Tag Archives: Private

Commonwealth War Graves, Great War, history, injury, Kings Royal Rifle Corps, Oxfordshire, photography, Private, Second Lieutenant, Somerset, Somerset Light Infantry, story, suicide, war, Yorkshire

Second Lieutenant Cedric Pepper

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Second Lieutenant Cedric Pepper

Cedric William Pepper was born in 1895 in South Kirkby, Yorkshire. He was the middle of three children to William and Harriette Pepper. William was a colliery owner from Leeds, and the family lived in some comfort in Rawdon Hill in Wharfdale. The 1901 census records show that they employed a governess, cook, two housemaids, a kitchen maid and a page.

By the time of the next census, in 1911, the Pepper family had moved to Shipton in Oxfordshire, where they lived in the 27-room Shipton Court. Cedric, by this time, was still studying, having been taught at Winchester College, where he lasted only a year, Tonbridge School, and then Worcester College in Oxford.

When war broke out, he had taken time away from his studies, and was working on a ranch in Rhodesia (present-day Zimbabwe). He returned to Britain at the start of the conflict and enlisted in the King’s Royal Rifle Corps. Assigned to the 2nd Battalion, Private Pepper arrived in France in November 1914, and was wounded in his thigh the summer of 1915.

Private Pepper returned to Britain to recuperate and, when he had recovered, he was given a commission in the 3rd Battalion of the Somerset Light Infantry. It was while he was training in Oxfordshire that the now Second Lieutenant Pepper met his end.

The evidence at the inquest… suggested that the death from a bullet wound… was accidental.

Second-Lieutenant William Eric Warburton… stated that early last week Lieutenant Pepper told him he was in some difficulty with a woman, but he did not explain it. Lieutenant Warburton did not think that this caused him to take his life. In his opinion Lieutenant Pepper knew nothing of the working of an automatic pistol he possessed.

The medical evidence was that a bullet entered the centre of the forehead. The doctor said that if the wound was self-inflicted it was quite possible that it was accidental.

The jury returned a verdict of Death from a bullet from an automatic pistol, but that there was no evidence to show how the wound was inflicted.

Central Somerset Gazette: Friday 29th October 1915

Second Lieutenant Pepper died from the bullet wound on 21st October 1915. He was just 20 years of age.

Pepper Family Memorial

Cedric William Pepper’s family were, by this time, living in Redlynch House, near Bruton, Somerset. He was cremated, and his ashes immured in the wall of St Peter’s Church in the hamlet.

Second Lieutenant Cedric Pepper
(from findagrave.com)

In researching Cedric’s life, there is a definite sense of a young man desperately looking to please his father. A successful Yorkshire colliery owner, he may have expected more from his oldest son, a drop out from Winchester College, possibly sent to Southern Africa to find himself. While an immediate return to Britain to serve his country would have been commonplace, the suggestion of difficulty with a woman and the subsequent accident with his gun just adds to the sense of a need for Cedric to not disappoint his father.

Commonwealth War Graves, Devonshire Regiment, Great War, history, illness, photography, Private, Somerset, story, war, Wiltshire

Private Frederick Coward

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Private Frederick Coward

Frederick John Coward was born in the Somerset village of Cucklington, in September 1900. The youngest of eight children, his parents were farm labourer Frank Coward and his wife, Agnes.

It is likely that Frederick followed in his father’s footsteps when he left school, labouring on a farm. He was only thirteen when war broke out in the summer of 1914, and over the next few years, he probably watched with envy as his older peers – and older brothers – went off to serve their King and Country.

While full details are no longer available, Frederick probably enlisted as soon as he turned eighteen. He joined the Devonshire Regiment as a Private and was attached to the 53rd (Young Soldier) Battalion. He was sent off to Wiltshire and billeted at the Rollestone Camp, to the north of Stonehenge.

Army and naval barracks were crowded places, and brought together boys and men from all over the country in a way that had never happened before. The cramped nature of the billets meant that disease would run rampant and, once it took hold, it could prove fatal. Sadly, young Frederick was not to be immune from this: he was admitted to the camp hospital, and passed away from ‘disease’ on 6th October 1918. He was just 18 years of age.

The body of Frederick John Coward was brought back to Somerset for burial. He was laid to rest in the picturesque graveyard of St Lawrence’s Church in his home village of Cucklington.

The loss of her youngest boy seems to have proved too much for Agnes to bear. She died the following spring, at the age of 55 years old.

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

Private Harry Lawrence

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Private Harry Lawrence

Harry Lawrence was born on 21st March 1895 in the Somerset village of Merriott, and was one of seven children to Samuel and Rose Lawrence. Samuel was a farm labourer, and, when he left school, this is work that Harry also took up.

