterwards too weak to move owing to trench feet” [Western Gazette: Friday 14th November 1919]

On 18th November, having been admitted to the Royal United Hospital in Bath, he passed away from pneumonia. “The police are endeavouring to ascertain something as to the man’s antecedents. He stated to them that he had no home.” [Western Gazette: Friday 21st November 1919]

An inquest into William’s death was held, and a miserable tale unfolded.

Parry was described as a seaman, and his address was given as 36 Catherine Street, Exeter…

[He had] said he was born at Swansea, had served in the 2nd Devons, and was demobilised at Exeter last March. He got into the arch because his feet were aching. He had come from Bristol. He did not say where he was going.

[When he died] Parry’s belongings… included a ration book, issued to him for the address in Exeter, his insurance card, and his out-of-work book. Parry had 10s 8d [approximately £11 in today’s money] in cash on him; but 10s 6d of this sum was given him by a lady since his arrival at the hospital. Parry had received various other gifts sent him by ladies from all over the country, who had read of the account of his discover in the Press. The last out-of-work donation received by him was on June 26th, and the ration book was issued at Exeter on March 24th. The address at Catherine Street, Exeter, as which Parry had stayed was that of a Church Army Home. He had also with him a card indicating membership of the Comrades of the Great War. The entries on his insurance card showed he was last employed on September 8th.

Inspector Lovell… gave the Coroner the result of exhaustive enquiries which he had made… regarding Parry’s antecedents… By the Exeter police he was informed that Parry registered at the Labour Exchange there as a seaman on March 25th. He then produced a certificate showing him to be a member of the Mercantile Marine. He had apparently served with the 2nd Battalion of the Devon Regiment for 2½ years. On May 16th, 1919, he obtained work as a painter in Exeter. He retained this employment till June 21st. A week later he obtained similar employment with another Exeter firm at 1s 3d [approx. £1.68] an hour and his earning averaged £2 [around £87] or more a week. He lest the Church Army Home on September 12th, explaining that he was going to Barrow-in-Furness, where he expected to obtain employment with Messrs Vickers, Sons, and Maxim. While staying at the Church Army Home he appeared to have been regarded as of a morbid disposition…

Inspector Lovell added that the members of the Exeter branch of the Comrades of the Great War had assisted him… and he was able to furnish the Court with a letter from Mr FW Drew, with whom Parry had lodged at the Church Army Home. The writer said he had met Parry in the latter part of April, and their friendship lasted until ten weeks ago, when deceased left Exeter. As they were two ex-Service men they became intimate friends, but apparently before the war he belonged to London.

After enlistment he had served in France, and was taken prisoner by the Germans. He was in their hands for three months; and acted as interpreter between his captors and the other British prisoners. He could speak German and other foreign languages, and undoubtedly was a man of superior education. Apparently, so far as his relations were concerned, he was “one of England’s lonely soldiers.” He said he was badly treated by the Germans, and suffered from a bad cough, the result of a wound in the chest. He was liable to depression when out of work, and the writer well remembered how pleased he was to think that he had obtained work at Barrow-in-Furness… “I deeply regret,” concluded the writer, “that he has come to such an untimely end. He was a good fellow, and would do anyone a good turn, if possible.”

In summing up, the Coroner remarked that exhaustive enquiries had been made into the case. There was no doubt from the medical evidence that the cause of death was pneumonia. It would appear that Parry had been on the road for some time when he crawled under the arch where he was found…

Bath Chronicle and Weekly Gazette: Saturday 22nd November 1919

Private William Parry died on 18th November 1919, aged around 44 years old. The British Federation of Discharged Soldiers and Sailors and the Comrades of the Great War jointly made arrangements for, and funded, his funeral, at which he was given full military honours. He was laid to rest in St James’ Cemetery, Bath.

