Alfred Edward Wallis was born on 7th February 1876, the youngest of five children to Charles and Mary. Charles was a carpenter and joined from Bruton in Somerset, but the family were born and raised in the Walcot area of Bath.
By the time of the 1901 census, Alfred was the only one of the Wallis siblings to remain living with his parents. They were living at 14 Belgrave Crescent, to the north of the city, and, at 25 years of age, Alfred had taken on work as a printer’s compositor.
On Christmas Day 1907, Alfred married Caroline Little. She was a farmer’s daughter from Cheltenham, Gloucestershire, and, at the time of their nuptials, the young couple were living at 8 Seymour Road, the next road over from his parents.
Alfred and Caroline would go on to have three children: Harold, Winifred and Lilian. The 1911 census found that they had moved again, and were now settled in a small terrace at 22 Cork Street, in the Weston area of Bath.
War broke out across Europe in the summer of 1914, and, in on 19th December 1915, Alfred enlisted in the Army Service Corps. His records noting that he was 39 years and 10 months old, stood 5ft 5ins (1.65m) tall, and weighed 128lbs (58kg).
Private Wallis was not formally mobilised until the August 1916. Attached to the 19th Company, he was sent for duty to the Queen Mary’s Military Hospital in Whalley, Cheshire. Full details of his duties are unclear, although he would remain in the area for the next couple of years.
As the war progressed, it is likely that Alfred was exposed to the illness with which the patients were being admitted. In October 1918, he became unwell, and was admitted to hospital with a combination of influenza and pneumonia. The hospital he was sent to was the King’s Lancashire Military Convalescent Hospital in Blackpool, Lancashire, so it is likely that he had left Whalley by this point.
Private Wallis’ illness was to prove too much for his body to bear. He passed away while still admitted, on 29th October 1918. He was 42 years of age.
The body of Alfred Edward Wallis was brought back to Somerset for burial. He was laid to rest in the majestic setting of Bath’s Locksbrook Cemetery.
Charles William Comley was born on 10th May 1882 in the Somerset city of Bath. One of sixteen siblings – only seven of whom survived childhood – his parents were Charles and Mary. Charles Sr was a stonemason, and to avoid any confusions with their names, his son quickly became known by his middle name, William.
When he completed his schooling, young William found work with a baker. However he had his sights on bigger and better things, and on 1st August 1899 he enlisted in the Royal Navy. Being too young to formally enlist, he was given the rank of Boy 2nd Class, and was sent to HMS Northampton, a training ship, to start learning the skills he would later rely on.
After jut a couple of months Boy Comley was given his first assignment, on board HMS Curacoa, a cruiser which served as a training ship. He would spend the next six months on board, visiting the Atlantic coastal ports in Madeira, Las Palmas and Cape Verde. By the time William completed his time on Curacoa, he had been promoted to Boy 1st Class.
Returning to Britain, William was sent to HMS Vivid, the Royal Naval Dockyard in Devonport, Devon. He would only be based there for a matter of weeks, but during that time he turned 18, and was now of an age to be inducted into the navy proper. Now given the rank of Ordinary Seaman, his service records show that he was 5ft 3ins (1.6m) tall, with light brown hair, hazel eyes and a dark complexion. He was also noted as having a scar on the first finger of his left hand.
In June 1900, Ordinary Seaman Comley was assigned to the battleship HMS Magnificent, and from this point on, his naval career was set. Over the next sixteen years, he would serve on a total of seven ships, with HMS Vivid remaining his home base in between voyages. His service records continually note his very good character, and, from September 1903, he held the rank of Able Seaman.
When William’s initial twelve-year contract came to an end in the spring of 1912, he immediately re-enlisted. He had grown to 5ft 7.5ins (1.71cm) in height, and his records show that, while retaining his light brown hair and eyes, he now had a light complexion.
War broke out in the summer of 1914, and Able Seaman Comley was assigned to the newly launched HMS Tiger. He would remain part of the battleship’s crew for close to two years, and was involved in the Battle of Dogger Bank in January 1915.
