Tag Archives: Private

Commonwealth War Graves, Corporal, Devon, Dorset, Great War, history, illness, India, Lance Serjeant, London, Major, photography, Private, Quartermaster, Royal Air Force, Sergeant, Somerset, Somerset Light Infantry, story, war

Major Stanley Payne

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Major Stanley Payne

Stanley James Payne was born towards the end of 1882, one of eleven children to Stephen and Elizabeth Payne. Stephen was a leather salesman from Essex, who had moved his family to Weston-super-Mare in Somerset in around 1880.

Stanley seems to have been drawn in to a military life from an early age. In January 1900, he enlisted as a Private in the Somerset Light Infantry, and the 1901 census listed him as living at the Raglan Barracks in Devonport, near Plymouth.

Military service took Private Payne to India, where he served for six years. His success and ambition were clear; in 1906 he was promoted to first to Corporal and then to Sergeant. By 1911 – and now back in England – as a Lance Sergeant, Stanley was working as a military clerk at the Royal Horse Artillery Barracks in Dorchester, although he was still attached to the Somerset Light Infantry.

Stanley’s ambition and sense of adventure continued; by July 1912 he had made the transfer over to the newly-formed Royal Flying Corps, as a Sergeant.

It was while he was based in Dorchester that he met Winifred Bell. She was the daughter of a local council worker, and the couple married in the town in September 1912. Stanley and Winifred went on to have a daughter, Doris, who was born in July 1914.

War had arrived in Europe, and on 7th October, the now Warrant Officer Payne was shipped to France. During his nine months on the Western Front, he was mentioned in despatches and received the Croix de Guerre for his gallantry. The local newspaper also reported that he:

…had also the honour of being presented to the King on the occasion of His Majesty’s last visit to the front, and at a home station had also been presented to Queen Mary.

Western Daily Press: Saturday 8th March 1919

Returning to England on 1st June 1915, he was again promoted to Lieutenant and Quartermaster, although here his military records dry up. By this time, he had been in the armed forces for more than fifteen years, but his military records seem to confirm this as the last day of his service.

The next record for Stanley confirms his passing. Admitted to the Central Air Force Hospital in Hampstead with a combination of influenza and pneumonia, he died on 3rd March 1919. He was just 36 years of age.

Brought back to Weston-super-Mare, where his now widowed father was still living, Stanley James Payne was laid to rest in the Milton Cemetery in his home town.

Stanley’s gravestone gives his rank as Major. While there is no documented evidence of any additional promotions after June 1915, the rank is the equivalent of Quartermaster in the Army Reserve. It seems likely, therefore, that the end date of his military service marked the start of his time in the reserves.

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

Private Montague Palmer

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Private Montague Palmer

Montague Ashley Palmer was born in Weston-super-Mare, Somerset, in 1886, one of five children to Alfred and Martha. Montague’s father was a postman in the town for 25 years, retiring through ill health in February 1898. Sadly, Alfred’s retirement was not to last long, and he passed away that July aged 48, when his son was just 12 years old.

When he left school, Montague found work as a bus conductor and was now the oldest of Martha’s children to still be living at home. He was obviously an ambitious and inventive young man; by the time of the 1911 census, he had started work for the Ordnance Survey, and had moved to Didcot in Berkshire where he was boarding with Frances Battison, a suiter and greengrocer.

At this point, details of Montague’s life become a little hazier. At some point, he married a woman called Matilda, who either came from, or would go on to live in, Helston, Cornwall.

With war on the horizon, Montague enlisted – documented dates for this, again, are missing. He joined the 12th Battalion of the Somerset Light Infantry, which initially served in Egypt, before transferring to France in May 1918.

Where and for how long Private Palmer served is not clear, although he was definitely caught up in the fighting, and injured, towards the end of the war. Details of his wounds are not clear, but they were enough for him to be repatriated to England, and he was admitted to the Royal Hospital in Salford.

Private Palmer’s injuries appear to have been too severe for him to survive; he passed away in hospital on 5th January 1919. He was just 32 years old.

Montague Ashley Palmer’s body was brought back to Somerset, and he was laid to rest in the Milton Cemetery in Weston-super-Mare.

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

Private Reginald Morriss

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Private Reginald Morriss

Reginald Benjamin James Morriss was born in the spring of 1886 and was the youngest of twelve children. His father, Thomas, was a bootmaker from Leeds, who had moved to Somerset and married Mary Ann Pennell. The couple brought their family up in her home town of Weston-super-Mare.

Thomas died in 1901, when Reginald was just 14 years old. Mary Ann, by this point, still had a lot of her family with her, including Reginald, three of his sisters, his brother-in-law and four nieces.

