Francis Robert Moody was born on 8th September 1876, in the town of Kihikihi, on New Zealand’s North Island. There is little information about his early life, but his parents were Hampshire-born Francis Moody and his Irish wife, Mary.
When he completed his schooling, Francis Jr found work as a carter. When war broke out, however, he was called upon to play his part, enlisting in the New Zealand Canterbury Regiment on 18th June 1917. His service papers show that he was 5ft 10ins (1.77m) tall, and weighed 140lbs (63.5kg). A Roman Catholic by birth, he had brown hair, blue eyes and a medium complexion.
Private Moody’s unit left New Zealand on 13th October 1917, making the two-month voyage to Britain on board the HT Corinthic. Francis disembarked in Liverpool, Lancashire, before being marched into camp in Sling, Wiltshire.
Over the next month, Private Moody received further training, but by this point, and following the lengthy journey, his health was beginning to suffer. He was admitted to the No. 3 New Zealand General Hospital in Codford, Wiltshire, on 30th January 1918, suffering from bronchitis.
Francis’ health continued to deteriorate, and he developed tuberculosis. The condition would prove fatal, and he passed away on 22nd February 1918, at the age of 41.
Thousands of miles from home, Francis Robert Moody was laid to rest alongside his colleagues in the graveyard extension of St Mary’s Church, Codford.
Samuel Thomas was born in Pukehinau, New Zealand, on 17th February 1896. There is little concrete information about his early life, but his parents were Isaac and Annie Thomas, and he was one of at least two children to them.
When he finished his schooling, Samuel found work as a teamster, or wagon driver. When was broke out, however, he was called upon to play his part, and he enlisted on 30th May 1916, joining the New Zealand Rifle Brigade. His service record shows that he was 5ft 10ins (1.77m) tall and weighed 147lbs (66.7kg). He had light brown hair, grey eyes and a fair complexion; a round scar on the front of his left shin was also recorded.
Deemed fit for service, Rifleman Thomas spent the next four months training. On 25th September 1916, his unit departed from Wellington for the two month voyage to Britain. During the journey, he had fallen ill, and, on disembarking in Devonport, Devon, he was admitted to a hospital with influenza.
When he was well enough, Samuel was moved to hospital in Codford, Wiltshire, eventually joining his unit in a camp at Sling on 15th January 1917. His time there was brief, however, and he was admitted back to the Codford hospital just three weeks later. It would not be until July that he was well enough to be sent to France.
From Étaples, Rifleman Thomas was sent to the front line. Within a matter of weeks, he had been wounded by shrapnel, which had caught his right side and his neck. He was medically evacuated to Britain for treatment, and was admitted to the No. 2 New Zealand General Hospital in Walton-on-Thames, Surrey.
Samuel would spend the next three months recuperating, initially in Hornchurch, Essex, then in Codford. During this time, love blossomed and, on 18th November 1917, he married Gertrude Berry, a horse dealer’s daughter from Plaistow, Essex. It is unclear how or when the couple had met: she may have been working at the hospital where he was being treated.
At the end of December 1917, he was back in hospital again, however, suffering from a bout of bronchitis. His condition would worsen, and he passed away on 16th January 1918, from the rupture of an abscess in his throat. He was 21 years of age.
The body of Samuel Thomas was laid to rest in the graveyard extension of St Mary’s Church, Codford, not far from the hospital in which he had passed.
Alexander George Whitelaw was born in 1879 in the town of Ashburton on New Zealand’s South Island. One of ten children, his parents were Scottish immigrants Peter and Agnes Whitelaw.
There is little information about Alexander’s early life: his father died in 1912, with his mother passing just two years later. By the autumn of 1916, he was working as a general labourer, but the world was at war, and he stepped up to play his part.
Alexander enlisted on the 4th October 1916, knocking five years off his date of birth to ensure he was accepted. His papers also show other discrepancies, as he noted both of his parents being having been born in New Zealand. As a Private, he was assigned to the New Zealand Canterbury Regiment, his service papers showing the man he had become. A Presbyterian, he stood 5ft 11ins (1.8m) tall, and weighed 154lbs (69.9kg). He had cark hair and a dark complexion. His eyes were blue, but he suffered some colour blindness, confusing reds and blues.
Private Whitelaw’s unit – the New Zealand Canterbury Regiment – left home on the 19th January 1917, and embarked for Europe. His movements from this point on aren’t entirely clear, although by the start of 1918, he had been medically evacuated to the No. 3 New Zealand General Hospital in Codford, Wiltshire, suffering from pleurisy. The condition was to get the better of Alexander: he passed away on 10th January 1918, at the age of 38 years old.