When war was declared, Harry stepped forward to play his part. He had enlisted in the Somerset Light Infantry by the summer of 1917 and, while his full service records are no longer available, he definitely spent time on the Front Line in France.

Private Lawrence’s troop – the 6th (Service) Battalion – was involved in some of the fiercest fighting of the war, at the Somme, Arras and Ypres. At some point he was injured, and medically evacuated back to Britain for treatment.

He had been under medical treatment for some time in St George’s Hospital, London. Unfavourable symptoms, resulting from concussion of the brain, set in, which terminated fatally, and death this added one more name to the already long list of the Roll of Honour of [Merriott].

Western Chronicle: Friday 8th February 1918

Harry Lawrence died in St George’s Hospital on 22nd January 1918. He was just 22 years of age. His body was brought back to Somerset for burial, and was laid to rest in the quiet graveyard of All Saints’ Church in his home village.

Commonwealth War Graves, Essex, Great War, history, illness, London, Northamptonshire, Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire Light Infantry, photography, Private, Somerset, story, Surrey, war

Private Arthur French

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Private Arthur French

Arthur John French was born on 3rd September 1889 in the Somerset village of Merriott. He was the youngest of three children to John and Annie French. John was a miller and baker in the village, and Arthur’s older brother Edward helped his father with the business. Arthur, however, followed a different path and, with Annie passing away in 1903, he had moved to London for work.

The 1911 census recorded Arthur boarding with his maternal aunt and uncle, who were both schoolteachers. He had found employment as a clerk in the head office of the National Telephone Company and shared the large terraced house with the couple, their son Alfred and their servant, Esther.

When war was declared, Arthur was in the first wave of those enlisting. He joined the Oxford & Bucks Light Infantry and, as a Private, was assigned to the 2nd/4th Battalion. Initially sent to Northampton for training, his troop soon came south again and, by April 1915, was based just outside Chelmsford, Essex.

Tightly-packed barracks, housing men from across the country soon became hotbeds for illness and disease, and Private French was not to be immune. He contracted meningitis, and was admitted to the 3rd London General Hospital in Wandsworth for treatment. Sadly he was to succumb to the condition, and he breathed his last on 16th April 1915, at the age of just 25 years old.

Arthur John French’s body was brought back to Somerset for burial. He was laid to rest in the graveyard of All Saints’ Church in his home village, Merriott.

Commonwealth War Graves, Great War, history, Lanarkshire, photography, Private, Royal Scots Fusiliers, Scotland, Somerset, story, unknown, war, Wiltshire

Private Robert Templeton

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Private Robert Templeton

Robert Muckart Templeton was born in Glasgow, Scotland, in 1894. He was the fourth of five children to shipyard labourer William Templeton and his wife, Agnes.

There is little information on Robert’s early life: the family’s 1911 census records are lost, so it is not possible to identify what work he took on when he left school. It is, however, reasonable to assume that he joined his father in the shipyards.

When war broke out, Robert was one of the first to enlist. He joined the Royal Scots Fusiliers, and, as a Private, was assigned to the 8th (Service) Battalion. His troop was sent to Salisbury Plain, Wiltshire, for training, and he was camped at Codford St Mary.

Towards the end of October, the 8th Battalion was moving to Bristol, and it was at this point that the fates intervened for Private Templeton. Suffering from an acute bout of appendicitis, he was admitted to the Abbas and Templecombe hospital. The condition was to prove his undoing and, on 1st November 1914, he passed away. He was just 20 years of age.

A shipyard labourer’s wages were not going to be enough to transport a body halfway across the country, so the Templetons were left with little choice but to have their son buried close to where he died. Robert Muckart Templeton was laid to rest in the quiet graveyard of St Mary’s Church, in Templecombe, Somerset.

Editor’s note: My gratitude goes to Christine Scott, who was able to furnish me with details of Robert’s death.

Commonwealth War Graves, Devonshire Regiment, Great War, history, illness, London, photography, Private, Royal Engineers, Somerset, story, war, Yorkshire Regiment

Private Bernard Sugg

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Private Bernard Sugg

Bernard Charles Sugg was born in the spring of 1895 and was the third of eight children to Charles and Emma. Charles was a farm labourer from Somerset and the family were raised in Templecombe, to the south of Wincanton.

While Bernard’s older brother William followed their father into farm labouring, Bernard found employment working with a builder and mason when he left school.

When war broke out, the Sugg brothers wanted to step up and play their part for King and Country. William enlisted in the Royal Engineers in May 1915, while Bernard joined the Devonshire Regiment the following February.

