Frederick John Ashton was born in Taunton, Somerset, in 1892. He was one of eight children to scavenger and labourer Thomas Ashton and his wife Susanna.
When he left school, Frederick found work as a carter, and this is the job he was doing in 1913, when he married local woman Ethel May Lock. The young couple went on to have two children, Olive and Phyllis.
War was on the horizon, and Frederick enlisted in June 1916. Initially assigned to the Royal Berkshire Regiment, Private Ashton was shipped off to France within a couple of months.
During his time there, he was promoted to Lance Corporal, but requested being reverted back to his previous rank a few months later. By this point, he had been transferred to the Labour Corps, the regiment in which he served for the rest of his time.
In March 1918, Frederick was badly wounded, and found himself invalided back to England. He was admitted to the Northumberland War Hospital in Newcastle-upon-Tyne, where his right leg was amputated. Sadly, it appears that the treatment came too late, and Private Ashton passed away on 27th August 1918. He was just 26 years old.
Frederick John Ashton lies at rest in St Mary’s Cemetery in his home town of Taunton.
Archibald Charles Mark Walsh was born on 3rd February 1892, the youngest of three children to Henry Alfred Walsh and his wife Ann. Henry had a distinguished military career, and his sons – Archibald and his older brother Theobald – seemed destined to do the same.
Henry’s service took him around the world, and, by the time Archibald was born, the family had settled in Devon. In tracing the family’s life, however, an unusual quirk arises around the turn of the century.
In 1901, the majority of the Walsh family disappear from census records. For someone like Henry, this would not be unusual; his career took him overseas, and it is likely that records were lost or destroyed.
However, Archibald and his sister Gwladys do appear in the records. They are set up in a seafront villa in the Kent town of Hythe, Gwladys is listed as both a school pupil and the head of the household – at the age of 14 – and the two siblings are living there with a governess, Mary Porter.
By the time of the next census, Cadet Walsh had followed his father into the military. He was a student at the Military Academy in Woolwich, and the following year achieved his commission, becoming a Second Lieutenant in the Royal Horse Artillery.
When war broke out, Archibald’s regiment were shipped off to the Western Front. In March 1915, he was caught up in the Battle of Neuve Chapelle, and was badly wounded.
Shipped back to England for treatment, he was admitted to the Hall-Walker Hospital for Officers in Regents Park, London. Sadly, Second Lieutenant Walsh’s injuries were too severe, and he passed away on 18th March 1915. He was just 23 years old.
Brought back to Taunton, near his family home, Archibald Charles Mark Walsh lies at rest in St Mary’s Cemetery.
Cyril John Rowsell was born in the spring of 1897, one of four children to John and Edith Rowsell. John had been married previously, to a woman called Martha. She had died in 1893, not long after giving birth to the second of their two children – sadly, the child died when little more than a babe in arms. Cyril, therefore, had a half-sibling in his older brother Albert, as well as two full brothers, Richard and George, and a sister, Irene.
Cyril had been born in the Somerset village of Yeovil Marsh, but his father had moved the family to nearby Haselbury Plucknett, where he was the local miller.
John Rowsell was obviously a man of many talents, because, by the 1911 census, he was listed as a dairy manager. By now Cyril was 14 years old, and the family had moved again, this time to the village of Westbury-sub-Mendip, near Wells.
War was on the horizon, and Cyril seemed keen to play his part as early as he could. Full details of his military service are not readily available, but it is evident that he enlisted soon after the conflict began.
Cyril enlisted in the Somerset Light Infantry in 1914 and was assigned to the 1st Battalion as a Private. The Somerset Light Infantry were involved in a number of the fiercest battles on the Western Front, and he seems to have been lucky enough to escape injury until April 1918.
During the Battle of Bethune, Private Rowsell was shot and injured. Initially treated at the scene, he was evacuated to England and admitted to the General Hospital in Birmingham. Sadly, he did not recover from his wounds, and he passed away on 30th April 1918. He was just 21 years of age.