Thousands of miles from his family home, the body of Alexander George Whitelaw was instead laid to rest in the extension to St Mary’s Churchyard, Codford.
In the extension to St Mary’s Churchyard in Codford, Wiltshire, is the grave of Private A Holmes of the NZ Maori Battalion. Much of his life has been lost to time, but his military records give some glimpses into his time in the army.
Arthur Holmes was born on 22nd June 1884 in Auckland, New Zealand. His service papers show that he was working as a labourer in the Waihara region of North Island when he joined up, and gave his next-of-kin as his sister Mrs E Dixon (although this was later amended to his half-brother William Marshall-Muir).
By the time he joined the army on the 9th December 1915, he was 5ft 5ins (1.65m) tall, and weighed 10st 5lbs (65.8kg). He was described as having had brown hair, grey eyes and a fair complexion. The medical record also noted that two toenails on his right foot had been ‘chopped off in childhood’.
Private Holmes’ unit set off for Europe in the spring of 1916 and, after a three week pause in Suez, Egypt, he arrived in Étaples, France, on 9th June.
Arthur’s time in the army seems to have been beset by illness, with hospital admissions in June, July and August 1916. He seems to have spent eighteen months in France, and fought at the Somme and Messines Ridge.
At the end of 1917, after another short spell in hospital, Private Holmes was given leave in Britain, but was again admitted to a medical unit, having come down with bronchitis. Initially hospitalised in Surrey, by 19th December he had been moved to the No. 3 New Zealand General Hospital in Codford, Wiltshire. By this point, however, his health had been severely impacted, and he passed away on 28th December 1917, at the age of 33 years old.
The body of Arthur Holmes was laid to rest in the graveyard extension of St Mary’s Church, Codford.
Albert Victor Rogers was born in Trowbridge, Wiltshire, on 2nd June 1897. The middle of three children, he was the older son to Edward and Elizabeth Rogers. A Liverpudlian, Edward worked as a carter for a flour mill, and the family lived in Lower Westwood, to the west of Trowbridge itself.
By 1911, the Rogers family had relocated to the centre of Trowbridge, and were living in a small cottage at 3 Church Street. Edward was now employed as a mason’s labourer, while Albert’s sister, Amy, had taken a job as a wool and worsted piecer for a local cloth mill. Albert, just thirteen years of age, was likely in his last year at school.
Albert’s military records are limited. They note that, as a Private, he was attached to Wiltshire Regiment Depot, and the he died in a military hospital on 8th November 1918. He was just 21 years of age. Details of his passing and funeral do not appear in any local contemporary newspapers, so it is unclear how he passed.
The body of Albert Victor Rogers was laid to rest in the sweeping grounds of Trowbridge Cemetery, not far from where his family still lived.
By the time of the 1921 census Edward had also died. The document recorded Elizabeth living in a cottage at 85 Mortimer Street, Trowbridge, and that she was employed as a waste picker for Salter & Co, a wool manufacturer.
The four-roomed property was a busy place, which Elizabeth shared with her surviving son, Leslie, brother Arthur Hobbs, and niece Gladys Rogers. Amy had also died by this point, and so Elizabeth had opened her home to her three grandchildren Leonard, Doris and Victor.
[My thanks go to Rob Clarke for his invaluable information about Albert’s life and family.]
Charles George Compton was born in the Broadwater area of Worthing, West Sussex in 1882. One of five children, his parents were Charles and Eliza Compton. Charles Sr was a shoe maker, but when he finished his schooling, his son found work as a bricklayer.
There is little detailed information about Charles’ early life, but in 1901 he married a woman called Lilian. They went on to have three children, and, by the time of the 1911 census, they had set up home at 47 Newland Road, Worthing.
Charles sought to make a better life for his family, and, on 31st January 1913, he boarded the SS Osterley, bound for Australia. He set up home at 1 Orange Lane, in Norwood, a suburb of Adelaide, and, at some point soon afterwards, Lilian and the children joined him.
War was declared in the summer of 1914, and the Empire was called on to play its part. On 28th March 1917, Charles enlisted, becoming a Private in the Australian Infantry. His service papers show that he was 5ft 6ins (1.68m) tall, and weighed 154lbs (69.9kg). He was noted as having brown hair, hazel eyes and a medium complexion. He had two tattoos: one on his left forearm and another on his left hand.
