Harold John Spackman was born on 24th May 1897 and was the youngest of two children to Frederick and Eliza Spackman. Frederick was a cowman from Wiltshire, and the family were raised on a farm in Manningford Bohune, near the village of Pewsey.
Harold was educated at Woodborough School, and found work as a nurseryman when he completed his schooling. When war broke out, he was quick to enlist, and joined the 10th (Service) Battalion of the Devonshire Regiment on 17th September 1914.
Private Spackman’s unit was sent to Somerset for training, and it was here, in cramped, busy barracks, that he contracted meningitis. He was admitted to the Red Cross Hospital in Bath, but succumbed to the condition on 12th March 1915. He was just 17 years of age.
Harold John Spackman was laid to rest in Bath’s Locksbrook Cemetery. His was a joint funeral with another Private from his unit, Albert Matthews, who had died on the same day in the same hospital.
Arthur William Bence was born in the village of Box, Wiltshire, in the spring of 1887. The oldest of eight children, his parents were James and Sarah. James was an engineer from Bathampton, Somerset, and by the time of the 1901 census, the young family had moved to 14 Hampton Row in nearby Bathwick.
Ten years later, and the Bence family had relocated again, this time to the northern outskirts of Bath, in a terraced cottage at 6 Brooklyn Road. By this point, Arthur had finished his schooling, and had found employment, working as a baker and bread maker. This was not to be a permanent career, however, and he sought out more of a career.
Arthur had long been a volunteer in the local militia, and on 14th November 1905 he enlisted in the army. Now known by his middle name, William Bence joined the Coldstream Guards as a Private. His service records show that he was 5ft 11ins (1.82m) tall, and weighed 148lbs (67.1kg). He was noted as having brown hair, brown eyes and a fresh complexion. Hs also had several tattoos on his left forearm, including a heart, cross, anchor, man’s face, crown and crossed flags.
Private Bence spent the first two years of his military career on home soil in Windsor, Berkshire, and London. In January 1908, his unit – the 3rd Battalion – transferred to Africa, and William would remain in Egypt and Sudan for more than three years. In March 1911 he returned to home soil, and that year’s census record noted his address as the Tower of London.
By the end of 1913 Private Bence had been formally stood down to reserve status. During his eight years on active service, he had been hospitalised a couple of times: for a sprained wrist in 1906, and for a bout of pneumonia in July 1910.
War was a matter of months away, however, and in the summer of 1914, William was to be mobilised again. By 12th August he was sent to France, and his battalion would be caught up at Marne and Aisne before the end of the year.
On 27th September 1914, William rose to the rank of Lance Corporal. This was not to last, however, and within six weeks the promotion was retracted for misconduct. He remained on the Western Front for nearly two and a half years, and had a mixed time of it. In April 1915, he Private Bence was confined to barracks for 14 days for being drunk on duty. In November that year, he was promoted to Lance Corporal for a second time.
This advancement coincided with William’s marriage. He had wed Amelia Oakley at St Saviour’s Church in Bath on 3rd November. There is little information available about her, other than that she had been born in Bath in 1888.
Back in France, and Lance Corporal Bence’s battalion fought at Loos and was heavily involved at the Somme. William would remain on the Western Front until December 1916, at which point his health forced him back to Britain. He had contracted tuberculosis, and this would lead to his ultimate discharge from military duty on 9th January 1917. William returned home, but his condition was to get worse. He passed away on 1st April 1917: he was 30 years of age.
The body of Arthur William Bence was laid to rest in the sweeping grounds of Bath’s Locksbrook Cemetery, in the city that was his home.
Frank Nicholas Patience was born in Mullewa, Western Australia, on 6th March 1898. The tenth of fifteen children (of which four did not survive childhood), his parents were Joseph and Elizabeth Patience.
There is little concrete information about Frank’s early life. When he finished his schooling, he found employment as a farm hand, and this is what he was working as when he stepped up to serve his country.
Frank enlisted in the Australian Imperial Force on 18th June 1917. Within six weeks he left his homeland for Europe, arriving in Liverpool, Lancashire, on 3rd October. Assigned to the 16th Battalion of the Australian Infantry, he was barracked in Wiltshire, at a camp not far from the village of Codford.
