Thank you to John Callcut for letting us reproduce the following information, taken from his book: A Village at War. Newdigate in World War One. Thank you to Lenka Cathersides for the additional research.
Westley Johns was born on 23rd January 1897 in Harbridge near Ringwood in Hampshire, and was the son of William and Gertrude Johns (nee Weller), Westley was baptised on the 29th March 1897 in Harbridge.
William was born in Newdigate in the first quarter of 1862 and became a gamekeeper. His work took him to farms in Surrey, Hampshire and Sussex before he returned to Henfold in Newdigate. During this time he had married twice, his first wife Julia Sarah, born about 1865 in Bapton, Wiltshire, and married William in the fourth quarter of 1884 in Epsom Surrey.
At the time of the 1891 Census, the family lived at Warren Bottom, Cocking, Midhurst in West Sussex. William was working as a gamekeeper. Julia was looking after their children Ellen, William, Walter and her 14 year old sister-in-law Harriett. Julia died early in 1893.
William married to Gertrude Weller in the 3rd quarter of 1893 in Epsom, Surrey. Gertrude was born in the 1st quarter of 1874 in Dorking, Surrey to farmer Thomas Weller and his wife Anne.
During the 1891 Census, Gertrude lived with her parents, now retired farmer Thomas and Anne and eight siblings at Wathen Road in Dorking. Gertrude worked as a milkmen assistant.
Westley had seven siblings. Ellen, William, Walter and Annie were born from William’s first marriage and Emma, Purdey and Gertrude Julia from the second.
During the time of the 1901 Census, the family lived in Alderholt, Wimborne, East Dorset. Father William worked as a gamekeeper and Gertrude was looking after Ellen, Walter, Annie and her own children Emma, Westley, Purdey and Gertrude Julia.
His last two sons, Westley and Purdey, he named after the famous rifles. Westley was a member of Mrs. Janson’s carving class.
The National School Admission Register of 1902-1903 reads that Westley, his half sister Annie, sister Emma and brother Purdey enrolled on 3rd February 1903 to Stoughton & Stansted Church of England School in Sussex. The family lived at Broad Road. Westley is stated to have previously attended a school in Alderholt. He left Stoughton School on 23rd January 1905. The family left the village.
By the time of the 1911 Census, the family moved to Henfold in Newdigate, Surrey. William still worked as an assistant gamekeeper and Gertrude was taking care of Westley, Purdey and Gertrude. The house had five rooms.
Westley joined the navy, following his brothers, Purdey and Walter, on 23rd November 1915 at Portsmouth for the period of duration of hostilities. He is said to be of full age, to be 5 feet 9 inches tall with chest measurement of 35 inches. Westley had a fresh complexion, brown hair and blue eyes. At the time of the enlistment he was working as a labourer.
He became a Cook’s Mate attached to the Royal Naval Barracks in Portsmouth. His regimental number was M16918.
On the 20th January 1916 he hanged himself there in ‘D’ room lavatory, whilst – according to the Coroner, the Hon. Sir T.A. Bramsdon – he was in ‘a state of unsound mind’. He was just eighteen years of age.
Westley Johns was buried at the Newdigate (St Peter) Churchyard in Dorking, north of church.
He was awarded the British War Medal.
CAPEL MAN’S SAD DEATH
FOUND SHOT BY HIS SON-IN-LAW
“MAGNIFIED ALL HIS SYMPTOMS”
The tragic death of a 71 years’ old gamekeeper named William Johns, who was found early on Monday morning in the lavatory at his home, 4, Henfold Cottages, Capel, with a gunshot wound in his chest, was the the subject of an inquest conducted by the West Surrey Coroner (Mr. G. Wills Taylor) at the Dorking Police Station on Wednesday. A double-barrelled sports gun was found by the deceased, who had left a note in his bedroom containing the words “I have suffered agonies tonight”. The deceased was well known in the Walton Heath and Coulsdon districts.
