War Memorial

BIOGRAPHICAL ROLL OF THOSE COMMEMORATED ON THE TOWN WAR

MEMORIAL WHO DIED IN THE GREAT WAR (v2, 5 Oct 26) – Fifty-six men

The memorial to the town’s Great War dead was formed by placing an octagonal bronze collar bearing their names around the top of the town cross’s plinth. It was unveiled by the Lord of the Manor on Sunday 11 September 1921.

296122(D) Stoker 1^st Class Walter AGGETT

HMS Goliath

Born on 28 August 1880 at Bovey Tracey, he was one of eleven children of Henry, a thatcher, and Eliza Aggett. He was educated at the Church School and joined the Royal Navy as a stoker on 14 November 1900, giving his occupation as labourer. He had an unusual naval career, spending most of his service in a succession of depot ships until being drafted to the old battleship HMS Vengeance in May 1906. He was rated Stoker 1^st Class that July but purchased his early discharge a year later, being transferred to the Royal Fleet Reserve with the number RFR/DEV/B/1857 on 23 June 1907. In 1911, he was working as a thatcher, probably with his older brother John, whilst living with his widowed mother at 79 Mary Street. As a naval reservist he was mobilized on 2 August 1914 and drafted to the pre-Dreadnought battleship HMS Goliath. He, aged 34; along with William Boyce, a fellow stoker from Bovey Tracey; was killed in action on 13 May 1915 when the ship was torpedoed by the Turkish destroyer Muavenet-i-Milliye in the Dardanelles with the loss of 505 men. The administration of his estate, valued at £368 17sh, was granted to his brother John. He is commemorated on Panel 6 of the Plymouth Naval Memorial and and by the local road name Aggett Grove, TQ13 9GE. Medal entitlement: 1914-15 Star, British War Medal and Victory Medal.

Captain Francis Hugh BEAUFORT

B Company, 2^nd Battalion Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire Light Infantry

Born on 27 July 1883 at Camberley, in Surrey, he was the eldest of three children of Major Francis and Adela de Beaufort and was educated at St David’s, Reigate; Stone House, Broadstairs; Wellington College, Crowthorne and Christ Church, Oxford. His father died in 1891 and by 1901 the family home had moved to The Hove, off Avenue Road in Bovey Tracey. Whilst at Oxford, he was attached to the 4^th Battalion (1^st Devon Militia) Devonshire Regiment for training and, with the university’s nomination, commissioned as a supernumerary second lieutenant on 20 August 1904. After graduation, he was commissioned as a second lieutenant in the Oxfordshire Light Infantry, later the Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire Light Infantry, on 16 August 1905 and spent most of his service with the 1^st Battalion in India and Burma, where he played polo for the Regiment. On 31 December 1913 he married Charlotte Hope of Shorestone Hall, Northumberland at Bamburgh. He went to France on 1 December 1914 as a captain and joined the 2^nd Battalion two days later, taking command of B Company. On 16 May the following year, he was killed by a sniper whilst going for orders after the capture of some breastworks near Richebourg-l’Avoué during the Battle of Festubert, a day on which 119 other-ranks of the Battalion were killed in action. Although buried in an orchard about two miles west of Richebourg-l’Avoué, his grave could not be identified after the war and he is commemorated on Panel 26 of the Le Touret Memorial, in France, as well as on memorials at Christ Church, Oxford and on the outer west wall of the Church of St John the Evangelist. Medal entitlement: 1914-15 Star, British War Medal and Victory Medal. The administration of his estate, valued at £3,155 9s., was granted to a solicitor and his widow went on to marry Harvey Cobbett in late 1917.

49638 Private Leonard BLAMEY

74^th Battalion Machine Gun Corps

Born in 1896 at Christow, he was one of six children of Joseph, a journeyman baker, and Ethel Blamey of 4 Heathfield Cottages (also known as Haytor View), Heathfield. He was a farm labourer and employed at Treneath Farm near Liskeard when he joined the Royal 1^st Devon Yeomanry, with the number 3247, at Exeter on 14 August 1915. He went overseas to Egypt in mid-January 1916, disembarking at Alexandria on the 22^nd, and was transferred to the Machine Gun Corps (MGC) on 19 July that year, serving with the 2^nd Dismounted Brigade. On this Brigade’s redesignation as the 229^th Infantry Brigade of the 74^th (Yeomanry) Division, he probably found himself part of the 4^th Machine Gun Company, the Brigade’s machine gun sub-unit. This Company, along with the machine gun companies of the other two 74^th Division infantry brigades were brought together to form the 74^th Battalion MGC on 11 April 1918, the date Leonard was posted to it. He embarked with the 74^th Battalion on 30 April for passage to Marseilles, as part of the 74^th Division’s move to France in early May 1918. He was granted home leave from 2-16 September but, a week after returning, was killed in action on 23 September 1918, aged 22, during the Battles of the Hindenburg Line and is buried in Grave IV/F/6 at St Emilie Valley Cemetery in France. Medal entitlement: British War Medal and Victory Medal.

241043 Private Wilfred George Ellis BOWDEN

1/5^th Battalion Devonshire Regiment

Born in 1897 at Ilsington, he was one of five children of William, a stoneware pipe maker, and Emma Bowden. The family had moved to 6 Heathfield Cottages (also known as Haytor View), Heathfield by 1911, when he was employed as a golf caddy. He enlisted at Plymouth in November 1915, one of three Bowdens from Heathfield to enlist in the Devonshire Regiment that month. Aged 21, he was one of 48 other-ranks of his battalion killed in action on 20 July 1918, during the Battle of Tardenois. Initially buried at Jonchery sur Vesle, his remains were re-interred after the war in Grave III/C/9 at Marfaux British Cemetery in France. Medal entitlement: British War Medal and Victory Medal.

288583(D) Stoker 1^st Class William John Christopher BOYCE (served as HOSKING)

HMS Goliath

William Boyce is believed, from his varied use of the name Hosking, to be William John Christopher Boyce who was born in 1872 at Rattery and baptised on 8 September that year. He was one of ten children of John Richard, a farm labourer, and Ann Mildred Boyce, whose maiden name was Hosking. On 10 May 1898, he signed on for 12 years in the Royal Navy as a stoker, giving his surname as Hosking and his occupation as labourer. During this period he served in eight ships, the last and largest being the armoured cruiser HMS Sutlej. He joined her in November 1909 and was discharged on completion of his engagement the following May, then joining the Royal Fleet Reserve with the number RFR/DEV/B/3220. In July 1906, during a three-year draft to the depot ship HMS Saphhire II, he had been rated Stoker 1^st Class and then, from that November until November 1908, Leading Stoker. Having left the Navy, he resumed work as a labourer and, on 13 April 1912, married Elizabeth Woodford. Their son William was born in February 1913 and the family were living at 28 Mary Street at the time of William senior’s death. As a naval reservist he was recalled on 2 August 1914 and drafted to the pre-Dreadnought battleship HMS Goliath. He, aged 42; along with Walter Aggett, a fellow stoker from Bovey Tracey; was killed in action on 13 May 1915 when the ship was torpedoed by the Turkish destroyer Muavenet-i-Milliye in the Dardanelles with the loss of 505 men. He is commemorated on Panel 6 of the Plymouth Naval Memorial. Medal entitlement: 1914-15 Star, British War Medal and Victory Medal.

Captain Cecil Aubrey BRADFORD

Yorkshire Regiment (attached to 4^th Battalion Nigeria Regiment)

Born on 20 February 1886 at Thuborough House, Sutcombe, the second son of Lieutenant Colonel Oliver and Mary Bradford, he was educated at Sir William Borlase’s Grammar School, Wellington College and the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst. By 1891, the family had moved to Welparke at Lustleigh, where his mother died in 1905 and his father, who died there 19 years later, married Margaret Kitson in 1910. Commissioned as a second lieutenant in Alexandra, Princess of Wales’s Own Yorkshire Regiment (The Green Howards) on 7 November 1906, he joined its 2^nd Battalion in South Africa the following January and later served with the 1^st Battalion in Egypt and India. He was attached to the Nigeria Regiment in October 1913 and disembarked in Cameroon on 18 September 1914. In 1915 he was promoted to captain and later, on 5 August whilst home on sick leave, married Mildred Hillyard. The couple lodged with Mildred’s parents at the parsonage in Upton Pyne and had a daughter, Margaret, in 1916. Cecil was lost, aged 31, returning from Nigeria on leave in SS Abosso when she was torpedoed on 24 April 1917 by the German submarine U43, 180 miles north-west of the Fastnet Rock, with the loss of 65 lives. He is also commemorated on the Hollybrook Memorial at Southampton, the Sir William Borlase’s Grammar School memorial and the war memorials at Lustleigh and Upton Pyne. Medal entitlement: 1914-15 Star, British War Medal and Victory Medal. The administration of his estate, valued at £1,474 13s 9d, was granted to his widow.

72114 Lance Corporal Percival George BRIMBLECOMBE (called Percy)

9^th Battalion Cheshire Regiment

Born on 31 January 1899 at Chagford, he was one of four children of Walter, a carpenter, and Mary Brimblecombe. Educated first at Chagford Infants’ School and, later, Lustleigh Board School after the family moved to Brookfield, just outside Lustleigh, in 1907, he was a boy scout and a bass chorister at Lustleigh Church. He enlisted into the Royal 1^st Devon Yeomanry, with the number 3819, at Newton Abbot in March 1917 and was later transferred to first the Devonshire Regiment, with the number 69317, and then the Cheshire Regiment. He was killed in action by a shell on 31 May 1918 during the Battle of the Aisne, aged 19, having only been in France a few weeks. Forty other-ranks of the Battalion were killed in action that same day. He is buried in Grave III/A/9 in Chambrecy British Cemetery in France and also commemorated on both Lustleigh’s church and civic war memorials. Medal entitlement: British War Medal and Victory Medal.

9383 Private John James CHOAK

2^nd Battalion Devonshire Regiment

Born in 1894 at Porthleven, in Cornwall, he was one of 19 children of George, a postman, and Louisa Choak. The family moved to Bovey Tracey by 1899 and lived at 17 South View at the time of his death. He enlisted at Newton Abbot as a regular soldier in the Devonshire Regiment and after training with its 3^rd Battalion around the time of the 1911 census, was posted to the 2^nd Battalion, serving with it in Egypt. After the outbreak of war, the Battalion was recalled home in October 1914 and sent to France the following month. John initially remained in England but landed in France on 16 February 1915 to rejoin his unit. Shot in the back, aged 21 and having been at the front just a week, he was one of 14 other-ranks of the Battalion killed in action on 11 March 1915 during the Battle of Neuve Chapelle. He is commemorated by the local place name Choak Walk, TQ13 9FU and on Panel 9 of the Le Touret Memorial in France. Medal entitlement: 1914-15 Star, British War Medal and Victory Medal.

