Tag Archives: wounded

Commonwealth War Graves, Dragoon Guards, Great War, history, injury, photography, Private, Somerset, story, war

Private John Hallett

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Private John Hallett

John Hallett – better known as Jack – was born in the spring of 1891 in the Somerset town of Frome. One of twelve children, his parents were carpenter Frederick Hallett and his wife, Elizabeth. When he left school, Jack found work at a printer’s, helping with the typesetting.

War was approaching, and Jack was keen to do his bit. While full details of his military service are not available, it is clear that he enlisted as a Private in the Royal Irish Dragoon Guards. He served in France with the 4th Battalion, arriving there in October 1915.

A later report suggests that Private Hallett was “seriously wounded several times during the war” [Somerset Standard: Friday 30th January 1920], although no specific details are available about his injuries. He survived the conflict and was awarded the British and Victory Medals and the 1915 Star for his service.

Demobbed and back at home, it seems that John did not fully recover from his wounds. He was admitted to the Victoria Hospital in Frome in January 1920, and died there a matter of days later. He was just 28 years old.

John Hallett was laid to rest in the graveyard of Christ Church in his home town of Frome, Somerset.

The local newspaper gave a more detailed report on John’s funeral:

Ex-Soldier’s Death

The funeral took place yesterday afternoon at Christ Church of Mr John Hallett, aged 29, of The Butts, Frome, who passed away at the Victoria Hospital on Friday last. Deceased had been seriously wounded several times during the war, and a day or two ago was removed to the hospital. The Rev. J Howard Lewis conducted the service, which was attended by local Oddfellows, to which society the deceased belonged, and by a number of other representative mourners.

Somerset Standard: Friday 20th January 1920
Bandsman, Commonwealth War Graves, Great War, history, injury, photography, Seaforth Highlanders, Somerset, story, war

Bandsman William Pothecary

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Bandsman William Pothecary

William James Pothecary was born in Frome, Somerset, on 24th April 1891, one of six children – and the only boy – to Francis and Annie Maria Pothecary. Francis was a groom, and the couple raised the family in Pilly Vale (now Willow Vale) which ran alongside the River Frome in the centre of the town.

Little further information on William’s early life is available, although it seems he was a keen musician, and took up the oboe at an early age. He joined the 2nd Seaforth Highlanders in 1909 as a Bandsman, and, from later reports, was a talented player.

When was broke out, William was sent to the front, but in 1915, while caught up in the Second Battle of Ypres, he was buried and seriously wounded by a bomb. He was sent to a convalescent home in Ireland, recovered reasonably well and returned to France, where he served until the end of the war.

Bandsman Pothecary was demobbed in July 1919 and returned to Somerset. The following year, he needed an operation following the recurrence of the issues he encountered following his injury, and all seemed to be going well for a long-term recovery.

William had a relapse in the summer of 1921, and was admitted to Bath Hospital. Sadly, however, he was not to recover this time, and he passed away on 20th June. He had just turned 30 years old.

William James Pothecary was laid to rest in the graveyard of Christ Church in his home town of Frome.

The Somerset Standard gave a glowing obituary for young William:

Death of an “Old Contemptible”

The was, through the fighting is over, still claims victims from the ranks of survivors. On Monday, Mr William James Pothecary, one of the “Old Contemptibles”, died in the Pensions Hospital at Bath from the effects of wounds which he received in 1915. He was the only son of Mr and Mrs FW Pothecary, of Bath Street, and very deep sympathy is felt with the parents and sisters in their great bereavement. Mt WJ Pothecary was an old Regular.

Nearly twelve years ago he joined the 2nd Seaforths. He was a talented player of the oboe, and it was his love of music which prompted him to become a bandsman in the 2nd Seaforths. He had previously been a bugle boy in the old Volunteers, and afterwards a member of the Territorial Band. And at the time of his death he was one of the most valued players in the Frome Town Military Band.

He went to France with his regiment in 1914. In 1915 he was seriously wounded and buried by a bomb. His condition was critical for a long time, but he slowly recovered and was sent to a convalescent camp in Ireland. He remained there for a considerable time, and when he was deemed medically fit he was sent to France a second time. He continued to serve in France until after the Armistice. He was discharged from the Army in July 1919.

Last year it was necessary for him to undergo a very serious operation in hospital. The operation was successful, and it was hoped there would be a permanent recovery. But on Thursday last there was a recurrence of an old trouble, and he was removed to Bath Hospital, where he died on Monday morning.

He was a talented and promising young fellow, and his death is deeply deplored by his many friends, and not least by his fellow members of the Frome Town Military Band.