On 3rd April 1916, William was medically disembarked in Scotland, suffering from pneumonia. He was admitted to the Royal Naval Hospital in Queensferry, but his condition turned septic. He passed away on 12th April 1916, a month short of this 34th birthday.
The body of William Charles Comley was taken back to Somerset for burial. He was laid to rest in the city’s majestic Locksbrook Cemetery.
Alfred George Hale was born in Lechlade, Gloucestershire, in the spring of 1891. The youngest of four children his parents were George and Martha. George died when Alfred was just a babe-in-arms, and by the time of that year’s census, Martha was looking after her children alone.
The next census, taken in the spring of 1901, found Martha and the family living in a house on Oak Street in Lechlade. She was taking in laundry to earn a little money, while Alfred’s older brothers, George Jr and James, were employed as house boys. This meant there were three wages coming into the Hale household, but it would still have been a daily struggle for the family.
Tragedy stuck again in 1904 when James also died. Details are unclear, but it seems that he passed away in Headington, Oxfordshire, and was laid to rest in his home town. He was just 16 years of age.
By the time of the 1911 census, Alfred was the only one of Martha’s children to still be living at home. Home was the same four-roomed house on Oak Street, Lechlade. Martha was not noted as having any employment, but her son was working as a journeyman tailor.
On 10th November 1916, Alfred married Elizabeth Smith in Highworth, Wiltshire. There is tantalisingly little information about her, although it seems likely that they met during his travels with work. The couple would go on to have a child, daughter Sylvia, the following October.
1917 proved a year of upheaval for the Hale family. Six months before Sylvia’s birth, Alfred’s sister, Martha Jr, passed away. She had been a patient in the Berrywood Asylum in Northamptonshire, for a while: although the exact dates are unclear, she is recorded as a visitor to the Green family in Reading, Berkshire, in 1911, so her admission would have been after this.
Alfred had enlisted in the Royal Flying Corps by this point. It is likely that his tailoring skills were employed by the service – whose aircraft used canvas in their make-up – , and he was given the rank of Air Mechanic 2nd Class. His service records show that, when he joined up on 28th February 1917, he was 5ft 5.5ins (1.66m) tall.
Air Mechanic Hale transferred to the Royal Air Force on its foundation in April 1918, and within a matter of weeks, he found himself overseas. He remained in France until the end of the year, and was admitted to hospital on 22nd December as a result of an unconfirmed illness. His condition warranted transfer to Britain on 2nd January 1919, and was severe enough for him to be officially discharged from duty on 12th April 1919.
The funeral took place at Locksbrook Cemetery on Wednesday of ex-Private George Hale, formally 2nd Air Mechanic, RAF, who resided at 7 Kensington Gardens, Walcot [Somerset]. Deceased, after serving three years with the Colours, was demobilised in April, 1919, but still suffered from illness, due to active service. His condition grew worse, and he was received at the Pensions Hospital, Combe Park, two days before his death… He was a native of Lechlade, Gloucestershire, but had lived in Bath for about three months.
[Bath Chronicle and Weekly Gazette: Saturday 24th January 1920]
Alfred George Hale was 29 years of age when he died on 16th January 1920. He was laid to rest in the military section of Bath’s sweeping Locksbrook Cemetery. His widow, Elizabeth, and his mother, Martha – who had now outlived her husband and three of her four children – attended the funeral.
Herbert – or Bertie – Smart was born on 9th February 1885, and was the middle of five children to John and Lucy. John worked as a gardener and the family were raised in the Kent town of Sidcup.
By the early 1900s, Bertie had moved to London, and had settled in Islington, Middlesex. He was working as a fruiterer and, on 19th May 1907, he married Lucy Purton, a policeman’s daughter from the east of the capital.
The couple set up home in Kensington, and went on to have four children: Frank, Herbert, Kathleen and Frederick. The 1911 census found the family renting three rooms in a tenement at 36 Netherwood Road. They were sharing their home with Lucy’s younger brother, Frederick.
