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Commonwealth War Graves, East Lancashire Regiment, Great War, history, illness, Kent, Lancashire, Lance Corporal, Manchester Regiment, Oxfordshire, photography, Private, Sergeant, story, Sussex, Training Reserve Battalion, war, Wiltshire

Sergeant Charles Chown

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Sergeant Charles Chown

Charles Allen Chown was born in the Sussex village of Lyminster, at the start of 1882. The tenth of eleven children, his parents were Samuel and Mary Chown. Samuel was a general labourer, and when he passed away in 1898, Charles and his siblings rallied to support his now widowed mother.

The 1901 census found Mary, Charles and his brother Jesse living at 32 Lennox Road, Worthing, West Sussex. Jesse was employed as a brickmaker, while Charles had found work as a solicitor’s clerk. The family had two boarders, Helen and Rosie Bulbeck, and Charles’ niece, Minnie, was also staying with them.

Away from work, Charles was a music lover, and joined the local operatic society. In 1904 he appeared in a local version of Iolanthe, his “piece of portraiture being described as one of the successes of the occasion, for his facial play was good, and the drolleries of the character were displayed in an each and natural manner.” [Worthing Gazette: Wednesday 12th September 1917] In the following year’s Mikado, he took the role of the Lord High Executioner, and he was noted as being a “born comedian, with the most mobile countenance and a singularly dry form of humour…” [Worthing Gazette: Wednesday 12th September 1917]

By the time of the 1911 census, Charles had moved on with work, and moved out of home. Taking a room at 7 Tarring Road, Worthing, his landlords were Harold and Rose Ward. Still employed as a clerk, he was now employed by one of the estate agents in the town, although it is clear that his passion was elsewhere. When he joined up in the autumn of 1914, he gave his trade as musician.

Charles enlisted on 7th October 1914 in Ashton-under-Lyme, Lancashire. What took him north is unclear, although a theatre tour is a possibility. His service records note that he was 5ft 8.5ins (1.74m) tall and weighed 138lbs (62.6kg). He had dark brown hair, brown eyes and a sallow complexion.

Initially assigned to the Manchester Regiment, Private Chown was soon transferred to the 8th (Service) Battalion of the East Lancashire Regiment. He was obviously dedicated to his job: by the end of October 1914 he had been promoted to Lance Corporal, and within six weeks he rose to Sergeant.

In July 1915, Charles’ unit was dispatched to France. That autumn, they remained based near Tilques, in Northern France, but Sergeant Chown’s health was beginning to suffer. After just three months overseas, he was medically evacuated to Britain to receive treatment for pleurisy, and was hospitalised in Chatham, Kent.

When he recovered, Sergeant Chown was reassigned to the 10th Battalion of the East Lancashire Regiment, before being transferred to the 47th Training Reserve Battalion in September 1916. That winter, however, his health received a setback, and he contracted tuberculosis. He would spend the first half of the following year in hospitals in Aldershot in Hampshire, Sutton Veny in Wiltshire and, from May 1917, the 3rd Southern General Hospital in Oxford.

Sergeant Chown’s health would continue to deteriorate, and he was formally discharged from the army on 6th July 1917. He returned to Worthing, and his mother’s home, 2 Montague Place. Charles would eventually succumb to his medical condition, and he passed away on 31st August 1917, at the age of 35 years old.

The body of Charles Allen Chown was laid to rest in the family plot in Broadwater Cemetery, Worthing.

Commonwealth War Graves, Essex, Great War, history, illness, Kent, Officer's Steward, photography, Royal Navy, story, Suffolk, war

Officer’s Steward 2nd Class Alfred Best

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Officer’s Steward 2nd Class Alfred Best

Alfred Henry John Best was born on 17th November 1883. The second of ten children, his parents were William and Alice Best. William was an engine driver and both he and Alice were from Ipswich, Suffolk. Alfred was born in Dovercourt Essex, but by the time of the 1901 census the family had settled in the village of Ramsey, near Harwich.

When he finished his schooling, Alfred was set on a life of adventure. Living so close to the sea, a life on the ocean drew him in, and he found employment on the steamships as a steward. Absent from the 1901 census, the following return, taken in 1911, found him back at home with the family, and employed as a ship’s steward.

