I have been very busy with work and family matters over the last few months, so not much time for blog posts or research.
Over the next few autumn months (each year) I shall be adding more details to the names of some of the surviving village men from WW1 who are listed on the Roll of Honour, restored and on display in Devoran Village Hall.
Mark Norris, Devoran War Memorial Project, 18th August 2026
As we head close to another Armistice Day 2025, I will post the occasional blog about some of the men of Devoran who returned alive from WW1 service, as recorded on the Devoran Parish Roll of Honour in The Devoran Village Hall.
First off, H.G. Bennetts or Herbert George Bennetts
Born Probus, 29 July 1881 to father George Bennetts and mother Cecily Trembath.
This Trembath family name was handed down to his only child, Cecil Trembath Bennetts, born 9 April 1912.
Herbert married Amy Ada Burton (born 1874, died 1942) in 1908.
Herbert was in the building trade, listed before and after WW1 as a Mason. After returning from military service, the 1921 census lists him as a builder, Mr Strongman in Falmouth.
He is still listed as a Mason in the 1939 Register.
He joined the Royal Engineers in 1916 as a Walling Mason and was discharged in November 1918 after several months in hospital with a hernia, possibly related or not to active service.
His WW1 service documents have survived amongst the Burnt Documents, damaged in air raids in WW2.
His wife Ada Amy, who died in 1942, was a regular worshipper and helper at Devoran Church.
Herbert died 9 May 1945, probate records show him leaving effects of £497 to Beatrice Mary Bennetts (his?) widow.
Mourners Mr and Mrs Richard Curnow, Phyllis and Kathleen according to the 1939 Register WW2 were their neighbours at Carnon Gate.
It seems that Herbert might have remarried Beatrice Mary , his wife having died in 1942.
Mason (Walling) Proficient – Rank: Sapper No. 217468
Deemed to have been enlisted / Called up for Service 4th December 1916
Herbert was part of the Fortress Company, (2/2 Lancs Regt) EL Royal Engineers, which seemed to have many home defence such as searchlights as well as overseas service companies.
“On the outbreak of war in August 1914, the Lancashire Fortress Engineers mobilised and went to their war stations on 5 August 1914. No 1 (EL) Company was employed on the Mersey defences, No 2 (EL) Company went to Ireland to assist on the defences of Lough Swilly and Queenstown, and No 3 (Works) Company went to Crosby where it worked alongside civilian labour and nearby training units to dig coastal earthworks and trenches to defend Liverpool. In the event, Britain’s coast defences were hardly tested during the war, but the Lancashire Fortress Engineers provided units and personnel for other roles at home and overseas.” Wikipedia
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lancashire_Fortress_Royal_Engineers
A little glimpse into the life after WW1 service of one of the dozens of those who served and survived WW1 as recorded on the Devoran Roll of Honour.
Tracing the WW1 service and postwar careers of many of the other names should keep me busy in the winter months for the next few years .
Blog post for Armistice / Remembrance, November 2025 by Mark Norris for the Devoran War Memorial Project online.
Following the recent history displays in Devoran Village Hall, an appeal has gone out for further information on VE Day in the Village.
Little appears in the Newspapers for VE day, a little more for VJ Day.
Remembered today VE day 80 the men and women of Devoran who served in WW2 and especially those who did not come home.
https://devoranwarmemorial.wordpress.com/index-of-devoran-ww2-names/.
There was a good small turnout at the Remembrance service at Devoran church on Sunday gone. A mixture of ages from babes in arms through uniformed organisations and upwards in years.
I arrived in time to hear the First World War names read out, then the Second World war ones, names and regiments. Names I recognised through researching this blog.
The Last Post (recording) was played and flags lowered by the Scouts and Guides, similar to how it must have been on the first recorded service back in November 1920.
Not forgotten, for “We shall remember them”
West Briton re. 11 November, 1920
Blog posted by Mark Norris, Devoran War Memorial Project, 11/ 12 November 2024
When we set out on the Devoran Village Hall / Devoran War Memorial research back in 2013, we hoped we would be able to find a photo for each of the casualties named on the Devoran War Memorial and possibly some of those who served, recorded on the Roll of Honour which hangs (recently restored) in Devoran Village Hall.
Two versions exist of the Roll of Honour , the existing one and an earlier draft discovered during restoration.
Eventually I worked out who had beautifully written out the Roll of Honour, based on a a tiny set of initials at the bottom right corner of the Roll of Honour. We wondered who was this ‘GLB’?
Researching a parish newsletter and local press article about a wartime wedding in 1917, I realised that GLB was Gwendoline Layton Blunt (nee Gwendoline Mary Edwards, daughter of the local Doctor / GP.)
Oddly the women like Gwendoline who served in WW1 were not recorded on this Roll of Honour.
After the war, Gwendoline and Denzil Layton Blunt moved to Africa where they died in the late 1960s – Denzil’s family entry in the Europeans in East Africa database https://www.europeansineastafrica.co.uk/_site/custom/database/default.asp?a=viewIndividual&pid=2&person=5330
Would we ever find a picture of her and this wartime wedding?
