Story
It was on Christmas Eve of 1916 when Bertie George Barnes joined his battalion in the field in France. He was to suffer several illnesses while serving there. He had been a ship"s steward prior to joining the Dorsets on the 26 April 1916. He was 22 years and 6 months, and was 5ft 7.5ins with a 36-inch chest. He weighed 9st 8lbs and was single. Eight months after joining, he sailed from Southampton for Le Havre, going to the front via Rouen. During the course of the war Private Barnes was promoted to Lance Corporal. Serving in the field in France was not a healthy place to be and Bertie Barnes, who was promoted to Lance Corporal and served with the 6th Dorsets, Southern Command, was treated in hospitals on several occasions. Soon after arriving in France, on 21 January 1917 he was treated at Abbeville for scabies and was also suffering from influenza on two occasions in the following month. In January 1918 he was home on leave for two weeks that ended on 22 January but, from 6 February 1918 to 26 March that year, he was treated for pneumonia at Boscombe Hospital. At other times he was also treated at Sutton Coldfield and at Huddersfield War Hospital and his conditions at different times, included diarrhoea and multiple ulcers on his legs. He had suspected dysentery from 31 August 1918. When he was demobbed, around 31 January 1919, however, he declared that he had no disability due to his military service. He was awarded the British War and Victory medals. Bertie's mother was Charlotte (nee Sweet), who had been born in Devon. His father, Mark, was a rural postman. Bertie was the second youngest of five children and had been born in Lytchett Matravers where the family lived on Wareham Road. They had three sons and two daughters. Bertie was born on 18 October 1893 and baptised on December 17. In 1911, his parents were living at Lyndhurst, Garland Road, Longfleet, with daughter Ethel, who was a draper's assistant, and 14-year-old son George. Bertie does not seem to appear on the census. In view of his subsequently working as a ship's steward, he may well have been at sea at the time. Bertie's address during the war, at Fleet View, Fernside Road (later numbered 144), was the address of his father right up to the Second World War. Bertie was on the register of electors there in 1921, along with both parents, sister Ethel and brother Reg. After the war, in the summer of 1924, Bertie married Florence M Harris in the registration district of Wimborne. The 1939 Register records Bertie G. Barnes and his wife Florence living at 38 East Street, Wimborne. He was a licensed victualler. Bertie Barnes died in the summer of 1978. * Please contact us if you wish to suggest an amendment or have additional information.
Subdivision
- 6th Dorsetshire Regiment