When war broke out, Alfred stepped up to serve his country. He enlisted in the Royal Navy as an Officer’s Steward 3rd Class, and was sent to HMS Pembroke, the Royal Naval Dockyard in Chatham, Kent. His service records give his year of birth as 1884, but show that he was 5ft 4.5ins (1.64m) tall, with light brown hair, blue eyes and a fresh complexion. He was also noted as having a mole under his right eye.

Within a matter of days, Alfred’s previous experience gained him a promotion to Officer’s Steward 2nd Class. He would spend the next couple of years on shore, his time being split between Pembroke and HMS Wildfire, a similar establishment just along the coast in Sheerness.

By the spring of 1917, Officer’s Steward Best was back in Chatham, and had been admitted to the town’s Royal Naval Hospital with tuberculosis. The condition would prove fatal, and he breathed his last on 31st May 1917: he was 33 years of age.

The body of Alfred Henry John Best was buried in the naval section of Woodlands Cemetery, Gillingham, Kent, not far from the base he had called home for some time.

Officer’s Steward 2nd Class Alfred Best
(from ancestry.co.uk)
Able Seaman, Boy, Commonwealth War Graves, Devon, Dorset, Great War, Hampshire, history, illness, Kent, Leading Seaman, Middlesex, Ordinary Seaman, photography, Royal Navy, story, Suffolk, Surrey, war, Warwickshire

Leading Seaman Henry Hudson

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Leading Seaman Henry Hudson

Henry John Gerrard Hudson was born in Whitechapel, Middlesex, on 11th November 1873. The fourth of seven children – and one of five boys – his parents were John and Emma Hudson. John was a paper stainer, and the family were raised in rooms at 62 Fern Street, Tower Hamlets.

Money was seemingly tight, and Henry sought an escape. On 5th January 1889 he enlisted in the Royal Navy, and was sent to the Devon school ship, HMS Impregnable, for his training. As he was below the age to full enrol, he was given the rank of Boy 2nd Class.

Over the next couple of years, Henry learnt the tools of his trade. He spent a year training at HMS Ganges, the shore establishment near Ipswich, Suffolk, and rose to the rank of Boy 1st Class. On 20th November 1890, he was given his first sea-faring assignment, aboard HMS Ruby, and she would remain his home for the next eighteen months.

During his time with Ruby, Henry came of age. His service records show that he was 5ft 5ins (1.65m) tall with light brown hair, brown eyes and a fair complexion. He was also noted as having a number of abscess scars under his left arm.

The now Ordinary Seaman Hudson definitely showed signs of promise as, after just three months, he was promoted to Able Seaman, a rank he would hold for the next five years. During that time, he served on four further ships, including the torpedo boat depot ship HMS Vulcan.

On 1st June 1897, Henry was promoted to Leading Seaman, although he reverted to his previous role just nine months later, at his own request. In October 1898 he transferred to HMS Caesar and, presumably with further support, he was promoted to Leading Seaman again in August 1899.

By May 1902, Henry’s initial term of service came to an end, and he was stood down to reserve status.

In January 1907 Henry married Alice Martin. She was a carpenter’s daughter, and the couple were living on Grosvenor Terrace in Newington, Middlesex, when the exchanged vows. They would go on to have three children.

The 1911 census found the Hudsons living in Weymouth, Dorset. Henry, by this point, was working as a motor boat driver, and the family had a small cottage on South View Road, not far from the town centre. The document shows how they had travelled to where Henry’s work took them: their first child, Nancy, had been born in Walworth, Surrey, in 1908, while her sister, Gladys, was born in nearby Camberwell the following year.

The next couple of years provided a big upheaval for the Hudsons and, by the spring of 1914 the family had moved to Rugby, Warwickshire. There seems to be no family connection to the area on either Henry or Alice’s side. It can only be assumed, therefore, that an opportunity of work arose.

In June 1914, Alice gave birth to the couple’s third son, John. Just two months later, war was declared, and Henry was called back into service. Taking up his previous role, Leading Seaman was to spend the next few years on land. Initially sent to HMS Victory, the Royal Naval Dockyard in Portsmouth, Hampshire. From there he moved to a base in Gorleston, Norfolk, and would remain there until the autumn of 1916.

