Charles Arthur Hide was born on 14th July 1897 and was the son of Ellen Edith Hide. The 1901 census found Charles living with his mother and her parents in the West Sussex village of Clapham. When Ellen’s father James died in 1909, local hurdle maker Alfred Daniels took her, Charles and her mother in as lodgers. Ellen subsequently married Alfred in 1916.
Charles, by this time, had left school and found employment with the railways. He started work on 22nd April 1913, earning 14s per week (around £55 a week in today’s money) as a porter at the station in Hove.
When war broke out, however, Charles felt the need to do his duty. He resigned from his job on 13th November 1914, and enlisted in the Royal Sussex Regiment as a Private. Charles was not alone in this: the employment records for Hove Station show that a number of other porters also handed in their notice around the same time.
Assigned to the 11th (Service) Battalion (also known as the 1st South Downs), Private Hide was initially based near Bexhill. His troop was then moved on, first to Maidstone in Kent, then to Aldershot, Hampshire. Whilst the battalion as a whole were shipped to France in 1916, there is no evidence that Charles went with them, and it seems that he may have served his time on home soil. Wherever he was based, he was awarded the Victory and British Medals for his time in the army.
At this point, details of Private Hide’s life become sketchy. He is only mentioned in one further document – the Army Register of Soldiers’ Effects – which confirms that he passed away at a military hospital in Epsom, Surrey, on 26th March 1917, although no cause is given. He was just 19 years of age.
Charles Arthur Hide’s body was brought back to Sussex for burial. He lies at rest in the quiet graveyard of St Mary the Virgin Church in his home village of Clapham.
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.
George William Sandell was born on 13th August 1902, the oldest of five children to William and Mary Sandell. While George was born in Chichester, William raised the family in Worthing; he was a carpenter and joiner by trade, and came from a local building family.
When George left school, he found work as a porter on the railways. Too young to be directly involved in the 1914-1918 conflict, he was definitely for adventure, and, on 5th February 1919, he enlisted in the Royal Navy.
Assigned the rank of Boy – because of his age – he was sent to HMS Ganges II, a training establishment in Suffolk. His decision to enlist was set to be young George’s undoing; within weeks he had contracted pneumonia, and he passed away on 10th March 1919. Tragically, he was just 16 years old.
William and Mary brought their boy back to Worthing; he was buried in the Broadwater Cemetery there, within walking distance of their home.
For me, a huge coincidence to this story is that I lived in the house George was brought up in. He was raised at 27 Southfield Road, in Worthing, up until he was sent for training in 1919. I lived at the same address for a number of years in the early 2000s.
James Butcher was born in the village of Durrington, West Sussex, on 12th April 1880. He was one of seven children to agricultural labourer Henry Butcher and his laundress wife, Sarah. The family were dedicated to the countryside life; by the time of the 1891 census, James was listed as a cowboy, as was his older brother, so at 10 years old, his time would have been spent up on the South Downs, tending a farmer’s bovine herd.
In 1904, James married Eleanor Andrews, the daughter of a publisher’s packer from London. The couple would go on to have six children: William, Thomas, George, Walter, Ernest and Gladys. By the time of the 1911 census, the family were living in Broadwater, to the north of Worthing, and James was listed as a general labourer for the town council.
When war arrived on England’s shores, James was keen to to his bit. He initially joined the Royal Sussex Regiment, although subsequently moved to the Agricultural Company of the Labour Corps. Sadly, Private Butcher’s military service records are no longer available, so it’s impossible to confirm exact dates for his time in the army.
James survived the conflict, but the next record for him is the Army Register of Soldiers’ Effects. This confirms that he was admitted to the Swandean Isolation Hospital on the outskirts of Worthing, and subsequently passed away there. There’s nothing to confirm his cause of death, although, based on the nature of the hospital, it is likely to have been one of the lung conditions prevalent at the close of the war.
James Butcher died on the 22nd March 1919, at the age of 38 years old. He was laid to rest in the Broadwater Cemetery, not far from his home.
Frederick John Slaughter was born in around 1878, one of eight children to Stephen and Frances (who was better known as Fanny) Slaughter. Stephen was a brewer’s drayman, who had gotten himself in trouble with the law the year before Frederick was born.
