Tag Archives: Quartermaster

Commonwealth War Graves, Devonshire Regiment, Gloucestershire, Great War, history, Labour Corps, photography, Quartermaster, Sergeant, Somerset, Somerset Light Infantry, story, unknown, war

Quartermaster Serjeant Percy Macey

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Quartermaster Serjeant Percy Macey

Percy George Macey was born in Frome, Somerset, in the autumn of 1889. He was the oldest of six children and the only son to Arthur and Susan Macey. Arthur was a general labourer and domestic gardener from Wiltshire, whose family had moved to Somerset in the 1870s.

When he left school, Percy found work at a local foundry, and, by the time of the 1911 census, was listed as a brass fitter. By this point he had met Winifred Rowe, a labourer’s daughter from Wiltshire, who had found work as a servant to a Frome butcher. The couple married at the start of 1913, and went on to have a son – who they called Arthur, after Percy’s recently deceased father – later that year.

War was coming, and Percy joined the Somerset Light Infantry. Full details of his military service are not available, although at some point during the conflict he was promoted to Serjeant and transferred to the Labour Corps under the Devonshire Regiment. He was awarded the Victory and British Medals, but does not appear to have seen any service overseas.

By the end of the war, Percy had risen to the rank of Quartermaster Serjeant. The end of his life is, however, shrouded in a bit of mystery. He passed away on 15th March 1921 in Cheltenham, Gloucestershire; although no cause for his death is evident, it seems likely to have been from an illness of some sort, as there are no contemporary newspaper reports to suggest anything out of the ordinary. He was just 31 years old.

Percy George Macey was brought back to Frome; he was laid to rest in the Dissenters’ Cemetery in Vallis Road.

Commonwealth War Graves, Great War, history, illness, Lance Corporal, London, photography, Private, Quartermaster, Royal Army Service Corps, Royal Warwickshire Regiment, Sergeant, Sergeant Major, Staff Sergeant, story, Sussex, war

Serjeant Major Percy Hawkins

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Staff Serjeant Major Percy Hawkins

Percy Harry Hawkins was born in Waltham Green, London, in 1886. One of five children, all boys, his parents were Frederick and Elizabeth Hawkins. Frederick initially worked as a brewer’s collector – collecting rent from tenant pub managers on behalf of the brewery – before working as a tobacconist.

In July 1908, Percy married Gladys Parnell. Sadly, tragedy was to strike and, over the next couple of years both Elizabeth and Frederick passed away in 1909 and 1910 respectively.

By the time of the following year’s census, Percy and Gladys were boarding with a dispensing doctor (or GP), and his wife. Percy listed his occupation as a ‘traveller’, was probably employed as some kind of salesman.

Tragedy was to strike Percy again. Months after the couple had their first child in July 1911, Gladys also passed away, leaving him as a widower and single parent at just 26 years old.

From his later military documentation, it seems that Percy married again in August 1915, this time to a woman called Mildred, and, by September 1919, he had gone on to have three children in total; one boy and two girls.

When war broke out, Percy was quick to enlist. He joined up in Birmingham on 10th August 1914, and gave his profession as a commercial traveller. His records show that he was 28 years and 120 days old, stood 5ft 6ins (1.69m) tall and weighed 131lbs (59.5kg).

After initially joining the Royal Warwickshire Regiment, Private Hawkins was transferred to the Royal Army Service Corps, and was assigned to one of the supply companies.

Over the four years of the war, Percy served on home soil, and was promoted a number of times, rising from Private to Lance Corporal, Staff Sergeant to Quartermaster Staff Sergeant. In September 1917, he was again promoted, this time to Staff Sergeant Major, a position he held for the remainder of the conflict, and on into 1919, when he volunteered for an extra year’s service, rather than being demobbed.

In February 1920, Staff Serjeant Major Hawkins fell ill; he was admitted to the military hospital that had been set up in Brighton Pavilion, Sussex. The diagnosis was heart failure, and, sadly, it was to this that he was to succumb. He passed away on 20th February 1920, aged just 34 years old.

Percy’s family was, by this time, living down the coast in Worthing; his body was brought there for burial and he lies at rest in the Broadwater Cemetery in the town.

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.

Commonwealth War Graves, Great War, history, illness, Lieutenant, photography, Quartermaster, Rifle Brigade, Somerset, story, war

Lieutenant Alfred Betty

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Lieutenant Alfred Betty

Alfred William Betty was born early in 1869, one of ten children to John Betty and his wife Hannah. John was a blacksmith, and the family lived in the Somerset town of Taunton.

After leaving school, Alfred found work as a silk throwster, twisting silk into thread or yarn. Thus was not the long term career that he sought, however, and in 1887 he enlisted in the Rifle Brigade. During a period of service that lasted 21 years, he fought in India and South Africa, rising to the rank of Quartermaster-Sergeant by the end of his tenure in 1908.

In 1896, Alfred had married Elizabeth Johnson, also from Taunton, who was herself the daughter of a soldier. The couple went on to have three children, two of whom survived – daughters Ella and Hazel.

By the time of the 1911 census, the family had set up home in Taunton. Alfred, now back on civvy street, was working as a clerk and had become involved in the town’s Holy Trinity Men’s Club.