27074 Private Walter James CLATWORTHY

3 Platoon, A Company, 7^th Battalion Somerset Light Infantry

Born on 26 August 1887 at Oakford, he was one of seven children of John, a police constable, and Mary Clatworthy and educated at Highweek Boys’ School. At the time of the 1911 census he was living with his parents at Foxwell Cottage, Wain Lane, Newton Abbot and working as a domestic gardener. He married Elizabeth Mogridge on 27 October 1915, the family home being 2 Thorn Cross, Bovey Tracey until she moved to 1 Manor Cottages, Wolborough Street, Newton Abbot after his death. He left the employment of Mr Phillpotts of Bridge House to enlist into the 3^rd Battalion Devonshire Regiment, with the number 23774, at Newton Abbot in March 1916 and was later transferred to the Somerset Light Infantry. In 1917 he received a commendation from Major General Smith, General Officer Commanding 20^th (Light) Division, for helping to bring in wounded men under heavy shellfire. He was a stretcher bearer and captured on 22 March 1918 at St Quentin. Held at Quedlinburg in Saxony, he died of wounds as a prisoner of war on 4 August 1918, aged 31, and was buried in Grave XXIV/3/351 in Quedlinburg Cemetery. In November 1923 his remains were moved to Grave VIII/K/2 in the Niederzwehren Cemetery in Germany and his wife had the inscription “He died that we might live” added to the headstone. He is also commemorated on the Newton Abbot War Memorial and the war memorial at All Saints Church, Highweek. Medal entitlement: British War Medal and Victory Medal.

60560 Driver Frederick Thomas COLDRIDGE (probably called Thomas)

150^th Field Company Royal Engineers

Born in 1893 at Bovey Tracey, he was the youngest and seventh child of William, a farm labourer, and Elizabeth Coldridge. His father died in 1901 and his mother married Samuel Davey in 1906, being widowed again 13 years later. He was living and employed at Reeves Coombe, his stepfather’s farm, in 1911 but had moved to Babbacombe and was working as a carter when he enlisted as a driver in the Royal Engineers at Exeter on 18 January 1915. Posted to 72 Field Company [of 13 (Western) Division] eight days later, he went overseas in June, arriving at Alexandria, en route to Gallipoli, at the end of the month. In January 1916, suffering either illness or injury, he was evacuated to Britain and admitted to 3 Southern General Hospital at Oxford. After his recovery, he was posted to 86 Field Company [of 11 (Northern) Division] in the Middle East on 28 March 1916 and later accompanied it when redeployed to France that July. He returned to Britain on 23 January 1917, possibly having again suffered illness or injury. Whilst home, he married Helen Cornish on 1 August 1917 and they had a daughter, Queenie, on 25 January 1918. He returned to the Western Front on 17 February 1918, joining 150 Field Company [of 36 (Ulster) Division] on the 26^th. Eight months later, he was killed in action on 20 October, aged 25, during the Battle of Courtrai whilst the Company was preparing to build a medium bridge over the River Lys. Its war diary noted “Casualties One driver (Coldridge) killed and 5 horses (team which took 2^nd prize in 10^th Corps Show) at 02.52”. He is buried in Grave VIII/B/8 at Harlebeke New British Cemetery in Belgium. Medal entitlement: 1914-15 Star, British War Medal and Victory Medal. His wife was granted a weekly widow’s and child’s pension of 20s 5d and was living at Reeves Coombe with their daughter in 1919. She married Joseph Gribble in 1921 and had a second daughter two years later. The younger of Thomas’s two brothers, Charles, joined the Royal Marines Light Infantry in 1902 and served in the protected cruiser HMS Talbot throughout the Great War.

18032 Private Reginald James COTTERILL

5^th Battalion Wiltshire Regiment

Born in 1896 at Winkleigh, the eldest of four children of Harry, a gardener, and Mary Cotterill, he had worked as a gardener for the Member of Parliament for South Wiltshire and lived at Aldbourne. He enlisted at Devizes in late 1914 and landed with his battalion in Gallipoli on 17 July 1915. Having sustained a hand wound, he died of dysentery on 2 October 1915, aged 19. He was buried at sea and is also commemorated on one of Panels 156-158 of the Helles Memorial in Turkey. His parents were living at Ullacombe at the time of his death. Medal entitlement: 1914-15 Star, British War Medal and Victory Medal.

71464 Fitter Staff Sergeant Verney William COX

138^th Heavy Battery Royal Garrison Artillery

Born in 1875 at Ilsington, he was the eldest of eight children of William, a miner, and Lydia Cox. He began his working life as a stationary engine driver, later becoming a fitter and, ultimately, the chief engineer at Bovey Pottery Co Ltd. In 1897 he married Lily Daymond but was widowed when she died in hospital at Birmingham on 27 August 1904. He enlisted in the Royal Garrison Artillery at Woolwich with the rank of fitter staff sergeant on 18 January 1916, giving his address as 26 Pottery Road, Bovey Tracey and was posted to 138^th Heavy Battery on 3 March. The following month he married Millicent Julyan at St Peter’s Church at Treverbyn, St Austell, just three days before embarking for France at Southampton on 13 April. Sixteen months later, when the Battery was deployed at Nieuport Bains in Belgium, he was killed by a shell on the night of 23 August 1917, aged 42, having returned from nine days home leave six days earlier. The battery war diary recorded “About 11.0 pm while Fr Staff Sgt Cox was proceeding from the Office to the Sergeants’ Mess, he was struck by a 77 mm HV (high velocity) shell & killed instantly.” Writing to Verney’s wife, his battery commander said “he was going from one dug-out to another on duty when he was killed” before going on “I shall not only personally miss him for his work, - which was of the very best, and I can honestly say I never want to find a better and more willing man at his work - but I shall miss him as a friend. All of his officers used to enjoy a chat with him, and we had grown to like him very much”. He is buried in Grave III/B/14 in Coxyde Military Cemetery, in Belgium, and also commemorated on both parish churches’ war memorials. Medal entitlement: British War Medal and Victory Medal. A long obituary in the Mid-Devon Advertiser of 8 September 1917 stated that he was awarded the Military Medal for showing presence of mind and valour when his battery was hard pressed, however, there is no corroboration for any award to him in The London Gazette. His wife, who was living at Trethowell Terrace in St Austell at the time of his death, was granted a weekly widow’s pension of 17s 6d. The administration of his estate, valued at £381 14s 10d, was granted to his widowed mother, to whom the military authorities sent his personal effects: a knife, a note case, a letter, the Soldier’s Companion, a dictionary and a railway guide.

28874 Private Walter COX

9^th Battalion Devonshire Regiment

Born in 1888 at Dunsford, the youngest of four children of Samuel, a farm labourer, and Priscilla Cox, he married Emma Gale in 1908 and they had a son, Gerald, four years later. He was a farm horseman living at Wolleigh Cottages at the time of the 1911 census but had moved to Atway by the time of his enlistment at Newton Abbot in July/August 1916. He was wounded in the foot and after its amputation was visited by his wife in hospital in France. He died of his wound on 16 November 1917, aged 29, and is buried in Grave VI/H/2A in Wimereux Communal Cemetery in France. Medal entitlement: British War Medal and Victory Medal.

Ply 10862 Corporal William Frank CROOTE (called Frank)

Royal Marines Light Infantry

Born in 1884 at Bovey Tracey and baptised on 22 November that year, he was the son of Elizabeth Ann Croote and brought up by his maternal grandparents William, a clay cutter, and Sarah Croote at Delves Cottages. He was educated at the Church School and worked as a brickmaker, probably for Candy & Co Ltd at Heathfield, until enlisting in the Royal Marines Light Infantry at Newton Abbot on 4 May 1901, joining its Plymouth Division. He trained in naval gunnery and served in six cruisers over 10 years, including HMS Hyacinth (1903-06), in which he qualified for the Somaliland 1902-04 clasp to the Africa General Service Medal, HMS Roxburgh (1907-09) and HMS Devonshire (1909-11). Promoted corporal in August 1911, he left the Royal Marines on 10 May 1913 but joined the Royal Fleet Reserve on 13 June 1914. In mid-July he was recalled for 10 days training and then mobilised and drafted to the cruiser HMS Diana on 2 August 1914. Invalided on 10 February 1915, he died, aged 33, of pulmonary tuberculosis on 26 November 1917 in Maltings Farm Sanitorium at Nayland, in Suffolk, where he was buried nine days later at the parish church in Row 5, Grave 34. His mother married Thomas Sampson in 1887 and was living at 12 Heathfield Cottages (also known as Haytor View), Heathfield at the time of Frank’s death. Their son Percy Sampson, Frank’s half-brother, is also commemorated on the war memorial. Medal entitlement: 1914-15 Star, British War Medal and Victory Medal.

27044 Private Frederick Stanley DAYMOND

7^th Battalion Somerset Light Infantry

Born on 30 September 1893 in Bovey Tracey and baptised on 1 November that year, he was the only child of Frederick, a grocery shop employee, and Constance Daymond, a dressmaker, of Fore Street. He was educated at the Church School and employed by William Pring, the Fore Street tailor, before enlisting in the Devonshire Regiment, with the number 16767, in Newton Abbot in January/February 1916. Subsequently transferred to the Somerset Light Infantry, he was serving with its 7^th Battalion’s signals section when, aged 23, he was one of eight of the Battalion’s other-ranks killed in action on 22 September 1917 during the Battle of Menin Road Ridge. He is buried in Grave I/F/54 in Bleuet Farm Cemetery in Belgium and commemorated by the local road name Daymond Drive, TQ13 9SZ. Medal entitlement: British War Medal and Victory Medal.

10380 Private William Charles DEAR

8^th Battalion Devonshire Regiment

Born in 1892 at Bovey Tracey and baptised on 28 April that year, he was one of four children of William, a labourer, and Eliza Dear. The family were living in Mary Street in 1901 when, that December, Eliza was admitted to Devon County Lunatic Asylum, at Exminster, where she died in 1907. William enlisted at Exeter in August/September 1914 and went to France with his battalion on 25 July 1915. A member of a bomb throwing detachment, he died of wounds at, probably, Graylingwell War Hospital in Chichester, on 22 October 1915, aged 23. He was almost certainly wounded at the Battle of Loos, during which his battalion lost nineteen officers and six-hundred and twenty other-ranks; killed, wounded or missing. He was buried on 25 October in Grave 121/47 in Chichester Cemetery in Sussex. Medal entitlement: 1914-15 Star, British War Medal and Victory Medal.

