On this day in 1916, Samuel John Raymont (1898-1916) died from a lung illness in Egypt in the Great War.
Samuel, a private in the 2/4th Battalion of the Devonshire Regiment, was just 18 when he died of empyema – almost certainly caused by pneumonia – at the British Army’s 17th General Hospital in Alexandria on June 10, 1916.
Empyema, also called pyothorax or purulent pleuritis, is a condition in which pus gathers in the pleural space – the area between the lungs and the inner surface of the chest wall – preventing the lungs from expanding properly.
Samuel was with the 2/4th Devons in India before being drafted to the Middle East in 1916.
He was buried at the Alexandria (Hadra) War Memorial Cemetery in Egypt.
His headstone includes the words: ‘For ever with the Lord.’
He is also commemorated at the Memorial Hall in Tiverton.
Paul Roberts
NOTES
Samuel’s sister, Frances Mary Raymont (1907-1996), married Frederick Charles Sharland (1906-1992) in 1931 at St Paul’s Church, Tiverton. Frederick was the son of Charley Sharland (1873-1949) and Annie Gertrude Sercombe (1879-1940). Charley was the son of James Sharland (1839-1907) and Eliza Crook (1843-1923). Eliza was the daughter of Richard Crook (1810- 1883) and Charity Roberts (1818-1883). Charity was the daughter of William Roberts (1779-1848) and Sarah Treble (1784-1861). William was the son of William Roberts (1738-), my great-great-great-great-great grandfather.
Born on April 17, 1898 in Tiverton, Samuel was the son of shepherd Samuel Raymont (1867-1917) and Elizabeth Ann Elston (1875-1933). In 1901, he lived with his parents in Chettiscombe, Tiverton. In 1911, he lived with his family in Halberton. When he died, his mother lived at 2 Peppers Square, Church Street, Tiverton.
Picture below
Alexandria (Hadra) War Memorial Cemetery in Egypt. Photo taken on September 13, 2010 by Roland Unger (CC BY-SA 3.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0>, via Wikimedia Commons). https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:AlexHadaraCemeteryInside.jpg