Little information is available about Private Bernard Sugg’s military life. He was assigned to the 12th (Labour) Battalion, and was sent to France within a couple of months. He spent a year on the Western Front, but fell ill in the spring of 1917, and was brought back to Britain for treatment. Admitted to the Ladywell Hospital in Bermondsey, South London, with a fever, he passed away on 4th April 1917, aged just 22 years old.

Bernard Charles Sugg was brought back to Somerset for burial. He was laid to rest in the family plot in the graveyard of St Mary’s Church in his home village of Templecombe. Understandably distraught at her boy’s untimely death because of the conflict, on his mother’s wishes, his funeral was not accorded military honours.

Private William Sugg had an active career with the army. Having joined the Royal Engineers after being a platelayer for the local railway, he transferred across to the 2nd/4th Battalion of the York and Lancaster Regiment.

William was caught up in the fighting on the Western Front in the closing months of the war, and was killed on 25th August 1918. He was 25 years old, and was laid to rest at Gommecourt South Cemetery.

Charles and Emma had lost their two eldest boys to the Great War, but their younger three sons – Arthur, Reginald and Harold – were too young to be called up.

Commonwealth War Graves, Devon, Dorset, Great War, history, photography, Private, Royal Defence Corps, Somerset, story, unknown, war, Wiltshire

Private John Sherrin

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Private John Sherrin

John Sherrin was born in Langport, Somerset, in the summer of 1874. The youngest of three children, his parents were Arthur and Elizabeth Sherrin. Arthur was a cowman and farmer, and John was to follow him into agricultural labouring when he left school.

Arthur took the family where the work was: by the time of the 1891 census, they were living in Broadchalke, a village to the west of Salisbury, Wiltshire. Ten years later, the census notes Arthur and Elizabeth living in Dorset, while John was in Swindon, Wiltshire, working on a farm as a butter churner.

John’s father died in 1906, and Elizabeth went to live with her daughter’s family in Devon. The same year, John returned to Somerset, where he married Bessie Kingsbury. She was a labourer’s daughter from Henstridge, who was working as a domestic servant. The couple went on to have four children – Marleen, Arthur, Albert and Grace.

John’s dairy work kept the family moving, and, according to the 1911 census, the Sherrins were living in a five-room cottage in Sturminster Marshall, Dorset.

When war came to Europe, John had turned 39 years old. He did not initially enlist – presumably because of his farm work – and it seems that he was only conscripted in the closing months of the conflict. He was called up to the Royal Defence Corps during the summer of 1918, and was assigned to 254 Company.

Private Sherrin was sent to an army camp in Tidworth, Wiltshire, and it was here that he served through the Armistice. He was waiting to be demobbed in December 1918, when he was admitted to the camp’s hospital. Details of his condition are unclear, but it was in the hospital that he passed away on 17th December 1918. He was 44 years of age.

While her late husband was serving, Bessie had returned to her family in Henstridge, and it was there that John’s body was brought. He was laid to rest in the graveyard of St Nicholas’ Church in the village.

Commonwealth War Graves, Devon, Devonshire Regiment, Great War, history, photography, Private, Somerset, story, unknown, war

Private Herbert Burgess

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Private Herbert Burgess

Herbert John Burgess was born in the spring of 1883 in the Somerset village of Henstridge. He was the only child to Stephen and Sarah Burgess. Stephen was a farm labourer and, by the time of the 1901 census, the family had moved to nearby North Cadbury, where Herbert had also found farm work.

At this point, Herbert’s trail goes cold. None of the Burgesses appear on the 1911 census and, when war broke out, while documents confirm that Herbert enlisted, further details are limited.

Private Burgess joined the Devonshire Regiment, and was assigned to the 12th (Labour) Battalion. The troop was sent to France in June 1916, although it is unclear whether Herbert also went abroad. The next available record for him is that of his passing. He died on 10th February 1918, although, again, the cause and location of his passing is unknown. He was 35 years of age.

Wherever and however Herbert John Burgess died, he was brought back to Somerset for burial. He lies in a quiet corner of the graveyard of St Nicholas’ Church in his home village, Henstridge.

Commonwealth War Graves, Corporal, Dorset, Dorset Yeomanry, Great War, Gunner, history, illness, photography, Private, Royal Garrison Artillery, Shoeing Smith, Somerset, story, war, West Midlands, Wiltshire

Gunner William Merritt

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Gunner William Merritt

William Merritt was born in the summer of 1895 in Chippenham, Wiltshire. He was the youngest of three children to John and Elizabeth Merritt. John was a blacksmith, and he moved the family to Milborne Port, Somerset, when William was just a boy.