Tragically, Private Patience’s time in the army, and in Britain, was to be brief. Within weeks of arriving in Wiltshire, he contracted pneumonia, and was admitted to the camp hospital. The condition was to prove his undoing, however, and he passed away on 27th October 1917. He was just 19 years of age.
Frank Nicholas Patience was 9,000 miles (14,500km) from home. He was laid to rest in the extended graveyard of St Mary’s Church in Codford, Wiltshire.
Harry David Fletcher was born in Leichhardt, New South Wales, Australia, on 1st November 1883. The seventh of ten children – and the only surviving son – his parents were Daniel and Charlotte Fletcher.
There is little information about Harry’s early life: he found work as a labourer when he finished school and, on 11th March 1911, he married Lillian Bosworth. The couple went on to have a son, Harold, who was born the following February.
When war came to Europe, the British Empire was called upon to play its part. On 19th February 1917, Harry enlisted in the Australian Infantry, although he did so under the alias of Harry Conway. His service records show that he had dark brown hair, hazel eyes and a medium complexion. He was also 5ft 7.75ins (1.72m) tall and weighed 140lbs (63.5kg). He had two noticeable scars: one on the inside of his right arm, the other on his right shin.
Private Conway/Fletcher set sail for Europe on 10th May 1917, arriving in Britain two months later. His unit – the 13th Battalion – was billeted in Wiltshire, near the village of Codford. Tragically, his time in the army was to be brief: he suffered issues with his gallbladder, and died in the camp hospital from cholecystitis and septicaemia on 29th July 1917. He was 33 years of age.
Harry David Fletcher was laid to rest in the Australian section of the new churchyard of St Mary’s Church in Codford. His burial records note that the service was officiated by Chaplain Captain Collins, with six of his friends from the battalion acting as pallbearers. He was buried in an elm and brass coffin, with a small oak cross being erected over the grave.
Eli Trenchard and his twin Reuben were born on 29th December 1889 in Axminster, Devon. Two of nine children, their parents were George and Mary Trenchard. George was a gamekeeper turned farmer, and the family were brought up at Uphay Farm on the outskirts of the town.
The whole family helped out on the farm and, by the time of the 1911 census, when the twins were 20, seven of the Trenchards – George, Mary, Eli, Reuben and three of their siblings – were all living in the farmhouse and employed in the business.
On 25th March 1913, Eli married Lily Gillingham. Born in Dorset, she was the daughter of the landlord of the Lamb Inn in Axminster, and working as a dressmaker in her own right. The couple moved to the village of Chardstock in Devon, and went on to have a daughter, Lilian, who was born later that year.
In 1915, Eli found himself brought to the Petty Sessions in Axminster, charged with “movingpigs from Dorset to Devon without the necessary license”[Western Times: Wednesday 27th October 1915]. Eli stated that he had purchased the pigs from his brother, Reuben, at Uphay Farm. Despite Reuben confirming this, it was subsequently determined that they had, in fact, been bought from a Mr Wells of Penn in Dorset. Eli have been convicted of a similar offence before, and was fined £10.
War was raging across Europe by this point, and Eli was called upon to play his part. He enlisted in the Royal Field Artillery in January 1917. Assigned to the 23rd Reserve Battery, Gunner Trenchard was sent to a camp near Sutton Veny in Wiltshire.
Eli’s time in the army was not to be a long one, however, and he was soon admitted to the camp hospital, suffering from pneumonia. The lung condition was to get the better of him, and Eli passed away on 23rd February 1917. He was 27 years of age.
The body of Eli Trenchard was taken back to Devon for burial. He was laid to rest in Axminster Cemetery, not far from where his widow and family still lived.
The Trenchard family were soon back in the court, however, with Lily bringing a lawsuit against her father-in-law, George, in December 1917. The widow said that Eli and his father had agreed her late husband’s immediate tenancy of two fields the month before Eli had been called up for to serve.
However, the month after his death, when she had gone to the fields to sow them for the coming season, the gates had been locked and her entrance barred. George responded by saying that he had agreed to pass the fields to his son, but only on the event of his own death. He subsequently sold the land to another farmer.
