Tag Archives: Wiltshire

Commonwealth War Graves, Devon, Dorset, Great War, history, illness, London, photography, Private, Somerset Light Infantry, story, war, Wiltshire

Private William Hasley

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Private William Hasley

William George Hasley was born on 14th June 1897. He was the oldest of three children to William and Sarah Hasley. William Sr, a former soldier, worked as a commissionaire, and the family lived at 11 Coach & Horses Yard, St James, Westminster.

Things had changed by 1900, and William Sr was employed as an engineer’s labourer. The family had moved to Dorset, setting up home in the village of Bourton, and their daughter, Susan, was born there at the turn of the century. Susan Sr came from just up the road in Zeals, Wiltshire, and it is likely that she was staying there when her youngest child, Sidney, was born in 1902.

By the time of the 1911 census, the family of five were living at Beach Cottage, Bourton. William Sr was drawing his army pension, but still employed at the engineering foundry; his eldest son, while still at school, was also listed as a news boy, possibly selling the periodicals to villagers.

War came to Europe in the summer of 1914, and William Jr was quick to step up and play his part. Giving up his job as an engineer’s fitter, enlisted on 1st September 1914, and joined the Somerset Light Infantry. His service records show that he stood 5ft 8.5ins (1.74m) tall, and weighed 124lbs (56.3kg). Private Hasley was noted as having brown hair, brown eyes and a sallow complexion. He also had a scar on the tip of the middle finger of his left hand.

Assigned to the 3rd (Reserve) Battalion, Private Hasley’s unit moved to Devonport, Devon, at the start of 1915. It was here that he contracted tuberculosis, which would ultimately lead to his medical discharge from the army in July. He served just 308 days.

At this point, William’s trail goes cold. It is likely that he returned to Bourton, although he had regular check-ups by the army inspection board. He was deemed totally incapacitated by the illness on 3rd January 1917.

William George Hasley’s lung condition would seal his fate. He passed away on 23rd March 1917: he was just 19 years of age. He was laid to rest in Bourton Cemetery.

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

Private Samuel Harris

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Private Samuel Harris

Samuel John Harris was born in the spring of 1895, and was the oldest of three children to Samuel and Annie Harris. Samuel Sr was a cabinet maker from South Molton, Devon, and this was the village in which he and Annie raised their family.

The 1901 census found the Harrises taking rooms at 24 North Street, a house they shared with two other families. Move forward, and they were living four doors down the road at No. 28, a smaller cottage, but one they had to themselves.

Samuel Jr, at this point, was sixteen years old, but had completed his schooling and was working as a hotel waiter. His younger brother, Albert, had also started work, and was employed as an apprentice coach builder. Samuel Sr, meanwhile, was continuing with his cabinet making.

When war broke out, Samuel Jr was one of the first to enlist. While full details of his time in the army have been lost, it is clear that he joined the Devonshire Regiment, and he was initially attached to the 1st/6th Battalion.

Pte. SJ Harris proceeded to India and Mesopotamia with the Territorials. The hardships of campaigning and the trying climate in Mesopotamia proved too much for his constitution.

[Western Times: Friday 9th November 1917]

Samuel returned to Britain, and was admitted to the military hospital in Sutton Veny, Wiltshire. He passed away on 29th October 1917, from a combination of tuberculosis and a cyst in his back. He was 22 years of age.

Despite the apparent weakness in his constitution, the Western Times reported on his youth in South Molton:

The young man was very popular among his comrades in arms, and at Sutton Veny a general favourite. Prior to th war he was a familiar figure at football matches, having played for various teams at [South Molton] and in the district.

[Western Times: Friday 9th November 1917]

The body of Samuel John Harris was brought back to Devon for burial. He was laid to rest in the South Molton Cemetery, just a sort walk from his grieving family’s home.

