Arthur Dowland was born in the spring of 1884, and was the third of seven children to Austin and Maria Dowland. Austin was a coachman from Dorset, and the family seemed to travel with his work. By the time Arthur was born, they were living in Bourton, on the Dorset, Somerset and Wiltshire borders.
There is little in the way of documentation to track Arthur’s life. He does not appear in the 1911 census, and a separate record suggests that he may have emigrated to Canada for work, returning to Britain by the time war broke out.
Driver Dowland’s service papers have been lost to time, but it is clear that he had enlisted in the Army Service Corps, and was attached to one of the Horse Transport companies.
Arthur’s time in the army was not to be a lengthy one, and it appears that he fell ill while training. He passed away at his parents’ home in Gillingham, Dorset, on 4th April 1915, at the age of 31 years old.
The body of Arthur Downland was laid to rest in Gillingham Cemetery.
Reginald William Reeves was born in the summer of 1892. The older of two children – his sister Doris passed when she was just six years of age – his parents were Thomas and Ellen Reeves. Thomas was an ironmonger, and the family lived above the shop at 167 Montague Street, Worthing, West Sussex.
Reginald also took up metalwork, becoming his father’s apprentice. The 1911 census notes that the family had moved a short distance, and were now living at 153 Montague Street. A later advert in the Worthing Gazette highlighted special value gas mantles that were double strength and all British made, being sold by TW Reeves & Son, Ironmongers at 135 Montague Street, the family having moved even closer to the town centre.
When war broke out, Reginald would step up to serve his country. Full details of his time in the conflict have been lost, but it is clear that he served as a Private in the Royal Sussex Regiment, and was assigned to the 6th Battalion. The unit was based in Britain and Ireland during the war, and it seems that Private Reeves would not have spent any time in the thick of battle.
By the autumn of 1918, Reginald was back in Worthing, although his trail is pretty hard to follow. He died at a house on Shakespeare Road on 5th November through causes unknown; he was 26 years old.
The body of Reginald William Reeves was laid to rest in Broadwater Cemetery, to the north of Worthing, his parents thanking well-wishers for their sympathy in that week’s edition of the local newspaper.
Hedley James Garfield Perry was born in Camborne, Cornwall in the autumn of 1898. One of nine children, his parents were John and Thurza Perry. John was a farm labourer, and the family lived in a semi-detached cottage at 15 Tehidy Road, to the north of the town centre.
Hedley was under age when war broke out, but it is clear that he wanted to play his part. His service records are long since lost, but he had enlisted in the Devonshire Regiment by the spring of 1918. Private Perry’s unit – the 9th (Service) Battalion – was involved in the final advance on Picardy in the last weeks of the war, and it was during this time that he was wounded.
Private Perry was medically evacuated to Britain for treatment, and he was admitted to a military hospital in Gillingham, Dorset. Hedley’s injuries would prove too severe, however, and he succumbed to them on 4th December 1918, just three weeks after the Armistice was signed. He was 20 years of age.
The body of Hedley James Garfield Perry was laid to rest in Gillingham Cemetery.
Frederick John Edwin Bewley was born in Calne, Wiltshire, on 10th May 1882. Noticeably absent from the 1891 and 1901 census records, his parents were Chelsea pensioner John Bewley, and his wife, Annie.
Following in his father’s footsteps, Frederick was drawn to a life in the army. Having already been a volunteer in the local militia, on 20th November 1900, he enlisted in the Wiltshire Regiment. His service papers show that, at 5ft 6ins (1.68m) tall, he weighed 125lbs (56.7kg). He sported brown hair, grey eyes and a fresh complexion. He was also noted as having a scar on his right thigh and calf.
Private Bewley’s contract was for 12 years. During that time, he travelled the world spending three years in South Africa, and more than five in India. He was back in South Africa when his initial term of service came to an end, and he re-enlisted without thinking about it.
In May 1904 Frederick has been promoted to Lance Corporal, a rank he would hold for the next 12 years. During his second term of service, war broke out, but he would only spend short periods of time overseas.
…a member of the regular army, [Frederick] crossed to France with Lord French’s Expeditionary Force in August, 1914, and was wounded in the thigh at the battle of Mons. After a short period at Netley Hospital he went to Flanders in the following November. The awful conditions prevailing in the trenches was responsible for an attack of frost-bite, and tuberculosis following, he was treated at Winsley and Harnwood Sanatoriums…
[Wiltshire Times and Trowbridge Advertiser: Saturday 27th December 1919]
From 1th January 1915, Lance Corporal Bewley would remain on home soil. The sharp clarity of near-death experiences, along with a reconnection with home life, led to love blossoming and, on 6th May, he married labourer’s daughter Lilian Fidler. Both were living in Holt, Wiltshire, by this point, and it was in the village’s church that the couple exchanged vows.
Back on home soil, a new opportunity had opened up for Frederick, and he transferred to the Military Provost Staff Corps, a unit set up to police the army. In January 1916, he was promoted to Corporal; just weeks later, Vivian gave birth to their first child, Eric. and he rose to Sergeant eighteen months later.
