Surviving participants in WW1, M - N
MARLEY William b 16 Jan 1900 SP, first child to Samuel Marley (Labourer) and Martha Rosina Scorse. He was first cousin to WW1 casualties Bertie and Arthur Scorse. In 1911 census the family lived at Higher Town, (2018: 29, 31 or 33) father’s occupation shown as “farm carter”. On 14 Feb 1916 William joined GWR at Tiverton. On 28 Jan 1918 William was “called to the colours”. On sign up he was #39522 in 12th Gloucester Reg, then #29511 in E Surrey Reg. He was awarded the Victory and British medals. He is shown on 1919 SP absent voters lists as Private 29511, 1stEast Surrey’s, home address - his parents’ house in Higher Town. He rejoined GWR after demobilisation in Apr 1920, but was initially based in Cardiff, then transferred to Newport in 1923. His parents Samuel and Martha continued to live in Higher Town, but William moved out of the village permanently. He died 1982, aged 82 in Newport, South Wales. Family tree: https://www.ancestry.co.uk/family-tree/tree/75159961/family
MILTON Edward James b Jul 1891 Wellington was the second of 6 children of Albert Edward Milton {Milton-Twose} (labourer 1867-1911) and Sarah Amelia Boucher Vickery (b 1860, South Molton). The family moved to Royal Oak Cottages, Higher Town, (2018: space between 14 and school) around 1895. The family were there in both 1901 and 1911 censuses. Edward joined the army in Taunton on 29 Dec 1910 – height 5’6” and weighing less than 9 stone - and stated his occupation as baker. He was enrolled into the corps of Dragoons of the Line (2nd Dragoon Guards – known as the “Queens Bays”) #3435. He started at Aldershot and obtained a third-class certificate Mar 1911. He served at home until 8 Sep 1914 and was then posted to France with the BEF. The 2ndDragoon Guards were renamed the 1stCavalry Division shortly after arriving in France. They served on the Western front in France and Flanders. In Apr 1917 he was appointed Lance Corporal (unpaid). In Nov 1917 he became ill and was sent back home to Birmingham War hospital with suspected pleurisy. He was formally discharged from the army 5 Feb 1918 when it became apparent that the illness was actually Phthisis – now known as Tuberculosis. His condition deteriorated and he died 6 May 1920, aged 28.
MILTON Francis (Frank) Percy b 15 Feb 1895 Burlescombe, 4thchild of Albert Edward and Sarah Amelia; brother of Edward James (above). Lived with parents in Higher Town (2018: space between 14 and school) in 1901 and 1911 census- occupation general labourer. Enlisted 17 Nov 1911 in Plymouth (gives 15 Feb 1894 as DOB) with Royal Marines Light Infantry (Plymouth Division) Reg No 15499. He was transferred initially to Deal before returning to Plymouth Aug 1912. In Feb 1913 he was posted to “Roxborough” until Nov 1917. He was then based at Plymouth until Jan 1919. On the night of 22 &23 April 1918 he took part in a raid on Zeebrugge and Ostend and later participated in a ballot for the award of the Victoria Cross – but only two Marines actually received the award. From Jan 1919 he served on “Cornwall” where he was awarded his war gratuity of £29 in Aug 1919. He returned to Plymouth until 26 Jan 1920 when his service ended. He immediately re-enlisted into the Royal Fleet reserve and served for a further 5 years until he left 26 Jan 1925. In the 1939 register he lived at Fir Close, Tiverton, occupation butcher / slaughter house man. His wife, Florence b 21 Oct 1894 was also there. It appears that his widowed mother Amelia left SP and moved to Coldharbour, Uffculme whilst he was serving. He died in Heavitree, Exeter in 1941. Florence d Q2 1963 also in Exeter.
MILTON William Thomas b 5 Mar 1897 SP – 5thchild of Albert Edward Milton {Milton-Twose} and Sarah Amelia – brother to Edward James and Francis above. Lived with parents in Higher Town (2018: space between 14 and school), in 1901 census. In the 1911 census William (aged 14) was an apprentice Baker, living on the premises, but still in Higher Town, SP. He served with the 1/4thDevons, private #1698 then #200240. He was Demobbed 26 Oct 1919 and was awarded the standard Victory and British War medals. In Q4 1920, Tiverton he married Winifred L Elworthy and they had a son, b Feb 1921. In the 1939 register the family lived at Stone Cottage, Uffculme. William was a wool comber and Winifred a wool spinner/winder- presumably at Coldharbour Mill. William died in Sep 1967 in Exeter.