When war broke out across Europe, Bertie was called upon to play his part. Full service details have been lost to time, but it is clear that he enlisted in the second half of 1916, and was assigned to the Northumberland Fusiliers. Attached to the 2nd/4th Battalion, it seems that he may have been sent to the South West for training.
Private Smart’s time in the army was not to be a lengthy one. He came down with cerebrospinal meningitis, and was admitted to the War Hospital in Bath, Somerset. The condition was to get the better of him: he passed away was still admitted, on 11th January 1917. He was 31 years of age.
Herbert Smart was laid to rest in the sweeping grounds of Bath’s Locksbrook Cemetery.
These were tragic times for the Smart family. Lucy’s brother died just four months after her husband, and Lucy herself passed away in February 1918. In just over a year, the four children – Frank, Herbert, Kathleen and Frederick – had become orphans.
John Adams Boura was born in the spring of 1868 in Kensington, Middlesex. The middle of three children, his parents were Julien and Esther Boura. Julien was the son of a French immigrant, who had built up two businesses as a dyer and cleaner (the first business having failed).
John followed in his father’s line of employment, and, by the time of the 1891 census, he was living with business partner Isabel Knight, at 3 St Mark’s Place in Wimbledon, Surrey. Work and pleasure were obviously mixing, though, and, on 3rd October that year, the couple married in the nearby Queen’s Road Chapel.
The newlyweds would go on to have a son, also called John, in March 1895. By the start of the new century, the family has moved out of the capital, relocating to Aldershot, Hampshire, where they set up a new business at 111 Victoria Road, in the town centre.
Within the next decade, however, the Bouras had moved back to the London suburbs, setting up home and business in Merton, Surrey. A new alliance was forged at 106 Kingston Road, with the three sharing their home with Henry and Adelaide Shelley. All four adults were involved in the business, while the now 16-year-old John Jr was employed as a dentistry improver.
Julien – who was also known by his middle name, Aimé – and Esther had moved to Maidenhead in Berkshire by this point, and in September 1910, it seems that their son visited them. An argument seems to have erupted, and John was arrested. Taken before the Maidenhead Petty Sessions, he was tried for unlawfully and maliciously damaging the glass of certain windows, exceeding he amount of £5 to wit £8 6s., the property of Aimé Boura. John was find a total of £10 for the damage.
When war broke out, John stepped up to serve his country. While his service documents are long since lost, other records suggest that he had enlisted by the summer of 1916, and likely volunteered, give he was in mid-40s by this point. Private Boura was assigned to the Royal Army Service Corps, and was to be based at the Supply Depot in Bath, Somerset.
It is probable that John’s dying and cleaning background meant that he was involved in uniforms in some way, although nothing concrete remains to document his time in the army. During the early part of 1917, he fell ill, coming down with bronchitis. He was admitted to Bath War Hospital, but the condition was to get the better of him. Private Boura passed away on 9th February 1917, at the age of 48.
The body of John Adams Boura was laid to rest in Bath’s majestic Locksbrook Cemetery, not far from the hospital in which he had passed.
Victor George Evans was born in the autumn of 1882, one of eleven children to George and Charlotte Evans. George was a woodsman from Aldworth in Berkshire, and it was here that he and Charlotte raised their growing family.
There is little concrete information about Victor’s early life. While his family were living on Bethesda Street in Basildon, Berkshire, at the time of the 1901 census, Victor is noticeable by his absence.
On 29th January 1910, Victor married Edith Rains in Kensington, Middlesex. She appears to have been a dressmaker’s apprentice, and had been born in Moulton, Lincolnshire. The next year’s census recorded Victor employed as a butler for the Clutton family. His boss, Ralph Clutton, was a lawyer, and the family resided at 5 Vicarage Gate, not far from Kensington Palace. This time, however, it is Edith who is missing from the census record and, given that she had given birth to their one and only child, Phyllis, the year before, it is likely that she was recuperating elsewhere, possibly with the support of her family.
