Tag Archives: Royal Engineers

Commonwealth War Graves, Corporal, Egypt, Great War, history, illness, Lance Corporal, Palestine, photography, Royal Engineers, Sapper, Sergeant, Somerset, story, war

Sergeant Herbert Rendell

Leave a comment
Sergeant Herbert Rendell

Herbert George Rendell was born in the summer of 1886, the oldest of six children to George and Catherine Rendell. George was a twine maker from West Coker, near Yeovil in Somerset, and it was in this village that he and Catherine raised their young family.

While he initially found work as a labourer when he left school, the lure of a better life and career proved too much for Herbert and, in June 1905, he enlisted in the Royal Engineers as a Sapper. He spent three years spent on home soil, working hard and earning a Good Conduct medal for his service. During his tour of duty, he contracted pneumonia, spending five weeks in hospital in Chatham, Kent, over Christmas 1905, but fully recovering.

In September 1908, Herbert was sent to Singapore for a three-year tour of duty with the 21st Company. His body was not accustomed to the different environment, and he was hospitalised three times for malaria and myalgia, as well as two bouts of gonorrhoea in 1908 and 1910.

In December 1911, Sapper Rendell returned home, where he served for a further three years before war broke out in the summer of 1914. Having been promoted to Lance Corporal, and after a short bout in hospital following a reaction to his cowpox vaccination, he was sent to Egypt.

Assigned to the 359th Water Company, he would have been charged with constructing and maintaining the supply pipes to and from the Front Line and for his work was soon promoted to Corporal.

In the spring of 1918, the now Sergeant Rendell was transferred to the 357th Water Company, and found himself in Palestine, where he stayed until the end of the war. He came home on leave in April 1919, and it was here that, once again, he contracted pneumonia.

Sadly, Sergeant Rendell was not to recover from the lung condition for a second time; he passed away at his parents’ home on 9th April 1919, at the age of 32 years old.

Herbert George Rendell was laid to rest in Yeovil Cemetery, not far from the village where he was born.

Bugler, Commonwealth War Graves, Great War, history, Kent, photography, Private, Royal Engineers, story, unknown, war

Sapper Frederick Maple

Leave a comment
Sapper Frederick Maple

Frederick John Maple was born in 1896, the middle of three children to Royal Engineers Company Serjeant Major Frederick Maple and his wife Amelia. Frederick Jr was born in Brompton, Gillingham, Kent, but it’s interesting to note that the 1901 census gives Amelia’s place of birth as Canada, while Frederick Sr’s is not known.

Frederick Jr lost his father in 1904, and his mother five years later. At the age of just 13, he was an orphan, and this may have spurred him into finding a career. The next census – taken in 1911 – lists him as a Bugler in the Royal Engineers, barracked within walking distance of where he had grown up.

By the time war had broken out – and having come of age – the now Private Maple was assigned to the 15th Field Company. The regiment fought in a number of the key skirmishes of the war, including the Battles of Neuve Chapelle, the Somme, Loos, Ypres and Arras. Frederick went to France in March 1915, although it is not possible to confirm how or if he was involved in these battles. He was awarded the Victory and British Medals and the 1915 Star for his efforts.

Sadly, the next available document for Frederick is the Army Register of Soldiers’ Effects. This confirms that he was admitted to the 2nd London General Hospital in Chelsea, and that he passed away on 29th October 1918. Again, there is no evidence of the cause of his passing, so he may have fallen ill, or been wounded. Either way, Private Maple was just 22 years old when he died.

Frederick John Maple was laid to rest in the Grange Road Cemetery in Gillingham. When this was subsequently turned into a public park, he was commemorated in the neighbouring Woodlands Cemetery.

Commonwealth War Graves, Great War, history, illness, Kent, Lance Corporal, London, photography, Royal Engineers, Sergeant, South Africa, story, war

Serjeant Albert Romain

Leave a comment
Serjeant Albert Romain

Albert William Romain was born in Gillingham, Kent, at the start of 1888, the middle of three children to Henry and Florence. Henry was a Sergeant in the Royal Engineers and is seemed inevitable that his son would follow suit.

Henry died in 1896, and was buried in the Grange Road Cemetery, Gillingham (now a public park). The 1901 census recorded Albert as a pupil at the Duke of York’s Royal Military Asylum in Chelsea. This was, in fact, a school for the children of soldiers, and it is likely that Albert was sent there to be educated when his father died.

The Royal Engineers obviously proved too great a lure for the young Albert. While full details of his service are not available, he had definitely enlisted early on, and was listed as a Lance Corporal in the Tempe barracks in Bloemfontein, South Africa in the 1911 census.