Somerset Standard: Friday 24th June 1921
Commonwealth War Graves, Great War, history, injury, photography, Private, Royal Army Medical Corps, Somerset, story, war

Private Charlie Badman

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Private Charlie Badman

Charles Badman – better known as Charlie – was born in 1895 in the Somerset seaside town of Weston-super-Mare. His parents were stonemason Henry Badman and his wife Caroline.

Unfortunately, there is little documented information about Charlie’s early life. By the time of the 1911 census, the family were living in a terraced house in Clevedon Road, Weston-super-Mare, a short distance from the sea. Charlie’s four oldest brothers had left home by this point, but his other two siblings – his dressmaker sister Martha and his plasterer brother Arthur – were still living with their parents. Charlie, at this point, was still at school.

When war was declared, Charlie was keen to do his bit. He enlisted in the Royal Army Medical Corps, and was assigned to the 65th Field Ambulance as a Private. This section was connected to the 21st Division, which saw action on the Western Front at Loos, the Somme, Arras, Passchendaele and Cambrai, although it is not possible to determine how Private Badman was involved in these battles. He was awarded, however, the Victory and British Medals for his service.

The only other concrete information available for Charlie is the inscription on his gravestone. This confirms that he was wounded in France on 7th September 1918. It seems that he was medically evacuated to England, and was admitted to a military hospital in Bristol, not far from his family in Somerset.

Sadly, it seems that his wounds proved too severe; he died at the hospital five months later, on 4th February 1919, aged just 25 years old.

Charlie Badman was brought back to Weston-super-Mare for burial. He lies at rest in the Milton Road Cemetery in the town.

Commonwealth War Graves, Great War, history, illness, Ireland, Kent, photography, Royal Navy, Stoker, story, war

Stoker 1st Class Christopher Hickey

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Stoker 1st Class Christopher Hickey

Christopher Hickey was born on Christmas Eve 1891, in Wicklow, Southern Ireland. Full details of his early life are not available, but his mother was called Mary and he had at least one sibling, a sister called Catherine.

When he left school, he worked as a gardener but, when the war broke out, he enlisted, joining the Royal Navy on 5th November 1915. His enlistment records show that he stood 5ft 6ins (1.67m) tall, had brown hair, brown eyes and a fresh complexion.

Stoker 2nd Class Hickey received his initial training at HMS Pembroke, the shore establishment at the Naval Dockyard in Chatham, Kent. In February 1916, he was assigned to HMS Champion, a cruiser that, during his time on board, served as a flagship during the Battle of Jutland that summer.

Christopher returned to HMS Pembroke in November 1916, having been promoted to Stoker 1st Class. He served there until the following March, when he was admitted to the local Naval hospital with pyaemia (or sepsis). Sadly, this proved too much for his body to take and he died on 20th March 1917 at the age of 25 years old.

Christopher’s body was laid to rest in the Woodlands Cemetery in Gillingham, Kent, not far from the base at which he had served.

Interestingly, the Irish Memorial Records for the Great War confirm Christopher’s passing, but give the cause of death as ‘died of wounds’, although I have been unable to find anything else to corroborate this. It may be that sepsis set after he was wounded, but it is reasonable to assume that full details will remain lost to time.

Commonwealth War Graves, Great War, history, injury, London, Machine Gun Corps, photography, Private, Somerset, story, war, Wiltshire

Private Percy Coward

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Private Percy Coward

Percy Herbert Coward was born in the Wiltshire town of Westbury in the autumn of 1896. He was one of seven children – all boys – to Lily Coward and her weaver husband Charles. Not long after Percy was born, the family moved across the county border to Frome, Somerset, presumably for Charles’ work.

By the time of the 1911 census, the Coward family were living in a five-room end-of-terrace cottage on the outskirts of the town. Charles and Percy were both working as warpers – threading looms – in the cloth industry; two of his brothers were working for a printer in the town. Percy was proving himself an integral part of the community.

[Percy] was very highly esteemed by a large circle of acquaintances… He was a worker with the YMCA and Frome Brotherhood, a member of the band and in other directions showed himself a young man of much promise. He was employed successively at Messrs Houston’s [Woollen Mill] and at the Silk Factory.

Somerset Standard: Friday 26th April 1918

An active member of the town’s territorial force, when the Great War broke out he was mobilised. Initially attached to the Royal Army Medical Corps, he subsequently served with the Royal Army Service Corps and the North Staffordshire Regiment, before obtaining his final transfer to the 42nd Company of the Machine Gun Corps.

During his time in the army, Private Coward would have seen action in some of the fiercest battles of the war – at the Somme, Arras and Ypres. In the spring of 1918, his battalion was involved in the Battles of St Quentin and the Avre, and it was during this last skirmish that he was wounded.