When war broke out, Victor was called upon to serve his country. On 22nd December 1916, he enlisted, joining the Royal Garrison Artillery as a Gunner. His service records show that 34 years of age and stood 5ft 7.5ins (1.71m) tall.
Victor was recorded as being a messenger, and he and Edith were living with his older sister, Rachel, at 17 Adeney Road in Hammersmith, Middlesex. The document suggests, however, that Phyllis was in the care of Edith’s parents in Lincolnshire, possible to enable both her and Victor to work.
Gunner Evans was assigned to the 270th Siege Battery, and he was soon sent to France. While based near Rouen in April 1918, he was badly injured through a number of shrapnel wounds, and medically evacuated to Britain for treatment. Admitted to a hospital in Paignton, Devon, there was little that could be done, other than being made comfortable. Victor succumbed to his wounds on 28th April 1918: he was 35 years of age.
It is likely that Edith would not have been able to afford for her husband to be brought back to Middlesex for burial. Instead, Victor George Evans was laid to rest in the ground of Paignton Cemetery.
Robert Jenkins Kelway was born in the autumn of 1897 in the Devon town of Torquay. The oldest of four children, his parents were Robert and Rosina Kelway. Robert Sr had been born in Paignton and, when a job working as a carter for Hollicombe Gas Works came up in around 1900, he moved the family back down the coast.
By the time of the 1911 census, the Kelways were living at 3 Hollicombe Terrace, on Torquay Road: their home was one of a row of terraced houses build specifically for the gas works employees, and all of their neighbours were employed there in one form or another.
Robert Jr was 13 years old at this point, and seemed to have completed his schooling: his entry on the census confirms he was employed as a telegraph messenger for the Post Office.
Everything was to change when war was declared and, on 22nd April 1915, Robert Jr voluntarily stepped up to play his part. Lying about his age – he said he was 19, when he was, in fact, two years younger – he was nonetheless taken on his word. His service records show that he was 5ft 5ins (1.65m) tall and weighed 141lbs (64kg). He was noted as having brown hair, blue eyes and a fresh complexion.
Assigned to the Devonshire Regiment, Private Kelway was initially attached to the 3rd Battalion. At the end of October 1915, however, he was transferred to the 8th (Service) Battalion, and dispatched to France. His unit was caught up in the Battle of Loos, but it was at the Somme the following year that Robert would really have cut his teeth in fighting.
Private Kelway saw out the Somme relatively unscathed, but, on 27th December 1916 his luck was to run out. He was shot in the back, damaging one of his lower vertebra, and was medically evacuated to Britain for treatment.
Robert was admitted to King George’s Hospital in South London, and it was quickly ascertained that the damage to his spine was permanent. Paralysed from the waist down, he was, not surprisingly, no longer able to continue in the army in any capacity. His discharge papers noted that he was a ‘steady, sober and honest’ person.
From this point, details of Robert’s life are sketchy. It is unclear whether he was able to return home, although he was definitely back in Devon by the spring of 1919, as this is where he died. Admitted to the Royal Devon & Exeter Hospital, he passed away from pneumonia on 18th April, aged just 21 years old.
Robert Jenkins Kelway was laid to rest in Paignton Cemetery, a short distance from where his family lived, in the Preston area of the town.
Melbourne Linas Mumford was born on 13th June 1898, and was one of seven children to William and Fanny. William was a Gunner in the Royal Artillery, and while Melbourne and his siblings were born in the Kent village of Cliffe, the family soon moved to rented rooms in Stafford Street, not far from his new barracks in Gillingham, Kent.
It seems that William’s term of service came to an end, and he moved the family to Devon, where he had been born. Fanny died in 1909, at the age of just 33, and he was suddenly left to raise the family alone. The1911 census found William and his three sons – including Melbourne – living in a cottage in Paignton. William was by now working as a nurseryman, while Melbourne’s older brother, also called William, was bringing in some money as a paperboy for Smith & Sons.