Reginald was about to leave school, and found work as a French polisher in Bristol, eventually moving in with his employer as a lodger. This may not have suited him, however, as, by the time he enlisted, he gave his trade as baker and confectioner, and he was living back with his mother in Weston-super-Mare.

Private Morriss was 30 when he joined up in 1916, and stood 5ft 7ins (1.7m) tall. He joined the Army Service Corps as a baker, and was initially based in Aldershot. He was moved to Kent in September 1918, having been assigned to the 351st Horse Transport Company. The war was drawing to an end, but a new threat was on the horizon.

The following February, Private Morriss was admitted to St John’s Hospital in Hastings, suffering from influenza and pneumonia. Sadly, he was to succumb to the lung conditions, and he passed away on 3rd March 1919. He was just 32 years old.

Reginald Benjamin James Morriss’ body was brought back to Weston-super-Mare, and he was laid to rest in the Milton Cemetery in his home town.

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

Private Charles Wood

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Private Charles Wood

Charles Wood is destined to be one of those servicemen whose lives remain shrouded in mystery.

He was laid to rest in the Milton Cemetery in Weston-super-Mare, and his widow, Ellen, is buried with him. There are two headstones on the site – a family one, and a more recent war grave.

The Commonwealth War Graves Commission website give his age – 48 years old when he died – and states that he was a Private in the 263rd Company of the Royal Defence Corps and gives his service number. This was a territorial force, so it is probable that he served on home soil.

The only remaining military document relating to him is the Army Register of Soldier’s Effects. This confirms that he died in the Red Cross Hospital in Portishead on 12th November 1917, and that his belongings passed to his widow. It does highlight that he received a war gratuity, which was only applicable to soldiers who had completed at least six months’ service, so we know that he enlisted before May 1917.

There are a number of censuses available for the Weston-super-Mare area, but there at least two men called Charles Wood who married women called Ellen, so it is a challenge to identify which is the man buried in this grave.

A usual source of information would be his service record – which, in addition to his military activity, would give an address as well as other family members. However, this document is not available for Private Wood.

There is no mention of his passing in any of the contemporary newspapers, so it seems unlikely that his death was anything out of the ordinary.

Charles Wood is, sadly, lost to time, one of the countless men and women who gave up their lives for King and Country.

Commonwealth War Graves, Great War, history, illness, Labour Corps, photography, Private, Somerset, story, war, Wiltshire

Private Albert Athay

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Private Albert Athay

Albert Athay was born in 1887, one of eight children to Thomas and Emily. Thomas was a labourer for the local council in Weston-super-Mare, and the family lived in a small house on a road leading inland from the seafront.

Thomas died when Albert was only 14 years old, and, having left school, he found labouring work to help support his now widowed mother and younger siblings.

In August 1910, Albert married Mable Dunstone, a cowherd’s daughter from Somerset. The couple continued to live with Albert’s mother and brother right up until the outbreak of war. They went on to have three children, Milicent, Freda and Charles.

Albert, by this time, has been volunteering with the local Labour Battalion; he formalised his military service in June 1917, officially enlisting in the Labour Corps. He served as part of the territorial force, in and around Salisbury Plain.

Private Athay fell ill in the summer of 1918, and was admitted to hospital on 11th June with pneumonia. Sadly, as the days progressed, so did the condition, and he passed away from it just eleven days later. He was just 31 years old.

Brought back to Weston-super-Mare, Albert Athay was laid to rest in the Milton Cemetery in his home town.

accident, Commonwealth War Graves, Great War, history, Northamptonshire, photography, Private, Royal Warwickshire Regiment, Somerset, story, war

Private William Henderson

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Private William Henderson

William Henry Henderson was born in Weston-super-Mare in December 1898. The oldest of four children, his parent were tailor Herbert Henderson and his wife Fanny.

As with a lot of servicemen born around 1900, there is little documentation around William’s early life. When war broke out, he was 15 years old, and seems to have been eager to do his bit. Few military records for him survive, but he joined the Royal Warwickshire Regiment and was given the role of Private in the 5th (Reserve) Battalion.

Part of William’s training seems to have taken place in Northumberland, and he was based near the coastal town of Blyth. On 24th August 1917, he was one of 600 men taken on a route march from the camp to the coast. The Somerset Standard took up the story of that day’s events:

Lieutenant Colonel Frank Martin Chatterley, the officer in command, said that he… allowed the men 20 minutes to cool, and after taking all necessary precautions gave orders for them to enter the sea.