Stephen Slaughter charged with feloniously embezzling five several sums of 10s each, which he had received for and on account of his masters, Octavius Coope and others, at Worthing, on the 7th September 1876, was sentenced to six calendar months’ hard labour.
Sussex Advertiser: Saturday 14th April 1877
Stephen was imprisoned in Petworth Jail, but took ill there. Two months later, a further newspaper report shed further light on him:
ANOTHER DEATH IN THE GAOL
On Thursday another inquest – the second within a week – was held at Petworth Gaol… on the body of Stephen Slaughter.
Mr Linton, the governor, said the deceased was about 36 years of age, was a brewer’s drayman and was sentenced at the April Quarter Sessions to six months’ imprisonment with hard labour for embezzlement. He was a very quiet, industrious, and well-conducted prisoner.
On admission he was put to a labour machine, which consists of turning a handle, weighted to 10lbs, and making 14,000 revolutions daily as a maximum. About a fortnight after he was reported to the surgeon. He was looking pale, and was put in the open air to work at the pumps.
About the middle of June he was put to spinning wool, a very light description of work, and on the 18th June witness again reported him to the surgeon. He continued wool spinning until taken ill on Sunday morning last. Warder Daughtery then reported his illness and witness at once sent for Dr Wilmot, and at that gentleman’s request Dr Hope was also called in consultation.
From that time till his death, early on Wednesday, he was under the care of the surgeons, in his cell, which was a roomy, airy one. The Infirmary was occupied by another case.
On Sunday witness wrote to deceased’s brother, and two of them visited him on Monday. (Witness produced a letter, since received from one of deceased’s brothers, in which he said “In conclusion I beg to thank you and all the officials connected with the prison for your kindness to my brother during his illness, as he told me on Monday when I saw him he was treated with the greatest kindness.”)
The evidence of Mr Wilmot and Mr Hope, surgeon, showed that the nature of deceased’s illness necessitated an operation, which was performed with his consent, but that after it he gradually sank and died of exhaustion.
Horsham, Petworth, Midhurst and Steyning Express: 24th July 1877
Stephen died before Frederick was born, leaving Fanny, to bring him and the youngest of his siblings up alone. Fanny found work as a dressmaker and, according to the 1881 census, she lived in a small cottage just off Worthing seafront with her 15 year old daughter, Emily, and her three youngest boys, Walter (who was 8), Arthur (5) and Frederick (3).
When he left school, Frederick found work as a errand boy for the local fishermen; his two older brothers we employed by a local dairy, and the three of them were living with their mother, a paternal uncle and lodger in a cottage in the centre of the town.
Fanny died in 1902, at the age of 62. Seven years later Frederick, now working as a carman for a grocer, married Gertrude Lawrence, who had been born in Kent. The couple went on to have a son – also called Frederick – the following year.
When war came to European shores, Frederick was quick to enlist. He joined the Royal Sussex Regiment on 9th October 1914, and was assigned to the 7th (Service) Battalion as a Private. Full service details are not readily available, but he certainly served in France, having been posted there in June 1915.
While Private Slaughter’s military records are scarce, his medical ones are very detailed. In June 1916 he was treated in the field for scabies, in December that year, he received treatment for pediculosis, an infestation of lice. Eight months later, he was admitted to a hospital in Camiens with an inflamed knee, something which subsequently recurred two months later, when he was admitted for treatment in Etaples. Frederick was received treatment for a fifth time in January 1918, this time for a deformed toe, but after this, his overall health seemed to stabilise.
Private Slaughter was demobbed in March 1919, and returned to England. Sadly, it seemed that his health wasn’t as good as it might have seemed; on 17th July 1919, he died at home from heart failure, which was subsequently attributed to his was service. He was 41 years old.
Frederick Slaughter was laid to rest in the Broadwater Cemetery in his home town of Worthing, West Sussex.
The war years were particularly tragic for Stephen and Fanny’s children. Along with Frederick’s passing in 1919, his oldest brother Harry had died in 1914, two other brothers – Henry and William – had died in 1916, while a fourth brother, Walter, passed away in 1920.