The judge in the case found that Lily had “failed to prove that an agreement had been made between [George] and his son”[Western Times: Thursday 6th December 1917] and found in the defendant’s favour.
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.
Sidney Edgar Crabb was born in the autumn of 1898 in the Dorset village of Chedington. One of ten children, his parents were shepherd-turned-farm labourer John Crabb and his wife, Mary.
Little information is available about young Sidney’s life. He was still at school when the 1911 census was taken, and was too young to enlist when war was declared in the summer of 1914. He enlisted in the Dorsetshire Regiment no earlier than October 1916, and was sent to Warminster for training.
The only other record for Private Crabb confirms his passing. He died from bronchial pneumonia while in hospital near his army camp in Warminster, Wiltshire, on 3rd April 1917. He was just 18 years of age.
Sidney Edgar Crabb’s body was taken back to Dorset for burial. He was laid to rest in the graveyard of St Mary’s Church, in his home village of Halstock. While only five of his siblings survived childhood, Sidney was the only one to pass away as a result of the conflict.
John Albert Wetzlar was born in Bendigo, Victoria, Australia, in the spring of 1895. One of four children, his parents were Ernest and Annie Wetzlar.
Little information about John’s life is available, and most of the detail that can be pieced together comes from his First World War service records. These confirm that he was working as a clerk when he enlisted on 14th July 1915. John’s medical record shows that he was 5ft 4.5ins (1.63m) and weighed 8st 5lbs (53kg). He had brown hair, blue eyes and a fresh complexion.
Private Wetzlar set sail for Europe on 8th February 1916, arriving with his unit in Alexandria, Egypt, six weeks later and landing in Marseille, France, on 31st March. Attached to the 23rd Battalion of the Australian Infantry, by the end of June, he found himself on the front line.
On 22nd August 1916, John’s unit was caught up in fighting, and he was wounded by shrapnel in his right leg. He was admitted to the 4th Australian Field Ambulance unit, before being transferred to the No 1. Canadian General Hospital in Etaples. His injuries required more care, however, and he was medically evacuated to Britain, and was sent to the 2nd General Hospital in Manchester.
Private Wetzlar spent the next six months recuperating, only re-joining his unit back in France on 10th March 1917. Back on the Western Front, he was promoted to Lance Corporal on 9th June, and to full Corporal four months later.
In January 1918, John was transferred back to Britain. Details are sketchy, but it may be that his experience was used to help train new recruits, as he was billeted at Tidworth Camp in Wiltshire. He remained on British soil until May, when he was sent to the Western Front for a third time.
Corporal Wetzlar’s time in France was to be fated. On 1st September 1918, John was wounded a second time, when he received a gun shot injury to his right leg once more. Medically evacuated back to Britain, he was admitted to Bath War Hospital in Somerset. The injury was severe enough to warrant an operation, and the damaged limb was amputated.
During his recovery, Corporal Wetzlar contracted influenza and pneumonia and, tragically, given what he had been through, these were to prove fatal. John died on 23rd October 1918: he was 22 years of age.
Thousands of miles from the home he had left nearly three years before, John Albert Wetzlar was laid to rest in the military section of Bath’s sweeping Locksbrook Cemetery, alongside other from his homeland.
Details of Fred Maynard’s early life are a challenge to piece together. His First World War service records give his age as 44 years old when he enlisted in September 1914, and confirm his place of birth as Melksham, Wiltshire.
A newspaper report of his funeral gives the name of three brothers – Charles, Frank and Arthur – while only one census return, from 1881, provides a potential match for the family. This suggests Fred’s parents were iron fitter Alfred Maynard and his wife, Deborah, and gives the family’s address as Waterworks Road in Trowbridge.
Fred joined the army in the autumn of 1888. Initially assigned to the Gloucestershire Regiment, he had transferred to the Wiltshire Regiment by the following spring. Private Maynard showed a commitment to duty: in December 1890 he was promoted to Lance Corporal, rising to Corporal in the summer of 1893.
Fred was stood down to reserve status after his seven years’ active duty, but was recalled to the army in December 1899, when war broke out in South Africa. Promoted to Serjeant, he was sent to fight in the Boer War, and was mentioned in dispatches on 2nd April 1901 for special and meritorious service in South Africa. He was stood back down to reserve status in October 1901.