Funeral of William Parry
(from britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk)
Commonwealth War Graves, Great War, history, illness, photography, story, war

Private George Mason

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Private George Mason

Much of George Mason’s life is destined to remain elusive, and much of the information comes from just a couple of documents.

His Commonwealth War Grave headstone confirms that he was a Private in the North Somerset Yeomanry and that he died on 28th December 1916. Sadly, his service records no longer exist, but his pension records state that he ‘died of disease’ and give his mother as Harriet Mason.

There is only one census record for a Harriet Mason with a son called George. This dates from 1901, and give the head of the household – Harriet’s husband and George’s father – as bootmaker Albert Mason. It also gives George’s age as 9 years old, suggesting he was born in around 1892.

Further research brings nothing further to categorically link to the Mason family, and so it is impossible to add any further details to Private Mason’s life.

All that can be determined is that George Mason died of an illness on 28th December 1916, and that he was around 24 years of age. He was laid to rest in St James’ Cemetery in his home city of Bath.

Commonwealth War Graves, Great War, history, injury, photography, story, war

Lance Corporal Francis Ball

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Lance Corporal Francis Ball

Francis William Ball was born in the spring of 1893 in the village of Wrington, Somerset and was one of ten children to Joseph and Mary Jane Ball. Joseph was a general labourer while Mary Jane took in washing to earn a little more money for the family.

Little information is available about Francis’ early life. The family travelled the county when he was growing up, and, according to the 1911 census, they were living in Walcot, a suburb of Bath. The same census notes that Francis was apprenticed, although crucially the trade he was learning is missing from the document.

When war came to Europe, he enlisted in the Yorkshire & Lancashire Regiment as a Private. Francis’ service records are lost to time, but he would have enlisted by the summer of 1917, and during his time in the army, he was promoted to Lance Corporal. He was attached to the 2nd/4th Battalion, who served in France, most notably at Arras and Cambrai.

At some point late in 1917, or early in 1918, Lance Corporal Ball was injured and medical evacuated to Britain for treatment. He was admitted to the 2nd Western General Hospital in Manchester, but his wounds were to prove too severe. He passed away on 14th January 1918, at the -age of just 24 years old.

Francis William Ball’s body was brought back to Somerset for burial. He was laid to rest in the St James Cemetery, Bath.

Commonwealth War Graves, Great War, history, Malta, photography, Somerset, Somerset Light Infantry, story, unknown, war

Private Joseph Viles

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Private Joseph Viles

Joseph Viles was born at the end of 1886 in Bath, Somerset. One of seven children, his parents were collier-turned-general labourer Joseph Viles and his wife, Sarah.

When he left school, Joseph found work as an errand boy, but, in reality, there is little documented about his life. There are only really two records that give an insight into the man he became.

The first is the 1911 census, which confirms he was a Private in the 2nd Battalion of the Somerset Light Infantry. The return gives his location as the St Andrew’s Barracks in Malta.

The second document dates from 29th June 1909, and is a court martial for Private Viles’ for the use of insubordinate language towards a senior officer, in this case a Major. The trial was held in Portland, Dorset, and Joseph was sentenced to 30 days’ imprisonment.

Sadly, a lot of the service records for the Somerset Light Infantry have been lost over time, and those relating to Joseph are amongst them. The only other confirmed detail for Joseph is that of his passing, but even this raises questions.

Private Joseph Viles died on 4th August 1914 – just seven days after war was declared. His regiment was actually based in Quetta, India, at this point, so it is likely that he was at home on leave at the time he died. No cause for is death is noted, and it is likely to have been from an illness of some description, as nothing unusual was reported in the newspapers of the time. Joseph was 27 years of age.

Joseph Viles was laid to rest in Bath’s St James’ Cemetery, where his parents would also be buried, Joseph Sr in 1948, and Sarah in 1958.