On 1st August 1917, Corporal Bewley was promoted again, taking the rank of Serjeant. By this point, however, his bouts of poor health were coming back to haunt him, and, just six weeks after his promotion, he was medically discharged from the army.
After returning to Holt, Frederick welcomed a second son with Lilian on New Year’s Eve 1918, when Vivian was born. The following winter, his tuberculosis struck again, and this time it was clear the illness would prove fatal. He passed away on 21st December 1919, aged 37 years old.
The body of Frederick John Edwin Bewley was laid to rest in Hold Old Cemetery.
Henry John Davis was born in the village of Broughton Gifford, Wiltshire, in December 1899. The middle of nine children, his parents were John and Annie Davis. John was a cowman, and he worked for the Chalfield estate, not far from the village.
After the 1911 census, Henry’s life is a challenge to piece together. When war broke out, he was too young to serve his country, but it is clear that he enlisted in the Devonshire Regiment at some point. As a Private, he was assigned to the 52nd (Graduated) Battalion, and was based in Norfolk during the second half of the conflict.
By the spring of 1918 Private Davis’ unit was in France, although there is no evidence that Henry was there himself. All that can be confirmed is that he was medically discharged from the army on 26th March 1920, as he was suffering from adenitis, a swelling of the lymph nodes in the abdomen.
Henry John Davis passed away on 4th April 1921, at the age of 21 years old. He seems to have died at home, although the exact cause of his passing is not known. He was laid to rest in Holt Old Cemetery, not far from where his family were living.
Joseph Roger Stanley Gosnell was born in Birmingham, Warwickshire, in the autumn of 1895. He wad the only child to William and Florence Gosnell. William was a draughtsman, who died when his son was just 4 years old.
Florence was left to raise her son on her own and moved back to Bradford-on-Avon, Wiltshire, where her family lived. On 14th April 1903, she remarried, her new husband being head teacher of Holt Congregational School, John Longstaff. The 1911 census found the family living at Eglington Villa, not far from the school.
When war broke out, Joseph was quick to step up and play his part. Now going by Stanley, he enlisted in the Wiltshire Regiment on 17th September 1914, and was assigned to the 4th Battalion. His service papers show that he was 5ft 11ins (1.8m) tall, with brown hair, blue eyes and a fair complexion. He was noted as having normal vision and good physical development.
Private Gosnell seemed to impress his superiors, and, on 12th December 1914, he was promoted Lance Corporal. The following day his unit was dispatched oversees, and he was sent to India. He would go on to spend the next eight months in Pune, but not in the way he might have hoped.
On 27th February 1915, Stanley was admitted to hospital, suffering from pneumonia. He would remain admitted for nearly three months. Sent back to his unit in mid-May, he was taken back into hospital just three weeks later with tuberculosis. This time, he would only be there for three weeks before being sent back to his unit.
Lance Corporal Gosnell was sent back to Britain in August 1915, and he would remain on home soil for the next year. During this time his health deteriorated, to the point that, no 25th August 1916, he was medically discharged from the army.
At this point, Stanley’s trail goes cold, and it is only a later newspaper report that confirms what happened:
Mrs Longstaff, of Eglington Villa, who a short time since was called upon to mourn the loss of her husband, Mr JC Longstaff, was on Wednesday further bereaved by the death of her only son, Mr Stanley Gosnell. Mr Gosnell’s constitution was never of the most robust kind, and though he volunteered for service and proceeded to India with the Territorials, he was unable to withstand the climate and the work entailed, and was invalided home. His death so soon after reaching manhood’s estate is a heavy blow to his mother and the utmost sympathy will go out to her in her irreparable loss.
[Wiltshire Times and Trowbridge Advertiser: Saturday 10th May 1919]
Details of John’s passing are unclear, but he died just a few months before his stepson. Joseph Roger Stanley Gosnell was just 23 when he died on 7th May 1919. He was laid to rest in Holt Old Cemetery, not far from where his twice-grieving mother lived.
Florence had now been widowed twice, on top of losing her only child. She found some solace in her grief, however, and, in the autumn of 1923, she married for a third time. Her new husband, Joseph Scarisbrick, was a widow thirteen years her senior, and worked as a customs and excise man.
Joseph died in 1938, at the age of 85: Florence had outlived all three of her husbands. She passed away on 4th October 1954, at the age of 88 years old.
Ernest Albert Jones was born in the spring of 1878. The sixth of seven children, he wad the youngest son to Thomas and Maria Jones. Thomas was an agricultural labourer, and the family lived in a cottage on The Rank in the Wiltshire village of Holt.
Ernest found work as a gardener’s assistant when he completed his schooling, but, by the time of the 1911 census, he was employed as a leather dresser for a local fellmonger. According to the document, he was the only one of the Jones children to still be living at home, bringing in money to support his parents.
Maria died in the spring of 1911, and it is likely that Ernest remained at home to support his father. When war broke out, he stepped up to serve his country and, although his service papers have been lost to time, the documents that remain suggest he joined the Royal Warwickshire Regiment. He wasn’t with them for long, however, as he transferred to the Wiltshire Regiment.