After a few months’ training, Private Compton’s unit boarded the HMAT A30 from Adelaide, to make the journey back to Britain. His unit – the 10th Training Battalion – disembarked in Plymouth on 25th August 1917, and made its way to Larkhill Camp on the edge of Salisbury Plain, Wiltshire.
Over the next few months, Private Compton undertook further training, and would be transferred to the 43rd Battalion of the Australian Infantry. On 30th May 1918 he was admitted to Hurdcott Hospital, near Fovant, Wiltshire, suffering from influenza. The condition would eventually prove fatal: Charles passed away on 2nd July, at the age of 36 years old.
There was another Military funeral locally on Saturday.
The deceased soldier in this case was Private Charles George Compton, and the place of interment was the Cemetery at Broadwater. Private Compton, a member of an old Worthing family… was a member of the Australian Force…
The deceased worked for the Corporation before leaving Worthing for Australia, where his wife and two children are now living.
[Worthing Gazette: Wednesday 10th July 1918]
Charles George Compton was laid to rest in Broadwater Cemetery, not far from where his family were still living.
Private Charles Compton (from findagrave.com)
Lilian was now thousands of miles from home and family. Grieving the loss of her husband, the communication from the Army on his passing would provide her with some comfort:
Thanking you for all your kindness in sending my husband things on to me. You don’t know how greatefull I feel when I received letters saying how kind the nurses all were to him through his illness. All I wishes I could have been their, but it was not to be. I now close thanking you all.
[Letter to battalion: 14th January 1919]
Lilian would move to Lincoln Street, Adelaide: her new home she would name Worthing after her home town.
Frank Roland Holloway was born in Bristol, Gloucestershire, early in 1896. One of five children, he was the only son to Frederick and Emily Holloway. Frederick was a general labourer, and by the turn of the century, the family had moved to Hilperton, Wiltshire.
When Frank completed his schooling he found work in a local cloth mill. The 1911 census record the family living on Marsh Road, Hilperton, with four – albeit meagre – wages coming into the household. Frederick was employed by the Anglo Swiss Milk Company as a labourer, while his daughter, Frank’s older sister Edith, was also working in the factory’s tin shop. Emily was helping other people with their laundry, bringing in a few extra pennies.
War broke out in the summer of 1914, and Frank would step up to play his part. His service papers show that he was employed as a rubber worker by this point, and that he was a volunteer with the local militia. He formally enlisted on the 20th February 1915, and was assigned to the 8th Battalion of the Wiltshire Regiment as a Private.
Private Holloway remained with his unit for four months, before being discharged from military service, having contracted tuberculosis. Interestingly, his service papers include a statement from Frederick about his son’s health:
I am making an application on behalf of my son. He had been ill now for over 12 months. He served 2 years 175 days in 4th Wilts and 129 days in 8th Wilts. He had not any illness for some years and had been in good health and passed several military doctors for active service, but having left Salisbury Plain he came to Trowbridge where they slept in damp straw also under [a] bad roof in [an] old disused factory. He was a lad in good health and is now suffering with consumption.
Sadly, any response to Frederick’s request for compensation would come too late. Frank passed away on 21st June 1916: he was just 20 years of age.
The body of Frank Roland Holloway was laid to rest in St Paul’s Churchyard, in village of Staveron, the parish church for his home in Hilperton.
Frederick George Kyte was born on 23rd January 1899. The youngest of five children, his parents were Wiltshire-born market gardener John Kyte, and his wife, Esther. Frederick’s mother had been born in Chelsea, Middlesex, but it was in John’s home county where the family lived, on 16 Wine Street, Bradford-on-Avon.
Education was important to John and Esther. The 1911 census found his older brothers working a clerks, one to a rubber works, the other to a solicitor.
In his spare time, Frederick was a chorister and the local parish church, and was ‘an enthusiastic member of the Church Lads’ Brigade’ [Wiltshire Times and Trowbridge Advertiser: Saturday 13th December 1919] When he completed his schooling, he also found work as a clerk, and was employed by a local insurance broker.
On 13th January 1915, Frederick joined the Wiltshire Regiment, and, as a Bugler, was attached to the 8th Battalion. He was only 15 years of age, but remained with the unit for the next two years, until he was invalided out of the army for medical reasons.
After some time he partially recovered, and resumed his occupation as an insurance agent, but took to his bed some three months ago.