MONK William Frederick, b 29 Aug 1898, Plumstead, Kent. Son of Charles (Charlie) Monk and Laura House. In 1901 they lived in Wimbledon, but Charlie got in trouble with the police a few times, eventually being jailed in Wandsworth in 1910. By 1911 they had three other children and Laura was in service to author Bart Kennedy but her children were not with her. William was now in St Boniface Home in SP. He told his family that he served in the Lancashire Fusiliers and also the Marchine Gun Corps, and saw action at Ypres and the Somme where he lost several fingers on one hand, as well as being gassed. He was in Lancashire in 1917 where he married Sarah Alice Scott, but returned to the war and was still serving on Armistice Day. He said he rejoined to try to find his father who enlisted in 1914, was discharged for misconduct in 1915, reenlisted under the name of Carmichael, and died in Septermber 1918. Father and son never met up. William and his wife settled in the Bury area, eventually setting up business with his sons, and he died in 1985. Information kindly provided by his grandson.
MOON (Enos) Enoch b Oct 1883 Uplowman To William and Elizabeth, elder brother to Mark (below). He enlisted into the army around 1900, adding two years to his age. In 1901 he was a private with the Devon Militia in Jersey. By 1911 he had returned to his parent’s house in Lower Town (2018: number 19) where he worked as a limestone quarryman. He served in the army as private 10752 in the 8th Devon Regiment. He was in France in 1915 and was home on leave from the trenches in Oct 1917. In Sep 1921 Burlescombe he married Blanche Davey – 6thof 8 children of John and Elizabeth. Enos and Blanche had 5 sons - all baptized in SP, between 1921 and 1929. Enos worked as a quarryman and by 1926 the family moved to Hill Kiln Cottage, where Enos was foreman at the adjacent Quarry. He continued to work as a quarryman. By the 1939 register he had moved to Highland Terrace (Western end of Higher Town) and lived there with his wife Blanche and 4 children. He died in 1967, aged 84.
MOON Mark b 4 Sep 1888 SP to William Moon (Labourer, b Hockworthy) and Elizabeth (née Candy) – who later became a nurse and a midwife. In 1901 the family lived in Boobery and by 1911 they had moved to Lower Town (2018: number 19) where Mark was an Ag Lab. In May 1914 he joined GWR as a packer, but on 27 Sep 1915 he enlisted into the army and was assigned to the Royal Engineers, 116th Railway Troops Company as a sapper. After training he was sent to Egypt where he spent the rest of the war. He had two short spells of illness and was finally demobbed in Feb 1919. He returned and lived briefly in Halberton, then married 29 Oct 1919 to Florence Ponsford (b Nov 1886) in SP. The family moved to Boobery in 1920 and had a son. Mark returned to work on the railways until retirement aged 65. In the 1939 register he and Florence lived at the War Memorial Institute in Tiverton. He died in 1961 aged 73.
MORRELL Herbert Thomas b 8 May 1892 SP to John and Ellen, younger brother to John Henry Morrell. In 1901 he lived with his widowed father and 4 siblings at Barton Cottage (2018: 6 Boobery). In 1911 census he was a live-in servant working in Uffculme. We have not found a military record but he was away from SP during the war. Herbert returned to SP Spring 1923 ER and lived in Boobery. By Autumn 1923 he had moved to Always Cottage on Chains Road and lived there until Spring 1926. In Spring 1927 he moved to Rose Cottage, Higher Town where he was shown as a newsagent. Remarkably he was blind, but still managed to deliver the newspapers by bicycle! He was not recorded as being blind in the 1911 census, so his blindness may have been caused by the war. There is much more detail about this remarkable man in a Sampford Peverell Society book on SP businesses. In Apr 1927 in SP, aged 34, he married Eileen Daisy Hawkins, known as Ida, (1893-1942) of SP. In 1939 they still lived at Rose Cottage, Higher Town. They do not appear to have had any children. He continued to live there, working as a newsagent, until his death on 25 Apr 1959.
MORRELL John Henry b 14 Mar 1890 Burlescombe was son of John Morrell (1865, Uplowman, Ag Lab) and Ellen Cottey (1864-1896), who died Aug 1896 in childbirth - the baby survived. In 1901 the widowed father and his 5 children lived at Barton Cottage (2018: 6 Boobery). By 1911 John Henry was a Groom / gardener for Henry Wood (Saddler) and lived at his house – Rose Cottage, Turnpike. He applied for exemption from war service, but this was refused in Feb 1916. He enlisted as private 202013 Devons 2/4 and he then went on to join the Wiltshire Regiment, also as a Private, service number 0150. Hewas on the 1919 absent voters list with his father’s address in Boobery.