Leading Seaman Hudson spent six month at HMS President in London, before moving to the Royal Naval Dockyard in Chatham, Kent, also known as HMS Pembroke. By this point – the spring of 1917 – his health was suffering and, that May, he was admitted to the town’s Royal Naval Hospital, suffering from tuberculosis.

The condition was to prove too severe for Henry: he passed away from a combination of the lung condition and a gastric ulcer on 20th May 1917. Henry was 43 years of age.

Alice was still living in Warwickshire at this point. Her husband, Henry John Gerrard Hudson, was therefore laid to rest in the naval section of Woodlands Cemetery, Gillingham, Kent.

Commonwealth War Graves, County Cork, Dorset, Dublin, Fleet Surgeon, Great War, Hampshire, history, illness, Ireland, Kent, photography, story, war

Fleet Surgeon Edward Ward

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Fleet Surgeon Edward Ward

Edward Copley Ward was born in Charleville, County Cork, Ireland, on 2nd November 1862. The middle of three children, his parents were Thomas and Elizabeth Ward. Thomas died in 1868, and there is scant information about Edward’s life until he reached his early 20s.

It is clear that he had a focus on education, and a leaning towards the medical side of things. By December 1883, he had qualified as a Master Surgeon at the Royal University of Ireland, and was licenced in midwifery through the King & Queen’s College of Physicians.

Edward was not one to rest on his laurels, however, and he soon tasked himself to a naval career. On 21st August 1900 he was recorded on the Navy Lists as being a Fleet Surgeon, although there is little specific information about this service at this time.

MARRIAGES: WARD-CROWE

October 28, by special licence, at Kill Church… Staff-Surgeon Edward C Ward, RN, to Eleanor, daughter of the late Michael F Crowe, JP, of Melfield, Blackrock, County Dublin.

[Northern Whig: Saturday 1st November 1902]

Edward and Eleanor’s trail goes cold again at this point, and it is not until the 1911 census that we are able to pick them up again. By this point, Eleanor, now 45 years old, is living with four of her sisters, Kate, Charlotte, Isabella and Susanna in a house in Monkstown, Dublin. The family are supported by a domestic servant, Mary Collins.

Edward, meanwhile, was serving on board the battleship HMS Jupiter, which was moored in Weymouth Bay, Dorset. There were 548 crew members on board, and the now Fleet Surgeon Ward was one of seventeen commissioned officers, serving under Rear Admiral Arthur Limpus.

Over the next three years, Edward would serve on six further ships, but, by the time war was declared in the summer of 1914, he found himself shore-based. From December of that year, he served at HMS Pembroke, the Royal Naval Dockyard in Chatham, Kent. His role: to oversee the treatment of incoming wounded troops, and their preparation for onward transport to whichever hospital they would end up.

Fleet Surgeon War would spend the next three years fulfilling this task, but, by the summer of 1917, it would be Edward himself who needed support. Admitted to the Royal Naval Hospital in Chatham, he was suffering from tubercular disease of the kidney, and it would be this condition to which he would succumb. He passed away on 7th August 1917, at the age of 54 years old.

The body of Edward Copley Ward was laid to rest with a simple headstone in Woodlands Cemetery, Gillingham, Kent, not far from the dockyard he had come to know as home.

Interestingly, when Edward’s estate went to probate, he left his estate – worth £1257 7s 11d (approximately £111,500 in today’s money) to Geoffrey Holt Stillwell, with no mention of Eleanor. Geoffrey was a member of a banking family from the south of England, who served as a Lieutenant Colonel in the 4th Hampshire Regiment.

Fleet Surgeon Edward Ward
(from ancestry.co.uk)
Commonwealth War Graves, Deck Hand, Great War, history, illness, Kent, photography, Royal Naval Reserve, Scotland, story, war

Deck Hand John McDonald

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Deck Hand John McDonald

Born in Laxay (Lacasaigh) on the Isle of Lewis, Scotland, John Murdo McDonald was the son of Donald and Maggie McDonald. He can be readily identified on the 1901 census, which suggests that he was born in January of that year. The family do not appear on the 1911 census, and John’s trail quickly goes cold.