Cyril John Rowsell lies at peace in the graveyard of St Lawrence’s Church in Westbury-sub-Mendip, Somerset.
Francis William George Packer was born in Bristol on 28th July 1884. The eldest of three children, he was the son of a grocer, Francis Packer Sr, and his wife, Eliza.
When Francis left school, he followed his father into the grocery business and married Kate Taverner on 1st September 1907. They had one child, a daughter called Dora, in 1909 and, by the time of the census two years later, Francis had moved his young family to Bath.
By the time he was called up, in December 1915, Francis had moved the family again, this time to the sleepy village of Blagdon, in the Somerset Mendips. He formally enlisted in the Machine Gun Corps of the Somerset Light Infantry in July 1916, and was sent to the front in January the following year.
Private Packer’s battalion fought at Arras, and it was here that he was injured. On 1st May 1917, he received a gunshot wound to his right thigh, which fractured his femur. He was initially treated on site, before being shipped back to England, where he was admitted to King George’s Hospital in London.
Sadly, it seems there were complications with his treatment, and Private Packer died from his wounds four months later, on 19th September 1917. He was 33 years old.
Francis William George Packer was brought back to his family in Blagdon, and lies at rest in the churchyard of St Andrew’s there.
The local paper reported on Francis’ funeral, but what struck me is that there seems a glaring omission in the list of those who attended. It was obvious that he wanted a strictly private funeral, but:
The mourners were Mr FE Packer (father), Mr S Emery (brother-in-law), Mr SG Packer (uncle), Mr W Taverner (uncle), Mrs ES Packer (mother), Mrs E Emery (wife’s sister), Amy Parker and Nellie Parker [his sisters-in-law], A Packer (aunt), Dolly Parker, Dolly Flower, Mr J Jones (uncle), Mr CJ Redwood, Mr J Nelson and Mr AH Bleacove.
Western Daily Press: Wednesday 26th September 1917
There is nothing in the report to suggest that Francis’ widow attended the funeral.
Francis’ younger brother, Albert Packer, also fought and died in the First World War. Find his story here.
Walter Vaine Bromley was born in March 1877, one of seven children to Frederick and Jane Bromley. Frederick was a gardener, and the family lived in Maidstone, Kent. Sadly Jane died when Walter was only two years old; while the cause of her death is not noted, she passed away in the Barming Lunatic Asylum in Kent.
Things must have been tough for Frederick; his maternal aunt, Sarah, came to live with the family to help raise his children, but further support seems to have been needed and, by the time of the 1891 census, Walter was a student at the Kent County Industrial School, which was, in effect, a boys home, near Ashford.
By the end of that year, having left school, he enlisted in the army, joining the Royal West Kent Regiment. He served most of his twelve years’ enrolment in India, although he suffered numerous hospital admissions for dysentery, ague and orchitis (a swelling of the testicles, often brought about by a sexually transmitted bacterial infection), amongst other ailments.
On being demobbed, Walter became a postman; he moved to Gillingham, and was given a round serving the Eastcourt area of the town. A year later, he married Rose Brenchley, and the couple went on to have four children; Ada, Violet, Frederick and Hilda.
Hostilities began, and, in July 1915, Walter enlisted in the 8th (City of London) Battalion, The London Regiment (Post Office Rifles). Rifleman Bromley served as part of the Territorial Force for his first year, before being sent to France in August 1916.
His time there was cut short, however, as he received a gunshot wound in the left ankle. William was repatriated to England for treatment, and was eventually medically discharged from the army on 22nd August 1917.
Surprisingly, it seems not to have been the ankle wound that led to Rifleman Bromley’s passing, however. His pension records, instead, give his cause of death as a goitre contracted whilst on active service. Either way, he passed on 9th July 1918, at the age of 41 years old.
Walter Vaine Bromley lies at rest in the Woodlands Cemetery in his adopted home town of Gillingham in Kent.