11401 Private George Reginald DENTON

9^th Battalion Devonshire Regiment

Born in 1893, possibly on 31 March, at Shepherd’s Bush, in London, one of ten children of George, a brewer’s traveller, and Emily Denton of 33 Ellerslie Road. His mother died in 1896, his father marrying Sarah Tryphosia Howard three years later. George was educated at Addison Gardens School and was working as a domestic servant at Esher Place, in Surrey, in 1911. He enlisted in London in September 1914 and disembarked in France on 6 October the following year. During the 1916 Somme battles, he was presumed killed in action on 4 September 1916, aged 23, having been reported wounded and missing during attacks on Ginchy between 4 and 6 September, when the Battalion suffered 91 other-ranks killed in action. He is also commemorated on Pier & Face 1C of the Thiepval Memorial in France. Medal entitlement: 1914-15 Star, British War Medal and Victory Medal.

16371 Private Frederick Charles George FRENCH

9^th Battalion Devonshire Regiment

Born in 1896 at Bovey Tracey, one of two children of James, a labourer, and Florence French, who were living at 6 Mount Pleasant Cottages in 1901, he worked for Candy & Co Ltd at Heathfield prior to enlisting at Exeter in December 1914. Aged 20, he was one of 155 other-ranks of the Battalion killed in action near Mametz on 1 July 1916, during the Battle of Albert, and is commemorated on Pier & Face 1C of the Thiepval Memorial, in France, as well as on the war memorials in both parish churches. Medal entitlement: British War Medal and Victory Medal.

Lieutenant Kingdon Tregosse FROST

3^rd Battalion Cheshire Regiment (attached to 1^st Battalion)

Born on 12 March 1877 at Launceston, he was one of three children of Dennis, a solicitor, and Sophia Frost, the latter dying in 1896. He was educated at Bath College, Brasenose College in Oxford and the British School in Athens. He worked as a lecturer at Borough Road College, Isleworth, in 1902-04 and with the archaeologist Sir Flinders Petrie in Egypt and Sinai from 1904-05, when he was elected a fellow of the Royal Geographical Society. He went on to work in the Egyptian Ministry of Education from 1905-08, at Oxford’s Bodleian Library from 1908-09 and then as an archaeology and ancient history lecturer at Queen’s University in Belfast. He joined the Officer Training Corps as a cadet when at Oxford University and, on becoming a lecturer at Belfast University, was granted a Territorial Force commission as a second lieutenant in January 1910 for service with its officer training corps. He was commissioned into the Cheshire Regiment’s 3^rd Battalion as a special reserve officer on 4 September 1912 and promoted lieutenant in June the following year. On the outbreak of war, he joined the 1^st Battalion Cheshire Regiment – in which he was known as The Professor because of his academic background – at Londonderry, being attached to C Company. The unit embarked in SS Massilia at Belfast and landed at Le Havre on 16 August 1914. Eight days later, on 24 August, he was killed in action, aged 37, the Battalion being cut off and overwhelmed during the Battle of Mons; only six officers and 200 men being present at 9pm of the 27 officers and 934 men on strength earlier that day. He is said to have left his platoon to investigate troop movements to the rear and was later reported by a brother officer to have been seen “fighting like a demon, having refused to surrender”. Wounded several times, he fought on until overcome and was buried by the Germans, being commemorated on a brass memorial plaque on the south wall of the parish church and, after the war, on La Ferte-sous-Jouarre Memorial in France. In 1994, Grave III/A/7 of a hitherto unknown British officer in Wiheries Communal Cemetery in Belgium was acknowledged as almost certainly his. The administration of his estate, valued at £2,576 11s 10d, was granted to his father who lived at Moorside, Haytor Road. Medal entitlement: 1914 Star and clasp, British War Medal and Victory Medal.

20710 Private John Reginald GILLEY

1^st Battalion Coldstream Guards

Born in February 1892 in Bovey Tracey, he was one of five children of John, a farmer, and Lavinia Ann Gilley of Lower Brimley Farm. He enlisted into the Army Reserve under the Derby Scheme at Newton Abbot on 10 December 1915 but, being a farm horseman, was granted an exemption until 1 January 1917. Mobilised on 1 December 1916, he was sent to the Guards Depot at Caterham in Surrey. He was appointed acting lance corporal in October 1917 and posted, as a private, to the 2nd Battalion Coldstream Guards in France on 1 April 1918, transferring two weeks later to the 3^rd Battalion and then to the 1^st Battalion on 26 August. He was killed in action on 27 September 1918, aged 26, during the Battle of the Canal du Nord and is buried in Grave II/D/5 in Sanders Keep Military Cemetery in France. His father had the inscription “Sadly missed and dearly loved by all” added to the headstone. He is also commemorated on a family headstone in the Baptist Church’s churchyard and by the local road name Gilley Close, TQ13 9GG. Medal entitlement: British War Medal and Victory Medal. The administration of his estate, valued at £164 12s 10d, was granted to his father, then retired and living at 2 Marlborough Terrace.

26534 Private William Charles James GREENWAY

1^st Battalion Devonshire Regiment

Born in 1892 at Ilsington, he was one of seven children of Charles, a farm labourer, and Lydia Greenway. The family had moved to Bovey Tracey by 1901 and William was working as a placer for Bovey Pottery Co Ltd in 1911, the family then living at Slade Mead Cottage. Enlisting at Newton Abbot in November/December 1915, he, aged 24, was one of five other-ranks in his battalion killed in action on 20 December 1916 near Givenchy. He is buried in Grave I/F/16 in Rue des Berceaux Military Cemetery in France, his mother having the inscription “Faithful unto death” added to the headstone. He is also commemorated on the Ilsington War Memorial. Medal entitlement: British War Medal and Victory Medal.

Lieutenant Commander John Essex GREY-SMITH

HMS Cambrian

Born on 10 May 1887 at St Kilda in Victoria, Australia, he was one of four children of William Belcher Grey and Dora Josephine Smith of Melbourne, whose surname Smith was often combined with his father’s third name to give the family name Grey-Smith. He joined the Royal Navy’s officer training establishment, based on the hulks HMS Britannia and HMS Hindustan moored at Dartmouth, as a teenage officer cadet on a colonial scholarship and was subsequently promoted midshipman in October 1903. In the year after the formation of the Royal Australian Navy in 1911, he was appointed to the cruiser HMAS Melbourne, then building at Birkenhead. He left her to join HMS Cambrian, a cruiser of the Grand Fleet’s 4^th Light Cruiser Squadron, as First Lieutenant on 13 July 1916. The following year, whilst the ship was on passage from Scapa Flow to Greenock, he was on the fo’c’sle supervising the getting out of her port paravane in a heavy sea when he and a seaman were swept overboard at 12.23am on 17 March 1917. The seaman was washed back onboard but, despite the letting go of a lifebuoy and a 35-minute search, John could not be found. He is also commemorated on Panel 20 of the Plymouth Naval Memorial, at the Melbourne Shrine of Remembrance and in Melbourne’s St Paul’s Cathedral. His connection with Bovey Tracey is through the Reverend Walter Vere-Stead, vicar from 1897 until his death in 1907, who may have been a relative or family friend and acted as John’s guardian whilst a cadet at Dartmouth. Medal entitlement: 1914-15 Star, British War Medal and Victory Medal.

25943 Private Samuel John HAWKES

2^nd Battalion Devonshire Regiment

Born in 1884 at Ilsington, he was one of four children of George, a shoemaker, and Caroline Hawkes. The family had moved to Bovey Tracey by 1901, living at 4 Mount Pleasant Cottages in Mary Street, and Samuel was educated at the Church School. He married Amelia Bessie Yeo in 1907 and was living with her and their three-year-old daughter Amelia May in Mary Street in 1911, when he was employed as a coal merchant’s carter. He joined the Devonshire Regiment at Newton Abbot in mid-1916 and served overseas in the 8^th Battalion initially before transfer to the 2^nd Battalion. Aged 32, he was one of six other-ranks of the 2^nd Battalion killed in action on 29 October 1916 in indescribably wet and muddy conditions near Le Transloy, during the closing weeks of the Somme battles. He is buried in Grave I/F/1 in Thiepval Anglo-French Cemetery in France. His family had the inscription “R.I.P.” added to the headstone. Medal entitlement: British War Medal and Victory Medal.

20504 Private John HEATH

3^rd Supernumerary Company, 7^th (Cyclist) Battalion Devonshire Regiment

Born in 1865 at Bovey Tracey and baptised on 22 September that year, he was one of five children of Samuel, a labourer, and Mary Heath. He was employed by Bovey Tracey Pottery Co in 1881 before enlisting in the Devonshire Regiment three years later, serving 17 years with its 1^st Battalion and leaving on his return from the Boer War. In 1911, he was working for Devon Basalt Co as a delver at a stone quarry near Bridford, lodging locally with three fellow-delvers. He re-enlisted on 30 November 1914 and died at Taplow, in Buckinghamshire, on 5 December 1915, probably as a patient in the Duchess of Connaught Canadian Red Cross Hospital, established in the grounds of the Cliveden Estate. He is buried in Grave 16 in Cliveden War Cemetery, also in the Estate’s grounds.

240150 Acting Sergeant Thomas Henry HEATH

1/5^th Battalion Devonshire Regiment

Born in 1892 at Bovey Tracey, he was one of ten children of Francis, a clay miner, and Emma Heath of 24 Station Road and was employed by Bovey Pottery Co Ltd as an earthenware packer at the time of the 1911 Census. He enlisted in the Devonshire Regiment at Bovey Tracey in August 1914, probably being posted to its 3/5^th Battalion, which was absorbed into the 4^th (Reserve) Battalion in 1916. In December 1917, he was posted to the 1/5^th Battalion in Egypt, moving with it to France the following April. Aged 25, he was one of 48 other-ranks of the unit killed in action on 20 July 1918, during the Battle of Tardenois. He is buried in Grave I/G/6 in Marfaux British Cemetery in France and also commemorated by the local place name Heath Walk, TQ13 9GD. Medal entitlement: British War Medal and Victory Medal.

37456 Private James Ernest HINE

A Company, 1/5^th Battalion Duke of Cornwall’s Light Infantry

Born on 28 March 1899 in Torbryan, he was one of four children of James, a farm worker, and Eliza Hine. He was living with his widowed mother at Kelly Cottage, in Lustleigh, and employed at Kelly Mine when he was conscripted on 28 April 1917. He joined at Newton Abbot and spent ten months training at Chiseldon Camp, in Wiltshire, in one of the battalions of 22^nd Training Reserve Brigade, having the number 7/2563. A Lewis machine-gunner, he went to France on 2 April 1918 and was lightly wounded and taken prisoner ten days later during the Battle of Hazebrouck, being posted missing in May 1918. He died of an inflammation of the lungs on 24 September 1918 as a prisoner of war at Chemnitz in Saxony, aged 19, and was buried in the neighbouring Ebersdorf churchyard. In 1924/25, as part of a concentration of burials in Germany into four permanent cemeteries, his body was moved to Grave II/F/10 in Berlin South-Western Cemetery. He is also commemorated on the Lustleigh War Memorial but uniquely amongst those on Bovey Tracey’s war memorial, does not appear on the memorials in the parish church. Medal entitlement: British War Medal and Victory Medal.