The witness inquired from a boy the state of the tide, and was told that it was low ebb; he expected it to rise shortly. The witness undressed, bathed and came out of the water, and was dressing when he was told that some of the men were in difficulties.

Somerset Standard: Friday 31st August 1917

The Morpeth Herald added to this: “The soldiers had not been in the water long when some of them got into difficulties and were washed out seawards, in spite of their struggles. A number of comrades rushed to their assistance until at the fatal spot 13 men were seen struggling and evidently drowning.  Soldiers formed a human chain by joining hands and wading as far they could into the fast-ebbing tide. They succeeded in saving 5 of their comrades, three of whom were very exhausted, when they got ashore that they were immediately rushed off by car.”

Nine soldiers, including Private Henderson, drowned that day, despite the commended attempts by Reverend Verschoyle, the Army Chaplain, to save their lives.

Some of the survivors told the inquest that they were from the Midlands; they could not swim, and one had never seen the sea before. The inquest was told that there were terrific currents and shifting sands in that particular spot that day, and the conditions seemed to have changed after the soldiers had entered the water. Chatterley said that he had had men bathing at that spot before, and had also seen civilians bathing there before.

The other eight servicemen who perished that day were Privates Thomas Forley, Henry Southern, Fred Shale, George Beavan, Gordon Noy, William Blann, Lieutenant Kenneth Brown and Sergeant Riley. Private Henderson was just 18 years old.

William’s body was brought back to Weston-super-Mare for burial. He lies at rest in the Milton Cemetery in the town.

Commonwealth War Graves, Great War, history, illness, Machine Gun Corps, Oxfordshire, photography, Private, Somerset, story, war

Private Roland Pavey

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Private Roland Pavey

Roland Adams Pavey was born in the summer of 1891, the youngest of three children to Anthony Pavey and his wife, Mary. Anthony was a painter, and both he and his wife were born in the Somerset town of Cheddar. Their life took them travelling, though, with their first child, Edward being born in Cheddar, while their middle child, Ada, was born in Oxford, and Roland born in Bath .

Anthony passed away in 1910, leaving Roland living with his widowed mother, earning a living as a draper’s clerk. War was coming, however, and new opportunities lie in store.

Roland enlisted in the army in January 1915. Initially joining the North Somerset Yeomanry, he soon transferred across to the Cavalry Division of the Machine Gun Corps. Sadly, Private Pavey’s military records are lost to time, but he definitely saw action on the Western Front, gaining the Victory and British Medals and the 1915 Star for his efforts.

The next record for Roland comes in the form of a newspaper article from South Wales.

SAD CASE OF NANTYGLO GIRL

Behind the untimely death of Mr Roland A Pavey, a popular young ex-Service man, and secretary of the Weston-super-Mare Federation of Discharged Soldiers and Sailors, lies a pathetic story of the double bereavement of a pretty Welsh girl, Miss Dorothy Morgan of Nantyglo.

Prior to the war, Miss Morgan was engaged to a compatriot of her own, who answered his country’s call and, like so many thousands of others, made the great sacrifice. Time rolled on and the old wound was eventually healed. Then Miss Morgan went on a visit to Weston last year, and there met young Roland Pavey, just demobilised from the Army.

A mutual attraction soon ripened into affection, and the couple became engaged, and they were to have been married towards the end of the present month, but Fate intervened.

Pavey’s long war service impaired his constitution, though how seriously was probably not realised until the damage was done. Returning from a Whitsuntide visit to Exeter, Mr Pavey was so ill that he was compelled to take to his bed. He rapidly became worse, and though his fiancée was hurriedly summoned, he passed away before she arrived at Weston.

Thus, within a short time, Miss Morgan has been twice bereaved as a result of the war.

Merthyr Express: Saturday 12th June 1920

Roland Adams Pavey was just 29 years old when he died. He was laid to rest in the Milton Cemetery in Weston-super-Mare, where his mother then lived.

Sadly, Dorothy Morgan is too common a name in South Wales to confirm much more information on her life. We are unlikely ever to discover if she ever found a lasting love.

Commonwealth War Graves, Great War, history, injury, Ireland, photography, Private, Royal Army Service Corps, Somerset, story, war

Private Peter McDonald

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Private Peter McDonald

Peter McDonald was born in Tullamore, King’s County (now Offaly County), Ireland, on 28th May 1893 and was one of eight children to Michael and Mary McDonald. Michael had been in the army, and this seems to have been the route that Peter wanted to follow as well.

When he left school, however, he found work as a domestic servant at St Stanislaus College in his home town. War, by this time, was on the horizon, and so Peter was called on to other things.

