George Edward Hilling was born in 1883 in Winchester, the second son of George Hilling, a butler, and his wife, Agnes. George Snr, had previously been in service at Poringland House in Norfolk.  He and Agnes had six children. The two eldest, William Thomas (born 1881) and George Edward were born in Weeke. Then, after they had moved to Langford, came three girls, Emily (1885), Agnes (1888) and Elsie (1890), and finally another son, Walter Henry (1892). The family lived at 1, Blackmoor before moving to Victoria Jubilee Memorial Cottages, Langford. George Senior was still  employed as a butler.

In 1901, George Edward, aged 17, was working as a grocer’s porter. However, by 1911, he was a police constable living in lodgings in Fishponds, Bristol. There, he married  Rose Clark and they had a son whom George never saw.

George Edward was Gunner 291727 and was serving in France with the 129th Heavy Battery, Royal Garrison Artillery when he was killed in action on 27th March 1917.  He was 34. He is buried at the Ecoivres Military cemetery at Mont-St.Eloi (IV.H.8), Pas de Calais, France. This cemetery is 8 kilometres north west of Arras and contains 1,728 Commonwealth, 786 French and 4 German war graves.

The following appeared in the Weston Mercury & Somersetshire Herald on 14th April 1917:-

“LANGFORD HERO KILLED IN ACTION

We deeply regret to announce the death of Private George Hilling, second son of Mr and Mrs G. Hilling of Langford, who was killed in action on the 26th ult. Gunner Hilling was born and brought up in Langford and attended Churchill School, where his portrait hangs with those of many other old boys who are fighting in honour’s cause, and some of whom, alas, will never return. The dead hero, whose two brothers are both serving at the Front, was for 12 years in the Bristol Police Force. He joined the Bristol Heavy Battery of Artillery, and was drafted to France a year ago. There is added pathos in the fact that he had not seen the little son who was born during his absence, and, needless to say, heartfelt sympathy is entertained with Mr and Mrs Hilling, who are much respected in the village, and with the young widow and child. Private Hilling was a fine man both physically and in personal attributes, and the following letters bear eloquent testimony to his heroism and bravery:

-th Heavy Battery

H.E.F.

March 26th 1917

Dear Mrs Hilling, – I am very grieved to tell you that your husband, Gunner G.E. Hilling, was killed in action this afternoon. He died in a noble endeavour to procure water for his fellow gunners. His death has robbed us of one of the best gunners of the battery. He was always cheery, even in the most trying conditions. You will be glad to know that he suffered no pain, being killed instantaneously. He left a will in his pay book, which has been forwarded to the base, leaving £11 his property and effects to you, his wife. Please let me know if there is anything I can do for you as I was his section officer.

Yours sincerely

A.M.Jones

The following letter is from his brother William:

Dear Father and Mother, – It is with deep regret, I have to write and tell you of poor George’s death. He was killed by a German shell and died instantly, so one good thing poor George knew nothing of it. Frank and I have been up to the cemetery today, and we are going to the funeral tomorrow, the 28th. It is a hard task for me to write and tell you this news. I shall miss him more than I can say. He was just the same here as he was at home. I have written to poor Rose. I will write more next time. Frank wishes to be remembered to you all.

From your loving son,

Bill

So died a brave soldier and British Gentleman”.

John was born in Churchill in 1895. He was the last of the six children of Reuben and Emma Burdge. These were Mary, James, Elizabeth, William, Edith and John. Stembridge was the maiden name of his grandmother Mary who had been born in Bridport. She was still alive in 1911, aged 89, living in Says Lane with Reuben and Emma. John’s grandfather, James, who was born in Churchill in 1821, had been a soldier in the 7^th Royal Fusiliers. He served in the Crimea and gained medals and bars for fighting at Sebastopol, Inkerman and Alma. By 1861 he was an Army Pensioner living back in Dolberrow with his only child Reuben, who had been born in Aldershot Camp in 1857/8. In 1881 Reuben (23) and his mother were recorded as fish hawkers. Subsequently, Ruben became an apparently prosperous fishmonger.

After marrying in 1885, Reuben and Emma moved to Says Lane, Upper Langford where they lived next to another James Burdge, a farmer and likely relative. They remained there until the end of their lives, Emma dying in 1930, Reuben in 1931. For a time the Clarke family, whose sons Percy and Harold were also killed in the war, lived close by.

John Stembridge Burdge joined up in 1914, entering France in September 1915. He was killed in action on the 1^st July 1916, aged 21 while serving as a Lance Corporal with the 8^th Battalion Somerset Light Infantry (15990) attached to the Royal Engineers. His name is recorded on the Thiepval Memorial, which is located on the northern part of the 1916 Somme battlefields near the village of Pozières. These men died in the Somme battle sector before 20^th March 1918 and have no known grave.  Over 90 percent of those commemorated died in the Battles of the Somme between July and November 1916.