William Henry Rhodes was born in the summer of 1886 and was the youngest of six children. His father Reuben was a gardener who, with his wife Ellen, raised their family in a small cottage near the central station in Worthing, West Sussex.
When he left school, William found work as an assistant in a bookshop. This was just a stepping stone, however, and his mind was on a life of adventures. In March 1908, he enlisted in the army, joining the Household Cavalry, and was assigned to the 1st Life Guards. William’s medical report showed that he stood at just under 6ft (1.83m) tall, and weighed 141lbs (64kg). He had a fresh complexion, grey eyes and brown hair.
Trooper Rhodes was initially based on home soil; his barracks were in London and he served in Hyde Park, Regents Park and at Windsor, where he would have been called upon to be involved in royal duties that would have taken place. This changed when the Great War broke out, however, and his division was sent out to northern France as part of the British Expeditionary Force.
The 1st Life Guards were involved in the First Battle of Ypres, and went on to fight in many of the fiercest battles of the conflict. His service record identifies that he was wounded in February 1915, when he received a gunshot wound to the head, although, surprisingly, there is nothing in his medical record that suggests any subsequent hospital admission.
In fact, Trooper Rhodes did receive hospital treatment during his military service; he was admitted for bronchial catarrh in April 1908 and May 1909 and headaches in June 1911. Four years later, he contracted tuberculosis while in action in France, and moved back to London for treatment.
William’s condition was serious enough for him to be medically discharged form the army; having spent more than a month in hospital, he was released from duty on 31st August 1915.
There is little further information about William’s life back home. The next document on him confirms that he died on 19th November 1917. While the cause is not noted, it seems likely to have been connected to the lung conditions he suffered during the war. William was 31 years of age.
William Henry Rhodes was laid to rest in Broadwater Cemetery in the town of his birth, Worthing, West Sussex.
Charles Edward Duke was born in early 1880, the oldest of three children to George and Charlotte Duke. George was a market gardener, but for all of Charles’ childhood censuses – 1881, 1891 and 1901 – his father is absent. Instead, Charlotte is listed as the head of the household, married and working as a launderess. Given that the censuses were all taken in the spring, it is possible that her husband was working away each time the document was recorded, although this is supposition. In every census, though, it is interesting to note that she had taken in lodgers to help pay the bills.
The family lived in Worthing, West Sussex, in a small house near the centre of town. When he left school, Charles found work as an errand boy for a local stationer, before finding more gainful employment as a gardener in one of the multitude of nurseries surrounding the coastal town.
In 1901, Charles married Lucy Barnes, a carter’s daughter from the town; the young couple set up home in Broadwater, to the north of Worthing town centre, and went on to have four children; Alice, Henry, Dorothy and Margaret.
When war arrived on European shores, Charles played his part. Sadly his military records are all but non-existent, but from what remains it’s possible to piece together something of his military life.
Private Duke enlisted in the Machine Gun Corps, and was assigned to the 16th Company. While it is impossible to place him in any specific location, his company was certainly involved in the Battle of the Somme.
Charles survived the war; the next evidence available for him notes that he died on 31st October 1919 in a hospital in Brighton, although o cause is given for his death. The Commonwealth War Graves Commission give his age as 41, although it seems likely he was a couple of years younger than this, based on when his birth was registered.
Charles Edward Duke was buried in the Broadwater Cemetery, a short walk from where his widow and children were living.
Richard Edward Cadenaci was born in Sutton, Surrey, in around 1886. His father, who was also called Richard Edward Cadenaci, was a house painter and, with his wife Maria, had thirteen or fourteen children, of whom Richard Jr was the middle one.
Documentation on the Cadenaci family is scarce. On 5th April 1896, when Richard Jr was 10, he and three siblings were baptised together.
By the turn of the century, the family were living on Merton High Street, in Wimbledon. Richard Sr and Maria were there with their youngest five children.
Richard Jr seemed keen on a life of adventure – the 1911 census lists him as a Private in the 3rd Battalion of the Royal Fusiliers, and that he was based in Mauritius. His full military service records are not available, but it is likely that his term of service with the army was extended as war loomed.