25945 Private Arthur James HULL

10^th Battalion Devonshire Regiment

Born in Taunton in Somerset, he was one of 14 children of Francis, a labourer, and Emma Hull. He married Ada Hodge in 1909 and was a gamekeeper for Mr Lee on the Yarner Estate when he joined up at Newton Abbot in June 1916. He was killed in action, aged 33, on the night of 24/25 April 1917 during an attack on Petit Couronne, in Salonica, in which his battalion suffered 420 casualties; killed, wounded or missing. He is buried in Grave V/C/11 in the Doiran Military Cemetery in Greece. Medal entitlement: British War Medal and Victory Medal.

178377 Leading Seaman Gunner Ernest HYSSETT

HMS Vivid

Born at Chudleigh Knighton in the late 1870s, he was one of at least nine children of William, a clay digger, and Eliza Hissett (the more usual of several spellings). Educated at the National Church School in Bovey Tracey, where the family had moved by 1891, he joined the Royal Navy as a boy seaman on 13 February 1894, giving his occupation as servant. The date of birth on his service certificate is 4 October 1878 however, although this accords with his age (2) listed in the 1881 census, his age recorded in subsequent censuses and on his death suggest he was born in 1876/77. Ernest was advanced to able seaman in 1898 and then leading seamen in 1913, and was serving in the pre-Dreadnought battleship HMS Triumph when she was torpedoed and sunk off Gaba Tepe, a headland on the western shore of Gallipoli, on 25 May 1915 by the German submarine U21. Coincidentally, his older brother Albert, called by his second name Fred, had also survived being torpedoed off Gallipoli 12 days earlier when HMS Goliath was sunk by a Turkish destroyer in the Dardanelles. After returning to Britain, and said to be aged 38, Ernest died from a burst aneurism of the aorta on 16 August 1915 in the Royal Navy Sick Quarters at HMS Vivid, the Royal Naval barracks in Devonport. He was buried four days later in Grave E3/99 in the town cemetery. His older sister Mary Stancombe lived at Mount Pleasant, in Mary Street, at the time of his death and his family had the inscription “R.I.P.” added to the headstone. Medal entitlement: 1914-15 Star, British War Medal and Victory Medal.

K17321(D) Stoker 1^st Class Nicholas Percy V KENDALL (probably called Percy)

HMS Indefatigable

Born on 14 February 1890 in Dartmouth, he was one of six children of Elias, a lathmaker, and Elizabeth Kendall. In 1891/92 the family moved to Jersey where Elias died in a machinery accident in April 1896 and Elizabeth subsequently married Frederick Ruff. Percy married Clara Mitchell in Devon in 1910 and they had a son, Roy, the following year, when mother and son were living with her parents at New House, Castle Hill, Axminster. Simultaneously he recorded himself in the 1911 Census as working for the Jersey Water Works and living at 3 Patriotic Place, St Helier with Louisa Kendall, shown as his wife. He joined the Royal Navy on a 12-year engagement as a stoker on 24 January 1913, giving his occupation as general labourer. He was drafted to the battle-cruiser HMS Indefatigable in mid-June and, with a Superior ability assessment, was rated Stoker 1^st Class on 20 November 1913. He was killed in action, aged 26, at the Battle of Jutland on 31 May 1916, when his ship was sunk with the loss of all but two of her crew of 1,019 men. He is also commemorated on Panel 16 of the Plymouth Naval Memorial, in the 1919 Jersey Roll of Honour and by the road name Kendall Grove, TQ13 9SY in Bovey Tracey where his mother and stepfather lived at 1 Pludda in Station Road. Medal entitlement: 1914-15 Star, British War Medal and Victory Medal.

G/29002 Private Frank LAKE

D Company, 1/20^th Battalion London Regiment

Born on 1 April 1884 in Cheriton Bishop, he was one of ten children of Jeremiah, the New Inn publican, and Ellen Lake, who moved to Brookfield, in Lustleigh, before the Great War. On 9 July 1910 he married Ethel Maunder but was widowed early the following year. He was working as a gardener for Lady Audrey Buller, widow of General Sir Redvers Buller VC, at Newton St Cyres in 1914 and married Eva Lowton that year. In September 1915 he enlisted in the Army Service Corps at Aldershot. He went to France in 1916 and was transferred to the 2/11^th Battalion (Finsbury Rifles) London Regiment, with the number 202108, being later posted to the Regiment’s 1/20^th Battalion (Blackheath and Woolwich). Wounded in the leg and captured during the 1918 German Spring offensive, he died as a prisoner of war on 9 September 1918 in a German military hospital in Berlin, aged 34. He is buried in Grave VI/C/10 in Berlin South-Western Cemetery and is also commemorated on the Lustleigh War Memorial. Medal entitlement: British War Medal and Victory Medal.

GS/10303 Private Fred LAMACRAFT

8^th Reserve Regiment of Cavalry

Born on 14 July 1897 at Bridford and baptised the following April, he was one of 14 children of William, a labourer, and Sarah Lamacraft, the family moving to 1 Eureka Terrace between 1911 and 1921. He enlisted in the 16^th Lancers at Exeter and was posted to the 8^th Reserve Regiment of Cavalry at the Curragh, in Ireland, for training. He died of tuberculosis on 6 September 1915, aged 18, and is buried in Grave 1217 in Curragh Military Cemetery.

72116 Private Alfred Basil LARKIN

9^th Battalion Cheshire Regiment

Born on 18 July 1898 in Bovey Tracey, he was the only child of Sarah, a cook, and Edward Larkin, who appears to have died early in his son’s life. Alfred lived much of his childhood with his maternal grandparents at Pottery Cottages and was educated at the National Church School. He was a grocer’s assistant and enlisted in the Royal 1^st Devon Yeomanry, with the number 3624, on 23 February 1917 at Exeter, being transferred, probably shortly thereafter, to the Devonshire Regiment, with the number 69330. He served on the Western Front from April 1918 and, most likely after arriving in France, was further transferred to the Cheshire Regiment. Aged 19, he was one of 17 other-ranks of his battalion almost certainly killed by an enemy bombardment of British rear areas during the Battle of the Scherpenberg on 29 April 1918. A Mid-Devon Advertiser report that he was killed by a bomb (i.e. a grenade) is mistaken as his unit was not in the line at the time. Originally buried at Reninghelst, his remains were moved to Grave V/D/4 in Klein-Vierstraat British Cemetery in Belgium as part of a grave concentration in September 1919. He is also commemorated on both parish churches’ war memorials and by the local road name Larkin Close, TQ13 9GX. Medal entitlement: British War Medal and Victory Medal.

MS/2184 Private William Henry LOCKYEAR

73^rd (MT) Company, 3^rd Cavalry Divisional Supply Column Army Service Corps

Born in 1890 at Hand & Pen, near Whimple, and baptised on 4 January 1891, he was one of 12 children of John, a colt trainer, and Mary Lockyear. A member of the Constitutional Club at Bovey Tracey, he was a motor mechanic and possibly employed at nearby Colehayes when he enlisted as a motor driver at Exeter on 27 August 1914. Although the Mid-Devon Advertiser report of his later death stated that the news reached his parents at Colehayes, this may have been misreported as they still lived at Hand & Pen and so possibly it was his employer who lived there. He embarked with his unit in the SS Lord Tredegar and SS Artist at Avonmouth on 6 October 1914 and disembarked at Ostend three days afterwards. A month later, on 9 November 1914 and aged 24, he was killed in action, hit in the left leg, during the First Battle of Ypres. The 73 Company war diary entry for that date states “Later when the Column was actually passing through the town (Ypres), heavy shells began to drop around; one actually exploded between two lorries putting both out of action temporarily, and killed two drivers wounding three others.” He is also commemorated by the local place name Lockyear Place TQ13 9GQ, on Panel 56 of the Ypres (Menin Gate) Memorial in Belgium and on the Whimple war memorial. Medal entitlement: 1914 Star and clasp, British War Medal and Victory Medal. His older brother Robert enlisted in the Devonshire Regiment before transfer to the Labour Corps and his younger brother Richard served in the Royal Navy from 1909-1919.

345008 Acting Company Sergeant Major Sidney Gilbert Victor MADDICOTT

16^th (Royal 1^st Devon and Royal North Devon Yeomanry) Battalion Devonshire Regiment

Born in 1890 at Ideford, he was one of five children of Henry, an engine fitter, and Mary Maddicott of 5 Heathfield Cottages (also known as Haytor View), Heathfield. He worked as a brickmaker for Candy & Co Ltd and captained the Chudleigh Knighton Ramblers football team from 1911-13. Before the War he enlisted at Totnes as a Territorial soldier in the Royal 1^st Devon Yeomanry with the number 1515, being later joined by his older brother Cecil and borrowing horses belonging to Mr Reddacliffe – their younger brother Robert’s future father-in-law – of Whisselwell Farm. Sidney was a member of 1 Troop, C Squadron and disembarked in Gallipoli on 9 October 1915. His regiment moved to Egypt that December and was amalgamated with the Royal North Devon Yeomanry to form the 16^th Battalion Devonshire Regiment in January 1917. The Battalion was then sent to Palestine until being transferred to the Western Front in May 1918. Aged 28, Sidney was one of 15 other-ranks of the Battalion killed in action on 10 September 1918 during the pursuit to the Hindenburg Position. He is buried at an unknown location within St Emilie Valley Cemetery in France, where he is commemorated on Special Memorial B/3. His name is also on the Chudleigh Knighton War Memorial. Medal entitlement: 1914-15 Star, British War Medal and Victory Medal. 

150044 Sapper Ernest Alfred MAY

119^th Railway Company Royal Engineers

Born in 1884 at Drewsteignton and baptised on 22 June that year, he was one of 14 children of Samuel, a farm labourer, and Anna May, who lived at Southbrook Cottages at the time of the Great War. A platelayer for the Great Western Railway’s Engineering Department and living at Primrose Cottage, Ide, he attested for military service under the Derby Scheme on 12 December 1915 and was mobilised on 16 February the following year. On 9 May 1916, he married Mary Burge at Plymouth Registry Office just three weeks before landing in France on the 30^th. He was run over by a railway carriage on 23 August 1916 at Acheux Station, aged 32, and is buried in Grave I/A/17 in Acheux British Cemetery in France. A court of inquiry was convened by Lieutenant Colonel Ogilvie, the Administrative Commandant 4^th Army Railheads, and sat at Acheux on 25 August 1916, hearing the evidence of nine individuals. Reviewing its findings, Lieutenant Colonel Ogilvie concluded that Ernest had “lost his life by being run over by a train and this was the result of an accident.” He had left his tent about 8.30pm on 23 August to post three letters in the camp post box. It was then thought he had probably slipped in the dark on an earth bank and fallen across an adjacent railway siding on which shunting operations were being conducted. He was run over by a carriage, fracturing “his cervical vertebral and” sustaining “very serious injuries to his neck” according to the medical officer in command of B Ambulance Train, who examined him at about 9.20pm: “death was probably instantaneous.” Medal entitlement: British War Medal and Victory Medal. He is also commemorated on the war memorial at Ide and – as Maye A – on the Great Western Railway’s Great War roll of honour that is displayed on some of this former company’s stations. His wife was granted a weekly widow’s pension of 10s and was living at 6 Athenaeum Street, Plymouth three months after his death. She married Mark Mortimer in 1918.