When war broke out, it would seem that John stepped up to play his part. He joined the Royal Naval Reserve – suggesting that he had some seafaring experience, but his service papers have been lost to time. There are at least four John Murdo McDonalds born around 1901, who all served in the Royal Naval Reserve. None of their service numbers match that of John’s, however.

By the summer of 1917, Deck Hand McDonald was serving on board the motor drifter Ocean’s Gift. The boat, little more than a trawler requisitioned by the Royal Navy, was used as a patrol ship around the Thames Estuary.

That July, John was admitted to the Royal Naval Hospital in Chatham, Kent. He was suffering from tuberculosis, and this would ultimately take his life. He died on 2nd July 1917, aged just 17 years old.

The Isle of Lewis was an unimaginable distance from Kent, and so the body of John Murdo McDonald was not returned to his family. Instead, he was laid to rest in the naval section of Woodlands Cemetery in Gillingham, Kent, not far from the dockyard in Chatham, that had briefly been his home.

Commonwealth War Graves, Devon, Great War, Gunner, history, illness, Kent, photography, Royal Garrison Artillery, story, war

Gunner William Foxworthy

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Gunner William Foxworthy

William George Foxworthy was born in Dartmouth, Devon early in 1880. The middle of five children, his parents were William and Mary Foxworthy. William Sr (whose full name was William George Foxworthy, and who was known by his middle name) was a house painter, but when he finished his schooling, William Jr found work as a boat builder.

The 1901 census found the family living in a small house on Crowther’s Hill, to the Dartmouth town centre. The cottage would have been cramped, but there were five wages coming in from George, William and William’s siblings.

William does not appear on the 1911 census, and it seems that he took the step from building boats to sailing on them. When war broke out, he was quick to step up and play his part, enlisting in Exeter on the 22nd October 1914. While he had previously been a volunteer in the Devonshire Regiment, William was assigned to the Royal Garrison Artillery.

Gunner Foxworthy’s service records show that he was 5ft 4.5ins (1.64m) tall, and weighed 121lbs (54.9kg). He was noted as having brown hair, hazel eyes and a fresh complexion. Deemed fit for military service, he was packed off to a base in Sheerness, Kent.

William spent the next year on the north Kent coast, before being reassigned. By 1st November 1915 he was on the Front Line, and remained in France until the following June.

In the spring of 1916, Gunner Foxworthy fell ill. He contracted tuberculosis, and this was to dog him for the rest of his life. The contagious nature of the condition meant that he was no longer fit for military service, and he was medically discharged on 11th July 1916.

The death occurred on Tuesday of last week at Roseville Street, of Mr William George Foxworthy, second son of Mr and Mrs Foxworthy, after a long and painful illness. In 1914 deceased joined the [Royal Garrison Artillery] as a gunner, and saw much fighting around Ypres in the winter of 1915-16, during which time he contracted the disease which has now terminated fatally. This is the second son Mr and Mrs Foxworthy have lost in the war, their youngest boy having been killed some two months ago. Great sympathy has been shown the parents in their second bereavement.

[Dartmouth & South Hams Chronicle:  Friday 20th December 1918]

William George Foxworthy was 38 years of age when he died on 10th December 1918. He was laid to rest in the graveyard of St Clement’s Church in his home town, Dartmouth.

William’s younger brother, Louis Henry Foxworthy, was a Corporal in the 9th (Service) Battalion of the Devonshire Regiment. He served on the Western Front as well and, in September 1918, he was caught up in the fighting in St Riquier, near Abbeville. Corporal Foxworthy was killed in action on 8th October 1918: he was 31 years of age.

Louis’ body was not recovered, and he is commemorated on the Vis-en-Artois British Memorial in Harcourt, France.

Berkshire, Bombardier, Clwyd, Commonwealth War Graves, Corporal, Devon, Devonshire Regiment, Great War, Gunner, history, illness, India, Kent, photography, Private, Royal Field Artillery, Royal Garrison Artillery, story, Wales, war

Bombardier Frank Sloman

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Bombardier Frank Sloman

Frank Sloman was born in the autumn of 1887, and was the youngest of five children to Frank and Emma. Frank Sr was a mason from Jersey, in the Channel Islands, but it was in Tiverton, Devon, that he and Emma made their home and raised their family. The 1891 census found the family living on Castle Street, but by 1901 they had moved down the road to St Peter’s Street.