[Wiltshire Times and Trowbridge Advertiser: Saturday 13th December 1919]
The lung condition Frederick had contracted would be the one to which he would ultimately succumb. He passed away in the family home on 7th December 1919, aged just 20 years old.
The body of Frederick George Kyte was laid to rest in the family plot in Bradford-on-Avon cemetery.
The newspaper report provides some further information about Frederick’s brothers. Both also served in the army, and both rose to the rank of Serjeant.
The eldest [Edward] is now with HM Forces in Palestine, whilst the younger, Herbert, who was mentioned in despatches and awarded the Military Medal for good work during the retreat, is demobilised.
[Wiltshire Times and Trowbridge Advertiser: Saturday 13th December 1919]
Thomas Morris was born on 12th November 1880 in Bradford-on-Avon, Wiltshire. One of thirteen children, his parents were Henry and Eliza Morris. Henry was a chimney sweep, and this is a trade that Thomas would also go into, unsurprisingly, from a very young age. The family lived to the north of the town centre, initially at 57 Newtown, before moving round the corner to 5 Wine Street.
By the turn of the century, love was beckoning for Thomas. On 29th March 1903, he wed Annie Britten, a labourer’s daughter, who also lived on Wine Street. The marriage certificate noted that Thomas had changed jobs, and was employed as a labourer.
The 1911 census return shows the family home that had been set up. Henry and Eliza were still at Wine Street, although now at No. 44. Thomas and Annie were also living there, crammed into the four-roomed cottage with their four children as well. Henry was still working as a chimney sweep, while Thomas had found employment as maltster’s labourer.
Annie would go on to have six children in all, and when war broke out, she was left to raise the family with the help of her father-in-law (Eliza having passed in May 1914). Thomas enlisted in the Wiltshire Regiment early on in the conflict and, according to later reports, had seen a lot of service on the Western Front. He survived the conflict, however, and returned to a base in the garrison town of Trowbridge, Wiltshire.
At the start of 1919, Private Morris came home on leave, but while there, he fell ill. He was admitted to the military hospital in Sutton Veny, also in Wiltshire, but succumbed to the influenza he had contracted. He passed away on 11th January 1919, aged the age of 38 years old.
The body of Thomas Morris was taken back to Bradford-on-Avon to be buried. He was laid to rest in the town’s cemetery.
Annie was now a widow with children to raise. Henry had also passed away in 1918, and so she remarried, wedding William Bishop in December 1919. The couple went on to have a child of their own, Phyllis, in March 1921.
Annie would live a peaceful life, passing away in Trowbridge in 1943, at the age of 60.
Charles Edward Barlow was born on 3rd January 1886, and was the second of eight children to John and Agnes. John was a Serjeant Major in the Royal Fusiliers, and his work meant the family moved a lot. Charles and his older brother were born in Dublin, Ireland, while Agnes gave birth to his younger siblings in Essex, Ireland, Hampshire and London.
John died in the late 1890s, and the 1901 census found Agnes and four of the children – including Charles – living at 18 Ethel Road, a small terraced cottage in the centre of Portsmouth, Hampshire. Agnes was listed as a shirt maker, while Charles was apprenticed to a boiler maker.
The apprenticeship obviously stood Charles in good stead, and he later found employment as the local dockyard, HMS Victory. The 1911 census recorded mother and son living at 124 Ernest Road, in the Buckland area of Portsmouth. Slightly further from where Charles was working, this was, however, a larger property.
A new opportunity presented itself in the spring of 1912, when Charles formally enrolled in the Royal Navy. His engineering background served him well, and he took the rank of Engine Room Artificer 4th Class. Initial training was provided at Portsmouth Dockyard, and he then moved to the neighbouring bases HMS Fisgard that autumn, and HMS Dryad in February 1913.
After a two month posting on board the torpedo gunboat HMS Harrier, Charles would return to shore in the summer of 1914. On 1st January 1915, however, he was assigned to the depot ship HMS Dido, and she would remain his home for nearly four years. During this time, he was promoted to Engine Room Artificer 3rd Class.
In the autumn of 1918, with the war in its final weeks, Charles fell ill. He was disembarked and admitted to the War Hospital in Bath, suffering from pneumonia. The condition would prove his undoing, and he passed away on 17th November: he was 32 years of age.
The body of Charles Edward Barlow was taken to Bradford-upon-Avon for burial, possibly due to a familial connection in the area, and he was laid to rest in the town’s cemetery.
Death and Service 