It is unclear where or how Private Jones served. He was attached to the 6th (Royal Wiltshire Yeomanry) Battalion, who served on the Western Front from 1915 onwards, but nothing in Ernest’s remaining records suggest he spent any time overseas.
Ernest survived the war, and returned to the family home. He passed away on 27th June 1920, through causes unknown, at the age of 42.
The body of Ernest Albert Jones was laid to rest in Hold Old Cemetery, not far from the home in which his family had lived for more than four decades.
Thomas passed away nearly two years after his son, at the age of 87 years old. By this point, his granddaughter, Nellie, had moved in to look after him: it was she who Ernest had nominated as his next of kin.
Frederick Pagett was born in the Worcestershire village of Hanley Castle on 27th July 1892. The seventh of eight children, he was the youngest son to Samuel and Ann Pagett.
Samuel was a policeman, but when he completed his schooling, Frederick found work as a miner. This seemed not to suit him, however, and, on 20th December 1910, he enlisted in the Royal Marine Light Infantry.
Private Pagett’s service records show that he was 5ft 4.5ins tall, and that he had brown hair, blue eyes and a fresh complexion. He had two small scars on his upper lip, and was noted as being able to swim.
Frederick was sent to Deal in Kent for his training. Over the next couple of years, he learnt his trade, and would serve in the Hampshire towns of Gosport and Portsmouth. His papers noted a very good character.
On 12th June 1912, Private Pagett was assigned to the battleship HMS Bulwark. He would remain part of her crew for the next couple of years.
On the 26th November 1914, when Bulwark was moored close to Sheerness, Kent, an explosion ripped through the ship, sinking it and killing more than 740 people. Frederick was on board at the time, and was amongst those to be killed: he just was 22 years of age.
The body of Frederick Pagett was laid to rest in a marked grave in the naval section of Woodlands Cemetery, Gillingham, Kent.
Joseph Arthur Barnes was born in the spring of 1887, and was the youngest of four children to George and Hannah Barnes. George was a farm labourer from Longbridge Deverill, Wiltshire, and this is where he and Hannah – or Anna – raised their family.
When he completed his schooling, Joseph found work as a horseman on the farm, alongside his older brother, George. On 30th July 1913, he married Minnie Ring, a furniture maker’s daughter from the village. The couple exchanged vows in the parish church.
War was on the horizon, and a little over a year after their marriage, Joseph stepped up to play his part. He joined the Wiltshire Regiment and was assigned to the 3rd Battalion. Private Barnes was sent to Dorset for training, but his time in the army would not be a lengthy one.
Joseph contracted pneumonia, and was admitted to hospital in Weymouth. The condition would provide to severe, however, and he passed away on 9th April 1915: he was 27 years of age.
The body of Joseph Arthur Barnes was taken back to Wiltshire for burial: he was laid to rest in the tranquil surrounds of St Peter & St Paul’s Church, Longbridge Deverill.
Joseph’s brother George also served in the First World War. Assigned to the 1st Battalion of the Wiltshire Regiment, he served on the Western Front. Private Barnes was killed in action on 5th August 1917, at the age of 33. He is commemorated on the Menin Gate.
William Victor Fisher was born in Battersea, Surrey, at the beginning of 1899. The youngest of nine children, his parents were William and Julia Fisher. William Sr was a blacksmith and farrier, and, when William was born, the family were living in rooms at 9 Gladstone Street.
Julia died in 1902, and William Sr was left to raise the children on his own. This he seemed to have done well, and by the time of the 1911 census, he was still living in the same house, with five of his children. William Jr’s eldest brother, Mark, was assisting their father in the business.
When war broke out, William Jr was still at school. However, he was keen to play his part and enlisted on 29th August 1915, lying abut his age to do so. As happened at the time, the recruiting officer took the age he stated – 19 years, 255 days – as being correct. He was assigned as a Private in the Royal West Surrey Regiment, and remained in Battersea for training.
Private Fisher’s time in the army was to be a brief one, but it was not without incident. He was confined to barracks for three days on 12th October, when he lost a pair of boots. Just a month later, he was reprimanded again for being absent without leave for nearly six hours on 17th November: he was again confined to barracks, this time for four days.
William’s lie was to catch up with him, and, on 27th November 1915, he was discharged for giving an incorrect age on his recruitment papers.
Two years later, William stepped up to play his part once more. This may have been a result of the death his older brother – Francis. A Private in the 2nd Battalion of the Royal Fusiliers, he was killed in action on the Western Front on 28th February 1917: he was just 20 years of age.
Details of William’s second stint in the army have been lost to time, but it is clear that he was initially assigned to the 46th Training Reserve Battalion. Private Fisher then transferred to the 626th Home Service Employment Company of the Labour Corps, and was billeted in Wiltshire.
Tragically, Private Fisher’s time in the army was also to be brief. His entry in the British Register of Soldiers’ Effects show that he died on 12th July 1817, and, intriguingly, that the cause was asphyxiation. His death certificate confirms that this was asphyxia from inspiration of vomited matter, and that he died at No. 12 Camp in Longbridge Deverill: he was just 18 years of age.
The body of William Victor Fisher was laid to rest in the tranquil grounds of St Peter & St Paul’s Church, not far from where he had passed away.