When war broke out, he was called back to Europe, as was on the Western Front by November 1914. Little further information on Albert is available – during the conflict he was assigned to D Company of the Royal Engineers, but the end of the war, he had become a Sergeant in the 1st Reserve Battalion.

In November 1918, back on UK soil, he was admitted to the Fort Pitt Military Hospital in Chatham, Kent. His condition is unclear, but sadly it was to be one to which he would succumb. Sergeant Romain died on 8th November 1918; he was just 30 years old.

Albert William Romain was laid to rest with his father in the Grange Road Cemetery. He is commemorated in the Woodlands Cemetery in his home town of Gillingham, Kent.

Commonwealth War Graves, Great War, history, illness, Kent, photography, Royal Engineers, Sergeant, story, war

Serjeant Thomas Myers

Leave a comment
Serjeant Thomas Myers

Thomas Francis Myers is destined to be one of those people whose story is destined to be lost to the annals of time. The only definite documents available for him are his pension records, which give his wife’s name as Ellen.

Sadly, with no date of birth for Thomas, no location other than his place of burial, and the potential for any number of alternative spellings for his surname, it’s impossible to track down any further details on his life.

His records show that he was a Serjeant in the Royal Engineers, and that he was discharged on medical grounds on 12th October 1918. Sadly, he succumbed to the conditions just a few days later, passing away from phthysis (tuberculosis) and exhaustion on 23rd October.

Thomas lies at rest in in the Woodlands Cemetery in Gillingham, Kent.

Commonwealth War Graves, Great War, history, Kent, photography, Royal Engineers, Sapper, story, unknown, war

Sapper Walter Clark

Leave a comment
Sapper Walter Clark

Walter Hudson Clark was born in 1883, the youngest of eight children to Thomas and Isabella Clark from Gillingham, Kent. Thomas was a miller who, with his wife, who was affectionately known as Sibella, raised their family in the centre of town.

When he left school, Walter found work as an apprentice to a painter and decorator. After Sibella died in 1903, he and two of his sisters remained living at home and, by the time of the 1911 census, he was supporting his father by working as a cooper in the nearby Naval Dockyard in Chatham.

Thomas passed away in December 1915, and this may have been the spur to guide his son into enlisting. Little documentation about Walter’s military service remains available although he joined the 480th Field Company of the Royal Engineers as a Sapper. He was in receipt of the Victory and British Medals, but there is nothing to confirm that he served abroad, so it seems likely that he was part of the territorial force.

Sadly this is where Sapper Clark’s trail goes cold. He survived the war, but died on 20th February 1920, at the age of 37 years old. There is no cause of death available either, but Walter was laid to rest in the Woodlands Cemetery in his home town of Gillingham, Kent.

Bugler, Commonwealth War Graves, Corporal, Great War, Hampshire, history, illness, Kent, Lance Corporal, London, photography, Royal Engineers, Sapper, Sergeant, Sergeant Major, story, unknown, war

Company Sergeant Major Hugh Caston

Leave a comment
Company Sergeant Major Hugh Caston

Hugh Charles Caston was born in Chelsea in the summer of 1881, the oldest of three children to Emily and Hugh Caston. Hugh Sr died in the late 1880, leaving Emily to raise the family on her own. She moved the family to Gillingham, Kent, to be near her family. She found work as a seamstress and took in boarders.

As the effective head of the family, Hugh obviously felt he had to earn a wage. On 1st August 1896, he enlisted in the Royal Engineers as a Bugler.

Hugh’s medical report shows he stood at 5ft 4.5ins (1.63m) tall and weighed 97lbs (44kg). He had a medium complexion, with brown eyes and brown hair. The report also gave his distinctive marks as being a scar on his forehead, a brown patch on his left buttock and that his eyebrows meet.

Initially too young for full active service, Hugh formally joined up on 1st June 1897. He spent more than five years on home soil, rising through the ranks from Sapper to Lance Corporal to 2nd Corporal. In May 1902, he was posted to Malta, returning home nearly two years later. Hugh’s promotions continued over the next decade, and, by the time war broke out, he had reached the rank of Company Sergeant Major.

By this point, Hugh had married, wedding Rochester woman Mary May Coast in September 1907. The couple went on to have two children, Hubert, who sadly died young, and Joan.

War came to Europe, and things took a turn for Company Sergeant Major Caston. He was admitted to Netley Hospital near Portsmouth, with mania:

Patient’s very restless, often gets ‘excited’ is thwarted in any way. Has a delusion that he is to be promoted to Major and that he possesses great wealth. He continually asks that his motor may be sent round to take him out, also that his tailor be sent for to rig him out. Stated this morning that he wished all the other patients be supplied with Egyptian cigarettes.

Medical Report on Hugh Caston, 20th January 1915

The medical officer went on to state that he did not consider that military service had in any contributed to the mania; he was dismissed from the army on medical grounds on 2nd February 1915, after nearly 20 years’ service.