21002 Private William Frederick George MOUNTFORD

9^th Battalion Devonshire Regiment

Born in 1894 at Bovey Tracey, he was the only child of George, a house painter, and Bessie Mountford of 4 Victoria Terrace and educated at the Church School. He worked for his father as a painter & decorator and enlisted at Newton Abbot in December 1915. Aged 21, he was one of 155 other-ranks of the Battalion killed in action on 1 July 1916 near Mametz during the Battle of Albert. He is also commemorated on Pier & Face 1C of the Thiepval Memorial in France and by the local road name Mountford Drive, TQ13 9GJ. Medal entitlement: British War Medal and Victory Medal.  The administration of his estate, valued at £111 10s, was granted to his father.

240104 Acting Colour Sergeant Edward John NICHOLLS

1/5^th Battalion Devonshire Regiment

Born in 1882 at Bovey Tracey, he was the youngest of four children of James, a shoemaker, and Jane Nicholls and was educated at the National Church School. He worked as a gardener and was a member of the church choir, living with his widowed mother in Station Road at the time of the 1911 Census. A pre-war Territorial Force soldier with the number 897, he served initially in G Company and, after mobilisation in August 1914, was deployed with his battalion to India and, later, the Middle East until it was transferred to the Western Front in June 1918. He died of wounds – received the previous day when his unit suffered 12 other-ranks killed in action near Havrincourt – on 14 September 1918, aged 36, and is buried in Grave II/A/29 in Sunken Road Cemetery in France. His mother, then resident at Vicarage Cottage, had the inscription “Asleep in Christ” added to the headstone. He is also commemorated by the local road name Nicholls Place, TQ13 9GZ. Medal entitlement: British War Medal, Victory Medal and Territorial Force War Medal.

21689 Private Edward Llewellyn PENGELLY

10^th Battalion King’s (Shropshire) Light Infantry

Born in 1895 at Madron in Cornwall, he was one of four children of Llewellyn, a farmer and market gardener, and Annie Pengelly. He worked in the family business at Trannack Farm prior to his parents’ move to Plumley, near Bovey Tracey, where they were living in 1919. In January 1917, whilst resident at Stokeinteignhead, he enlisted at Newton Abbot in the Army Service Corps (Mechanical Transport), with the number M/285165. He was one of many soldiers transferred to the infantry in 1918 and went overseas to join the 10^th Battalion King’s (Shropshire) Light Infantry that summer. He died of disease in the 53^rd General Hospital at Wimereux on 28 October 1918, aged 23, and is buried in Grave VI/D/42 in Terlincthun British Cemetery in France. His family had the inscription “Who suffered countless ills who battled for the true and just” added to the headstone. Medal entitlement: British War Medal and Victory Medal. The administration of his estate, valued at £2,280 17s 10d, was granted to his father. His younger brother Thomas was commissioned in the Duke of Cornwall’s Light Infantry in November 1915 and served with its 5^th Battalion on the Western Front, attaining the rank of captain.

K41030(D) Stoker 1^st Class Cyril Edward PERKINS

HMS Cassandra

Born on 28 March 1898 in Bristol, he was the second of three children of Edward, a butcher, and Bessie Perkins. A blacksmith’s assistant, he joined the Royal Navy on 12 February 1917 and was drafted to the cruiser HMS Cassandra four months later. He was rated Stoker 1^st Class in March 1918 and died on 5 December 1918, aged 20, when the ship was mined and sunk off the Gulf of Riga with the loss of 11 lives, nine being stokers. His mother was living at Aller Farm at the time of his death. He is commemorated on Panel 28 of the Plymouth Naval Memorial. Medal entitlement: British War Medal and Victory Medal. His younger brother Bertram died whilst serving in the Royal Air Force as an aircraftman 1^st class during the 2^nd World War.

12014 Private Joseph Christopher Wood PERRYMAN

6^th Battalion Somerset Light Infantry

Born on 2 November 1896 at Heathfield and baptised later that month at Chudleigh Knighton, he was the youngest of two children of Thomas, a brickworks foreman, and Rose Perryman of 11 Heathfield Cottages (also known as Haytor View). He served an apprenticeship in the furnishing department of William Badcock & Sons of Newton Abbot prior to taking a position at Minehead. He enlisted at Taunton in August 1914 and disembarked in France with his battalion on 21 May the following year. Aged 19, he was one of 142 other-ranks of the Battalion killed in action on 16 September 1916 during the Battle of Flers-Courcelette, when the unit attacked Grid Trench, north-east of Flers, at 9.25am, the assault failing under heavy fire from Gas Alley. He is also commemorated on Pier & Face 2A of the Thiepval Memorial in France and the Chudleigh Knighton War Memorial. Medal entitlement: 1914-15 Star, British War Medal and Victory Medal. Joseph’s married brother John Reginald also served in the Army: briefly with Devonshire Regiment before medical discharge and later, after conscription, in the Royal Engineer’s Inland Waterways & Docks Section.

3/6872 Private Bertie POOK

1^st Battalion Devonshire Regiment

Born in 1893 at Crediton, he was one of seven children of Philip, a farm worker, and Sarah Pook. In the 1911 Census his occupation was shown as a farm carter. Resident in Uffculme, he enlisted at Bideford in August 1914 and first landed in France on 3 December that year. In 1916 he married Alice Heath, their address being 10 Mary Street. Aged 26, he was one of eight other-ranks of his battalion killed in action on 13 April 1918 at the Battle of Hazebrouck, and is buried in Grave I/BB/25 in Aval Wood Military Cemetery in France. The Mid-Devon Advertiser report of his death said he was in the Royal Army Medical Corps: this was either a mistake or could indicate that he was a regimental medical orderly. Medal entitlement: 1914-15 Star, British War Medal and Victory Medal. 

24240 Private Percy PRESCOTT (nicknamed Dibby)

1^st Battalion Grenadier Guards

Born in 1897 at St Giles in the Wood near Torrington, he was one of six children of William, a boot and shoe maker, and Mary Prescott. The family then lived at Huntshaw Cross but by 1911 had moved to Mary Street in Bovey Tracey, where Percy attended the National Church School and became a member of the parish church choir. He enlisted on 11 October 1915, being the third of four brothers to serve in the Army. Aged 19, he was one of 32 other-ranks of his battalion killed in action on 10 September 1916 near Ginchy, during the Somme battles, and is also commemorated on Pier & Face 8D of the Thiepval Memorial in France. Medal entitlement: British War Medal and Victory Medal.

82707 Acting Sergeant William PRESCOTT

A Battery, XCIV Brigade Royal Field Artillery

Born in 1893 at St Giles in the Wood near Torrington, he was one of six children of William, a boot and shoe maker, and Mary Prescott. The family then lived at Huntshaw Cross but by 1911 had moved to Mary Street in Bovey Tracey, where William attended the National Church School and became a member of the parish church choir. Employed as a gardener, he enlisted between October and December 1914, the second of four brothers to serve in the Army, and embarked for France on 9 September 1915. He was wounded near Ypres on 30 September 1917, one of five casualties in his battery that day, and died seven weeks later on 21 November, aged 24, having been visited by his parents in France after the amputation of a leg. Unfortunately he was too ill to recognise them. He is buried in Grave VI/H/15A in Wimereux Communal Cemetery in France. His family had the inscription “Never shall his memory fade happy thoughts will always linger round the place where he is laid” added to the headstone. Medal entitlement: 1914-15 Star, British War Medal and Victory Medal.

235028 Private Percy William SAMPSON

1/4^th Battalion Duke of Cornwall’s Light Infantry

Born in 1896 at Heathfield, he was one of eight children of Thomas, a brickyard labourer, and Elizabeth Sampson of 12 Heathfield Cottages (also known as Haytor View), Heathfield and the maternal half-brother of Frank Croote, who is also commemorated on the war memorial. At the time of the 1911 census, he worked as a golf caddie at Stover. He enlisted in the Devonshire Regiment, with the number 241051, between September and December 1915 and was posted to its 2/5^th Battalion in Egypt. The Battalion was disbanded in April 1916 and he was transferred at some stage to the 1/4^th Battalion Duke of Cornwall’s Light Infantry, which moved from Aden to Egypt in February 1917. He died on 21 November 1918 in Palestine, aged about 22 and is buried in Grave DD/27 in Ramleh War Cemetery in Israel.  Medal entitlement: British War Medal and Victory Medal. Both his older brothers also served in the Army: Thomas twice, from February to April 1915 in the Devonshire Regiment and then September to October 1918 in the 3^rd Battalion Oxfordshire & Buckinghamshire Light Infantry; and Hubert, overseas, with a Royal Garrison Artillery heavy trench mortar battery.

10143 Private Horace James SETTERS

1^st Battalion Devonshire Regiment

Born in Bovey Tracey, he was one of eight children of James, a wagoner, and Alice Setters of 12 Mary Street and worked as a mason’s and bricklayer’s labourer. He enlisted at Exeter in August 1914 and disembarked in France on 3 December that year, being evacuated home later that month with frostbite. After treatment at Poole Hospital and some sick leave, he returned to France in June 1915 and was killed in action at Maricourt, in the Somme area, on 21 August 1915, aged 20, the only man in the Battalion killed that day. He is buried in Grave II/M/21 in Cerisy-Gailly Military Cemetery in France. His family had the inscription “Never forgotten” added to the headstone and his name was added to the headstone of his parents’ grave, F2/279, in the town cemetery. Medal entitlement: 1914-15 Star, British War Medal and Victory Medal. His younger brother Frederick served as a corporal in the Royal Army Medical Corps.