Commonwealth War Graves, Durham Light Infantry, Great War, history, injury, Lance Corporal, photography, Private, Somerset, story, war

Private Francis Millard

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Private Francis Millard

The early life of Francis Albert Millard is lost to time. He was born in 1894 in Bath, Somerset. His gravestone notes that he was the adopted son of AE and H Evans, though there are no census records confirming the three as a family. His military records specifically note that he has “no relations alive only one brother who is younger than myself nor have I any guardians”.

Interestingly, when Private Millard passed, Mrs Harriet Evans, who was noted as a foster mother, applied for his personal effects. Two days later, and Albert Francis Millard, who was claiming to be Francis’ father, also put in an application.

Francis was working as a seaman when he formally enlisted. He had previously been a volunteer in the Durham Light Infantry, and was readily accepted in the regiment’s 2nd Battalion. He joined up in November 1911, his service records noting that he was 5ft 3ins (1.6m) tall, 104lbs (47.2kg) in weight, with a fresh complexion, blue eyes and light brown hair. He was also noted as having a tattoo of the figure of a woman on his right forearm and a scar on his left buttock.

Over the next couple of years Private Millard was reprimanded a couple of times for small misdemeanours – being absent from bread rations on 15th September 1912, and being absent from the company officer’s lecture on 22nd February 1913. During this time he had been promoted to Lance Corporal, but the reprimand he received demoted him to Private once more. Overall, however, his service appears to have been a positive one and, when war was declared, he soon found himself on the Western Front.

[Priavte Millard] was present at the retreat from Mons. He took part in the advance over the Marne and the Aisne, and [had] been engaged in the battles around Ypres. In the early part of August [1915] a charge was ordered, and in this he took part. The late Captain RH Legard… to whom Millard was servant, fell. Millard ran to his assistance, and was wounded in two places…

Bath Chronicle and Weekly Gazette: Saturday 21st August 1915

Francis received gun shot wounds to his thigh and across his spinal column. He was medically evacuated to Britain for urgent treatment. Admitted to the King George Hospital in South London, his admission notes make for stark reading:

Patient very collapsed. Sunken eyes, some delirium. Small circular wound on right shoulder behind level 1st Dorsal spine 2″ from middle line; wound on inner side of left thigh, with suppuration and cellulitis. Can move both arms but very poor power. Patient continued to go downhill rapidly after admission despite stimulation (brandy, [strychnine], saline).

A telegram was sent to Harriet and she took the first train to London. She arrived on the evening of Tuesday 17th August, and remained by Francis’ bedside until he passed away the following morning. He was just 21 years of age.

The shattered body of Francis Albert Millard was brought back to Somerset for burial. He was laid to rest in the city’s St James Cemetery.

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

Private Alfred Stoyle

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Private Alfred Stoyle

Details of Alfred Lawrence Stoyle’s life a challenging to piece together. Most of the information comes from his service records, but even that is limited.

The Somerset Light Infantry records suggest that Private Alfred Stoyle was born in March 1890 in Widcombe, Bath. Physically, he was 5ft 8ins (1.73m) tall, and weighed 109lbs (49.4kg). He had blue eyes, brown hair, a tattoo of crossed flags on his right forearm and a scar above his right eye.

According to the document, Alfred’s parents were Alfred and Ellen Stoyle, and he had been working as a mason’s labourer before he enlisted on 13th February 1909. Early records for the Stoyles are hard to come by, The 1891 census found Alfred and Ellen living in Walcot, Somerset, with their eight children. They have a son, Alfred, although he is noted as being 19 at the time, which does not match the service records for the Alfred who enlisted. They have another son, Albert, who was born in 1886, and it seems that he may have used the name Alfred when enlisting (indeed, those service records note not only Alfred’s parents, but his older siblings Nellie, Ada, Henry and Alfred).

The next census, in 1901, recorded Alfred Sr as being a pauper in the Bath Union Workhouse. He was also listed there in the 1911 census, while that document recorded Ellen living in two rooms in the centre of Bath with Albert/Alfred and her youngest son, William.

