A sapper’s death from fever: Sapper Bernard Morrish, 7 April 1916

 

Above: All Saint Church war memorial where the name of B. Marish appears

Bernard Morrish was one of five children born to Robert and Sarah Ann Morrish of Church House, East Budleigh. His father was a sexton at All Saints Church.

The 1911 census lists Bernard as a bricklayer, living with his parents. He joined the Army early in 1916 and at the time of his death was serving in the 4th Provisional Company of the Royal Engineers Depot Battalion located at Chatham. The Provisional Companies had apparently been formed as a result of the rapid expansion of the Army, and the surge in recruitment of formations of men involved in specialist areas such as tunnelling and gas warfare.

The Exeter and Plymouth Gazette of Friday 14 April 1916 recorded Bernard’s death at Chatham from what was described as spotted fever, a type of tick-borne illness. ‘He was esteemed by all who knew him, as he was a singularly quiet, well-behaved young man, and of an obliging disposition,’ noted a report.    

Bernard was buried at Fort Pitt Military Cemetery in Chatham, pictured above, which contains a plot of 265 First World War graves. The newspaper noted that his father was not able to attend the funeral because of illness.

East Budleigh village war memorial lists Bernard Marish

There seems to have been confusion over the spelling of Bernard’s family name. The Commonwealth War Graves Commission records his father as W.R. Morris, while the East Budleigh memorials give the surname as Marish.

‘The Great War at Fairlynch’ 2015 exhibition at Budleigh Salterton’s very special museum!  Reviews included: 'Wonderful display on WW1, informative, bright and relevant. Well done!!' 

A tragic accident: Petty Officer Robert George Larcombe, 7 April 1916

  

The disused East Budleigh station as it appears today 

Robert Larcombe’s name appears on both Ilfracombe and Otterton’s war memorials. Born in Plymouth on 22 December 1880, he was one of seven children of John and Mathilda Larcombe who at one stage were living at 97 High Street in Ilfracombe. 

His father was working for the Great Western Railway, and by 1901 had progressed from being a railway guard to becoming station master for East Budleigh Station on the outskirts of the village of Otterton. By 1911 he had retired, but he and his wife continued to live in Otterton, which explains why their son is listed on the village war memorial.

After leaving school in Ilfracombe Robert worked as a general labourer in Devonport and  then joined the Royal Navy as a stoker just before Christmas in 1905. Within two years he had qualified as a telegraphist.  He was serving on the battleship HMS Russell, pictured above, when he married Minnie Murgatroyd in Wakefield Cathedral on 28 March 1910. Both were 29 years old.

By 1911 he had gained the rank of Petty Officer Telegraphist, and decided to work in submarines. He spent three years from mid-1912 at HMS Dolphin, a submarine school in Gosport, Hampshire, before moving to HMS Titania, a submarine depot ship based at Blyth in Northumberland. He also spent time on HMS Vernon, a shore establishment used for torpedo training.

On 7 April 1916 he was serving as a wireless operator on submarine E30, based at Blyth. The vessel, seen in the above photo, had been built by Armstrong Whitworth at Newcastle on Tyne and was commissioned in November 1915. 

An explosion, apparently caused by a faulty battery, resulted in the death of Robert and three other men. He was buried at Blyth Cemetery, following a funeral attended by over 500 officers and men. 

The submarine did not survive WW1: all 30 crew of E30 were lost when it was mined off Orfordness, Suffolk on 22 December 1916.

‘The Great War at Fairlynch’ 2015 exhibition at Budleigh Salterton’s very special museum! 


Reviews included: 'Wonderful display on WW1, informative, bright and relevant. Well done!!' 

A Bengal Lancer’s death on the Western Front: Captain Caradoc Davies Berrington, 10 March 1916

An officer of the 15th Lancers (Cureton's Multanis). Watercolour by AC Lovett, 1910. Published in MacMunn & Lovett, Armies of India, 1911 

Like many from the past who settled in Budleigh Salterton, Caradoc Berrington was born in India to Trevor Davies Berrington and Ellen Berrington (nee Faithfull). His father was Director General of the Indian Telegraph, and on retirement seems to have been living in Wales by 1911 with his second wife and Caradoc’s step-brother.  

Caradoc’s name does not appear on any local war memorial, but a Budleigh link was established when the family moved to the town. The Commonwealth War Graves Commission records their address as Holly Bank, at 1 Sherbrook Hill. By 1943, when Trevor Berrington died aged 96, he is listed as living at Sherbrook Lodge, on West Hill in Budleigh Salterton. His second wife died at Clinton Terrace in 1962.

Caradoc was sent to boarding school, being educated at Wellington College in Berkshire, where he entered the school in January 1900. A keen sportsman, he was a member of the 1^st XI in 1903 and 1904, when he was listed as playing an innings of 40 and taking three wickets in the match with Charterhouse School. He was also Head of Gym in 1904, his final year at Wellington, when he entered the Royal Military Academy, Sandhurst.  Sport remained a keen interest at Sandhurst as he was in the first teams for rugby and cricket, captaining the 1^st XI in 1906.

He joined the Royal Artillery on leaving Sandhurst in 1906, listed in the London Gazette as a Second Lieutenant from 25 July of that year.  Two years later he joined the 15^th Bengal Lancers, Indian Army. Known as Cureton's Multanis, the 15^th Lancers was formed at Lahore in 1858 by Captain C. Cureton from Multani Pathans originally raised in 1857 by Ghulam Hasan Khan as The Multani Regiment of Cavalry.

Charging on foot with the lance: Bengal Lancers attack German trenches. From the Painting by R. Caton Woodville. (left half) 

Charging on foot with the lance: Bengal Lancers attack German trenches. From the Painting by R. Caton Woodville. (right half) 

Following the outbreak of war the Lancers embarked for France. It seems that cavalry regiments like Cureton's Multanis soon found themselves having to adapt to new fighting methods.

‘Cavalry engaged in the Belgian frontier battles are fighting in all sorts of ways: repeatedly, for example, as infantrymen in the trenches,’ reads a report in the Illustrated War News of 18 Nov 1914. ‘On occasion, also, they have even charged on foot, with bayonet or with their lances. The Life Guards, according to a letter from the front, charged the German trenches the other day with bayonets. A squadron of French dragoons dismounted and crept through a wood on foot, surprising a German infantry company and overpowering them in close-quarter fight with lances and clubbed carbines.

With lances, also, as our illustration shows, some of our Bengal cavalry, in action on foot, on October 24, at Ramscapelle, near the Yser, recaptured the village from the Germans. Dismounting nearby, they charged the enemy lance in hand, driving him from his trenches. Following up their success, they then forced their way into the village, smashing in doors and windows and storming house after house in spite of fierce resistance until, assisted by other troops, they forced the enemy out, capturing guns and many prisoners. The action was particularly notable.’

   

Caradoc was promoted from Lieutenant to Captain on 25 July 1915. He was then attached to ‘C’ Battery, 86th Brigade, of the Royal Field Artillery. During fighting in Northern France he was killed in action on 10 March 1916. He was 30 years old.

He was buried in La Gorgue Cemetery, 15 kilometres north-north-east of the town of Bethune in Northern France. His grave is one of 144 Commonwealth burials of the First World War.

‘The Great War at Fairlynch’ 2015 exhibition at Budleigh Salterton’s very special museum! Reviews included: 'Wonderful display on WW1, informative, bright and relevant. Well done!!'