Surviving participants in WW1, A - B
ANDREWS William J was a most unlikely recruit to the army! He was b May 1859 in SP and bp on 12 Jun at St John the Baptist Church. He was 7th/10 children of William Andrews, b Jan 1818 Morchard Bishop, Nr Crediton, Devon (ag lab and sometimes Labourer for the Great Western Railway) and Jane Woodhouse b 1819. His parents married around 1840. Their first child, Mary Jane was b Sep 1840 and bp 21 Feb 1841 in Morchard Bishop. The family moved to Exeter St Davids, then Stoke Cannon and to Lee Ditch, SP, around 1853. There were six children b in SP (including William in 1859). Around 1870 the family moved to Hillfarrance in Somerset and were there for both 1871 and 1881 census. William’s occupation in 1881 was “Groom”, single and living with his parents.
In 1883 William married Bessie b 1863 Otterford, Devon. They had a daughter, Mabel J. b 1886 in Taunton, Somerset. In 1891 the family lived at Norton Fitzwarren, Somerset and William was in the census as a farmer. By 1901 they were at Wilton, Somerset - occupation once again a groom. His widowed mother Jane, aged 82 lived with them. By 1911 the family had moved into Taunton where he listed his occupation as Groom – out of work. His daughter Mabel had married and left home. Shortly after the War broke out he made the extraordinary decision to enlist – at the age of 55 (although he declared that he was only 53!). He was subject to extensive medical examination before being accepted, with the proviso that he must not march more than 10 miles a day.
He was accepted into the 4thBattalion of the Somerset Light Infantry, #3989. His military service started on 22 Feb 1915 and he declared that he was previously in the national reserve and had served in both the ASC and 3rdSomerset LI. He was at home in the UK for the duration of his military service of 1 year and 44 days. He was then discharged 5 Apr 1916 in Portishead as being medically unfit - having been diagnosed with Tuberculosis (Phthisis and Pleuritic Effusion). His medical record goes into gory detail of the illness. It was judged that his condition had been aggravated by Normal Military Service and on discharge (then private #21818) he was awarded an invalidity pension of 15 Shillings/ week. He died in Wandsworth, London in Nov 1921.
AUTHERS (ARTHURS) Archibald – b 17 Jul 1888 SP and bp 12 Sep 1888 SP. One of 9 children of Walter John Marshall Authers, b Dec 1857 SP and his wife Ellen Needs (1858-1898). The family moved around the area frequently and the father, Walter, had many different occupations before his death in 1929. In the 1901 census, 3 years after the death of his mother, Archibald was living with his aunt, Rosa Selina Sparkes née Authers b 1879 (younger sister of his father) and her husband Sylvanus at their farm in Holcombe Rogus. Archibald later became a baker before enlisting in the army. In the 1911 census he was based at Aldershot Barracks. He served in France with the ASC, occupation cook, from Aug 1914 to Jan 1915. On 27 May 1915 his elder brother Albert William lost his life at sea on HMS Princess Irene. There is a memorial plaque in Uffculme church. In Aug 1915 Archibald married Alice Maud Taylor in Cambridge and they had a son Ronald b Jul 1917. Archibald returned to France with the RASC Nov to Dec 1917, then transferred to the Royal Flying Corps on 24 Dec 1917. He transferred again to the newly formed RAF on 1st Apr 1918 – still with occupation cook. He stayed in France until he was demobbed 21 Mar 1919. He returned to Devon and died in the Tiverton area in Dec 1954. Family tree: https://www.ancestry.co.uk/family-tree/tree/55070480/family
In 1883 William married Bessie b 1863 Otterford, Devon. They had a daughter, Mabel J. b 1886 in Taunton, Somerset. In 1891 the family lived at Norton Fitzwarren, Somerset and William was in the census as a farmer. By 1901 they were at Wilton, Somerset - occupation once again a groom. His widowed mother Jane, aged 82 lived with them. By 1911 the family had moved into Taunton where he listed his occupation as Groom – out of work. His daughter Mabel had married and left home. Shortly after the War broke out he made the extraordinary decision to enlist – at the age of 55 (although he declared that he was only 53!). He was subject to extensive medical examination before being accepted, with the proviso that he must not march more than 10 miles a day.