By 1920 Henry John (rather than John Henry!) had returned to Rose Cottage Turnpike with Henry Wood (Saddler). In SP Mar 1921 he married Maude Frampton Wheeler (b 22 Jun 1900 SP) and he gave his occupation as chauffeur. He lived at ‘2 Rose Cottage, Boobery’ and continued to live there, occupation chauffeur, until at least 1934. A daughter was born in 1930. In 1939 he and Maud lived at 10 Council Cottages (later named Beaufort Close). His occupation was lorry driver Milk Factory/ provender Millers. Later in life he became a gardener as evidenced by the 1959 probate of his brother Herbert Thomas Morrell. Henry died Sep 1963 in SP, aged 73.
MILTON Edward James b Jul 1891 Wellington was the second of 6 children of Albert Edward Milton {Milton-Twose} (labourer 1867-1911) and Sarah Amelia Boucher Vickery (b 1860, South Molton). The family moved to Royal Oak Cottages, Higher Town, (2018: space between 14 and school) around 1895. The family were there in both 1901 and 1911 censuses. Edward joined the army in Taunton on 29 Dec 1910 – height 5’6” and weighing less than 9 stone - and stated his occupation as baker. He was enrolled into the corps of Dragoons of the Line (2nd Dragoon Guards – known as the “Queens Bays”) #3435. He started at Aldershot and obtained a third-class certificate Mar 1911. He served at home until 8 Sep 1914 and was then posted to France with the BEF. The 2ndDragoon Guards were renamed the 1stCavalry Division shortly after arriving in France. They served on the Western front in France and Flanders. In Apr 1917 he was appointed Lance Corporal (unpaid). In Nov 1917 he became ill and was sent back home to Birmingham War hospital with suspected pleurisy. He was formally discharged from the army 5 Feb 1918 when it became apparent that the illness was actually Phthisis – now known as Tuberculosis. His condition deteriorated and he died 6 May 1920, aged 28.
MILTON Francis (Frank) Percy b 15 Feb 1895 Burlescombe, 4thchild of Albert Edward and Sarah Amelia; brother of Edward James (above). Lived with parents in Higher Town (2018: space between 14 and school) in 1901 and 1911 census- occupation general labourer. Enlisted 17 Nov 1911 in Plymouth (gives 15 Feb 1894 as DOB) with Royal Marines Light Infantry (Plymouth Division) Reg No 15499. He was transferred initially to Deal before returning to Plymouth Aug 1912. In Feb 1913 he was posted to “Roxborough” until Nov 1917. He was then based at Plymouth until Jan 1919. On the night of 22 &23 April 1918 he took part in a raid on Zeebrugge and Ostend and later participated in a ballot for the award of the Victoria Cross – but only two Marines actually received the award. From Jan 1919 he served on “Cornwall” where he was awarded his war gratuity of £29 in Aug 1919. He returned to Plymouth until 26 Jan 1920 when his service ended. He immediately re-enlisted into the Royal Fleet reserve and served for a further 5 years until he left 26 Jan 1925. In the 1939 register he lived at Fir Close, Tiverton, occupation butcher / slaughter house man. His wife, Florence b 21 Oct 1894 was also there. It appears that his widowed mother Amelia left SP and moved to Coldharbour, Uffculme whilst he was serving. He died in Heavitree, Exeter in 1941. Florence d Q2 1963 also in Exeter.
MILTON William Thomas b 5 Mar 1897 SP – 5thchild of Albert Edward Milton {Milton-Twose} and Sarah Amelia – brother to Edward James and Francis above. Lived with parents in Higher Town (2018: space between 14 and school), in 1901 census. In the 1911 census William (aged 14) was an apprentice Baker, living on the premises, but still in Higher Town, SP. He served with the 1/4thDevons, private #1698 then #200240. He was Demobbed 26 Oct 1919 and was awarded the standard Victory and British War medals. In Q4 1920, Tiverton he married Winifred L Elworthy and they had a son, b Feb 1921. In the 1939 register the family lived at Stone Cottage, Uffculme. William was a wool comber and Winifred a wool spinner/winder- presumably at Coldharbour Mill. William died in Sep 1967 in Exeter.