On 21st November 1895, Fred had married Louisa Card. The couple set up home in Trowbridge, but soon moved to London. They went on to have six children: Ernest, Nora and Leslie, who were all born in the London; and Arthur, Martha and Stuart, who were born in Cardiff, the family having moved to Wales by 1910.
The army was not finished with Fred, however, and, within weeks of war breaking out in the summer of 1914, he was called back into service. Given the rank of Serjeant again, he was attached to the South Wales Borderers. Fred was 44 years of age by this point, his service records confirming that he stood 5ft 8ins (1.73m) tall, weighed 164lbs (74.4kg) and had brown hair and hazel eyes.
Attached to one of the regiment’s depots, it seems unlikely that Fred saw service overseas this time around. He was discharged from the army on 1st September 1916 and this seems to have been on medical grounds. Later documents suggest that Serjeant Maynard had been diagnosed with carcinoma of the pylorus, or stomach cancer.
Fred returned to Cardiff, but his time back home was to be short. He was admitted to the Lansdown Road Military Hospital, and passed away on 23rd November 1916. He was 46 years of age.
It seems that Fred’s brother’s had some sway in his funeral. Instead of being laid to rest in Cardiff, where Louisa and the children were living, he was, instead, buried in the Locksbrook Cemetery, Bath, Somerset. His sibling Charles, who was a sergeant in Bath City Police, lived in the city, as did another brother, Frank.
Fred’s headstone also commemorates his and Louisa’s son, Leslie. He had joined the army in the 1920s and, in the summer of 1943, was in Yorkshire, undergoing officer training.
The death of an officer cadet through the accidental discharge of a rifle whose bolt had jammed was described at an inquest…
Captain WH Price said he was in charge of an exercise on the moors which involved the used of small arms and the firing of live ammunition. A squad of cadets lay on the ground in front of a trench firing over a range. All finished firing except Cadet Frank Holroyd, who said his bolt had hammed while firing a second round. [Price] told him to release the bolt by knocking the cocking piece up and back.
This attempt failed, and he told Holroyd to get back into the trench, turn the rifle magazine upwards, place the butt on the side of the trench, and kick the bolt down with his foot. While Holroyd was doing this he noticed Maynard standing in the trench about 4ft away from Holroyd and on his right-hand side.
Captain Price said he saw the rifle was pointing down the range when Holroyd kicked the butt. The cartridge suddenly exploded and Maynard dropped into the trench, shot in the head, and was dead when they reached him.
[Bradford Observer: Saturday 19th June 1943]
Officer Cadet Leslie Maynard was 36 years of age when he was killed. His body was taken back to Somerset for burial: he was laid to rest in the same grave as Fred, father and son reunited after 27 years.
Louisa remained somewhat elusive as time wore on. Fred’s military records confirm that she had moved from Cardiff to the Isle of Wight by 1922. By the time of her son’s death, she was living in Sidcup, Kent.
William Cooper was born in Mobberley, Cheshire, in 1894. Little information is available about his family life, but records suggest that his father was called John.
The first document that can be attributed to William is the 1911 census. This recorded him as living in Newton Hall Lane in Mobberley, with his widowed aunt and two cousins.
William’s trail goes cold again at this point, and can be picked up again when war broke out in the summer of 1914. He enlisted early on, joining the Cheshire Regiment. Attached to the 10th (Service) Battalion, his unit moved to Codford on the edge of Salisbury Plain, Wiltshire, by September.
William Cooper… was taken suddenly ill while on parade on Sunday morning at 8.30, and dropping out of the lines, was carried to the Army Medical Corps tent in the Chitterne Road, but on arrival there death had already taken place.
Lieutenant Spraight, of the Army Medical Corps, stated having examined the body of deceased, want he came to the conclusion that death was due to asphyxia and an epileptic fit.
[Devizes and Wilts Advertiser: Thursday 1st October 1914]
Private William Cooper died on 27th September 1914: he was just 20 years old when he died. It seems that his family were unable to cover the cost of the funeral: he was laid to rest in the peaceful graveyard of St Mary’s Church, Codford, his headstone being erected by his comrades in the battalion.
Death and Service 