3/6775 Corporal Gilbert Leonard SMITH

1^st Battalion Devonshire Regiment

Born on 18 April 1888 at Fort William in Calcutta, India, one of five children of Samuel and Margaret Smith, a Royal Artillery soldier and Army schoolmistress respectively, his mother had three children from her previous marriage to Royal Artillery sergeant William Dart. He and his by-then widowed mother were living at Northam, in Devon, in 1901 and he subsequently joined the Devonshire Regiment. Invalided and again living with his mother in 1911, he married Beatrice Tithecott the following year. They had a son, Gilbert, in 1913, the family living at Southbrook and Gilbert senior working at the Dolphin Hotel for a short period.  He was recalled as an Army reservist on the outbreak of war and embarked for France on 20 September 1914. Aged 26, he was one of seven other-ranks of his battalion killed in action at Wulverghem, west of Messines, on 18 November 1914 during the rationalisation of the allied front line on conclusion of the First Battle of Ypres. He is commemorated on Panel 21 of the Ypres (Menin Gate) Memorial in Belgium. Medal entitlement: 1914 Star and clasp, British War Medal and Victory Medal.

240212 Sergeant Frank Charles STADDON

1/5^th Battalion Devonshire Regiment

Born in 1895 at Bovey Tracey, he was one of four children of Charles, a pottery pipe worker, and Elizabeth Staddon of 2 Heathfield Terrace. He had been educated at the National Church School and was a clerk at Bovey Pottery Co Ltd. A pre-war Territorial Force soldier with the number 1395, he served with his battalion in India until it was transferred to Egypt in April 1917. Aged 22, he was one of four other-ranks of the unit killed in action on 21 November 1917 near Saris, and is buried in Grave P/4 in Jerusalem War Cemetery in Israel. His family had the inscription “Never forgotten” added to the headstone. He is also commemorated on both parish churches’ war memorials. Medal entitlement: British War Medal, Victory Medal and Territorial Force War Medal.

159703(D) Able Seaman Charles Ernest Samuel STEER

HMS Monmouth

Born on 1 November 1875 in Chelsea, in London, he was one of probably three children of Charles, a sawyer, and Alice Steer of Fore Street. He joined the Royal Navy as a boy seaman on 27 March 1891, giving his occupation as plumber, and was present at the relief of the Pekin legations, during the Third China War of 1900, whilst serving in the cruiser HMS Aurora. In 1902 he married Olive Stoyle and they had eight children – Alice, Irene, Harold, Ethel, Alfred, Ernest, Winifred and Vera – between 1904 and 1914. He transferred to the Coastguard as a boatman on 2 May 1903, being rated leading boatman in September 1911 when the family were living at Prawle Coastguard Station. He was drafted to the cruiser HMS Monmouth as an able seaman on 1 August 1914 and was killed in action on 1 November 1914, aged 39, when the ship was sunk with all hands – 734 men – at the Battle of Coronel. He is also commemorated on Panel 2 of the Plymouth Naval Memorial and the war memorial at Torquay, where his wife was living at 6 Coastguard Station, Daddy Hole Plain at the time of his death. Medal entitlement: 1914-15 Star, British War Medal and Victory Medal.

SP/3050 Private Arthur Alexander STOKES

24^th Battalion (2^nd Sportsman’s) Royal Fusiliers

Born in 1894 at Wolborough, he was one of ten children of James, a master builder, and Mary Stokes of 11 Blenheim Terrace. He worked as a clerk for the Newton Abbot solicitors M

BIOGRAPHICAL ROLL OF THOSE COMMEMORATED ON THE TOWN WAR MEMORIAL WHO DIED IN THE SECOND WORLD WAR (v2, 5 Oct 26) – Fourteen men and one woman

The memorial to the town’s Second World War dead was formed by placing a square granite tablet bearing their names on the front of the existing war memorial’s plinth. It was dedicated on Sunday 7 November 1948.

5625061 Private Harold Edwin BEER (nicknamed Dixie)

2^nd Battalion Devonshire Regiment

Born on 15 May 1916 in Bovey Tracey, he was eldest of five children of Edwin, a brick layer, and May Beer of 7 Moor View, and an accomplished musician who played the drums in the three-piece Cascade Dance Band. He worked for Bovey Pottery Co Ltd and in 1940 joined up and served in Malta, North Africa, Sicily and Italy before returning to the United Kingdom in November 1943. He was killed in action on D-Day, 6 June 1944, when he landed with his unit on Gold Beach in Normandy, aged 28, and is buried in Grave X/E/17 in Bayeux War Cemetery, in France. His family had the inscription “Resting where no shadows fall, remembered daily by us all” added to the headstone. He is also commemorated by the local road name Beer Grove, TQ13 9FS. Medal entitlement: 1939-45 Star, Africa Star, Italy Star, France & Germany Star and 1939-45 War Medal.

920262 Bombardier Eric Charles Gribble CANN

170^th Battery, 61^st Heavy Anti-Aircraft Regiment Royal Artillery

Born on 31 March 1921 at Bovey Tracey, he was eldest of three children of Alfred, a quarryman, and Emma Cann of 36 Mary Street and worked at the International Store in East Street. A Territorial soldier serving with the 96^th (Royal Devon Yeomanry) Field Regiment Royal Artillery, he was mobilised on 1 September 1939 and transferred to the 170^th Battery. Whilst stationed as an anti-aircraft gunner at Hornchurch Airfield – where he was wounded by shrapnel during an air raid – he met Joyce Bowmer of 27 Prince’s Park, Rainham, who was then working at May & Baker’s factory at Dagenham and they married in mid-1941. In Egypt, on 26 October 1942, aged 21, he was run over and killed by the gun towed behind the vehicle in which he was a passenger, and is buried in Grave 4/A/15B in Alexandria (Hadra) War Memorial Cemetery.  His wife had the inscription “As I loved him, so I miss him, in my memory he is dear. His darling wife Joyce” added to the headstone. Medal entitlement: 1939-45 Star, Africa Star and 1939-45 War Medal.

Ply/X 100845 Marine Lewis Percival CANN

Mobile Naval Base Defence Organisation I (attached to Force Viper)

Born on 4 December 1914 at Salisbury, he was the fourth of five children of Albert, a chauffeur, and Lilian Cann. By 1921, the family had been separated by his mother’s admission to Wiltshire County Lunatic Asylum, at Roundway, and the four eldest children were living at Meadowside Children’s Home in Newton Abbot. Lewis was living at Thorn Court in Okehampton in 1939, working as a general labourer. Stationed in Ceylon with the 1^st Royal Marines Coast Regiment – of Mobile Naval Base Defence Organisation I – he was one of one hundred and seven men who answered a call for volunteers for hazardous service and were formed into Force Viper, in January 1942, for river patrol and raiding operations in Burma. He was posted missing presumed killed, aged 27, after an action at Padaung on the Irrawaddy River on 28 March 1942.  His sub-unit, 3 Platoon, became detached from the main force, most of its members subsequently dying in unknown circumstances and being given the official casualty date of 24 April 1942 after the War. He is also commemorated on Panel 102 of the Plymouth Naval Memorial. His mother was living at Southbrook at the time of his death.

5623500 Private Sidney Albert CARPENTER

12^th (Airborne) Battalion Devonshire Regiment

Born on 19 November 1917 at Northwich in Cheshire, he was the only child of Ernest, a general labourer, and Elizabeth Carpenter of 39 Mary Street. He married Trixie Matthews in 1940 and they had two sons – Terence and Bryan – between 1941 and 1945. He died on 24 March 1945 at the capture of Hamminkeln during the crossing of the Rhine, aged 27. Originally buried at Dingden, his remains were removed to Grave 37/F/10 in Reichswald Forest War Cemetery in Germany on 16 January 1947. His family had the inscription “He died that his son might live” added to the headstone. He is also commemorated by the local road name Carpenter Drive, TQ13 9TU. Medal entitlement: 1939-45 Star, France & Germany Star, Defence Medal and 1939-45 War Medal.

1175691 Aircraftman 1^st Class Rodney Dennis COOMBES

No 200 Squadron RAF

Born on 7 August 1920 in Bovey Tracey, he was one of nine children of Albert, a carpenter, and Nora Coombes of 73 Fore Street, all seven of their sons serving in the Armed Forces during the war. Rodney had been a chorister at St John’s Church and worked at the Town Hall Garage before joining the RAF on 1 August 1940 as a mechanical transport mechanic. On passage in the SS Anselm, sailing in Convoy WS 9B, to join his squadron in West Africa, he was lost, aged 20, when the ship was torpedoed by the German submarine U96 on 5 July 1941, about 340 nautical miles north of the Azores, with the loss of 254 lives. He is also commemorated on Panel 58 of the Runnymede Air Forces Memorial and the headstone of his sister Linna’s grave, F3/487, in the town cemetery.

D/K55432 Stoker 1^st Class William Edwin DAVEY

HMS Monck

Born on 15 March 1889 at Bovey Tracey, he was one of seven children of Henry, a general carpenter, and Susannah Davey, a dressmaker. He joined the Royal Navy on a short service engagement with the number SS115116 on 10 November 1913, giving his occupation as a farm wagoner. He was serving in the scout HMS Skirmisher at the outbreak of the Great War but left the ship in September 1915 and appears to have served ashore until joining the battleship HMS Warspite in June 1921, having signed on for pension 28 months earlier. In 1922, he married Emma Cox (née Gale) – widow of Walter Cox who had died of wounds on 16 November 1917 whilst serving with the 9^th Devons – and became stepfather to her son Gerald. Leaving HMS Warspite in September 1924, his next sea draft came in March 1926 when he joined the submarine depot ship HMS Ambrose in Hong Kong. Two years later the ship left Hong Kong to return to the United Kingdom, where he left her in October 1928. Further sea drafts followed – the destroyer HMS Romola (December 1928-July 1929), the destroyer HMS Thanet (July 1929-March 1930), the monitor HMS Marshal Soult (February-April 1931) and the sloop HMS Harebell (January 1933-November 1935) – as well as a period spent at the naval base at Colombo, in Ceylon, from July 1931-April 1932. William qualified for a Long Service & Good Conduct Medal in January 1929, having received the 1914-15 Star, British War Medal and Victory Medal after the Great War, and left the Royal Navy, on pension, on 9 November 1935. On the approach of the Second World War, he was mobilised for six days on 27 September 1938, recalled for ten days on 31 July 1939 and then recalled again on 24 August that year. He was serving at the Internal Combustion Engine School in HMS Monck at Rosneath, when he died of a coronary thrombosis on 12 April 1945 in the United States Navy Hospital there, aged 56. He was buried on 18 April in Grave G1/74 in the town cemetery, the family living at 91 Mary Street and having the inscription “God’s greatest gift is remembrance” added to the headstone. His stepson Gerald was then serving as a Driver in the Royal Army Service Corps. Assessed Second World War medal entitlement: Defence Medal and 1939-45 War Medal.