Commonwealth War Graves, Devon, Great War, history, illness, New Zealand, New Zealand Rifle Brigade, photography, Rifleman, story, war, Wiltshire

Rifleman Alfred Glastonbury

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Rifleman Alfred Glastonbury

Alfred George Glastonbury – who was better known as Jack – was born on 26th June 1882 in Canvastown, New Zealand. The oldest of fourteen children, he was one of nine sons to Alfred and Matilda Glastonbury.

There is little concrete information about Jack’s early life. He found work with New Zealand Railways, and married Eliza Taylor on 30th January 1904. The couple had a son – also called Alfred – on 2nd December 1908, but Eliza passed away just a couple of weeks after he was born.

Jack married a second time in July 1914, to Ann Leeks. Setting up home in Ohingaiti, they went on to have three children: John, Norah and Harold.

When war came, men of the Empire were called upon to play their part. Jack enlisted on 30th May 1916, and was assigned tot he New Zealand Rifle Brigade. His service records show that he was 5ft 4ins (1.63m) tall, and weighed 182lbs (82.6kg). He had light brown hair, blie eyes and a fair complexion: he was also recorded as never being absent from his job as a surfaceman through sickness or accident, but did have signs of varicose veins in his left leg.

Rifleman Glastonbury’s unit departed from Wellington on 25th September 1916. The troop ship Devon arrived in Devonport, England, two months later, and the regiment marched to Sling, near Bulford, Wiltshire, where they would be based.

Jack’s time there would be brief, however. He was admitted to the No. 3 New Zealand General Hospital in Codford on 3rd December, suffering from gastritis. He would succumb to the condition quickly, passing away on 5th December 1916: he was 34 years of age.

Alfred George ‘Jack’ Glastonbury was laid to rest in the ANZAC extension to St Mary’s Churchyard, Codford, cloe to the hospital in which he had breathed his last.

Rifleman Alfred Glastonbury
(from findagrave.com)
Commonwealth War Graves, Devon, Great War, history, illness, photography, Private, Royal Army Medical Corps, Somerset, story, war, Wiltshire

Private Alfred Darch

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Private Alfred Darch

Alfred James Darch was born early in 1884, the second of seven children to James and Emily Darch. James was a postman and labourer from Somerset, but the family were brought up in Devon village of Clayhidon.

By the time of the 1901 census, the family had moved over the border to Wellington. Alfred had completed his schooling, and was working as a showmaker’s assistant. He committed himself to the role, and by 1911 was a shoemaker in his own right. By this point he was one of two of the Darch children to still be living with his parents: the family were settled at 22 Eight Acres Lane in Wellington.

When war broke out, Alfred stepped up to play his part. On 19th October 1916 he enlisted, joining the Army Medical Corps. His service records show that he was 5ft 4ins (1.63m) tall. They also suggested that his right leg was slightly shorter than his left, following an old dislocation. Private Darch had also had an operation for appendicitis five years previously.

Alfred was sent to Codford, Wiltshire, where the No. 3 New Zealand General Hospital was located. His time there was to be tragically short, however. On 17th November he was admitted himself, suffering with some breathing complications. The medical report noted that he was “vaccinated a fortnight ago. Bad, sore, inflamed arm. Reported sick eight days later with general malaise, slightly sore throat, slight headache – some cough. He had one anti-typhoid inoculation 2 or 3 days before vaccination… Has had no [previous] chest trouble… Face flushed. Temp 104.8. Pulse 100. Tongue white in centre, red at sides. Breath extremely foul. Voice hoarse. Breathing quiet. Not distressed.”

Over the nest week, Private Darch’s health deteriorated. Pleurisy was suggested, but when he passed away, at 5:45am on 24th November 1916, the diagnosis was pneumonia. He was 32 years of age.

Alfred James Darch was laid to rest in the extension to St Marys Church, Codford, not far from the base to which he had been sent just weeks before.

Commonwealth War Graves, Devon, Great War, history, illness, New Zealand, New Zealand Rifle Brigade, photography, Rifleman, story, war, Wiltshire

Rifleman Edward Foster

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Rifleman Edward Foster

The early life of Edward Foster is destined to remain lost in the mists of time. Born in Sydenham, Christchurch, New Zealand on 16th May 1883, the only family connection available is Arthur Norman, a half-brother.