Sadly, at this point Hugh’s trail goes cold. There is no documentation relating to his time after being discharged from the army and, tragically, after his death Mary was not granted a war pension, as he had served for less that six months during the First World War.

Hugh Charles Caston died on 18th June 1917, at the age of 36 years old. While the cause of his passing is lost to time, he was laid to rest in the Woodlands Cemetery in Gillingham, Kent.

Canada, Commonwealth War Graves, Great War, history, illness, Kent, photography, Royal Engineers, Sapper, Sergeant, Singapore, story, Sussex, war

Serjeant George Carpenter

Leave a comment
Serjeant George Carpenter

George Palmer Carpenter was born in Worthing, West Sussex, in 1881, one of fourteen children to James and Elizabeth Carpenter. James ran the Steyne Hotel on the seafront, and sent his boys off to the Lucton Boarding School in Henfield for their education.

A regimented life seems to have suited George. When he left school, he enlisted in army, joining the Royal Engineers as a Sapper. The 1901 census found him billeted at the Elphinstone Barracks in Portsmouth.

Sadly, there is little further documentation on the life of Sapper Carpenter. He served through to and during the Great War, attaining the rank of Serjeant. He was sent to France in May 1915, though there is little to confirm his role there, or how long he stayed.

Serjeant Carpenter was subsequently attached to G Depot Company of the Royal Engineers, which received men returned from Expeditionary Force and also men enlisted for Tunnelling Companies, Special Companies and other specialist units. By this time – presumably later on in the conflict – he was based back in England, at the regiment’s barracks in Chatham, Kent.

When the war came to a close, George continued with his army career. With conflict in Europe coming end, he was shipped to Singapore in 1917, where he served through to 1920. A Sussex newspaper picked up his story from there:

Much sympathy will be extended to Mrs Carpenter and her family, of the Steyne Hotel, consequent upon the death of Sergeant George Carpenter, of the Royal Engineers, another of our Worthing boys whose life has been laid down in his country’s service. He arrived home in a bad state of health on the 25th of February last from Singapore, where he had been on duty for three years. Suffering from gastric influenza, it was found necessary that he should undergo an operation, which was carried out at midnight on Saturday. But he sank from weakness, and died at half-past eight on Sunday morning. This is the second son of whom Mrs Carpenter has been bereaved within a year, and there is pathos in the words addressed to us by her: “I have again the sorrowful task of sending the news of the death of one of my sons this morning.

Worthing Gazette: Wednesday 24th March 1920

George Palmer Carpenter was 39 years old. He was laid to rest in the Broadwater Cemetery of his home town, Worthing, in West Sussex.

The other brother referred to in the report was George’s younger brother Norman.

He had emigrated to Canada in 1906, but returned to Europe as part of the Canadian Expeditionary Force when war broke out. Wounded in battle in May 1917, he returned to the UK for treatment and recuperation, and remained on home soil for the rest of the war.

In the spring of 1919, he was admitted to hospital with pleurisy and anaemia, and seems that he never fully recovered, succumbing to the conditions in August of that year. He was just 32 years old.

Commonwealth War Graves, Corporal, Great War, history, illness, Kings Royal Rifle Corps, London, photography, Private, Royal Engineers, Royal Sussex Regiment, Sergeant, story, Sussex, war

Serjeant Henry Rowe

Leave a comment
Serjeant Henry Rowe

Henry Samuel Rowe was born in Shoreditch, London, on 18th August 1873. He was one of three children to Henry and Amelia Rowe. Henry Sr was a stonemason, who died in 1876, when Henry was only three years old.

Amelia moved her and her children to the Sussex Downs, and married again in 1883. Her new husband was John Herrington, and the couple went on to have three further children, Henry’s half-siblings. John was a farm labourer, and his stepson followed in his footsteps when he left school.

Henry soon sought other accomplishments, however, and, in October 1895, he joined the King’s Royal Rifles. During his twelve years’ service, he travelled the world, from Mauritius, to India, South Africa to Sri Lanka. He returned home in December 1903 serving on home soil until the end of his contract in 1907.

On 23rd April 1905, he married a widow, Amelia Routledge, in Brighton. There is no confirmation of the couple going on to have children.

Once demobbed, Henry found employment with the railways, and, by the time of the 1911 census, was working as a signalman. The document records him as boarding in a house in the village of Rudgwick, near Horsham; Amelia, meanwhile, was lodging with a family in South East London.

War was on the horizon, and, in August 1914, Henry volunteered. His time with the King’s Royal Rifles, stood him in good stead; after initially enlisting as a Private in the Royal Sussex Regiment, he was quickly promoted to Corporal and, by November 1914, had transferred to the Royal Engineers and attained the role of Sergeant.