George Henry Whittell was born in the spring of 1891, the son of engine fitter William and his wife, Florence. George was the oldest of two children, both boys, but sadly lost his mother in 1897, at just six years old.
William remarried two years after her death, and, with his new wife, Frances, he had two further children, Gladys and Leslie.
By the time of the 1911 census, the family were living in Gillingham, Kent, and George and his brother Frederick were both working as boiler makers in the largest employer in the area, the naval dockyard in Chatham. War was on the horizon, and William was also working there as a torpedo fitter.
In 1915, George married Minnie Baker; they went on to have a son, Ronald, who was born in the September of that year.
I have not been able to track down all of George’s military records; he enlisted in the Royal Fusiliers, and was assigned to the 10th (Service) Battalion. While his date of enlistment is not recorded, his troop set off for France at the end of July 1915. If George had been involved from that point, he would have departed shortly after his marriage, and would have been at the Front when his son was born.
Little is known of Serjeant Whittell’s service; he was wounded in May or June 1918, and was repatriated to England for treatment. Admitted to the Western General Hospital in Manchester, he sadly did not recover from his wounds, and passed away on 5th June 1918. He was 27 years old.
George Henry Whittell lies at rest in the Woodlands Cemetery in his home town of Gillingham, Kent.
Alfred William Lowes was born in 1893, one of eight children to George and Ann. George was a railway porter from Kent, Ann was born in Berkshire, and the couple had settled in Gillingham, Kent, by the time they started a family.
The naval dockyard in Chatham was one of the main employers in the Medway area of Kent, and Alfred was drawn there for work. After leaving school, he found a job there as a messenger, following his older brother George, who was a labourer there.
In the spring of 1916, Alfred married Edith Kennett, and it seems like the timing was due to his military service. Private Lowes joined the Prince of Wales’ Own Civil Service Rifles (also known as the 15th Battalion London Regiment) and by the beginning of August his troop was bound for France.
Full details of Private Lowes’ military service is not available, although it seems not to have been a lengthy one. He would have fought on the front line, and was wounded as a result. Repatriated back to England for treatment, Alfred passed away at home on 12th November 1916. He was just 23 years of age.
Alfred William Lowes lies at rest in the Woodlands Cemetery in his home town of Gillingham.
Ernest Hart Painter was born in December 1884 one of eight children to Alfred and Elizabeth from Devon. Alfred moved the family to Cheddar, Somerset to work at a paper mill in but sadly passed away when Ernest was only eleven years old.
The family rallied round Elizabeth, however, and, by the time of the 1901 census, she was living on the outskirts of the town with her six younger children. Elizabeth worked as a domestic cook; Ernest was an agricultural labourer; his two older sisters were shirt machinists; his 13 year old brother Albert was listed as a gentleman’s servant.
Ernest, by this point, seemed to have taken on the role of head of the family; he continued work as a farm labourer, while Elizabeth earned money as a housekeeper. Alfred became a mechanic for a car dealer and, at the 1911 census, the three of them lived with the youngest member of the family, Ernest’s sister Emily, who had followed in her older sisters’ footsteps as a machinist.
As with many of the fallen men and women of the Great War, a lot of Ernest’s military service records have been lost to time. He enlisted in the Army Veterinary Corps in December 1915, his work as a farm labourer presumably having involved animals and livestock.
Private Painter must have been on the front line as, on 30th May 1918, he was shot in the ankle. Shipped back to England for treatment, he was eventually discharged from service on 19th November, a week after the Armistice. The ankle wound continued to give him trouble, however, and over the following couple of years, he had a number of operations on it.
Sadly, the last of these procedures resulted in an infection, and sepsis took hold. Private Painter passed away from blood poisoning on 15th April 1921. He was 36 years old.
Ernest Hart Painter lies at rest in the graveyard of St Andrew’s Church in Cheddar, Somerset.