He was accepted into the 4thBattalion of the Somerset Light Infantry, #3989. His military service started on 22 Feb 1915 and he declared that he was previously in the national reserve and had served in both the ASC and 3rdSomerset LI. He was at home in the UK for the duration of his military service of 1 year and 44 days. He was then discharged 5 Apr 1916 in Portishead as being medically unfit - having been diagnosed with Tuberculosis (Phthisis and Pleuritic Effusion). His medical record goes into gory detail of the illness. It was judged that his condition had been aggravated by Normal Military Service and on discharge (then private #21818) he was awarded an invalidity pension of 15 Shillings/ week. He died in Wandsworth, London in Nov 1921.
AUTHERS (ARTHURS) Archibald – b 17 Jul 1888 SP and bp 12 Sep 1888 SP. One of 9 children of Walter John Marshall Authers, b Dec 1857 SP and his wife Ellen Needs (1858-1898). The family moved around the area frequently and the father, Walter, had many different occupations before his death in 1929. In the 1901 census, 3 years after the death of his mother, Archibald was living with his aunt, Rosa Selina Sparkes née Authers b 1879 (younger sister of his father) and her husband Sylvanus at their farm in Holcombe Rogus. Archibald later became a baker before enlisting in the army. In the 1911 census he was based at Aldershot Barracks. He served in France with the ASC, occupation cook, from Aug 1914 to Jan 1915. On 27 May 1915 his elder brother Albert William lost his life at sea on HMS Princess Irene. There is a memorial plaque in Uffculme church. In Aug 1915 Archibald married Alice Maud Taylor in Cambridge and they had a son Ronald b Jul 1917. Archibald returned to France with the RASC Nov to Dec 1917, then transferred to the Royal Flying Corps on 24 Dec 1917. He transferred again to the newly formed RAF on 1st Apr 1918 – still with occupation cook. He stayed in France until he was demobbed 21 Mar 1919. He returned to Devon and died in the Tiverton area in Dec 1954. Family tree: https://www.ancestry.co.uk/family-tree/tree/55070480/family
BASS Arthur Stanley – b 29 Mar 1896 Burlescombe was the 2nd/5 children of John Bass (carpenter then farmer, b Cullompton) and Sarah Ann Arthurs (b Leonard Moor). The family lived on Leonard Moor in both the 1901 and 1911 census (next to the current M5 Junction). Arthur attended primary school in Higher Town, SP at the very beginning of the 20thcentury. He then assisted his father on the farm. He received call-up papers in March 1916, when he was 19 and appealed against his military conscription as he was the only son working on the farm run by his 57-year-old father, who was suffering from a ruptured hernia, but the appeal was refused and he was then enlisted in the 9thDevons – Private #26301. His sisters took over much of the farm work. He wrote home regularly and there is a fuller account of his war experience on our website, written by his son. These are just some of the interesting details.
Arthur left Devon by train, seen off from Exeter by an aunt who gave him plums and a cake. After training he moved to 3rdDevons in Devonport. He said they all had colds – Recent training had included being stood up to the waist in water for two hours. By November 1916 he was in France and was lucky enough to be billeted in a barn. In February 1917 he was a guard at a POW camp and complained that the French were over-charging them for milk. He was in good health other than being plagued by fleas:” I am boiling up my cardigan while I am writing this as the little beggars are everywhere and the blankets are full of them”. He often mentioned the food parcels the family were sending him, but also mentions the potato rot at home, the shortage of men on the land, and the bad news from Mespotomia. In May he left the front line, as the officer to whom he was then a batman was sent on a course. Back near the front line he was continually trying to reassure his mother that he wasn’t really in danger. In September 1917 we learn from the letters that Lou Gale (see Lewis Gale below) visited Arthur’s parents when he was home on leave. The friends obviously kept in touch with each other’s families. In November 1917 the battalion was moved by train to Italy and Arthur wrote back about an incident of the soldiers finding vats of wine at a siding – bayonets were used to make holes and some of them got very drunk! Their time in Italy was seen as a wonderful break from the grim days in France. They were still getting food parcels from home - Arthur wrote that “The cream would have been alright if I had been in France, but it had just turned by the time it had got here. The dough cake was alright however and I can butter it if it gets dry.” They were nearly sent back to France in early 1918 but plans were changed at the last minute. Food parcels continued to arrive including butter and sponge cakes. Arthur’s former teacher from Uffculme wrote to him about how much he loved mountains, but Arthur wrote to his mother “give me the dear old country with hills you can jump over and hang the Alps”! Despite this he did retain a love of Italy in later life. They did not return to France until September 1918 and entered a particularly bloody phase of the war. No letters exist from this period. He survived uninjured and was eventually demobbed on 3rdFebruary.