William found work as a shoesmith when he left school, but was one of the first to enlist when war broke out in 1914. He had his medical examination on 17th November, which confirmed that he was 5ft 5ins (1.65m) tall, had good vision and was of good physical development.

Initially assigned to the Dorset Yeomanry, Private Merritt’s trade soon found him taking on the role of Shoeing Smith for the battalion. He was obviously good at what he did, because by May 1915, he had been promoted to the rank of Corporal Shoeing Smith.

William had not enlisted in the army to make and mend shoes, however, and, in March 1916, he transferred to the Royal Garrison Artillery, back with the rank of Gunner. Rather than being sent to the Western Front, however, he found himself billeted at a camp in the West Midlands.

Little further information about Gunner Merritt’s service is available for the next couple of years. The next record for him comes on 5th November 1918, confirming his admission to the Birmingham War Hospital, as he was suffering from influenza and pneumonia. Sadly, his admittance to hospital was to prove too late: he passed away from heart failure the following day. Gunner Merritt was just 23 years of age.

William Merritt’s body was brought back to Somerset for burial. He was laid to rest in the cemetery of the town in which he had plied his trade before the war, Milborne Port.

William’s sparse personal effects were also returned to his parents. The records note that these included: “pair [of] boots, 6 postcards, razor, comb, toothbrush, shaving soap and brush, letter, pair of socks, bell.”

Another bureaucratic error is highlighted in a letter sent from the hospital in which William passed to his regiment’s records office notes that “I have to inform you that the body was forwarded to his Wife for burial…” William was unmarried, and his body was actually returned to his mother, Elizabeth.

Canada, Canadian Infantry, Commonwealth War Graves, Great War, Hampshire, history, injury, photography, Private, Somerset, story, Sussex, war

Private Leon Frenette

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Private Leon Frenette

Leon D Frenette was born on 2nd June 1893, in the coastal village of Petit Rocher, New Brunswick, Canada and was the son of Denis and Sarah Frenette.

Leon’s early life is difficult to piece together – the 1901 Canadian census records five Frenette families living in the same neighbourhood, but of the two whose head is given as Denis, neither has a son by that name (although one has a son called Joseph Leon).

When war came to the distant European shores, Leon was working as a school teacher in Bathurst, a town 12 miles (20km) to the south of Petit Rocher. He stood up to play his part for King and Empire, though, having served in a local militia for a while.

Leon joined the Canadian Expeditionary Force as a Private. His service records give his height as 5ft 4ins (1.63m), his weight as 130lbs (59kg) and stated that he had a medium complexion, with brown eyes and black hair. In the section of the records that noted distinguishing marks, the medical officer had identified two small brown birthmarks on his left buttock.

Private Frenette arrived in England on board the SS Corsican on 5th November 1916. Assigned to the 132nd Battalion of the Canadian Infantry, he was based at a military camp near Bramshott, Hampshire. The influx of overseas soldiers would have been a bit of a shock to the locals, but Leon appears to have been up to the challenge. Within a matter of weeks, he was admitted to the camp hospital, suffering from a bout of gonorrhoea.

By the end of the year, Private Frenette had been transferred to the 104th Battalion, and moved to Witley Camp in Surrey. His ailment seems to have returned a couple of times, and he was admitted to the camp’s medical facility in January and March 1917.

By the autumn of 1917, Leon had been transferred again, this time to the 26th Battalion. The troop was based on the south coast at Shoreham, West Sussex, and it was from here, on 16th November 1917, that Private Frenette was finally sent to France.

Leon would have arrived at an already battle-scarred Western Front. Over the next year, he was involved in fighting at Cambrai and Arras. His time was not without incident, and he forfeited a day’s pay on 20th March 1918, for “contravention of full dress order, i.e. being without a belt.”

The 26th Battalion’s next offensive was at Amiens, and it was here, on 12th August 1918, that Private Frenette was badly wounded with a gun shot wound to his right arm. Initially treated on site, he was medically evacuated to England for further treatment.

Leon was first admitted to a hospital back in Bramshott, but then transferred to Bath War Hospital in Somerset. His medical report confirms that he was first seen there at 4:30pm on 20th March, and a compound fracture of his humerus. He haemorrhaged and died of shock at 11:45pm that day. He was just 25 years of age.

With family on the other side of the Atlantic, it was not going to be possible for Private Leon Frenette to be taken home for burial. Instead he was laid to rest in the Roman Catholic Cemetery of the city in which he had passed away, Bath.