Alfred Jr was recorded as being a general painter. By this time, he had enlisted in the Somerset Light Infantry, and was on reserve status, allowing his daily life to continue. He undertook annual training, and, when war broke out in August 1914, he was formally mobilised.

Private Stoyle was sent to France the following month, and ended up spending four months there. In January 1915 he returned home, and there appears to have been a medical reason for doing so. Within a matter of months, he was discharged from the army as he was no longer physically fit. The service records do not give a reason for his dismissal.

At this point, Alfred’s trail goes cold. He seems to have returned home to Somerset, and passed away on 21st August 1915. Based on his service records, he was just 25 years old, although his true age is debatable.

Alfred Lawrence Stoyle was laid to rest in St James’ Cemetery Bath.

Commonwealth War Graves, Corporal, Great War, history, illness, London, photography, Private, Royal Army Service Corps, Sergeant, Somerset, story, Surrey, war, Wiltshire

Serjeant John Carthew

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Serjeant John Carthew

John Wallace Carthew was born in Warminster, Wiltshire, in the spring of 1892. The second youngest of seven children – three of whom did not survive childhood – his parents were miller James Carthew and his tailoress wife, Sarah.

John was destined to make a path for himself. By the time of the 1911 census, he was boarding with the Southon family in Aldershot, and working as a chauffeur.

On 22nd March 1914, John married Caroline Hamilton, a parlour maid for Captain Charles Woodroffe and his family in Aldershot. The couple set up home in Queensgate Mews, London, and having had a daughter, Cecilia, who was born that February.

When war came to Europe, John was quick to enlist. He joined up on the 21st December 1914, and was assigned to the Mechanical Transport section of the Royal Army Service Corps. His service records note that he was 6ft 1in (1.85m) tall, with a scar on his right eyebrow.

Private Carthew rose through the ranks, becoming a Corporal in 1916, and a Serjeant in 1918. During this time he acted almost exclusively as chauffeur to General Sir William Robertson. His duties were mainly based on home soil, but he did spend a year in France, while Robertson was Chief of the General Staff there.

As the war came to a close, Serjeant Carthew fell ill. Based in a camp in Aldershot, he contracted influenza, and this developed into pneumonia. This was to take his life, and he passed away at the town’s Connaught Hospital on 25th November 1918. He was just 26 years of age.

Caroline was living in Bath, Somerset by this point, and this is where the body of her husband was brought for burial. John Wallace Carthew was laid to rest in St James’ Cemetery, in the family plot where his father, who had died in 1911, was also buried.

Commonwealth War Graves, Dorset, Great War, history, illness, photography, Private, Somerset, story, Training Reserve Battalion, war, Wiltshire

Private Charles Oborne

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Private Charles Oborne

Charles Philip Oborne was born in Mosterton, Dorset, early in 1899. He was the middle of three children to Charles Oborne. Charles Sr had been married before, to a woman called Martha, and the couple had a son, Joseph. Martha died in the mid-1890s and Charles remarried, to a woman called Elizabeth. They went on to have two children, of which Charles Jr – better known as Charley to avoid confusion with his father – was the older.

There is little documentation for the Oborne family. Charles Sr was a farm labourer, and the family moved from Dorset to Stratton-on-the-Fosse, near Shepton Mallet in the early 1900s. At the time of the 1911 census, Charley was a student, and there is no direct evidence of what he went on to do when he finished his schooling.

Nor are there many documents relating to his military service. Private Oborne joined the Training Reserve, and was assigned to the 94th Battalion. The troop had formed from the 16th (Reserve) Battalion of the Gloucestershire Regiment, and was based in Chiseldon, to the south of Swindon in Wiltshire. There is nothing to confirm when he enlisted, but given his age, and when he passed, it is likely to have been during the winter of 1916/17.

What is clear is that while Private Oborne was training, he contracted pneumonia, and, on 20th March 1917, he passed away from the condition. He was just 18 years of age.