Unfortunately, a lot of the documentation around Peter’s military service is no longer available. He enlisted in the Royal Army Service Corps; while an exact date for his enrolment is not available, this would appear to have been at some point in the first year of the conflict.

Private McDonald was assigned to the 341st Mechanical Transport Company. This was formed in May 1915, and was designated an Ammunition Park (which was in essence a fleet of lorries and a workshop for maintaining them). While full details of his time with the RASC is not available, Peter certainly came to be based in Weston-super-Mare, Somerset.

Considerable sensation was created at Weston-super-Mare on Friday evening, by a rumour which prevailed that a member of the Army Service Corps billeted in the town had been shot and another man wounded.

Inquiries revealed the fact that the rumour had some foundation, and it appears that some half-dozen members of the corps were attending their motor-bicycles in a shed at headquarters in Beach Road, when Lance Corporal Goldsmith produced an automatic Colt pistol, which he handed to Private McDonald for inspection.

In the course of the examination the weapon went off, and Goldsmith was shot in the leg. He at once took the revolved from McDonald, observing that he was unaware that it was loaded, and was apparently in the act of unloading it when it was again discharged, the bullet entering the lower part of McDonald’s abdomen, severing the main arteries.

Medical aid was at once procured. The unfortunate man died as the result of internal haemorrhage about an hour later.

Goldsmith was removed to hospital, but his injuries are not regarded as serious.

Somerset Standard: Friday 28th January 1916

Private Peter McDonald has passed away from a gunshot wound on 21st January 1916, at the age of just 22 years old. His body was laid to rest in the Milton Cemetery in Weston-super-Mare, where he had met his fatal accident.

Private McDonald’s pension record gives his cause of death as ‘explosion’, something of a misinterpretation of the evening’s events.

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

Private Arthur Lavender

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Private Arthur Lavender

Arthur Reginald Lavender was born in Bath on 17th January 1889, the second of two children to George Charles (or Charles George) Lavender and his wife, Elizabeth. George raised the family in Bath and seems to have been a jack of all trades, finding work where he could, as a porter in a warehouse according to the 1891 census and a stationary engine driver ten years later.

On 1st December 1907, at the age of just 18, Arthur married Kate Pearce, a painter’s daughter from Weston-super-Mare. The young couple went on to have a son, Sidney, who was born the following year.

By 1911, Arthur was working in Weston-super-Mare as a warehouseman at a local laundry and, on the day of that year’s census, was staying with his father-in-law. Kate, meanwhile, had taken Sidney to see her brother, Frank, who lived in Bristol.

War was coming to Europe, and, in November 1915, Arthur signed up, joining the Royal Army Medical Corps as a Private. After initial training – including a course on First Aid, he was sent overseas on 11th April 1916, where he was assigned to the 27th Casualty Clearing Station.

Private Lavender’s time in the RAMC seems to have been a complicated one. He was admitted to a field hospital within a month of arriving in France with a double inguinal hernia, a condition that continued to dog him over the coming months.

Arthur was eventually shipped to England in March 1917 for an operation at the Metropolitan Hospital in London. The operation itself seemed to have been a success, but, while admitted, he contracted pneumonia, and it was this lung condition that was to end his life. Private Lavender passed away on 7th May 1917, aged just 28 years old.

Arthur Reginald Lavender was laid to rest in the Milton Cemetery in Weston-super-Mare.

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

Private Charles Dyer

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Private Charles Dyer

Charles William Dyer was born on 12th May 1895, the youngest of seven children to Harry and Mary Dyer.

Harry was a farmer, who brought his family up in the village of Kewstoke, just to the north of Weston-super-Mare, Somerset. He seems to have been keen to try new things because he and Mary lived for a while in Australia, and their first two children were born there. They then moved back to the UK in around 1887, settling back in Somerset.

By the time of the 1911 census, Charles was 16 years old, and all of the family were helping out on the farm. He seemed to share his father’s sense of adventure; in 1913, he emigrated to Canada, setting himself up as a farmhand in Winnipeg.

War was coming to Europe, however, and Charles joined up. He enlisted in October 1917, joining the Canadian Infantry. Leaving Canada on a troop ship on 19th February 1918, he arrived back in England on 4th March.

Private Dyer was soon installed at the Canadian Infantry camp at Bramshott in Hampshire. Within weeks of arriving in England, however, he had contracted influenza; this developed into pneumonia, and was admitted to the camp’s Military Hospital on 22nd May. Sadly, a week later, Private Dyer was dead. He was just 23 years old.

Charles William Dyer was taken back to Weston-super-Mare and laid to rest in the Milton Cemetery there.

Charles Dyer (on right) in Canada
(Courtesy of ancestry.co.uk)