Private Cadenaci was sent to France in January 1915 and, during his time in the Great War, he received the Victory and British Medals and the 1915 Star. At some point during the conflict he was transferred across to the Labour Corps, though the move came with a promotion to Corporal. Again, there is little further information about his service, but records suggest that he was discharged from the army – possibly through health reasons – on 20th September 1918.
Here, Richard’s trail goes cold. He died on 23rd March 1920, just eighteen months after the end of this military service, at the age of 32. There is no record of the cause of his passing and nothing to connect him to the town in which he was buried, Worthing, West Sussex.
It is possible that Corporal Cadenaci left the army for medical reasons, and his move out of London was for cleaner air, but this is only presumption on my part, and there is nothing to confirm this either way.
Richard Edward Cadenaci lies at rest in the Broadwater Cemetery in Worthing.
Sometimes research into the names of the fallen runs into obstacles. There are graves I have researched that have brought up very little information, either because the soldier concerned is too young to have a lot of documentation about them, or because information on them has subsequently been lost.
On other occasions, it is the sheer wealth of documentation that proves to be the stumbling block. Such is the case with William Frederick Holden, buried in the Broadwater Cemetery in Worthing, West Sussex.
The grave itself gives some information: he was a Private in the Royal Sussex Regiment, with a service number of 8298970, and died on 16th February 1921, at the age of 26. The Commonwealth War Graves Commission archives give some further information: his father was Frederick Charles Holden, and his stepmother was Elena.
The Find A Grave website adds a little further information – he was born in Sidlesham, near Chichester in West Sussex. The site suggests, however, that he was born in 1897, which would suggest he was 23 or 24 when he died.
Researching on Ancestry throws up a wealth of other information, which begins to make it more of a challenge to identify the correct details. Both William and Frederick were common names in the late Victorian era, and Holden was a familiar Sussex name, and had many spelling variations.
Searching for William’s service number on sites like Fold3 does not provide any results, so that does not provide an opportunity to narrow down the information. Nor is there any record of his passing or burial in contemporary newspapers.
To add to the confusion, when I dug a little deeper, it seems that William’s birth name was, in fact, Frederick William Holden, and he was known by his middle name to avoid confusion with his father. His mother was Fanny Warrington (née Walker), and he seems to have had one sister, Annie. Fanny seems to have passed away in 1903, and Frederick Sr went on to marry Louisa.
So, like a patchwork, vague details of William’s life are pieced together. But huge gaps still remain. Private Holden was assigned to the 4th Battalion of the Royal Sussex Regiment, which fought at Gallipoli and served in Egypt and France before the war was done. However, there is no evidence that William fought abroad.
Sadly, William’s passing is lost to time as well. We know when he died, but there is nothing to confirm a cause of death. Given when it was, it seems likely to have been as a result of one of the invasive lung conditions that ravaged Europe after the First World War. But he could just as easily have succumbed to the ongoing effects of wounds received during fighting. Given the lack of supporting documentation, we are unlikely ever to know.
William Frederick Holden lies at rest in Worthing’s Broadwater Cemetery.
John Henry Saunders was born at the end of 1899, in the West Sussex village of East Preston. One of five children, his parents were agricultural labourer John and his wife Louisa. John Sr sadly passed away in 1904, when his son was just 4 years old.
Louisa went on to marry again in 1909, to a man named Charman. While no marriage records remain, it seems that he might have been a widower. The 1911 census finds Louisa living in Worthing with her four surviving children (her eldest, Lilian, having passed away earlier in the year), a stepson of 16 and new babe-in-arms.
With the outbreak of war in 1914, John looked to do his part. Sadly, his military records are not available, but what is clear is that he joined the Cavalry Regiment at some point after September 1917. He was assigned to the 3rd Reserve Regiment, which trained men for the Dragoon Guards, and Northamptonshire, Surrey and Sussex Yeomanry units.
Sadly, Private Saunders’ time in the armed forces was limited. He was admitted to the Military Isolation Hospital in Aldershot and, while it is not clear what the admission was for, it seems likely that he was moved from the main hospital because of a contagious condition like tuberculosis or pneumonia.
John Henry Saunders’ time in hospital was brief. He passed away on 16th March 1918, aged just 18 years of age. His body was brought back to Worthing, and he was buried in the Broadwater Cemetery to the north of the town.
Death and Service 