Henry had spent just over a year in France, when he was shot in the right arm on 18th July 1916. Medically evacuated to England, he spent three months recuperating, before heading back into the fray in October the same year.

Henry served another eighteen months on the Front Line, before being admitted to hospital. His medical admission records show that he was suffering from “tremulous speech, confused… conversation, transitory admissions [sic?] of a grandiose type, outbursts of excitement, says he is a man of importance, childish, facile, simpleminded…” His condition was recorded as General Paralysis of the Insane (GPI), more commonly known these days as shellshock, and he was medically discharged from the Army on 4th September 1918.

Sadly, at this point Sergeant Rowe’s trail goes cold. He seems to have been hospitalised following his discharge, but the documents give conflicting suggestions about where he was admitted. Amelia was still living in South London, one record suggests Henry was in the Welsh Metropolitan Hospital in Whitchurch, near Cardiff. But, as he was buried in Worthing, West Sussex, it seems unlikely that he remained in Wales.

The cause of Henry’s passing is not evident either. There is no confirmation that GPI was to blame, but nothing to suggest it was not either. Whatever the cause, Sergeant Rowe died on 14th November 1918, three days after the conflict to which he had given so much had been brought to a close. He was 49 years old.

Henry Samuel Rowe lies at rest in the Broadwater Cemetery in Worthing, West Sussex.

Bugler, Commonwealth War Graves, Great War, history, illness, injury, photography, Royal Engineers, Sapper, Somerset, story, war

Corporal Harold Mattick

Leave a comment
Corporal Harold Mattick

Harold Mattick was born in the spring of 1895, the youngest of four children to Walter and Augusta. Walter was a harness maker and brought the family up in his home town of Weston-super-Mare, Somerset.

When he left school, Harold found work as a plumber. He seemed to had sought a life of adventure, however, and, in 1908, aged just 14, enlisted in the Wessex Division of the Royal Engineers as a Bugler. He served for five years, fulfilling his duties at the same time as carrying out his plumbing work.

When war broke out, Harold immediately re-enlisted. As a Sapper, he was assigned to the 1st/2nd (Wessex) Field Company. After initial training, he was sent to the front as part of the British Expeditionary Force just before Christmas in 1914.

Sapper Mattick was caught up in some of the fiercest fighting on the Wester Front, including the First and Second Battles of Ypres. On 30th September 1915, at Loos, he received a gunshot wound in his right leg, which fractured his tibia. The Germans were also using gas to attack the Allied front lines, which also affected Harold.

Medically evacuated to England for treatment on 9th October, his condition was such that he was discharged from the army on health grounds six months later, on 30th March 1916.

Sadly, while Harold’s leg healed, the injuries he sustained in the gas attack were too severe for him to recover from. He died at home from a lung condition on 24th July 1917, aged just 22 years old.

Harold Mattick was laid to rest in the Milton Cemetery of his home town, Weston-super-Mare.

illness

Sapper Frank Hussey

Leave a comment
Sapper Frank Hussey

Frank Hussey was born in the autumn of 1870, one of eight children to William and Ann Hussey. William was a mason, and raised his family in Weston-super-Mare in his home county of Somerset. When he left school, Frank found employment as a general labourer, initially in Somerset, but then in South Wales with his older brother Samuel.

By 1889, Frank has moved back to Somerset, where he married Elizabeth Webber in December. Work was obviously more available in South Wales, however, as the couple moved back to Glamorgan, and had their first four children – Beatrice, William, Edith and Hubert – there.

The turn of the century saw the Hussey family return to Somerset. Frank, by now, was working as a bricklayer, and they settled in a small house near the centre of Weston. Life continued on, with building work helping to support the family. Frank and Elizabeth had two more children – James and Marion – and, by the time of the 1911 census, the couple were living with their five youngest children in a two-up-two-down house on the then outskirts of the town.

Storm clouds were gathering over in Europe, and Frank was more than willing to do his bit for King and country. Having already been a volunteer with the Royal Engineers, he formally enlisted with the regiment on 5th May 1915.

Sapper Hussey was assigned to the 2nd (Wessex) Field Company, which was a territorial force. He was mobilised for fourteen months, before being discharged from the army as he was no longer physically fit for war service. Unfortunately, his military records give no further indication as to his ailment or condition.

Frank’s trail goes cold for a few years. Released from service in July 1916, the next identifiable record is from four years later. This confirms that he died from tuberculosis on 26th May 1920, aged 49 years old. Given the debilitating effect of the condition, it seems likely that Sapper Hussey contracted it during the war, and this is what had led to his dismissal.

Frank Hussey had died at home, and it was in the Milton Cemetery in Weston-super-Mare that he was laid to rest.