Frank Jr found work as a painter when he finished his schooling, but he sought adventure and a career. He was already a volunteer for the Devonshire Regiment, and, on 7th May 1904, he officially enlisted as a paid member of the troop. Private Sloman’s records show that he was 5th 10.5ins (1.79m) tall, and weighed 129lbs (58.5kg). He was noted as having brown hair, grey eyes and a fresh complexion.

Private Sloman spent two years on home soil. He quickly extended his contract, and this led to more opportunities. By December 1906 his unit was in India, and he would go on to spend five and a half years there.

In December 1907, Frank transferred to the Royal Garrison Artillery. He initially held the rank of Gunner, before being promoted to Bombardier in January 1912, and Corporal just three months later. In October, Frank returned to Britain, and was stood down to reserve status. He returned to Tiverton, and found work as a porter at the local station.

War was on the horizon, however, and when conflict broke out, Frank was called upon to play his part once more. Initially taking up the rank of Corporal in the Royal Field Artillery, he reverted to the role of Gunner at his own request. By this point, his unit was in France, and he would remain there for the next eight months.

On 6th May 1915, Frank returned to Britain, and was attached to 2B Reserve Brigade. He was based at the training facility in Bettisfield Park in Clwyd, and would spend the next eighteen months there. In June 1916, he was once again promoted to the rank of Bombardier.

Love was on the cards, and, on 17th June 1916, Frank married Frances Hadlow. There is little information available for her, but the couple exchanged vows at the Register Office in Windsor, Berkshire.

By the autumn of 1916, Frank’s health was becoming an issue. He contracted phthisis, or tuberculosis, and was sent to the the south coast for recuperation. His condition would ultimately render him unfit for continued military service, and Bombardier Sloman was discharged from the army on 17th December 1916.

His papers show that he had grown to 6ft 2.5ins (1.89m) in height, and, while physically unfit, he was a steady, sober and reliable man. He and Frances had taken rooms at 7 Hawley Street, Margate, Kent, but it seems that the couple soon moved back to Devon. Their new home was a small cottage at 3 Westbrook Place in Tiverton.

At this point, Frank’s trail goes cold. It is unclear whether he took up work again – or was able to do so – but his lung condition was ultimately to get the better of him. He passed away on 3rd June 1918, at the age of 30 years old.

Frank Sloman was laid to rest in Tiverton Cemetery, on the outskirts of the town in which he had grown up.

Commonwealth War Graves, Cumbria, Driver, Great War, history, illness, photography, Royal Field Artillery, story, war, Wiltshire

Driver George Messenger

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Driver George Messenger

The death of Driver G Messenger, aged 20, of the 18th Divisional Ammunition Column, stationed at Heytesbury, took place at the Red Cross Military Hospital on Friday, the 11th inst. Messenger was a native of Lower Braithwaite, Carlisle, and was admitted to the hospital in the middle of May suffering from consumption. Deceased joined upon the commencement of the war.

[Salisbury and Winchester Journal: Saturday 19th June 1915]

George Messenger was born in 1895 and was the third of seven children. His parents, George and Sarah, were farmers, and the family grew up in Mealsgate, on the edge of the Lake District. Sarah died in 1901, and by the time of the 1911 census, George Jr and his siblings were helping their father on the farm.

When war broke out, George Jr was quick to enlist. Details of his military service are sparse, but what does remain confirms that he had enlisted no later than December 1914, which backs up the details in his obituary.

Driver Messenger joined the Royal Field Artillery, but it seems unlikely that he spent any time overseas. He seems to have been sent to a camp on Salisbury Plain, Wiltshire, for training and this is where he became ill. Contracting tuberculosis, probably from the cramped environment of the army barracks, George was admitted to the Voluntary Aid Detachment Hospital in the town of Mere. He passed away from the lung condition on 11th June 1915: he was just 20 years of age.