By 1916, Edward was working as a labourer and living in the British Empire Hotel in Gisborne. At this point, however, war was raging across the world, and New Zealanders were being called upon to serve their King.

Edward stepped up to play his part, and his service records confirm the man he had become. At 32 years of age, he stood 5ft 9ins (1.75m) tall and weighed 11st 4lbs (71.7kg). He had light brown hair, blue eyes and a fair complexion and, interestingly, his medical report notes that, while he was fit to serve, he was of very deficient intelligence. Edward’s papers also report that in around 1906 he had spent two months in a Wanganui prison.

Assigned to the New Zealand Rifle Brigade, Rifleman Foster’s unit set sail from Wellington on 19th August 1916. Their ship, the SS Aparima, would arrive in Devonport, Devon towards the end of October. Edward spent nearly three weeks of the of the voyage in the ship’s hospital, suffering from influenza.

When the brigade arrived in Britain, they were marched to camp in Sling, near Bulford, Wiltshire. Rifleman Foster’s health was still causing issues, however, and, on 10th November 1916, he was transferred to the No. 3 New Zealand General Hospital, near the Codford ANZAC base. He was suffering from bronchial pneumonia, and this was to take his life. He died on 14th November 1916, at the age of 33 years old.

Edward Foster was laid to rest in the new extension to St Mary’s Churchyard in Codford. Thousands of miles from home, he was surrounded by tens of his army colleagues.

Australia, Commonwealth War Graves, Devon, Great War, history, illness, New Zealand, New Zealand Rifle Brigade, photography, Private, Rifleman, story, war, Wiltshire

Rifleman John Delaney

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Rifleman John Delaney

Little information is available on the early life of Rifleman John Delaney. Born in Launceston, Ausrtalia, on 31st January 1888, by the summer of 1916 he was working as a shepherd in the New Zealand settlement of Whatatutu.

It was here that he enlisted in the country’s Expeditionary Force, and was assigned to the Rifle Brigade. His service records note that, at 28 years of age, he was 5ft 9ins (1.75m) tall and weighed 143lbs (64.9kg). The record confirms that he had fair hair, grey eyes and a fair complexion. He had tattoos on both forearms, and a scar on his left foot. The service docmentation also gives his next-of-kin as his friend, Mr G Garrett of Springbank, near Canterbury, on New Zealand’s South Island.

John’s unit boarded the TSS Maunganui in Wellington on 15th November 1916, embarking on the ten week voyage to Britain. Arriving in Devonport on 29th January 1917, Rifleman Delaney arrived at the ANZAC camp in Codford, Wiltshire, a few days later.

The journey had taken its toll on a lot of the newly arrived troops. John was admitted to the No. 3 New Zealand General Hospital on the outskirts of the camp with pneumonia on 10th February. His condition was to prove too severe, however, and he passed away just seven days later. He was 29 years of age.

John Delaney was laid to rest in the specially extended graveyard of St Mary’s Church in Codford.

Across the available documentation, John’s rank is given as both Private and Rifleman. I have used the latter rank, as this is what is provided by the Commonwealth War Graves Commission.

Rifleman John Delaney
(from findagrave.com)
Commonwealth War Graves, Devon, Great War, history, illness, New Zealand, New Zealand Canterbury Regiment, photography, Private, story, war, Wiltshire

Private Charles Tombs

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Private Charles Tombs

Charles Tombs was born on 26th November 1875 in Sefton, New Zealand. The seventh of eight children, his parents were Job and Elizabeth Tombs.

There is little information available about Charles’ early life. He found work as a chainman, working as a labourer in a sawmill.

On 11th December 1899, Charles married Eliza Pound, the daughter of immigrants from Somerset. The couple settled in Wairau, and went on to have six children: John, Charles, Arthur, William, Ronald and Alice.