Wait another 11 years and eventually her family contacted us through the comments.
Here they are – Gwendoline, Denzil and dog with bow?
Photo copyright The Layton Blunt family.
A local 1917 press article that Bob Richards found described who was who in the group wedding photograph including a ‘flying ace’ RFC / RAF pilot Desmond de Burgh RFC (centre) and Reverend John Jones (back left).
We think Dr. Edwards is probably back right with the magnificent moustache.
The young ladies are mostly the Edwards girls and the Layton Blunt daughters.
Photograph might be at Edwards House / The Driffold in Devoran?
Being 1917, it looks possibly like some people are wearing mourning or dark clothes. The photo is embossed possibly OPIE Ltd as the photographer.
DEVORAN – Wedding (from the local press, July 1917)
At St. John’s Church, Devoran on Monday [16th July 1917] the marriage was quietly celebrated of Gwendoline Mary, eldest daughter of Dr. & Mrs. P. M. Edwards of Devoran and Lt. Denzil Layton Blunt, ASC, only son of Mr. Layton Blunt of Brampton, Huntingdon.
The bride, who has recently returned from France where she has been driving a motor ambulance, was given away by her father.
She wore a simple frock of white gorgette, a veil of … … was held in place by a tiny … of white heather and she carried a bouquet of pink carnations.
The maid of honour was Miss Jane Edwards, the bride’s youngest sister who was charmingly attired in a frock of Indian net embroidered in silver … .
Desmond de Burgh RFC acted as best man.
The ceremony was performed by Rev. J. Stafforth, assisted by the Rev. John Jones, Vicar of the Parish. The Church was tastefully decorated by Miss Gladys Edwards and Miss Hilary Layton Blunt.
[The missing … sections are where researcher Bob Richards and Mark Norris could not clearly read the microfiche or scan of the West Briton].
Bob and Mark have researched some of the guests there in more detail in this blog post – https://devoranwarmemorial.wordpress.com/2017/07/16/1917-wartime-wedding-devoran/
They look rather sombre. This is a wartime wedding and Gwendoline had only just returned weeks before from duties with the VAD / Red Cross as an ambulance driver in France. She served as a 21 year old from 13 October 1916 as Rank G.S. (General Service?) Chauffeuse until 9 July 1917 (a week before her wedding). Particulars of duties: Motor Ambulance Driving in France.
https://devoranwarmemorial.wordpress.com/2014/06/28/life-in-wartime-devoran-in-world-war-1/.
It was by all accounts a quiet wartime wedding. Earlier in the war, Gwendoline ended one engagement in 1915 with no further details why. “The marriage arranged between Lewis E. Sotheron Hodge and Gwendoline Mary Edwards will not take place.”
This other photograph might not be 1917, it is reckoned by the Layton Blunt family that this might be Denzil (right) and Gwendoline with children and possibly Dr Edwards (left). It should be possible to walk around Devoran by the church and Edwards House (opposite the recent Edwards Road) and work out where this was taken.
Blog posted by Mark Norris, Devoran War Memorial project, October 2024
Photographs copyright of the Layton Blunt family. Thanks to them and Oliver Fowler for helping us finally put a face or two to a name.
More about the Edwards family in Devoran:
Some D Day 1944 linked posts on Devoran War Memorial WW2 section blog:
American troops were camped around the Devoran and fal area
D-Day 80 Remembered
Blog posted / scheduled by Mark Norris Devoran War Memorial Blog / Project
Interesting blog post about Falmouth and the Helford D day preparations from National Maritime Museum Cornwall Archive
https://nmmc.co.uk/2024/05/d-day-preparations-at-falmouth-the-fal-and-the-helford/
The Personal Service League was the forerunner of what became in WW2 the RVS or WRVS
Devoran had its own branch in the 1930s which required the Village Hall for Fundraising. Clothes and funds were raised for distressed areas of Cornwall during the unemployment of the mid 1930s.
E.J. Turner was the Devoran School Head Teacher in the 1930s.
Blog posted by Mark Norris DVH100 Devoran Village Hall centenary, posted on 26 April 2024
TV’s Jungle Cowboy and children’s TV star of the 1950s, Ross Salmon went on to a sports reporting and TV career in the Southwest / Devon.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/devon/news_features/2004/ross_salmon.shtml
BBC Devon Obituary 2004 24 September 2014
As reported in the West Briton 25 October 1945
A mixed October 1945 clipping –
news of Alfred Sowden of Devoran who was missing presumed lost in a military plane crash just after the war ended,
alongside news of a concert fundraiser in Devoran Village Hall by St Paul’s Players for the Devoran Welcome Home Fund.
Alfred Sowden is remembered on Devoran War Memorial.
Blog post by Mark Norris DVH 100 19 April 2024
as reported in the West Briton July 26 1945 and 2 August 1945.
Devoran War Memorial Cornwall 