MONK William Frederick, b 29 Aug 1898, Plumstead, Kent. Son of Charles (Charlie) Monk and Laura House. In 1901 they lived in Wimbledon, but Charlie got in trouble with the police a few times, eventually being jailed in Wandsworth in 1910. By 1911 they had three other children and Laura was in service to author Bart Kennedy but her children were not with her. William was now in St Boniface Home in SP. He told his family that he served in the Lancashire Fusiliers and also the Marchine Gun Corps, and saw action at Ypres and the Somme where he lost several fingers on one hand, as well as being gassed. He was in Lancashire in 1917 where he married Sarah Alice Scott, but returned to the war and was still serving on Armistice Day. He said he rejoined to try to find his father who enlisted in 1914, was discharged for misconduct in 1915, reenlisted under the name of Carmichael, and died in Septermber 1918. Father and son never met up. William and his wife settled in the Bury area, eventually setting up business with his sons, and he died in 1985. Information kindly provided by his grandson.
MOON (Enos) Enoch b Oct 1883 Uplowman To William and Elizabeth, elder brother to Mark (below). He enlisted into the army around 1900, adding two years to his age. In 1901 he was a private with the Devon Militia in Jersey. By 1911 he had returned to his parent’s house in Lower Town (2018: number 19) where he worked as a limestone quarryman. He served in the army as private 10752 in the 8th Devon Regiment. He was in France in 1915 and was home on leave from the trenches in Oct 1917. In Sep 1921 Burlescombe he married Blanche Davey – 6thof 8 children of John and Elizabeth. Enos and Blanche had 5 sons - all baptized in SP, between 1921 and 1929. Enos worked as a quarryman and by 1926 the family moved to Hill Kiln Cottage, where Enos was foreman at the adjacent Quarry. He continued to work as a quarryman. By the 1939 register he had moved to Highland Terrace (Western end of Higher Town) and lived there with his wife Blanche and 4 children. He died in 1967, aged 84.
MOON Mark b 4 Sep 1888 SP to William Moon (Labourer, b Hockworthy) and Elizabeth (née Candy) – who later became a nurse and a midwife. In 1901 the family lived in Boobery and by 1911 they had moved to Lower Town (2018: number 19) where Mark was an Ag Lab. In May 1914 he joined GWR as a packer, but on 27 Sep 1915 he enlisted into the army and was assigned to the Royal Engineers, 116th Railway Troops Company as a sapper. After training he was sent to Egypt where he spent the rest of the war. He had two short spells of illness and was finally demobbed in Feb 1919. He returned and lived briefly in Halberton, then married 29 Oct 1919 to Florence Ponsford (b Nov 1886) in SP. The family moved to Boobery in 1920 and had a son. Mark returned to work on the railways until retirement aged 65. In the 1939 register he and Florence lived at the War Memorial Institute in Tiverton. He died in 1961 aged 73.
MORRELL Herbert Thomas b 8 May 1892 SP to John and Ellen, younger brother to John Henry Morrell. In 1901 he lived with his widowed father and 4 siblings at Barton Cottage (2018: 6 Boobery). In 1911 census he was a live-in servant working in Uffculme. We have not found a military record but he was away from SP during the war. Herbert returned to SP Spring 1923 ER and lived in Boobery. By Autumn 1923 he had moved to Always Cottage on Chains Road and lived there until Spring 1926. In Spring 1927 he moved to Rose Cottage, Higher Town where he was shown as a newsagent. Remarkably he was blind, but still managed to deliver the newspapers by bicycle! He was not recorded as being blind in the 1911 census, so his blindness may have been caused by the war. There is much more detail about this remarkable man in a Sampford Peverell Society book on SP businesses. In Apr 1927 in SP, aged 34, he married Eileen Daisy Hawkins, known as Ida, (1893-1942) of SP. In 1939 they still lived at Rose Cottage, Higher Town. They do not appear to have had any children. He continued to live there, working as a newsagent, until his death on 25 Apr 1959.
MORRELL John Henry b 14 Mar 1890 Burlescombe was son of John Morrell (1865, Uplowman, Ag Lab) and Ellen Cottey (1864-1896), who died Aug 1896 in childbirth - the baby survived. In 1901 the widowed father and his 5 children lived at Barton Cottage (2018: 6 Boobery). By 1911 John Henry was a Groom / gardener for Henry Wood (Saddler) and lived at his house – Rose Cottage, Turnpike. He applied for exemption from war service, but this was refused in Feb 1916. He enlisted as private 202013 Devons 2/4 and he then went on to join the Wiltshire Regiment, also as a Private, service number 0150. Hewas on the 1919 absent voters list with his father’s address in Boobery.