When war came to European shores, Melbourne stepped up to play his part. Full service details have been lost to time, but later documents confirm that he had enlisted in the Devonshire Regiment on 9th August 1915. Attached to the 9th (Service) Battalion, papers confirm that he was 5ft 3.5ins (1.61m) tall, and weighed 99lbs (44.9kg).
Private Mumford’s unit fought as Loos in 1915, and at the Somme in 1916, but it was at Ypres, on 7th October 1917, that he was badly injured. Melbourne was shot in the left thigh, which caused a compound fracture in his femur. Medically evacuated to Britain for treatment, he spent time hospitalised in Manchester.
Recuperation was ongoing, but was not to prove successful, and Private Mumford was eventually discharged from the army on 22nd January 1919.
Melbourne’s treatment would continue, however, and he had a further operation on his leg that summer. Tragically, however, his body had been weakened, and he passed away following the procedure, on 27th August 1919. He was just 21 years of age.
The body of Melbourne Linus Mumford was laid to rest in Paignton Cemetery, not far from the family home in Corsham Road.
Private Mumford’s Dependant’s Pension was assigned to Mrs Kate Mumford, who was recorded as his mother. This would suggest that William had remarried after the 1911 census, although there are no records to confirm this.
Thomas Fidler was born on 15th May 1881 in Newbury, Berkshire and was the fourth of eight children to Charles and Sarah. Charles was a groom, who travelled where the work was, and, by the time of the 1901, the family has relocated to Whitchurch in Hampshire.
When he finished his schooling, Thomas found work as a dairyman. However, he had always had his sights on bigger and better things, and, having been a volunteer for the local militia, he was keen to become a full soldier. Things did not go immediately to plan though, and he was initially turned down because he was under height – he was just 5ft 3ins (1.6m) tall when he turned 18.
But Thomas was persistent, and, on 27th June 1898, he was formally enrolled in the Hampshire Regiment. Along with his height, his service records confirm other details about the young man he had become. The document show that he weighed 124lbs (56.2kg), and that he had brown hair, brown eyes and a fresh complexion. The records advise that he was considered fit for duty, but also note that he was given special authority to enlist, presumably to bypass the concerns about his height.
Private Thomas Fidler would go on to build up quite a military career for himself. He spent nearly two years on home soil, before his unit was shipped out to South Africa. During his time in the colony, he served in a number of the campaigns, and was awarded with the Queen’s South Africa medal, including clasps for Cape Colony, Orange Free State and Transvaal, and the King’s South Africa Medal 1901-1902.
After more than two years spent overseas, Thomas’ unit returned to Britain. He would remain on home soil until 1903, extending his service beyond the five compulsory years, and choosing to remain on active duty, rather than being stepped down to reserve status. In September of that year, his unit was on the move again, and he was transferred to Malta.
It would not be until September 1905 that Private Fidler saw home soil again. He was formally stood down from duty the following June and assigned to the Army Reserve. Interestingly, his transfer papers recorded that his conduct was indifferent, disobedient… inclined to drink.
Thomas’ attitude over the years was evidenced by his entries in the Regimental Defaulter Book. He was disciplined no fewer than twelve times during his military career. His offences included being absent from parade and using insubordinate language. While stationed in Malta, he was punished for being drunk four times. Over the years, Private Fidler spent 125 days confined to barracks, and was fined a total of £1 2s 6d for his crimes.
When he was not confined to barracks, Private Fidler would likely be found in a sick bay. Between January 1901 and September 1905, he spent 342 days in hospital with conditions ranging from fevers, psoriasis, scabies and gonorrhoea.
On 22nd March 1905, while serving in Malta, Thomas was admitted to hospital having suffered a fractured jaw following a scuffle. The cause of the injury is recorded in detail in an eleven-page report, which outlined that Private Fidler had been out in Valetta, and ended up quite drunk. He was approached by a couple of military police officers, and became abusive towards them. While trying to take off his boots, a private from another regiment, who was also drunk, came along and punched him in the face, fracturing his jaw. Both men were arrested and taken back to barracks. The investigation in to the incident found that, while Private Fidler was off duty at the time, he was to blame for the altercation.