The body of Charles Philip Oborne – Charley to his friends and family – was brought back to Somerset for burial. He was laid to rest in the graveyard of St Benedict’s Roman Catholic Churchyard in the village of Downside, a mile to the north of Shepton Mallet, and not far from Stratton-on-the-Fosse, where his family were still living.

Charles was not alone in succumbing to pneumonia at Chiseldon Camp that spring. Two Somerset soldiers from battalions based there, Private Everett Ferriday, and Private Ivan Day, passed away in the same hospital just days after Charles.

You can read their stories by following the links above.

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

Private Edgar Cox

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Private Edgar Cox

Edgar Albert Cox was born in Wanstrow, Somerset, in the spring of 1897. The youngest of five children, his parents were railway packer Herbert Cox and his wife, Orpha.

When he left school, Edgar found employment as a live-in farm hand in Upton Noble, a mile from where his parents lived. When war came to Europe, however, he felt a pull to serve, and enlisted in the Somerset Light Infantry.

Full details of Private Cox’s military service are lost to time, but he was assigned to the 8th (Service) Battalion, and arrived in France towards the end of July 1915. He certainly saw action at the Somme, where his troop was involved in the battles of Bazentin Ridge, Flers-Courcelette and Morval.

It was in the battle of le Transloy, however, that Edgar was injured. His wounds were severe enough for him to be medically evacuated to Britain for treatment, and he was admitted to the 1st Southern General Hospital in King’s Norton, Birmingham. Sadly his wounds were too much for his body to bear: he passed away on 9th October 1916, at the age of just 19 years old.

The body of Edgar Albert Cox was brought back to Somerset for burial. He was laid to rest in the quiet graveyard of St Mary’s Church in his home village of Wanstrow.

Commonwealth War Graves, Dorsetshire Regiment, Gloucestershire, Great War, history, illness, photography, Private, Somerset, Somerset Light Infantry, story, war, Wiltshire

Private Henry Wheeler

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Private Henry Wheeler

Henry William Edward Wheeler was born in early 1890, the fifth of thirteen children – and the oldest son – to Henry and Anne Wheeler. Henry Sr was a labourer from Witham Friary in Somerset, and this is where the family were born and raised.

When he left school, young Henry – who became known as Harry to avoid confusion with his father – found work as a postman. When war broke out, however, he enlisted as a Private in the Somerset Light Infantry. Full details of his military service are unclear, but his marriage certificate confirms that he was a soldier by the spring of 1915.

Harry’s wedding was to a woman called Mabel Hulbert, who was working as a domestic servant in Wotton-under-Edge, Gloucestershire. It was in the village’s church that the couple exchanged vows, and within a matter of weeks, Private Wheeler was sent to France.

Harry’s troop – the 1st Battalion – was involved in some of the fiercest fighting of the war, and it is likely that he was involved at The Somme in July 1916. At some point, though, he moved across to the 5th (Service) Battalion of the Dorsetshire Regiment, who had moved to France, having been fighting at Gallipoli. The specifics of Private Wheeler’s time in the army are, however, destined to be lost to time.

Private Wheeler’s trail can be picked up again after the end of the war, presumably when he had returned to Britain prior to being demobbed. Sadly, however, he was admitted to a military hospital in Wilton, Wiltshire, suffering from ‘disease’. He passed away on 8th February 1919, at the age of 29 years old.

The body of Henry William Edward Wheeler was brought back to Somerset for burial. He was laid to rest in the quiet graveyard of St Mary’s Church in his home village of Witham Friary.

Henry’s younger brother, John, also served in the First World War. He enlisted in the 8th (Service) Battalion of the Somerset Light Infantry, and arrived in France on 4th October 1915, just a couple of months after his older brother.

John was killed in fighting on 11th October 1917 – possibly as part of the opening salvos of the Battle of Passchendaele – and was just 20 years old. He was laid to rest in the Outtersteene Communal Cemetery in northern France.