Luke Gadd, a son-in-law, with whom the deceased lived, gave evidence of having made his father comfortable the previous night. He said he got up at 6.45am, and found the back door ajar. This alarmed him, because somebody on the inside must have opened it. He went into the front room, which was his father-in-law’s bedroom, and found the gun case open. Deceased was not in his room and he went out to the back to look for him. Witness glanced into the lavatory and found him there. He was sitting down with the gun beside him and the candle was burnt out. Witness ran for the doctor immediately. The deceased was dressed
William Johns Suicide Report © Surrey Mirror findmypast.co.uk
in his shirt, pullover and heavy boots. He was alive and groaning.
The Coroner : Why did this happen?
Witness : He has talked about it more than once and we have talked him out of it. He added that his father-in-law had been under the doctor for some time.
The Coroner : Apart from being ill, what else was wrong with him?
Witness : He got excited about the least little thing, although he seemed to know how to manage him. He said that the deceased had been rather agitated about his illness and was very much afraid he was going into the infirmary. They told him there was no need for that. Owing to his illness and other circumstances he had not been living in the same house as his wife.
Witness identified a note produced as being in the deceased’s handwriting.
The Coroner : Does it not seem rather odd to you that he should have walked about in his heavy boots, opened the door and walked down the garden with nobody hearing him?
Witness : We cannot understand how he could have done it without us hearing him.
Dr. Hopkins gave evidence of having been called at 6.55am and of finding the deceased in the position described by the last witness. He expressed the opinion that Johns was sitting down at the time he fired the shot. He had summoned an ambulance from Dorking before he arrived, and the deceased was taken to the Dorking Hospital. Oxygen was administered, but he died at 8.40am.
William Johns Suicide Report © Surrey Mirror findmypast.co.uk
Questioned with regard to the words “I have suffered agonies to-night” Dr. Hopkins said that the deceased had suffered from chronic bronchitis. He was a man who magnified all his symptoms enormously. He had heard him mention two years ago that we would shoot himself, but he said it in a joking way.
P. C. Stokes said he was called to the house and when he arrived at 7.40am, the deceased had been removed. A discharged cartridge was found in the right barrel of the gun and the left barrel was empty. The note produced was lying on the table.
The Coroner returning a verdict of “Suicide whilst of temporary unsound mind” said there was no doubt the deceased died from a gunshot wound, and there was no doubt he did it himself. It was very evident from the evidence that when he did it he was not in a sound state of mind.
William Johns Suicide Report © Surrey Mirror findmypast.co.uk
Unfortunately, the family tragedy did not end there. On Monday 6th February 1933 at 6.45am, Luke Gadd, the husband of William’s daughter Emma, found 71 years old William Johns shot in the chest while sitting in the lavatory of Gadd’s house at 4 Henfold Cottages in Capel. William was living separately from Gertrude by this time. A double barrelled sports gun was found by the dying man, together with a suicide note in his bedroom. The note read “I have suffered agonies tonight”. The deceased was dressed in his shirt, pullover and heavy boots. Mr Gadd found him still alive and groaning. An ambulance was called, which took him to Dorking Hospital. Although oxygen was administrated to him he died of his wounds at 8.40am. William was heard to talk about suicide several times. He had been treated by doctors for a while. It was further said that the “deceased was rather agitated about his illness and was very much afraid he was going into the infirmary”. Mr Johns suffered from chronic bronchitis and was known to be “a man who magnified all his symptoms enormously”. The inquest into his death passed the same verdict as in the case of his son Westley “suicide whilst of temporary unsound mind”.
| Born | Harbridge, Hampshire | |
| Son of | William and Gertrude Johns of Newdigate | |
| Brother of | Purdey and Emma Johns | |
| Regiment | H.M.S. Victory, Royal Navy | |
| Number | M/16918 | |
| Date of Death | 20th January 1916 | |
| Place of Death | Portsmouth Naval Barracks, Hampshire | |
| Cause of Death | Committed suicide | |
| Age | 18 | |
| Cemetery | St Peter’s Church, Newdigate |