610629 Sergeant Denton Percy DIXON

No 204 Squadron RAF

Born on 14 April 1920 at Stamford, he was eldest of three children of Thomas, a postman, and Agnes Dixon of 28 Priory and worked at the Town Hall Garage until enlisting for six years service in the RAF as a flight rigger on 5 April 1938. He was posted to 204 Squadron at RAF Mount Batten on 30 June the following year and volunteered to fly on operations as a part-time air gunner when war broke out, being remustered as a full-time air gunner and promoted temporary sergeant in May 1940. Whilst flying on a convoy escort sortie off Norway on 3 Apr 1940, his Sunderland flying boat was attacked by a succession of Junkers 88 aircraft in the first air-to-air combat involving a Sunderland. In an action for which the pilot, Flight Lieutenant Frank Phillips, received the Distinguished Flying Cross, one enemy aircraft was shot down and a second so badly damaged that it later crashed. On 21 July 1940, Denton, aged 20, was one of 12 crew members lost when Sunderland N9028, operating from Sullom Voe in the Shetland Islands, was presumed shot down by a Messerschmitt 110 aircraft over Trondheim Fjord. He is also commemorated on Panel 13 of the Runnymede Air Forces Memorial. Medal entitlement: 1939-45 Star, Air Crew Europe Star and 1939-45 War Medal.

2761997 Private Bryan Gratney FERGUSON

Black Watch (attached to No 3 Commando)

Born on 31 May 1922 in Burma, he was the only son of Captain Donald and Helen Ferguson, who divorced five years later, and nephew by marriage of Major Hubert Symons (q.v.). Both his parents married again and his mother, a novelist, short story writer and painter, adopted the pseudonym Anna Kavan. He was living in Edinburgh when he joined the Black Watch and later volunteered for the commandos, serving with No 3 Commando. On 14 July 1943 he was slightly wounded at the 3 Commando Bridge action in Sicily. Wounded again early in the Italian campaign, he was brought back to Britain and treated in a number of American hospitals, where he showed great fortitude and cheerfulness despite being severely wounded and paralysed. He subsequently died on 22 February 1944 at the Bristol Military Hospital, aged 21, and was buried four days later in Grave F3/421 in the town cemetery under the inscription “Died of wounds courageously borne”. The administration of his estate, valued at £255 11s 4d, was granted to his father who, with his stepmother Margaret, was in India at the time of his death. His address in his will was given as Edgemoor (off Avenue Road), Bovey Tracey. Medal entitlement: 1939-45 Star, Africa Star, Italy Star and 1939-45 War Medal.

W/192499 Private Alice Grace HEATH (called Grace)

Auxiliary Territorial Service (attached to the Royal Artillery)

Born on 15 August 1925 in Bovey Tracey, she was one of eight children of John, a farm horseman, and Ethel, who had two previous daughters, Heath of Lower Pottery Cottages and had been employed at the Hawkmoor Sanatorium and the Rock Hotel, Haytor Vale, before the war. She joined up in September 1942 and served with a Royal Artillery anti-aircraft unit. She contracted tuberculosis in October 1943 and was medically discharged on 28 February 1944. She died at the Hawley Hospital in Barnstaple on 26 June 1944, aged 18, and was buried in Grave A4/17 in the town cemetery on 1 July, her family having the inscription “Deep in our hearts, She is living yet, We all loved her too dearly, Ever to forget” added to the headstone. Two of her brothers also served in the Army: William (Bill) as a lance corporal in the 3^rd Hussars, being a prisoner of war from 1940-45, and Thomas as a lance bombardier in a Royal Artillery heavy anti-aircraft regiment. Her fiancé, Gunner John Black, was serving with the Royal Artillery in North Africa at the time of her death. Medal entitlement: 1939-45 War Medal.

Captain John Catterall LEACH DSO MVO RN (called Jack)

HMS Prince of Wales

Born on 1 September 1894 at Clevedon, he was the only child of Charles, a solicitor, and Emily Leach.  He entered the Royal Navy as a cadet in May 1907 and joined the fleet as a midshipman in 1912. Serving in the battleship HMS Erin from 1914-18, he was granted six months seniority as a lieutenant for having “performed very good service as officer in charge of a turret” at the Battle of Jutland in May 1916. The following September he married Evelyn Lee, only daughter of Mr and Mrs Lee of Yarner. The couple lived at Yarner and had four sons – John, Roger, Henry and Richard – between 1918 and 1928 of whom the third became an admiral of the fleet. He was appointed a member of the Royal Victorian Order after the 1927 royal visit to Australasia in HMS Renown. Promoted captain in 1933, Jack took command of the battleship HMS Prince of Wales on 15 February 1941 and was awarded the Distinguished Service Order for the courage and coolness he displayed in action against the German battleship Bismarck on 24 May 1941. Initially, ironically, there had been high level political pressure – robustly resisted by the Commander-in-Chief Home Fleet, who threatened to act as accused’s friend – to have him court martialled for breaking off action with the Bismarck after she destroyed the battlecruiser HMS Hood. Aged 47, he was one of 327 men lost when the Prince of Wales was abandoned and sank in the South China Sea on 10 December 1941 after attack by Japanese aircraft east of Malaya whilst trying to intercept a Japanese invasion force. He is also commemorated on Panel 44 of the Plymouth Naval Memorial, by the local road name Leach Avenue, TQ13 9GB, and on his wife’s grave, Grave D3/274, in the town cemetery. Assessed medal entitlement: Distinguished Service Order, Member of the Royal Victorian Order, 1914-15 Star, British War Medal, Victory Medal, 1935 Jubilee Medal, 1937 Coronation Medal, 1939-45 Star, Atlantic Star, Africa Star, Burma Star, Pacific Star and 1939-45 War Medal. The administration of his estate, valued at £11,041 15s 8d, was granted to his widow and their son Roger.

95576 Lieutenant Humphrey Richard Hickson MARRIOTT

2^nd Battalion Buffs (Royal East Kent Regiment)

Born on 15 July 1919 at Shalford, in Essex, he was one of four children of George, a retired Army major, and Eileen Marriott, who shortly afterwards moved to Torquay. Commissioned into his father’s regiment as a second lieutenant on 3 July 1939, he was captured on 21 May 1940 in the Petegem area of West Belgium when carrying orders from 131 Brigade’s headquarters to his battalion. He was held as a prisoner of war, with the number 415, in Oflag 7B at Eichstatt and, aged 25, was one of 11 officers killed when the column in which he was being marched away from advancing Allied forces was mistakenly strafed by Allied Mustang fighter aircraft on 14 April 1945.  Initially buried in Eichstatt Civilian Cemetery, his remains were removed to Grave 3/E/25 in Durnbach War Cemetery in Germany on 17 March 1948. His family had the inscription “In proud and everlasting memory of our beloved only son and brother” added to the headstone. He is also commemorated by the local road name Marriott Way, TQ13 9RZ and in St Andrew’s Church at Shalford. Medal entitlement: 1939-45 Star and 1939-45 War Medal. The administration of his estate, valued at £16,810 15s 8d, was granted to his mother, who had married Lieutenant Colonel Geoffrey Mairis two years after his father’s death in 1924 and lived at Waye, Lower Down.

14352864 Trooper Reginald James MARTIN (nicknamed Sheep)

2^nd Northamptonshire Yeomanry

Born on 3 September 1923 at Bovey Tracey, he was eldest of the three children of James, a timber haulier’s foreman, and Beatrice Martin of Holwells Bungalow in Mary Street and worked as a joiner for Heath Brothers, the Dolphin Square builders. He enlisted on 2 January 1943 and joined the Northamptonshire Yeomanry that July after training with 55 Training Regiment. A Cromwell tank driver, he landed in Normandy with his unit on 18 June 1944 and was one of 28 men killed in action in his regiment on 30 June, the closing day of Operation Epsom, during the battle for Caen, aged 20. He is also commemorated on Panel 10 of the Bayeux Memorial in France, by the local road name Martin Drive, TQ13 9PE, and in the Methodist Church on a brass plate recording that he had been a Sunday School scholar.

48111 Pilot Officer Richard Eric SMARIDGE (called Eric)

No 21 Squadron RAF

Born on 2 July 1918 in Bovey Tracey, he was the only child of Richard, a farmer, and Alice Smaridge of Lower Bradley Farm, his mother dying when he was four years old. He was educated at the Grammar School and worked at Bovey Tracey Art Pottery before enlisting for six years service in the RAF as a wireless operator on 17 May 1938. Flying with 88 Squadron on the outbreak of war, he qualified as a wireless operator/air gunner in April 1940 and was promoted to flight sergeant 12 months later. He was posted to 21 Squadron on 5 December 1941 and commissioned as a pilot officer on 8 January 1942. On 6 February 1942 he was killed in action, aged 23, when his aircraft, Z7308, was one of three Blenheim bombers shot down by Messerschmitt 109 fighters near Filfla Island, south of Malta, whilst returning from an anti-shipping strike to Buayrat al Hasun in Libya. He is also commemorated on Panel 3 of the Malta Air Forces Memorial, on his mother’s grave, D4/478, in the town cemetery and by the local road name Smaridge Row, TQ13 9QL. The administration of his estate, valued at £413 9s 1d, was granted to his father, who was then living at 14 East Street.     

5623488 Private Leonard John WILLS (nicknamed Skippy)

6^th Battalion South Wales Borders

Born in the Newton Abbot district, he was the only child of William, an earthenware plate maker, and Mabel Wills of 11 Mary Street and had worked at Bovey Pottery Co Ltd. He joined the Devonshire Regiment but was later transferred to the South Wales Borders. He died of malaria on 6 December 1944, aged 25, and is buried in Grave 4/C/2 in Digboi War Cemetery in India. His family had the inscription “Absent in body yet present in spirit” added to the headstone. He is also commemorated by the local road name Wills Road, TQ13 9PG. The administration of his estate, valued at £191 2s 8d, was granted to his mother.

535847 Flight Sergeant Thomas WOOD (called Tommy)

B Flight, No 58 Squadron RAF

Born on 25 January 1918 at North Tamerton, he was the second of three children of Thomas, a farmer, and Mary Wood, who lived at Rachael Cottages, Pullabrook, at the time of his death. He enlisted for seven years service in the RAF as a flight rigger’s mate on 3 November 1936 and had qualified as a part-time air gunner in November 1938, in the rank of leading aircraftman. On 4 September 1939, the second night of the war, he flew in the first air raid on the German heartland, dropping leaflets in the Ruhr Valley. His squadron was loaned to Coastal Command from October 1939 until January 1940 to combat the German submarine threat. Tommy took part in his first bombing raid, on Fornebu Airfield in Norway, on 20 April and thereafter flew in a further twenty-one raids, including an eight-hour, 25-minute operation against Berlin on 17 April 1941. In a raid on Amiens on 12 June 1940, his aircraft suffered an engine fire and had to return early, making a forced landing at Upper Heyford. A sergeant since May 1940, he became a full-time air gunner that August and was promoted flight sergeant in April 1941. Tommy was killed in action, aged 23, when Whitley bomber Z6936 was shot down on 19 September 1941 over the Baltic Sea on a raid to Stettin.  Five crew members were seen to bale out but their bodies were washed ashore near Rostock. Originally buried in Rostock’s New Cemetery, his remains were removed to Grave 8/D/8 in Berlin 1939-45 War Cemetery in Germany on 15 April 1947. His family had the inscription “Peace, perfect peace, with loved ones far away?” added to the headstone. Medal entitlement: 1939-45 Star, Air Crew Europe Star and 1939-45 War Medal.