The following sad report appeared in the Weston Mercury and Somersetshire Herald on 15^th July, 1916:-

“LANGFORD CORPORAL FALLS
PRO PATRIA

The sincere sympathies of residents throughout the Langford district are extended to Mr. and Mrs. R Burdge, the parents, and Mrs J. Burdge, the bride of only a few weeks, now the widow, of Corpl. J. Burdge, the young hero having been officially reported as having been “killed in action.”  The deceased was one of the brightest and most cheerful of lads, and his manly qualities, coupled with his open frankness and sincerity, won for him the warmest affection of a wide circle of friends, and the highest regard and esteem of residents of all ages and in whatever sphere of life.  It was barely a month since the deceased was home on leave, and ere he returned to his military duties he was married to Miss Elsie Cox, youngest daughter of Mr. and Mrs. G. B. Cox, the ceremony taking place on the 2^nd June.  Corpl. Burdge joined Kitchener’s Army in 1914, and served in “D” Coy., 8^th Somersets, but latterly he had been attached to the Royal Engineers.  He was present at the battle of Loos, when he experienced a wonderful escape, his bayonet being struck with a piece of shrapnel shell and shattered but the plucky young soldier was himself unscathed.  His wife has for several years been a member of St. Mary’s, Langford, choir, and it was whilst proceeding to the church to take part in the service that the intimation of her great loss reached her.  The one bright gleam in the great sorrow which has overtaken her will increasingly, as time softens the cruel blow, be the fact that her husband gave his life in the noblest of all causes, that of country, honour, and right.  It is worthy of note that the gallant young soldier’s grandfather, the late James Burdge, served with the 7^th Royal Fusiliers through the Crimea War, for which he obtained two medals and three bars for Sebastopol, Inkerman, and Alma.”

John Stembridge’s young widow married again in late 1918. Her husband was Richard J Avery and they lived in Ash Cottage, Langford until at least 1925. Elsie died in South Molton, Devon, in 1965.

Percy and Harold came from a family of ten children whose parents Thomas and Alice Maria, née Wookey, moved around quite frequently. Eldest son Percy was born in Rowberrrow, Harold and Honora in Yatton; Cyril, Edward, Gilbert in Abbots Leigh; Mary in Wrington; Helena, Decina and Marjorie in Upper Langford. Thomas was an agricultural labourer though in 1901 he was working on the railway, presumably on the local extension to Blagdon. The family settled in Rose Cottage, Says Lane and remained there until at least 1930.

In 1901, Percy was working as a groom. In 1911, he was a Hackney Motor driver and at the time of his voluntary enlistment in October 1915, he was a tractor engineer in Weston super Mare. He was single.

Harold became a blacksmith’s striker when he left school. In late 1909 he married Virtue Mary Grey in Bristol and in 1911 he was working as a gardener at Brentry Hill, Westbury on Trym. At the time of his death, his wife was living at 1 Stoke Cottages, Stoke Bishop, with a daughter Kathleen who had been born in 1913.

Harold was killed in action on the 27^th August 1917 while serving as a Private in the 2/4^th (City of Bristol) Battalion, Territorial force, Gloucestershire Regiment.  His final service number was 202640 (previously 28557 and 20330). He was aged 32 and is listed on Panel 72-75 at Tyne Cot, West Vlaanderen, Belgium. This is in the area which was known as the Ypres Salient.

Percy died on 2nd January 1918. He had enlisted in Bristol in October 1915 and was a Private with the Army Service Corps, service number M2/132333. He did most of his initial training in Bath before leaving for France on 21st March 1916. At the time of his death aged 33 he was with 29th Ammunition Sub. Park. (Sub. Parks were the distribution points at the end of the road behind the lines from which the Ammunition would be taken forward by horse or man.) A report in the Weston Mercury gave more details of his service and included copies of letters sent to his parents.

Percy’s death was as a result of a tragic accident in which he was hit in the head by a lorry skidding on ice. His burial was in the Fauquembergues Communal Cemetery, one of only two Commonwealth graves there. The other is for a soldier who died in 1915. His father supplied the wording for his headstone, which reads ‘With Christ which is far better’.

Ernest Arthur was born in Langford, the youngest son of Charles Brownett, a coachman/gardener at Langford Court and his wife, Sarah Ann née Symes. In 1911, he was listed as a postman, aged 17. Also living in Langford were his brother, Edwin James (23), a domestic gardener, and their sister, Mabel Ellen (14).

He was known as Arthur, or Jim, and was Private 26046 serving in present-day Iraq with the 5th Battalion, Wiltshire Regiment, when he died on 16th January 1917 at the age of 22. He is buried in the Amara War cemetery (Grave Reference XVIII.D.9).  Amara (now Al Amarah) is a town on the left bank of the River Tigris some 520 kilometres from the sea. It was occupied by the Mesopotamian Expeditionary Force on 3rd June 1915 and immediately became a hospital centre. Amara War cemetery contains 3,696 identified burials and 925 unidentified casualties of the First World War.

On the 3rd February 1917 the following obituary was printed in the Weston Mercury and Somersetshire Herald:-

“BURRINGTON HERO FALLS PRO PATRIA

 Much sympathy is extended by residents throughout Burrington and District toward Mr and Mrs Charles Brownet [sic] in the loss of their youngest son, Arthur Brownet, of the Wiltshire Regiment, who was killed in action at the Persian Gulf on January 16th. His parents had been wondering why they had received no letter from him, and on Saturday morning were shocked to receive a communication from the War Office notifying them of his death. The gallant young soldier was well known in the district being for many years in the Langford post office, where he was greatly missed when called up. Being of a genial kindly nature, he was very much beloved by those who came in contact with him. He was a member of the Burrington Church of England Men’s Society, and was also a member of the Men’s Club Committee. Mr and Mrs Brownet have one other son at the front and one serving with the YMCA.”

While at the front Arthur had become friends with a Samuel Millbank and they had pledged that if either were killed the other would visit their family. Samuel did that and later married Arthur’s sister Ellen (Nellie). Their grandson John Millbank has provided information and photographs since the publication of the Burrington in WWI book including the photographs of Ernest in postman’s uniform and Edwin with a horse.

Of other members of the family, Reginald Charles was born in 1884 and served with the YMCA from 1915 to 1920, as he was unfit for active service. In April 1915 he married Rose Shepstone. He died in 1939.

 Edwin James, who was born in 1888, served with the Royal Engineers as a Lance Corporal from 1914 to 1919 and saw active in France and Italy. Edwin did not marry, living in later life with his sister Lucy.