War was on the horizon, however, and when hostilities broke out, Alfred quickly re-enlisted. Within a month of re-joining the Rifle Brigade, he was given a commission in the 13th Battalion. After initially being based in Winchester, by the summer of 1915 Lieutenant Betty found himself on the Front Line. He was involved in some of the fiercest fighting, and was caught up in the Battle of the Somme.

It was here that Alfred fell ill. While full details of his condition are not readily available, he contracted a prolonged illness, as a result of “hardship and exposure” [Western Daily Press, Saturday 24th March 1917].

Whatever the condition, it was serious enough for Lieutenant Betty to be invalided back to England and out of the army, and he returned to his family home in Taunton.

Sadly, Alfred’s condition was to take its toll on him, and he finally succumbed to it on 23rd March 1917. He was 48 years old.

Alfred William Betty lies at peace in St Mary’s Churchyard in his home town of Taunton in Somerset.

Captain, Commonwealth War Graves, Great War, history, India, Kent, London, photography, Quartermaster, Royal Engineers, story, unknown, war, Worcestershire

Major Thomas Clark

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Major Thomas Clark

Thomas James Clark was born in Worcester at the beginning of 1853, the oldest of two children to James Clark and his wife Sarah. James was an engine smith and gas fitter, and moved the family with his work, initially to London, then on to the Kent coast.

Documentation relating to Thomas’ early life is difficult to track down; the 1871 census has him listed as a gas fitter like his father, but it is likely that he enlisted in the army fairly shortly after this date.

In 1875, he married a woman called Emily Ann. There life was to take on a grand new adventure as their first child, a boy named after his father, was born in Bombay, India, later that year.

It seems likely that it was Thomas’ military service that took the young family overseas. This was to be the case for at least a decade, as Emily gave birth to four further children in India. James, their fifth child, was born in Bombay in 1884. Their sixth, and last child, Ellen, was born in Gillingham, Kent, ten years later.

Given that the standard time for military service was twelve years, it is possible that Thomas served all of that time overseas, returning to England in around 1887.

Back home in Kent, Thomas is given the commission of Quartermaster in November 1897. By this point, he has been in the Royal Engineers for just under 21 years. He and his family are living in central Gillingham, within easy walking distance of the Royal Engineers Barracks and School of Engineering.

The 1901 census also lists Thomas as Quartermaster for the regiment, while three of his sons are by this time working in the Naval Dockyard as shipwrights and engine fitters.

Ten years later and the family are still living in the same house. By now, and aged 57, Thomas is recorded as a Retired Captain and Quartermaster for the Royal Engineers. He and Emily have been married 36 years, and their three youngest children (now aged 29, 26 and 17) are still living with them.

War was looming by now, although, age 61 when it broke out, it is unlikely that Retired Quartermaster Clark would have been involved in any front line activity. While no military records survive for Thomas, it seems possible that he may have been recalled for a training or administrative role at the barracks nearby.

Any re-commission would not have lasted for long, however, as Quartermaster Clark passed away at home on 10th September 1916. He was 63 years old.

Thomas James Clark lies at peace in the Woodlands Cemetery in Gillingham, Kent.

Thomas’ widow, Emily, passed away just two years after her husband. She was also laid to rest in the Woodlands Cemetery.

Thomas left his estate in the hands of his youngest son, James, who was still living at his parents’ home when they passed away.

Canada, Canadian Forestry Corps, Commonwealth War Graves, Great War, history, illness, Lancashire, photography, Private, Quartermaster, Scotland, Sergeant, Somerset, story, war

Company Quartermaster Sergeant Robert Roberts

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Company Quartermaster Sergeant Robert Roberts

Robert Roberts was born in Liverpool in November 1887 the youngest of two children to Robert and Alice Roberts.

The New World beckoned for the Roberts family, and they set sail for Canada when Robert Jr was just 4 years old. The family settled in the city of Regina, Saskatchewan.

Little is recorded about Robert Jr until October 1911, when he married a Quebecois woman called Edna Webber. The young couple went on to have two children, a daughter, One, and a son, George.

In April 1916, he enlisted in the Canadian Expeditionary Force. His trade was noted as a Lumberman, and his record notes that Robert had already served as part of the 95th Saskatchewan Rifles.

Joining the 224th Battalion, Robert was shipped to England in May 1916. He transferred to the Canadian Forestry Corps in November, reaching the rank of Staff Sergeant, and was assigned to the company’s Base Depot in Sunningdale, near Windsor.

When the war ended, demobilisation was still a way off for a lot of soldiers, particularly those from the Commonwealth. Robert was transferred to Stirling, and was appointed Quartermaster Sergeant (responsible for supplies and stores) for 121st Company.

On 28th January 1919, Robert was admitted to the Royal Infirmary in Stirling with influenza and double pneumonia. Sadly, he passed away just over a week later, breathing his last on 6th February 1919. He was 33 years old.

Robert Roberts lies at peace in the Wembdon Road Cemetery in Bridgwater, Somerset.

There is no evident connection between Robert and Bridgwater, so why this was chosen as his place of rest is a mystery. It is likely that there was some sort of family connection, but that cannot be definitely established.