Percy’s injuries were severe enough for him to be medically evacuated back to England and, once there, he was admitted to the Royal Woolwich Hospital in South London. His wounds were to prove too much for him, however, and he passed away at the hospital on 12th April 1918. He was just 21 years of age.

Percy Herbert Coward was brought back to Somerset for burial. He was laid to rest in the Dissenters’ Cemetery, Vallis Road, within walking distance of his family home.

Commonwealth War Graves, Devonshire Regiment, Great War, history, injury, photography, Private, Somerset, story, war

Private Frederick White

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Private Frederick White

Frederick James White was born in the autumn of 1898, one of four children to Frederick and Emma White. Frederick Sr was a gas fitter from Frome, and the Somerset town was where the family were raised.

As a youngster, Frederick Jr attended the Primitive Methodist Sunday School in the town. He also acted as treasurer for the local YMCA. He was only 15 when war broke out, so was not able to enlist immediately.

However, by 1916 he had joined the 1st Battalion of the Devonshire Regiment as a Private and, at some point, was assigned to the Royal North Devon Hussars.

Either way, in whichever regiment he served, Frederick saw fighting in France, and was wounded in the autumn of 1917. Medically evacuated back to England, he was admitted to the temporary military hospital at Collegiate Hall in Sheffield.

The local newspaper shed a little more light into Frederick’s life:

Deceased, who was in the North Devon Hussars, died on November 22nd, at Sheffield, of wounds he received on November 5th. He was brought back to England three weeks to the day from the time he sailed for France.

Somerset Standard: Friday 30th November 1917

Private White’s wounds were too much; he passed away at the age of just 19 years old.

Frederick James White’s body was brought back to his home town. He was laid to rest in the Dissenters’ Cemetery in Vallis Road, Frome.

Frederick Sr and Emma White would have been understandably saddened by their son’s passing. They had four children; their eldest, Florence, had passed away before reaching her first birthday. Their youngest, Reginald, had died in childbirth. Frederick had died as a result of the First World War.

Sadly, the tragedy wasn’t yet over. Their only surviving child, Frederick’s younger brother William, passed away in August 1919, aged just 17 years old.

Frederick Sr and Emma had outlived all of their children, none of whom had reached or survived their teenage years.

Commonwealth War Graves, Great War, history, injury, Kings Royal Rifle Corps, Lance Corporal, photography, Somerset, story, war

Lance Corporal Henry Preece

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Lance Corporal Henry Preece

Henry Thomas Preece was born in the summer of 1884, one of seven children to agricultural labourer Tom Preece and his wife, Sarah. Thomas had been born in the Somerset village of Nunney, and it was here that he raised his family.

When Henry left school, he chose not to follow in his father’s agricultural footsteps. By the time of the 1911 census, he was recorded as a baker and, as such, would have been at the heart of village life in Nunney.

Henry married local woman Ellen Stone in 1909, who was a dressmaker with her own account. The couple would go on to have four children between 1909 and 1916.

With war looming, Henry felt the need to play his part. He joined the King’s Royal Rifle Corps in January 1916 and, after training, was sent to France a couple of months later.

He was wounded on July 25th, when out with a wiring party erecting barbed wire obstacles. He received a gun-shot wound in the abdomen, which also injured the spinal cord and his back. He was first taken to the South African Hospital at the base, and after being there for several days he was removed to England and take to the Netley Hospital where he died…

Somerset Standard: Friday 8th September 1916

Lance Corporal Preece died on 3rd September 1916, at the age of 32 years old. His body was brought back to Nunney, where he was laid to rest in the family grave at All Saints’ Church.

Lance Corporal Henry Preece
(from britishnewspaperarchive.com)
Commonwealth War Graves, Great War, history, injury, Lance Corporal, photography, Private, Royal Sussex Regiment, story, Surrey, Sussex, war

Lance Corporal Harry Cheeseman

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Lance Corporal Harry Cheeseman

Harry George Cheeseman was born in the summer of 1893, one of eleven children to Charles and Sarah Cheeseman. Charles was an innkeeper, and ran the now-closed Red Lion Inn in Angmering, West Sussex for more than twenty years.

Harry did not follow in his father’s footsteps when he left school. Instead, he moved in with his older sister and her family in Horsham, where he worked as a roundsman on his brother-in-law’s dairy farm.

When war broke out, Harry was eager to enlist. He joined the Royal Sussex Regiment on 16th September 1914, and was assigned as a Private to the 9th (Service) Battalion.

Initially formed in Chichester, Private Cheeseman found himself moved to Portslade, then Shoreham, then Woking in Surrey, before eventually being sent to France at the beginning of September 1915. By this point, he had proved his worth and had been promoted to Lance Corporal.