In later years he often talked to his son about the war. One close shave he had was when he had finished his day’s work at a command post and his officer asked him whether he was going to stay there the night or return to the lines. He went back to the lines. Overnight the command post was hit by a shell, and the officer was brought out mortally wounded. Arthur’s battalion often came into contact with Scottish regiments, and he came to love the sound of the bagpipes. He also met a lot of Australians, and said they stuck closely together and took no notice of any officers other than their own, but they were always very friendly.
After the war Arthur’s sister, Minnie, married William Saunders, another WW1 participant. In Jun 1926, Arthur married Winifred Vickery from Westleigh, but she died a few years later. In Jun 1933 he married Dorothy May Snow and their son was born the following year. Arthur farmed, and his family still farm, Leonard Moor farm. Arthur Bass died Apr 1970. Family tree: https://www.ancestry.co.uk/family-tree/tree/64235835/family
Arthur left Devon by train, seen off from Exeter by an aunt who gave him plums and a cake. After training he moved to 3rdDevons in Devonport. He said they all had colds – Recent training had included being stood up to the waist in water for two hours. By November 1916 he was in France and was lucky enough to be billeted in a barn. In February 1917 he was a guard at a POW camp and complained that the French were over-charging them for milk. He was in good health other than being plagued by fleas:” I am boiling up my cardigan while I am writing this as the little beggars are everywhere and the blankets are full of them”. He often mentioned the food parcels the family were sending him, but also mentions the potato rot at home, the shortage of men on the land, and the bad news from Mespotomia. In May he left the front line, as the officer to whom he was then a batman was sent on a course. Back near the front line he was continually trying to reassure his mother that he wasn’t really in danger. In September 1917 we learn from the letters that Lou Gale (see Lewis Gale below) visited Arthur’s parents when he was home on leave. The friends obviously kept in touch with each other’s families. In November 1917 the battalion was moved by train to Italy and Arthur wrote back about an incident of the soldiers finding vats of wine at a siding – bayonets were used to make holes and some of them got very drunk! Their time in Italy was seen as a wonderful break from the grim days in France. They were still getting food parcels from home - Arthur wrote that “The cream would have been alright if I had been in France, but it had just turned by the time it had got here. The dough cake was alright however and I can butter it if it gets dry.” They were nearly sent back to France in early 1918 but plans were changed at the last minute. Food parcels continued to arrive including butter and sponge cakes. Arthur’s former teacher from Uffculme wrote to him about how much he loved mountains, but Arthur wrote to his mother “give me the dear old country with hills you can jump over and hang the Alps”! Despite this he did retain a love of Italy in later life. They did not return to France until September 1918 and entered a particularly bloody phase of the war. No letters exist from this period. He survived uninjured and was eventually demobbed on 3rdFebruary.
In later years he often talked to his son about the war. One close shave he had was when he had finished his day’s work at a command post and his officer asked him whether he was going to stay there the night or return to the lines. He went back to the lines. Overnight the command post was hit by a shell, and the officer was brought out mortally wounded. Arthur’s battalion often came into contact with Scottish regiments, and he came to love the sound of the bagpipes. He also met a lot of Australians, and said they stuck closely together and took no notice of any officers other than their own, but they were always very friendly.
After the war Arthur’s sister, Minnie, married William Saunders, another WW1 participant. In Jun 1926, Arthur married Winifred Vickery from Westleigh, but she died a few years later. In Jun 1933 he married Dorothy May Snow and their son was born the following year. Arthur farmed, and his family still farm, Leonard Moor farm. Arthur Bass died Apr 1970. Family tree: https://www.ancestry.co.uk/family-tree/tree/64235835/family
BATER Stanley – b SP 7 Jul 1895, bap SP 24 Jul 1895; son of John Bater, a railway packer, and his wife Elizabeth. The family lived in Boobery. On the 1911 census Stanley was a farm servant for Mr Lucas at Houndaller Farm, Waterloo Cross. He tried to join the army (Somerset Light Infantry) in May 1912 by giving false DOB, but was rejected. On 5 May 1914 he joined the RN and signed up for 12 years. He did land service on Vivid II et al to Nov 1917 then served on HMS Dublin as Leading Stoker #22477. Demobbed 15 Mar 1920. He got a job on the railway (like his father, John) and served as a labourer in the Mill shop – I believe this was in Manchester, until Apr 1922. He left voluntarily and was unemployed until 19 Jul 1923 before he re-joined the railway in the same job. He died in the first week of May 1924 in Exeter.