Rather than being taken back to Cumbria, George Messenger was instead laid to rest in Mere Cemetery.

Commonwealth War Graves, Devon, Devonshire Regiment, Great War, history, illness, injury, Machine Gun Corps, photography, Private, story, war

Private John Lethaby

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Private John Lethaby

The news of the death of ex-Gunner JC Lethaby, who passed away early on Monday morning last. was received… with deep regret. On the outbreak of war he was only 16 years old, but when the call came for volunteers, he put his age to 19 and enlisted. He proved his worth on the battlefields of Flanders and after being wounded, was gassed, his work as a first class machine gunner calling him into much danger. He recovered from his injuries to some extent, but after demobilisation, his health broke down and he gradually sank. His pain and suffering during the past months were borne with much patience. Last week he earnestly begged to be removed to his home… and he was brought by motor car.. on Sunday afternoon, but he passed away the next morning. He leaves a wife and child to mourn their loss, and sympathy is expressed with them as also with his mother, father, brothers and sisters… Always of a cheerful disposition deceased had a host of friends, especially among the young men of the parish. He was awarded the Meritorious Service Medal and was entitled to the 1915-1915 Bronze Star.

[Tiverton Gazette (Mid-Devon Gazette): Tuesday 15th June 1920]

Despite the John Charles Lethaby’s obituary, there is little additional information about his early life. He does not appear on the 1901 or 1911 census returns, and there is no obvious sign of a birth or marriage certificate.

The Commonwealth War Graves Commission gives his wife’s name as Clara, and a later military record suggests that she moved to Hitchin, Hertfordshire, after her husband’s death. The 1921 census noted that she was living with her parents, Arthur and Eliza King, and had her daughter, Ada, with her.

The newspaper report suggests that John was born in 1898, which would have made him 22 when he died on 7th June 1920. His headstone gives his age as 25, which would fit in with the obituary commenting that he had added three years to his age in order to enlist. He appears to have joined the 3rd Battalion of the Devonshire Regiment, before transferring across to the Machine Gun Corps.

John Charles Lethaby was discharged from army on medical grounds on 19th April 1919. He died of pulmonary tuberculosis just over a year later, and was laid to rest in All Saints’ Churchyard, North Molton, Devon.

Commonwealth War Graves, Devon, Devonshire Regiment, Great War, history, illness, photography, Private, story, war

Private Bernard King

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Private Bernard King

Bernard Gale King was born in the spring of 1881, the seventh of eleven children to Charles and Charity King. Charles was a bookseller from Huntingdonshire, but he and Charity had moved to Wolborough, Devon by the time Bernard was born.

The 1901 census found that the family had moved again and Charles had set up shop in the Tormoham area of Torquay. By this point Bernard and his older sister, Florrie, were helping their father with the business, which was located at 99 Union Street .

On 5th March 1904, Bernard married Lilian Potter at the Wesleyan Chapel in Brixham. Sadly, there is little information available for her, but she was a year older than her husband, and had been born in Exeter. The couple set up home on Rock Road, Torquay, and had three children: Frederick, William and Gladys.

By the time of the 1911 census, Bernard had moved away from selling books, and had become a photographer. Storm clouds were brewing over Europe, however, and things were to change.

When war broke out, Bernard stepped up to play his part. He enlisted on 11th December 1915, and joined the Devonshire Regiment. His service records show that the family had moved along the coast, and were living at 22 Winner Street in Paignton.

Private King was notes as being 5ft 7ins (1.7m) tall and weighing 119lbs (54kg). He had dark brown hair, blue eyes and a pale complexion. Initially assigned to the 4th Battalion, by October 1916, he had transferred to a home service unit, and remained on home soil during his time in the army.

In the spring of 1917, Bernard contracted tuberculosis. The contagious nature of the illness meant that he was deemed no longer fit for any service, and he was medically discharged on 7th April 1917.

At this point Bernard’s trail goes cold. He seemed to have returned home, but would ultimately succumb to the lung condition he had contracted in the army. He passed away on 21st October 1918: he was 37 years of age.

Bernard Gale King was laid to rest in Paignton Cemetery, overlooking the town in which his grieving family still lived.