(The Tombs and Pounds seemed to have been closely connected: Charles’ younger brother John, went on to marry Eliza’s younger sister, Elizabeth.)

Sadly, Eliza died in 1910, leaving Charles to raise four children (John and Alice having died when just babes-in-arms), alone. A later document gives Charles’ next-of-kin as Mrs R Register, who was, in fact, his younger sister, Mary (who had married Robert Register in 1907).

War was coming, and Charles would be called upon to serve his long-distant King and Empire. On 26th July 1916, he stepped up, and enlisted in the New Zealand Canterbury Regiment. His service records show that, at 40 years of age, he was 5ft 5ins (1.65m) tall, and weighed 119lbs (54kg). He had brown hair, blue eyes and a dark complexion.

Private Tombs’ unit departed from New Zealand on 15th November 1916, making the journey to Britain on the RMS Tahiti. The journey took nearly three months, and Charles arrived in Devonport, Devon, on 29th January 1917.

The ANZAC camp near Codford, Wiltshire, was to be Private Tombs ultimate destination, and he arrived there a couple of days after landing in Britain. After a lengthy journey, his health had been impacted, as had many of the men he had travelled with.

Suffering from bronchitis, Charles was admitted to the No. 3 New Zealand General Hospital on the outskirts of the camp. The condition was to prove his undoing, and he passed away on 17th February 1917. He was 41 years of age.

Charles Tombs was laid to rest in the ANZAC extension to St Mary’s Churchyard in Codford, Wiltshire.

Private Charles Tombs
(from findagrave.com)
Australia, Australian Army Nursing Service, Commonwealth War Graves, Egypt, Great War, history, illness, London, Matron, Nurse, photography, sister, story, war, Wiltshire

Matron Jean Walker

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Matron Jean Miles-Walker

Jean Nellie Miles Walker was born in Hamilton, Tasmania, on 16th November 1878. Her parents were Arthur and Louisa Walker, and her surname moves from Walker to Miles-Walker, depending on the document. There is little information about Jean’s early life, but by 1906 she had taken up nursing.

When war broke out, Jean was quick to step up and help those who were fighting. Initially enlisting on 27th September 1914, she was assigned to a hospital ship a year later, arriving in Ismailia, Egypt, in January 1916.

Now a Sister in the Australian Army Nursing Service, Jean’s records shot the woman she had become. At 36 years of age, she was 5ft 10ins (1.78m) tall, and weighed 128lbs (58kg). She had dark brown hair, brown eyes and a dark complexion.

Over the next couple of years, Sister Walker moved to where she was needed. By September 1916 she was attached to the No. 15 General Hospital in Alexandria, by the end of the year saw her in the 3rd Australian Auxiliary Hospital in London. Jean’s service records note that she was mentioned in despatches on 1st October 1916, but there is no clarification about why she was recognised.

Jean was promoted to Matron in the summer of 1917, and over the next year, she spent time at hospitals in both Britain and France. By the autumn of 1918, she had moved to the No. 1 Australian General Hospital in Sutton Veny, Wiltshire. It was while based here that she fell ill, contracting a fatal combination of influenza and pneumonia.

Sister Walker passed away in the Sisters’ Quarters on 30th October 1918. She was just a couple of weeks short of her 40th birthday.

Jean Nellie Miles Walker was laid to rest in the grounds of St John’s Church, Sutton Veny, close to the hospital in which she had served.

Matron Jean Walker
(from findagrave.com)
Australia, Australian Army Nursing Service, Commonwealth War Graves, Great War, history, illness, Nurse, photography, sister, Staff Nurse, story, war

Sister Fanny Tyson

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Sister Fanny Tyson

Fanny Isobel Catherine Tyson was born in Balranald, New South Wales, Australia, in 1890, and was the fourth of ten children to John and Teresa Tyson.

There is little information about Fanny’s early life, but when she finished her schooling, she went into the medical profession, and, by October 1911 she was working as a nurse at Bendijo Public Hospital. She became a staff sister and, when war broke out, she stepped up to support the troops being sent to Europe.