In June 1906, Thomas returned to civvy street, and to his former job as a dairyman. On 5th February 1907, he married Tryphena Snook, who was the daughter of his employer. The couple had had a son the previous year, and would go on to have three more children in the next few years.
The 1911 census found the young family living in Sparsholt, Hampshire, the household being made up of Thomas, Tryphena and their older two children, Tryphena’s parents, William and Emma, and a boarder, William Clark, who was a carter on the farm.
By the summer of 1914, Thomas had been formally stood down from the army, his contract coming to an end on 26th June. A storm was brewing over the Channel, however, and he would soon be called upon to play his part once more.
Details of Thomas’ re-enlistment into the army have been lost to time. It is likely that he was called upon quite quickly. He was assigned to the South Wales Borderers, and, with the experience he had under his belt, was given the rank of Lance Corporal.
Thomas’ unit – the 4th (Service) Battalion – was initially sent to France, and he arrived there early in July 1915. Within a matter of weeks, however, the battalion moved on to the Eastern Mediterranean, ending up at Gallipoli.
Lance Corporal Fidler’s time in on the peninsula would have been fraught with danger. In the autumn of 1915, he was badly injured and was medically evacuated to Britain for treatment. Admitted to hospital in Devon, his wounds were to prove too severe, and he passed away on 5th November, at the age of 34.
The funeral rook place at Paignton… of Lance-Corpl. Thos. Fidler, of the 4th South Wales Borderers, who died at Oldway Hospital on Friday as a result of wounds sustained at Gallipoli. The widow and other mourners followed, and the Matron of the Hospital (Miss Blackmore) was among those present. Wounded convalescents from Oldway and a Company of the 7th Devons, under Capt. Brearley, attended, and the Devons provided a firing party.
[Exeter and Plymouth Gazette – Tuesday 09 November 1915]
Thomas Fidler was laid to rest in Paignton Cemetery.
The early life of Henry Ernest Banks is destined to remain lost to time as there is little documentation available to corroborate details. The first concrete documentation for him is his marriage certificate, and this sheds lights onto the man he had become.
The wedding took place on 7th August 1905, and confirms that Henry was 19 years of age. His father was recorded as being James Banks who, by this point was deceased. He had been a chairmaker, and his son had followed in a similar type of work, being employed as a French polisher.
Henry’s bride was 19-year-old Blanche Hearnden, who was noted as being the daughter of deceased traveller William Hearnden. At the time of their marriage, the newlyweds were living at 13 Busby Street, Bethnal Green, London. Now long since gone, the road led directly to St Matthew’s Church, which is where their nuptials took place.
By the time of the 1911 census, Henry and Blanche were living with her mother in Whitechapel. They had had a child, son Ernest, the previous year, and the mixed household included Blanche’s three sisters and their children. Money must have been tight, but four members of the household were bringing in some money, Henry working as a French polisher, with two of his sisters-in-law working as a cigarette packer and a printer’s assistant. Blanche and her other sister were listed as housewives, while her mother, who was also called Blanche, was noted as being a charwoman.
When war broke out, Henry was called upon to play his part. Details of his military service are sketchy, but it is clear that he enlisted in the London Regiment, and was attached to the 17th (County of London) Battalion, which was also known as the Poplar and Stepney Rifles.
Rifleman Banks’ unit was sent to France on 9th March 1915. Within a matter of weeks, however, he was back in the UK, and appears to have been admitted to a hospital in Paignton, Devon.
Henry died on 2nd May 1915, and one record – his entry on the Grave Registration Form – that sheds a little light on Henry’s passing. It is noted being as a result of a strangulated hernia, although this is the only document that gives any details about his death. Henry was 28 or 29 years of age.
Henry Ernest Banks was laid to rest in Paignton Cemetery, Devon.
Death and Service 