In 2014 to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the outbreak of the Great War I produced a booklet detailing those men with a connection to Hook Norton who paid the ultimate sacrifice. I have since discovered that a serviceman from this conflict is buried in St Mary’s churchyard in Swerford which is part of the Hook Norton benefice. He was Private Alfred Barnett of the Royal Marine Light Infantry.
This is his story…..
Alfred was born in Swerford in June 1894 the son of Robert Barnett and Emma Jane Lee. His parents married on 24 December 1890 in the parish church. Robert was a labourer who appended his mark in the register unlike his wife who was able to sign it. The family set up home in the village and in time Robert became an ironstone miner in the recently established quarries in the local area. There was a 10 year age gap between the couple and the birth of their first child, Florence, was registered in the third quarter of the following year.
UK Census’ are taken every ten years and therefore the first one that Alfred appeared in was that of 1901. The family were living on Chapel Hill in Swerford next door to Robert’s elder brother, Frederick and his family. Five children born to Robert and Emma were recorded on this census ranging in age from Florence aged 9 to an infant daughter. In time various questions were asked of the population in subsequent census’. In 1911, for example, it asked how many years a couple had been married and the number of children born and still living. By 1911 Robert and Emma had been married for 20 years with 7 children having been born with 6 surviving. Elsie, born in 1895 was the deceased child. She died in 1896.
Whilst Alfred was not the eldest, by 1911 he had moved away and was employed as a page boy by the Lord family who were living in Moseley. Life with the Lord’s may not have been ideal as Alfred enlisted in the Marines on 16 January 1912 at the depot in Deal. His service record is available to view through The National Archives website. On enlistment he was underage by 147 days! He stood 5”6’ with a fair complexion, brown eyes and light brown hair. He had no distinguishing marks. Deal at that time was the Royal Marines Depot finally closing in 1996.
Following initial training with the Royal Marine Light Infantry he was posted to Plymouth in October 1912 before joining his first ship HMS Indefatigable on 17 June 1913. No doubt he would have seen action in the early part of the Great War as his ship at one time was part of the 2nd Battlecruiser Squadron. In a separate role it took part in bombarding the Ottoman fortifications defending the Dardanelles in early November 1914. After a refit in Malta the ship returned to the UK rejoining the 2nd BCS. Sadly the ship was sunk at the Battle of Jutland on 31 May 1916.
By this time Alfred had spent some time on HMS Inflexible before being transferred with his unit to serve on HMS Queen Elizabeth which was one of the five dreadnought battleships built for the navy in the early 1910s. During his time on this ship it was still serving in the Dardanelles, however, with mounting losses the Admiralty decided to cease battleship support. The Queen Elizabeth sailed for home for a spell before joining the 5th Battle Squadron on 26 May 1916.
Alfred did not return home with this ship. Instead he was transferred to HMS Lord Nelson which had taken over as the flagship of the British Dardanelles Squadron from his previous ship. His time on these ships only seemed to have lasted for fairly short periods. Perhaps it was to provide infantry cover in times of need particularly during ongoing sea battles. The Dardanelles campaign was really a disaster for the Allies in particular the ANZACS who suffered terrible losses on land at Gallipoli. Serving on ships may have been a more “comfortable” way of warfare until the bombardments started!
HMS Doris was Alfred’s next ship, a light cruiser as opposed to the battleships on which he had earlier served. This ship, too, saw action in the Dardanelles as well as well as at times being on patrol off the Syrian coast. It was during this time that the ship’s crew along with crews from other vessels took part in audacious raids. These raids in the summer of 1916 were known as “cattle rustling” raids in which raiding parties were sent ashore to steal livestock and destroy military materials. These raids were organised by the captain of the Doris at that time, Frank Larken. As Alfred was still a member of the crew it would seem logical that he was involved.
In time Alfred was posted back to Plymouth where he spent roughly 6 months before joining his final ship HMS Cumberland in August 1917. Cumberland was a cruiser built in the early 1900s. Her initial war service was spent off the West African coast before being employed as a convoy escort. It was while the ship was in this role Alfred joined the ship’s complement of 525 which included 80 marines. Between April 1917 and November 1918 she sailed regularly between Devonport, Bermuda, Virginia and Halifax.
The ship’s logs record the position of the ship, any action or important details as well as the numbers of crew on the sick list. As is well known “Spanish Flu” was on the rise worldwide in 1918 and this was probably the main cause of death amongst the crew of the Cumberland and indeed other naval vessels. One of Cumberland’s logs stated that 33 crew had died in the UK of illness during September and October. Almost 200 crew had rejoined the ship in October following hospital stays. During this two month period it was noted that 876 members of the Royal Navy and Dominion navies had died of illness.
Sadly Alfred was one of those who died from the flu. He passed away on 2 October 1918 in Sparrow Hall Military Isolation Hospital, Fazakerley, Liverpool. Cause of death on the certificate was influenza and pneumonia. He was 24 years of age. A very sad end to someone who had signed up for military service whilst still under age biding his time before being sent to serve King and country only to succumb to illness a month before the armistice.
Sources:-
Ancestry
Find my Past
General Records Office
Commonwealth War Graves Commission
The National Archives
www.naval-history.net