Harry’s bravery shone through; in November 1915, while battle was raging, he brought an injured colleague into a field hospital and was about to rescue another when he himself was injured. His wound – a gun shot wound to the spine – was initially treated on site, but he was soon evacuated back to England.

Lance Corporal Cheeseman’s injuries proved to be life-changing. A later newspaper report stated that he had been “physically helpless” [Worthing Gazette: Wednesday 5th March 1917], so paralysis seems likely. Awarded the British and Victory Medals and the 1914 Star, he was medically discharged from the army in May 1916.

Harry returned home, but never really recovered from his injuries. He died on 26th February 1917, at the tender age of 23 years old. His funeral “which was of a most impressive character, was witnessed by five hundred people” [Worthing Gazette: Wednesday 5th March 1917], and he was laid to rest in the graveyard of St Margaret’s Church in his home town.

Commonwealth War Graves, Dorset, Dorsetshire Regiment, Great War, history, injury, photography, Private, Somerset, story, war

Private Edward Rendell

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Private Edward Rendell

Edward Rendell was born in the Dorset town of Corfe Castle in 1894. His parents were Edward and Sophie Rendell, and he had two siblings, William and Agnes.

Sadly, little information on Edward Jr’s early life is available. His father was a farmer – or at least an agricultural labourer – and this is the line of work his son went into.

When war broke out, Edward Jr was quick to play a part, enlisting within a fortnight of hostilities being declared. He joined the 1st Battalion of the Dorsetshire Regiment as a Private and, after initial training, was sent out to the Western Front by March 1915.

Private Rendell’s battalion was involved in the fighting at Ypres and, on 19th April 1915, he was injured, receiving a gun shot wound to his left arm. Initially treated in the field, he was later transferred to a hospital in Boulogne, before being evacuated back to England to recover.

Reunited with his regiment, Edward was then shipped out to Gallipoli, arriving there in September 1915. While he is likely to have been involved in the fighting in Turkey, he did end up in hospital, but was suffering from influenza.

A couple of weeks later, he is recorded as being admitted to a hospital in Malta, although whether this was also because of the lung condition is not clear. Either way, Private Rendell was back in England by mid-December 1915, remaining in the country for six months.

In March 1916, he again returned to the fray and was posted back to the Western Front. Private Rendell spent a couple of months in battle until, on 21st June 1916, he received a gunshot and shrapnel wound to his thigh. The injury was serious enough for him to be medically evacuated back to England, and he was admitted to the Voluntary Aid Detachment Hospital at Norton-sub-Hamdon in Somerset.

Sadly, while his treatment may have bought Private Rendell some time, it seems that his wounds were too severe; he passed away on 30th July 1916 at the age of just 22 years old.

By this time both of Edward’s parents were dead; his next of kin was his sister, Agnes. While she was still living in Dorset, Edward was laid to rest in St Mary’s Churchyard in Norton-sub-Hamdon.

Commonwealth War Graves, Great War, history, illness, photography, Private, Somerset, Somerset Light Infantry, story, war

Private Charles Samways

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Private Charles Samways

Charles Samways was born in Yeovil, Somerset, in the summer of 1893, the oldest of three children to leather dresser George Samways and his wife Martha.

Sadly, little documentation on Charles’ life remains. The 1911 census lists him as living in a small house to the north of Yeovil town centre with his mother and younger brother – his sister Nellie having passed away in 1903 when she was just a toddler. Martha was working as a dressmaker, Charles as a glove cutter, but George does not appear on the document.

War was approaching, and Charles was keen to do his bit. While full details are not available for his military service, it is evident that he enlisted as a Private in the Somerset Light Infantry, and that he did so at some point before the summer of 1918. He joined the 12th (West Somerset Yeomanry) Battalion, which was initially based in the Middle East. The battalion arrived in France in May 1918, and soon became embroiled on the Western Front, including at the Second Battle of the Somme.

The Western Chronicle reported that “Private C Samways… [was] in hospital at Warrington, Lancashire, suffering from wounds in the head and hands. He was struck by a piece of shell when going ‘over the top’, and the fact that he was wearing a steel helmet undoubtedly saved his life.” [Western Chronicle: Friday 13th September 1918] It went on to state that he was “progressing favourably.“

Within weeks, Charles was recovering at home, although this was sadly not to last. He passed away from ‘disease’ on 6th November 1918, aged just 25 years old.

Charles Samways was laid to rest in Yeovil Cemetery, finally at peace.

The specific cause of Charles’ death is not documented. However, given that his father George also died at home around the same time, it seems likely to have been one of the many lung conditions – influenza, tuberculosis, pneumonia – that became prevalent as the war came to a close.