By 1920 Henry John (rather than John Henry!) had returned to Rose Cottage Turnpike with Henry Wood (Saddler). In SP Mar 1921 he married Maude Frampton Wheeler (b 22 Jun 1900 SP) and he gave his occupation as chauffeur. He lived at ‘2 Rose Cottage, Boobery’ and continued to live there, occupation chauffeur, until at least 1934. A daughter was born in 1930. In 1939 he and Maud lived at 10 Council Cottages (later named Beaufort Close). His occupation was lorry driver Milk Factory/ provender Millers. Later in life he became a gardener as evidenced by the 1959 probate of his brother Herbert Thomas Morrell. Henry died Sep 1963 in SP, aged 73.
NEEDS William b 18 Oct 1894 Chevithorne, 4thof 6 children of Thomas Needs (b 1861, Washfield, Ag Lab) and Jane Davey (b 1862 Withycombe, Somerset). In 1901 he lived with his parents and siblings including brother Thomas, at Chevithorne. In 1911 he was at Uplowman as a waggoner at Hill farm. His parents moved to Ashford Court dairy. He joined the army and was stationed in Jersey at the outbreak of the war, expecting to go to India, but was instead sent to France with the 1st Devons #9282. He was wounded in the hand in Oct 1914 in the battle of Lille and sent back to Plymouth for 21 days to recuperate. He had an uncanny ability to get wounded. 22 May 1915, 9 Aug 1916 and 7 Aug 1917 were dates of three subsequent injury records. On 29 Apr 1919 in SP he married Rosa Maud Date (Oct 1898 SP -1988) and was described as a ‘Mons hero’. 1939 register they lived at Pinnex Moor Cottage, Tiverton. William’s occupation was an Ag Lab. William died in Sep 1969 in Newton Abbot. William’s brother Thomas NEEDS b 1889 Chevithorne, was in the RN.
NORRISH James John was the 7thchild of Richard Stone Norrish and Jane Heard Chanin and younger brother to Richard Stanley (below). James was b 10 Apr 1890 at Fordlands, Tiverton. The family moved to Merrimeade House, Lower Town, in 1900 and James was a scholar in the 1901 census. After he left school he did not join the family business but trained as a baker/ confectioner. In the 1911 census he was at Teignmouth, but by 1915 he had moved to Ventnor on the Isle of Wight – occupation Baker. He enlisted Dec 1915 at Newport, IOW but was not actually called up until Jan 1917 at Weston-super-Mare, Somerset. He joined the ASC and was posted to Bath (# S307526). He was demobilised Apr 1920 and moved to Brentwood, Essex where he was listed as a baker. In Dec 1926 the married the 41-year-old Agnes Mabel Rideout. They had no children and lived in Brentwood until his death in Dec 1972. Family tree: https://www.ancestry.co.uk/family-tree/tree/120247555/family
NORRISH Richard Stanley b Apr 1888 at “Fordlands”, 1.5m NE of Tiverton. He was the 6th of 9 children of Richard Stone Norrish (1857-1907) a wealthy farmer and owner of a Creamery and Jane Heard Chanin (1856-1932) who was the daughter of a Yeoman Farmer. The previous generations of both his parents were all wealthy farmers. The family continued to live at Fordlands until 1900 and then moved to Merrimeade House, Lower Town next door to the newly constructed and extensive creamery owned by his parents in Chains Road. His father died in 1907 and the creamery was then run by his elder brother, William Henry, where Richard continued to work as an employee in the 1911 census. Shortly afterwards he moved to London to carry on the business there, but in Dec 1915 he enlisted as a private in the 13thLondon Regiment – initial service number 5690, then #492586. He was on active service in the Somme Jun 1916 to Nov 1916 then took part in many battles in 1917, including the Cambrai operations in Nov 1917. There he suffered multiple gunshot wounds 7 Dec 1917 to his right leg, head and ankle. He was hospitalised and finally discharged from the army 4 Mar 1918 and awarded a Silver Award Badge 2 weeks later – given to men honourably discharged through wounds or injury. He recovered and went to live in Tamworth Street, Fulham, returning to the dairy trade. In Mar 1923 in Kensington he married Dorothy Alice Humphrey, 9 years his junior. The family moved to St Albans, Herts where their two sons were born in 1924 and 1925. Richard continued to work in Paddington, then in 1929 the family moved to Wandsworth and 2 years later moved out to Harrow. They stayed there until 1939 then moved 15 miles out of London to Rickmansworth on the 216 acre Shepherds Farm. He operated a dairy business there called “Dairy Farmers Milk Supply Ltd”. He died aged 57 on 9 Dec 1945 at the farm, which then passed to his sons. The business was then sold to Express Dairies. The farm was demolished in 1961 and is now a housing estate with more than 800 houses. His wife Dorothy died in 1957 in Brighton aged 60. Family tree: https://www.ancestry.co.uk/family-tree/tree/120247555/family