His father was a miller and corn merchant, as was his grandfather Thomas who lived in Funtingdon. He was educated at Churcher's College, Petersfield where he was in the Army Cadet Force. He then joined the family business. He volunteered 0n 11 Sept 1914 serving with the 3 Wessex Field Ambulance a Territorial Force. He served in France from 5 November 1914 until he was invalided home on 18 April 1915. The cold and mud of the trenches ruined his health. He was in hospital on 7 December with influenza and again on 12 March 1915 suffering from bronchitis. Subsequently he was treated for pleurisy. His right lung was affected and TB was diagnosed. A final Medical Board on 14 January 1916 discharged him from the army with a pension graded as "total and permanent incapacity as a result of hardship and exposure in action." He died of tuberculosis a year later. His brother John was also killed serving with the Canadian Army.

Note: H.M.S. Hampshire survived Jutland only to be mined in severe weather off the Orkney Isles a few days later, losing all but twelve of her crew. More famously she was carrying Lord Kitchener, the British Secretary of State for War and, to the British, a colonial war hero, to Russia. Lord Kitchener and his staff were all lost.

1939-1945

Note: As H.M.S. Barham rolled over to port, her after magazines exploded and the ship quickly sank with the loss of over two-thirds of her crew.

Note:: HMS Vulture was situated near St. Merryn, Cornwall. St Merryn Aerodrome Ltd opened in January 1937 as a civil airport, in 1940 it was rebuilt as a Fleet Air Arm Station, HMS Vulture. The site was also known as HMS Curlew after the war.