On this day in 1918, Private Horace Johns Griffin died.

Private 318066

Horace Johns Griffin

Army Service Corps

Died 22^nd October 1918

Aged 19

Horace Johns Griffin was born in 1899 at Downgate, Stoke Climsland, the eldest child of Frederick and Laura (nee Johns) Griffin. He had two sisters, Ida and Hettie, and one brother, Frederick. Horace was a pupil at Stoke Climsland School. His father had been a grocer and draper in Chillaton at the time of the 1901 census and the family subsequently moved to Lower Downgate. Frederick died in 1908 and his wife then ran the grocery shop and post office next to the chapel there. In the 1911 census, Laura is listed as grocer and employer. Two live-in grocery assistants also feature in the census return for the household. If you look closely, there are residual traces of the shop’s sign still visible on the outside of the house.

The Griffins' shop in Lower Downgate taken in 1908. Is that one of his sisters in the photograph? If so, which one? The sign can still be made out on the front of the present house. The chapel is now closed and converted into a home. The area is pretty much the same today.

Horace’s Service Record is available and shows that he enlisted, at the age of 17 years 11 months, with the Royal Army Service Corps (regimental no. 318066) as a Private on 7th January 1917 for the duration of the war. His pre-war occupation was given as an apprentice engine fitter and he was sent to serve at the Motor Transport depots at Grove Park and Battersea. He was admitted to hospital in Battersea on 17th March 1918 with chronic bronchitis, the condition being ‘considerably aggravated by exposure. Rales (small clicking, bubbling or rattling sounds in the lungs) all over chest, especially right side where musical signs predominate. Has been losing flesh. Cough troublesome in the morning. Very debilitated’. He was subsequently deemed to be ‘no longer physically fit for war service’ on 1st October and was discharged on October 11th 1918. He died 11 days later in Downgate. His death certificate records the cause of death as pleurisy and chronic meningitis. He was buried at the Methodist Chapel in Venterdon, together with his parents Frederick and Laura, the latter dying in 1955.

The Griffins' family grave and headstone in the graveyard at Venterdon Methodist Chapel. I did try to give it a clean but did not try too hard as I was very conscious of not disturbing the lichen and algae growing there.

The barely discernible 'entry' for Horace Griffin

Horace’s illness and time in hospital are fully documented in his Service Record and it seems that, at some stage, he was classified as a Chelsea Pensioner. This may suggest that he might have spent some time in hospital there.

For a while, it was the custom of families to produce memento mori which were given to friends and relatives of the deceased. This is the one for Horace Griffin

Detail from Horace Griffin's death certificate. I presume he died in the shop in Lower Downgate