BROWNE William Mitchell (Dr) b 14 Jan 1877 Londonderry – 1914 Captain in Royal Army Medical Corps; he was also the village Doctor and lived at Turberfield House, Lower Town. He was the son of Dr David John Browne and Jane Osborne, both of Londonderry, Northern Ireland. William was the second of 6 children and qualified as a doctor in 1900. In Oct 1906 in Londonderry, aged 30, William married Hester Mary Beattie (1879-1965) and they had a son David Terence Alexander Mitchell Browne on 11 Sep 1907. Dr Browne was made lieutenant on probate in the Army Medical reserve in 1907. Two years later his appointment in the RAMC as lieutenant was confirmed. Dr Browne was in Dublin in 1911, but he and his family must have moved to the Falkland Islands, as the family travelled back to England in May 1913 on the ‘Oransa’. They moved to Sampford Peverell soon afterwards and by September 1913 they were living at Turberfield House, Lower Town.
Dr Browne was still in Sampford in Spring 1915 but must have been called back into service as a medal card for him shows that he was promoted from Lieutenant to Captain in the RAMC, and entered the European theatre of war in December 1915. He was back in Sampford by September 1916 when he was appointed certifying surgeon for the Uffculme district of Devon. After the war they moved to the newly built “Namora” (later to become Green Headlands, then the Parkway hotel) on Lower Town/ Whitnage Road. Dr William Mitchell Browne died in May 1929, as a result of septicaemia from a rose thorn in his finger. His son David married Violet Norrish from the Creamery family. There is more about him, including a photo, in our chapter on Public Services. Family tree: https://www.ancestry.co.uk/family-tree/tree/120247555/family
Dr Browne was still in Sampford in Spring 1915 but must have been called back into service as a medal card for him shows that he was promoted from Lieutenant to Captain in the RAMC, and entered the European theatre of war in December 1915. He was back in Sampford by September 1916 when he was appointed certifying surgeon for the Uffculme district of Devon. After the war they moved to the newly built “Namora” (later to become Green Headlands, then the Parkway hotel) on Lower Town/ Whitnage Road. Dr William Mitchell Browne died in May 1929, as a result of septicaemia from a rose thorn in his finger. His son David married Violet Norrish from the Creamery family. There is more about him, including a photo, in our chapter on Public Services. Family tree: https://www.ancestry.co.uk/family-tree/tree/120247555/family
BRYANT Charles Bow b 23 Dec 1889 Berry Pomeroy, Totnes, Devon youngest of 7 children of John Henry Bryant (1849-1934), a Blacksmith and Emma Bow 1848-1890. His mother died in Q1 1890, shortly after giving birth to Charles. In 1901 census he was living in Totnes with his widowed father (a farrier and Blacksmith) and one elder sister. By the 1911 census Charles hasdleft home and was the assistant gamekeeper at Huntsham Court, just north of Tiverton. His connections with Totnes were far from over as on 23 Mar 1912, in an independent chapel, he married Elsie Smith (b 1890, Totnes). He joined up with the army in Bristol on 3 Jun 1916, (Reg #20520 then 33299) where he gave his next of kin as Elsie Bryant, his wife - address Boobery, Sandford Peveril (sic). He qualified as a skilled shoeing smith in the army in Sep 1916. Served in France with the BEF from 1916 to 1919. Initially with the Southern Cavalry Depot, then Oxford 7 Bucks Light Infantry, then the Army Veterinary Corps. Demobbed 22 March 1919. He is listed in the 1918 & 1919 autumn electoral roll for SP as a resident, with “NM” next to his name. He appeared in various trade directories (Gregory’s, Kelly’s) from 1920 to 1930 where his occupation was shown as a Blacksmith, living at Lower Town, SP. In 1926 he became part owner of the new ‘Sampford Peverell Motor Company’ with WH Norrish, but it folded after a few years. In 1928 they had a baby girl and his occupation on her baptism record was “Motor Engineer”. In the 1939 Register the family were living at Fore St Torquay, where his occupation was shown as Foreman Blacksmith and Fitter (Quarrying trade). He died Jun 1972 in Torbay, Devon aged 82. Family tree: https://www.ancestry.co.uk/family-tree/tree/154322107/family