William Alfred Woodbury was born in the Somerset village of Nether Stowey in April 1899, the oldest of four children to Alfred and Nellie Woodbury. Alfred was a farm labourer, and, by the time William was a couple of years old, he had moved the family to the town of Bridgwater to work as a carter.
After leaving school, William found work at Barham Brothers’ Brickworks in the town. When war broke out, he enlisted in the Somerset Light Infantry almost as soon as he was able to, at the beginning of 1916.
Assigned to the 6th (Service) Battalion and Private Woodbury was sent out to the Western Front in April. He would almost certainly have seen action at the Battle of Delville Wood – part of the Somme offensive – and was wounded in the shoulder and arm on 18th August 1916.
Shipped back to the UK for treatment, William was admitted to the Western General Hospital in Cardiff, but tragically died from his wounds less than a fortnight later on 30th August 1916. He was just 17 years old.
His funeral was reported in both the Shepton Mallet Journal and the Central Somerset Gazette; his father, who had been serving in France as part of the Army Veterinary Corps, managed to return home for his son’s funeral.
William Alfred Woodbury lies at rest in the St John’s Cemetery in his home town of Bridgwater.
Roland Roberts was born in September 1896, one of three children – all boys – to Albert and Minnie Roberts.
Minnie, who was originally from Yeovil, had married Walter Shury, a Londoner, in 1874, and the couple had six children together. Walter then went on to have four children with Alice Norwood, and the couple married in 1898. Minnie, meanwhile, had met Albert Roberts, who was from Dundalk in Ireland, and, while no marriage seems to be confirmed, the couple had three boys, including Roland. (It is pure speculation, but as Minnie’s maiden was also Roberts, this might have provided a good enough cover for any divorce or re-marriage.)
Albert had been a Band Sergeant in the 4th Hussars, and continued that passion by becoming a music teacher Travel was also definitely in his blood: the couple’s first child, Willie, was born in South London, Roland was born in Somerset, and his younger sibling, Glencoe, was born in Penzance, Cornwall. Albert’s musical success led him to become bandmaster for the Penzance Town Band. Sadly, it was not all positive for him; in 1901, Minnie passed away, and in the same year, Willie also died, at the tender age of six.
It was the military that drew Roland in, and, in 1910, aged just 14 years old, he enlisted in the Coldstream Guards. According to the following year’s census, he was stationed at the Ramillies Barracks in Aldershot, and held the rank of Boy.
Differing from the naval rank of the same name, lads of 14 or over could serve in any regiment as musicians, drummers, tailors, shoemakers, artificers or clerks, and all were ranked as boys. It seems likely, therefore, that his father’s enthusiasm for music served him well.
When war broke out, he was of fighting age, and, as part of the “Old Contemptibles”, he was involved in the Battle of Mons, the first major confrontation for the British Expeditionary Force.
During the war, Private Roberts took part in some of the most severe fighting on the Western Front, was wounded three times, as well as being gassed. He was also recommended for the DCM for gallantry in action.
He transferred to the Labour Corps, and spent time doing land work in Somerset. It was here that Roland met and married Gladys Pyne, whose family was from Bridgwater, and the couple tied the knot in March 1918.
Sadly, it was during this war service that Private Roberts contracted influenza and pneumonia and he passed away as his in-laws’ home on 10th November 1918, the day before the Armistice was signed. He was just 22 years old.
The local newspaper reported on Roland’s continued gallantry in its article on his funeral:
[Roland] held the medal of the Royal Humane Society for saving a woman’s life.
He was also the hero of an incident that occurred in Bridgwater a few weeks ago, when he succeeded in checking the career of an infuriated bull through pluckily catching the animal by its horns.
His disposition was always most cheerful, and although suffering from his [war] wounds a good deal, he never complained.
The Cornishman: Wednesday 27th November 1918
Roland Roberts lies at rest in the Wembdon Road Cemetery in his adopted home town of Bridgwater, Somerset.
Death and Service 