A military researcher wants to hear from readers of The West Dorset Magazine if they have an Anzac soldier in their family tree, and especially anyone with wedding photos from that era.
Charlie Owen is researching the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps, who went through Weymouth during the First World War.
Between 1915 and 1919, more than 120,000 Anzacs ended up in the resort, treated in one of nine military hospitals or stationed at camps around the town.
Not all the service personnel made it home. Charlie has traced 90 Anzacs who died in Weymouth and are buried in local cemeteries, their graves maintained by the Commonwealth War Graves Commission but rarely visited.
He is now writing individual biographies of all 90 men, and some of the stories he’s found are harrowing.
He has also been tracing happier tales: the estimated 50 marriages between Anzac soldiers who married Weymouth girls during the war.
The Australians, he says, loved Weymouth so much they nicknamed it “Wey Oz.” Most couples returned to Australia together once the war ended.
Charlie already has one wedding photograph sent to him by a woman in Australia, who is the great-granddaughter of the couple pictured.
The photo shows Weymouth girl Winifred Bertha Goff on her wedding day in 1919, marrying Percy Theodore Hatfield, an Anzac private who was later commissioned as a Lieutenant.
Charlie explains their story:
Winifred and Percy met at the Burdon Military Hospital (now the Prince Regent Hotel) where she was nursing, and he was recovering from being gassed on the Western Front.
“Percy and Winifred emigrated to Australia where they had a daughter. He was tragically killed in a motor vehicle accident in 1936.”
It’s the only wedding photo Charlie has been able to find so far, out of a possible 50. He’s convinced there are more sitting in albums belonging to family of Weymouth Anzac soldiers, their significance long forgotten.
He has already heard from two families in Australia since posting in a Facebook group dedicated to WW1 Weymouth Anzacs and he’s hoping a wider appeal will bring more forward.
If you have any information, photographs or family connections to Weymouth’s Anzac soldiers, or their marriages to local women, Charlie would love to hear from you. He can be reached at charlie.owen602@gmail.com
Anzac soldiers who married Weymouth girls
- Sydney Twomey to Mabel Daley, August 1915
- Jack Shakell to Lucy Anne Billings, Weymouth Registry, February 21, 1919
- Lt. Alwyn Francis Sydenham to Ruby Winifred (no maiden name)
- Fred Kelly to Ella Clarke (Portland girl)
- Walter Scott to Rachel Mayne, April 17, 1918
- Harry Richard Jones to unknown, October 31, 1917
- Edward George Lay to Mabel Elizabeth White
- John (Jack) Gorringe to Gertrude Brantingham
- Frederick Henry Adams (NZ) to Violet Cook (from Lyme Regis)
- Frederick Leach to Louisa (Jessie) Gregson
- Alfred Henry Gill to Edith Mabel Dibsdale from Chickerell (both aged 22), at the Chickerell Parish church, March 22, 1917
In a recent Facebook post, Charlie said: “I’d just like to repeat my appeal for any descendants of the Anzac WWI marriages to get in touch with me.
“I’ve altered my approach slightly in that the criteria are now that the groom was with the Australian Imperial Forces (AIF) – ideally based locally but not essential.
“The bride can be from anywhere (ideally local but again not essential!) but the marriage must have taken place in Weymouth or Portland.
“Using that criteria I’m now looking at well in excess of 150 marriages between 1915 and 1920 in Weymouth and Portland where all the grooms were AIF and the majority of the brides local women. If you can help with my research, please get in touch. Many thanks.”