BIOGRAPHICAL ROLL OF WAR DEAD BURIED IN THE TOWN CEMETERY (v2, 5 Oct 26) – Six men and two women

The term War Dead covers those whose deaths are commemorated by the Commonwealth War Graves Commission under its charter to honour in perpetuity those who died in the First and Second World Wars.

168697 Flying Officer Reginald William ALFORD

No 1655 Mosquito Training Unit

Born on 8 September 1913 in Bovey Tracey, the youngest of two children of Frederick, a master tailor and outfitter, and Mary Alford then living at 48 Fore Street, he was educated at Newton Abbot Grammar School and often played football for Bovey Tracey. Joining the RAF on 21 May 1941, he trained in Britain and South Africa as a navigator before being posted to No 467 Squadron, equipped with Lancaster bombers, on 22 November 1942. He flew on many operations during eleven months with the Squadron and was commissioned pilot officer on 31 August 1943. He was mentioned in despatches on 8 June 1944, just before attending a four-week bombing leaders course prior to posting to 1655 Mosquito Training Unit on 2 October that year for conversion to Mosquitoes. On 8 November 1944, he took off from RAF Wyton in Mosquito DZ632 at 9.30pm on a night training flight with Flight Lieutenant Clancey at the controls. Both died, Reginald aged 31, when the aircraft later crashed at Oak Farm, near Lound in Suffolk, being seen descending in a dive. He was buried five days later alongside his father in Grave E2/240 under a private headstone. His widowed mother was then living at 29 Chelston Road, Newton Abbot and he is commemorated on Newton Abbot War Memorial.

440510 Aircraftwoman 2^nd Class Dorothea Rose CLAPHAM (called Dorothy)

Women’s Auxiliary Air Force

Born on 23 June 1922 in London, she was the daughter of Ada Mackintosh who married David Thomas when her daughter was 16, the marriage being registered at Totnes. Dorothy enlisted on 25 February 1941, serving at RAF Kenley as an orderly, but was medically discharged on 5 April 1942. She married Geoffrey Clapham, a RAF corporal, in 1945 and they lived at 29 Stanley Gardens, Paignton. Dorothy died of Pulmonary Tuberculosis at Hawkmoor TB Sanatorium on 4 April 1947, aged 24, and was buried five days later in Grave H2/226, now marked by a Commonwealth War Graves Commission headstone.

D/K55432 Stoker 1^st Class William Edwin DAVEY

HMS Monck

Buried on 18 April 1945 in Grave G1/74, now marked by a Commonwealth War Graves Commission headstone with the family inscription “God’s greatest gift is remembrance”. His biographical details are given in the roll of those commemorated on the town’s Second World War war memorial.

2761997 Private Bryan Gratney FERGUSON

Black Watch (attached to No 3 Commando)

Buried on 26 February 1944 in Grave F3/421 under a private granite cross headstone. His biographical details are given in the roll of those commemorated on the town’s Second World War war memorial.

W/192499 Private Alice Grace HEATH

Auxiliary Territorial Service

Buried on 1 July 1944 in Grave A4/17, now marked by a Commonwealth War Graves Commission headstone with the family inscription “Deep in our hearts she is living yet, we all loved her too dearly ever to forget”. Her biographical details are given in the roll of those commemorated on the town’s Second World War war memorial.

178377 Leading Seaman Gunner Ernest HYSSETT

HMS Vivid

Buried on 20 August 1915 in Grave E3/99, now marked by a Commonwealth War Graves Commission headstone. His biographical details are given in the roll of those commemorated on the town’s Great War war memorial.

14416797 Private William Jack SADLER (called Jack)

Gloucestershire Regiment (attached to No 4 Commando)

Born on 24 August 1926, he was the eldest of two children of William, a shopkeeper, and Margaret Sadler and may have lived his early life in Bovey Tracey, where his father worked at the pottery for a number of years. By 1939 the family occupied a shop at 308 Torquay Road, Paignton. Jack was employed at the Broadway Stores, Preston having previously worked for two years as a grocer’s assistant at the Chelston Co-op branch. He had been a member of the Torquay Army Cadet Force for two years and joined the Paignton Home Guard before enlisting underage in the Gloucestershire Regiment and volunteering for commando service. Serving in E Troop, No 4 Commando he was wounded on the beach at Ouistreham on D-Day and again when the DUKW taking him out to a ship for evacuation to England for treatment was attacked by German aircraft. He died 17 days later, on 23 June 1944, of multiple machine-gun and mine wounds to his head, body and legs, and bronchial pneumonia, at Hill End Hospital in St Albans, aged 17. He was buried six days later in Grave G2/324, now marked by a Commonwealth War Graves Commission headstone with the family inscription “In loving memory. One of many who gave his life for the country he loved”. He is commemorated on Paignton War Memorial and by the local place name Sadler Green, TQ13 9AY.

2^nd Lieutenant Wallace John TAYLOR

4^th Platoon, D Company, 14^th (Moorside) Battalion Devon Home Guard

Born on 4 April 1894 in Bideford, he was the only child of John, a farm labourer, and Norah Taylor and was living with them at Pudleigh, near Chard, in 1911 whilst employed as a saddler and harness maker. He enlisted early in the Great War and was probably 1878 Saddler Wallace John Taylor of the Royal Field Artillery, who went to France on 31 August 1915. In 1921, he was working as a saddler for George Edwards & Son of Fore Street, Bovey Tracey and lodging at 1 White Heather Terrace. He was employed as a lorry driver and mechanic at the Tucker Brothers’ garage in East Street in the 1930s before moving to the employment of Mr Currie at Chudleigh Knighton just prior to the Second World War, living at 6 Teign View in the village. He volunteered first as an air raid warden in 1939 and then, after its formation in 1940, for the Home Guard. On 21 February 1943, he suffered a comminuted fracture of the femur from a single round from a machine-gun that was said to have gone off when placed on some drums of signal wire at Chudleigh Knighton Home Guard headquarters after use on a nearby range. He was taken to Bovey Tracey cottage hospital and operated on, but died of shock resulting from his injuries on 22 February 1943, aged 48. He was buried three days later in Grave G2/284 under a private headstone.

SCHOOLBOY BURIED IN A SERVICE GRAVE IN BOVEY TRACEY CEMETERY

Kevin O’CONNELL

Duke of York’s Royal Military School

Born on 19 October 1935 in Liverpool, he was one of eight children of Richard and Bridget O’Connell. His father had been a sergeant in the Royal Irish Fusiliers and Kevin entered the Duke of York’s Royal Military School – which had been evacuated from Dover to the Saunton Sands Hotel, near Braunton, for the war – on 13 September 1945. He died of TB meningitis on 26 May 1946 at Stover Military Hospital, aged 10, and was buried four days later in Grave H2/227, now marked by a military-style headstone with the family inscription “Suffer little children to come unto me. RIP”.

INDIVIDUALS BURIED OR COMMEMORATED AS WAR DEAD ELSEWHERE WHOSE NAMES ARE RECORDED ON FAMILY PLOTS IN BOVEY TRACEY CEMETERY

34500 Corporal William John BLACK

6^th Battalion Worcestershire Regiment

Born in 1888 in Bovey Tracey the eldest of two children of John, a labourer, and Susan Black, he was a draper’s assistant and enlisted for four years as a part-time Territorial soldier on 22 April 1909, joining the 5^th Devons. He moved to London shortly afterwards, being transferred first to the 5^th East Surreys on 1 November 1909 and then Queen Victoria’s Rifles on 5 April 1911. He was mobilised during the Great War and served overseas with the Worcestershire Regiment. He may have signed on as a regular soldier because he was still in uniform in late 1919, when he contracted broncho pneumonia and died in the hospital at Norton Barracks, the Worcester’s depot at Norton-Juxta-Kempsy, on 11 November 1919; aged 31. He is buried in Grave 2559 in Dawlish Cemetery and commemorated on his father’s grave, A4/49, in Bovey Tracey Cemetery. His mother was living at 26 Courtney Street, in Newton Abbot, at the time of his death.

1175691 Aircraftman 1^st Class Rodney Dennis COOMBES

No 200 Squadron RAF

Commemorated on his sister Linna’s grave, F3/487, in Bovey Tracey Cemetery. His biographical details are given in the roll of those commemorated on the town’s Second World War war memorial.

Captain John Catterall LEACH RN MVO DSO (called Jack)

HMS Prince of Wales

Commemorated on his wife’s grave, Grave D3/274, in Bovey Tracey Cemetery. His biographical details are given in the roll of those commemorated on the town’s Second World War war memorial.

10143 Private Horace James SETTERS

1^st Battalion Devonshire Regiment

Commemorated on his parents’ grave, F2/279, in Bovey Tracey Cemetery. His biographical details are given in the roll of those commemorated on the town’s Great War war memorial.

48111 Pilot Officer Richard Eric SMARIDGE (called Eric)

No 21 Squadron RAF

Commemorated on his mother’s grave, D4/478, in Bovey Tracey Cemetery. His biographical details are given in the roll of those commemorated on the town’s Second World War war memorial.

12022 Private William James SHARLAND

10^th Battalion Devonshire Regiment

Born in early 1893 in Pembroke the only child of James, a Royal Navy chief stoker, and Emma Sharland, he lived with his parents in Post Office Street, Bishopsteignton from at least 1901 and was working as a gardener 10 years later. He enlisted in the 10^th Battalion Devonshire Regiment in August/September 1914 and went to France with his unit on 22 September 1915. Two months later the Battalion was transferred to Salonika, where he was one of four of its soldiers killed in action on 20 November 1916; aged 23. He is buried in Karasouli Military Cemetery, in Greece, and commemorated on his parents’ grave, F2/238, in Bovey Tracey Cemetery.

AN INDIVIDUAL BURIED AS WAR DEAD ELSEWHERE WHO IS ALSO COMMEMORATED ON A FAMILY PLOT IN BOVEY TRACEY BAPTIST CHURCH’S CHURCHYARD

20710 Private John Reginald GILLEY

1^st Battalion Coldstream Guards

Commemorated on a family headstone on Plot 15, in the centre of the churchyard, with two of his four sisters and their parents. His biographical details are given in the roll of those commemorated on the town’s Great War war memorial.