Notes on some First World War patients

Below are brief notes on some servicemen who were patients during the Great War:

 

 

 

 

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Henry James Amos (1893-1944)

Henry James Amos

AMOS, Henry James

Henry James Amos was born in 1893 in Northampton, the son of Charles Henry Amos and his wife Lucy Ann. In the 1911 census he was aged 17, living with his family at 26 Hood Street, Northampton, employed as a finisher in a boot factory.

Amos enlisted in the 2nd Northamptonshire Regiment.  The enlistment papers show that he was previously in the employ of Messrs. Oakeshott & Finnemore.

On 9 May 1915 he was wounded in two places at the battle of Aubers Ridge. The Northampton Mercury reported that he was shot in the foot – “the wounds are stated not to be of a serious character”. He subsequently received treatment at Dorset County Hospital and eventually he returned to the front line.

The following year, in May 1916, he was wounded again, this time in the thigh, and was treated at Bristol Hospital.

Amos married Daisy Westbury in 1917 Northampton and he died, aged 51, on 2 October 1944 at 137a Wellingborough Road, Northampton.

Image © Johnston Press plc. Image created courtesy of THE BRITISH LIBRARY BOARD. Reproduced with kind permission of The British Newspaper Archive (www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk).

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CAPSTOCK, Private

Private Capstock, along with Corporal Edwards (q.v.), collected donations for Dorchester’s hospital supply depot in Cornwall Road, while patients at Dorset County Hospital in 1917.

Source: Western Gazette, 22 June 1917, page 2.

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CLARKE, T.

Private T. Clarke of 28 Washington Street, Kingsthorpe in Northampton, served in the Essex Regiment and was wounded by shrapnel on 27 January 1917 and was soon transferred to Dorset County Hospital.

Source: Northampton Mercury, 9 February 1917, page 5. 

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EDWARDS, Corporal

Corporal Edwards, along with Private Capstock (q.v.), collected donations for Dorchester’s hospital supply depot in Cornwall Road, while patients at Dorset County Hospital in 1917.

Source: Western Gazette, 22 June 1917, page 2.

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FRASER, James

James Fraser of 26 Globe Street, Motherwell in Lanarkshire was a private in the Cameron Highlanders. He was in Dorset County Hospital in May 1917 with severe gunshot wounds to his leg – the fifth time he had been wounded in action.

Source: Motherwell Times, 11 May 1917, page 5.

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RHODES, John

Private John Rhodes, of the Royal Defence Corps, died at the hospital in November 1917. Aged 21 and a native of Fulham in London, he was based at Dorchester and had been receiving hospital treatment for two or three months.

Source: Western Gazette, 2 November 1917, page 2.

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SHELLEY, R. J.

Lance-Corporal R. J. Shelley of Staffordshire was a patient in the hospital in June 1917 with wounds to his left arm. He was a compositor before enlisting in April 1916 in the North Staffords, and went to France in December 1916 with the Northumberland Fusiliers.

Source: Burton Daily Mail, 27 June 1917, page 1.

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Private P. P. L. Stevenson

Philip Pashley Lee Stevenson

STEVENSON, Philip Pashley Lee

Philip Pashley Lee Stevenson was born in 1894 in Grantham, the son of George Stevenson and his wife, Annie. In the 1901 census the family were living at 18 London Road, Grantham.  George Stevenson was a newspaper reporter. As the 1911 census shows, Philip, then aged 16, was following his father as a junior newspaper reporter. The family were, living at 60 London Road, Grantham.

On 7 September 1914 Stevenson enlisted in the 4th Seaforth Highlanders (Territorials). Because he was a trainee journalist many of his letters home were published in The Grantham Journal. On 18 December 1914 he wrote to his father:

Since I wrote you on Sunday, we have marched many miles. Yesterday I was lucky enough to get your Christmas parcel, and I was delighted with it. I collected the Grantham boys and Sewell, and we went to a café, where we dined luxuriously off the cold pheasant, the cake, and café au lait … We are in a shattered house, but very comfortable. We can hear the firing. And see the flashes very distinctly. …To-morrow we are going into the trenches…

In another letter to his parents, dated Good Friday, 2 April 1915, Stevenson wrote:

… we have been in the trenches again. We went in on Sunday night – the first line – and came out on Wednesday. During the whole time it was pretty quiet, except on the last afternoon, when the Germans took it into their heads to both shell and bomb us. The majority of the shells fell just at the back of our trench, and I am glad to say no one was hit. … The trenches were good ones, and in the dug-outs we could sleep when not on duty. There were dozens of dead Germans in front. They have been there since the big attack, and you may be sure it was not a pleasant sight. … I had an interesting letter from A.J.W. yesterday. He says he hopes I shall see plenty of fun. I have, but it’s fun you get tired of.

On 17 April 1915 he was wounded in action and on 21 April he described the incident to his parents:

‘Down!’ I yelled, and flopped. The shell burst just above as I shouted. Jem got it in the leg, and I in the shoulder. … Just as I left the line of ‘dug-outs’ [on the way to the hospital] I heard another shell and dropped. It burst just at the back of me. The bits flew all around, and one grazed my knee. I got up and ran and reached the dressing station safely. Presently poor old Jem came in on a stretcher looking pretty bad.

On 9 May 1915 he was wounded again, this time at the battle of Aubers Ridge. That day he wrote to his parents: “You will be surprised to hear I have been wounded again, this time rather more seriously. I am writing this at a Hospital at the base, Boulogne”. On 12 May he sent a postcard to his parents: “Here I am in England! In fact, writing this at Southampton, while I am waiting for the train to take me to a Hospital”.

On 22 May 1915 The Grantham Journal reported that he was

severely wounded during a charge, being shot through the hip by a maxim bullet, supposed to have been inverted.  He is now a patient of the Dorset County Hospital, Dorchester. There his father visited him this week, and found him very cheerful, although suffering from a very nasty wound.

On 19 June The Grantham Journal again reported that he had been transferred to the Red Cross Hospital, in Grantham. Stevenson was awarded the 1914 Star, the British War Medal, the Victory Medal and the Merit Service Medal. On 18 February 1919 he was demobilised from the British Army.

In 1920 Stevenson married Gladys Severs in Grantham. He died, aged 61, on 7 July 1956 at the Victoria Hospital, Winchester, although his address was West End Harlaxton, Lincolnshire.

Image © Johnston Press plc. Image created courtesy of THE BRITISH LIBRARY BOARD.  Reproduced with kind permission of The British Newspaper Archive (www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk).

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James Tulley

TULLY, James

James Tully from Cornhill-on-Tweed near the Scottish border, a sergeant in the Northumberland Fusiliers, was wounded at Messines Ridge on 7 June 1917.

He sustained further injuries on 20 September and 15 October, and by early November 1917 he was in Dorset County Hospital with wounds to his hands and face.

Tully was awarded the Military Medal for gallantry in the field.

Sources: Berwick Advertiser, 9 November 1917, page 6 and 21 December 1917, page 3.
Image: © Johnston Press plc. Image created courtesy of THE BRITISH LIBRARY BOARD. Reproduced with kind permission of The British Newspaper Archive (www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk).

 

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