On 20th May 1915, Fanny enrolled in the Australian Army Nursing Service and by the following spring, she was on her way across the world. Arriving in France on 6th April 1916, she soon made her way to Rouen. For the next fourteen months Staff Nurse Tyson was attached to the No. 1 Australian General Hospital, but in the summer of 1917, she transferred to the No. 10 Stationary Hospital in Saint-Omer.

Fanny was committed to her job, which would have been traumatic at the best of times. She moved to Dieppe in February 1918, and in the closing weeks of the war, she transferred to Britain, working at the 2nd Australian General Hospital in Southall, Middlesex. On 1st October 1918 she was promoted to the rank of Sister.

Fanny would remain in Britain through the Armistice and beyond. On 20th April 1919, she was admitted to the No. 1 Australian General Hospital in Sutton Veny. Her service records do not confirm what had taken her to Wiltshire, but it seems likely that she was either accompanying wounded soldiers being transferred to Southall, or was training or supporting nurses there.

Sister Tyson had suffered a cerebral haemorrhage. She passed away that evening, as the age of 28 years old.

Fanny Isobel Catherine Tyson was laid to rest in the grounds of St John’s Church, Sutton Veny. She was buried alongside the soldiers her unit had made comfortable in their last days.

Sister Fanny Tyson
(from findagrave.com)
Commonwealth War Graves, Devon, Devonshire Regiment, Egypt, Great War, history, India, injury, photography, story, war, Wiltshire

Private James Burge

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Private James Burge

James Thomas Burge was born in Plymouth, Devon, in the summer of 1887. The oldest of five children, his parents were sawyer James Burge and his wife, Alice. James Sr moved the family to where the work took him: by the time of the 1901 census, the Burges had lived in and around the Plymouth area, including Devonport and Stonehouse. They settled in Ashburton, Devon, and the document found them living on Mill Lane.

When James Jr finished his schooling, he found work as a mill hand. By 1911, he had moved to Buckfastleigh, and was living with the Crook family on Silver Street. Henry Crook was a mason’s labourer, while he and his wife Bessie had three children, Hilda, Ada and Ruby. Living with them when the census was taken, were Bessie’s widowed brother Samuel, his daughter, Bessie, and three boarders, including James.

There are two intriguing things about this census document. The first is that of James’ employment. While he was recorded as being a mill hand, it is evident from his service records that he had enlisted in the 5th (Prince of Wales’) Battalion of the Devonshire Regiment by this point. He had completed training on Salisbury Plain in August 1910, and would undertake further instruction in the summer of 1911, but in between times, he remained on reserve status, and would have needed to earn money.

The second point of interest is that his service records noted that, by the time he was formally mobilised in August 1914, he was married to a woman called Hilda, who lived on Silver Street in Buckfastleigh. While there are no documents available to fully confirm this, it seems likely that this Hilda was Hilda Crook, the daughter of the family James was boarding with in 1911.

Once embodied, Private Burge’s time in the army took him around the world. By October 1914, his unit had been sent to India, and he would remain there for the next eighteen months. After a two-month stint on home soil, he returned to India, before his unit moved to Egypt in March 1917.

On 7th November 1917, while advancing on the enemy forces in Gaza James was struck in his right leg by a fragment of shell. He was wounded near the top of his fibula and, after initially being treated in the field hospital, he was evacuated to Alexandria, Egypt, for treatment. He was operated on, but from that point on had difficulty walking.

Private Burge was transferred to the 4th Reserve Depot, but his injury prevented him from undertaking many of the duties required of him. He was recommended for permanent transfer to England. Ultimately, however, his wound proved too severe, and he was formally discharged from military service on 25th February 1919.

At this point, James’ trail goes cold. He returned to Buckfastleigh, but would not be back on civvy street for long. He passed away on 22nd May 1919, at the age of 31 years old.

James Thomas Burge was laid to rest in the graveyard of Holy Trinity Church, in the Devon town he had made his home.