Graham Perkins

Private Graham Perkins – Royal Sussex Regiment, 1^st/6^th Battalion

Cambridge Military Hospital, Aldershot

Cambridge Military Hospital
Aldershot

This story begins at the Cambridge Military Hospital in Aldershot, Hampshire — one of the most significant military hospitals of the First World War. Completed in 1879, it served the many British Army camps around Aldershot Garrison and became the first base hospital in Britain to receive casualties directly from the Western Front.

The Cambridge Military Hospital also became a pioneering centre for plastic and reconstructive surgery within the British Empire. In 1915, Captain Harold Gillies (later Sir Harold Gillies) established the first Plastic Surgery Unit there after observing the groundbreaking facial reconstruction work of Hippolyte Morestin at Val-de-Grâce Hospital in Paris. Gillies was assisted by William Kelsey Fry, a dental surgeon specialising in jaw reconstruction, and Dr. Henry Tonks, both a physician and an artist, whose pastel portraits documented the wounded soldiers treated at Aldershot and later at the Queen’s Hospital, Sidcup.

It was within these historic wards that Private Graham Perkins spent his final days.

Early Life and Family Background

Henry Thomas Perkins and Elizabeth Harris
marriage certificate
St. James church

Graham Perkins was born in Swansea in 1895, the only son of Henry Thomas Perkins and Elizabeth Harris, who were married at St. James’ Church, Swansea, in 1891.

Tragically, just a year after his birth, Graham’s mother Elizabeth died in 1896, and she was interred at Oystermouth Cemetery.

1901 Census

The 1901 Census records widower Henry T. Perkins, aged 37, living with his five-year-old son Graham at 13 St. Helen’s Road, Swansea. Henry, originally from Herefordshire, owned a dairy business. Also in residence was his sister Clara F. Perkins (34), employed as a Draper’s Assistant. The household employed four servants: Mary Harris (29), Nellie Davies (19), Dillwyn Llewellyn (17), and Edwin Cowley (15).

In 1903, Henry Perkins died and was buried alongside his wife at Oystermouth Cemetery.

1911 Census

By the 1911 Census, orphaned Graham, aged 15, was living with his uncle, William Harris, at 21 Walter Road, Swansea. William, aged 45, was an Ironmonger and a widower following the death of his wife, Catherine, in 1903. He lived with his daughters Cordelia May (11) and Elizabeth (9), and his sister Ann Harris (43), who worked as housekeeper. Graham was attending school, and the household also included Richard Griffiths (34), a shop assistant and boarder.

Military Service

Following the outbreak of the First World War, Graham enlisted in the Royal Sussex Regiment, serving with the 1^st/6^th (Cyclist) Battalion.

Formed in Brighton in August 1914, the 1^st/6^th Battalion was part of the Territorial Force, originally organised for coastal defence duties. During 1915, elements of the regiment were stationed across southern England and later in India, where they were deployed to relieve regular army units. The battalion’s training was rigorous, with many men suffering illness or injury before deployment. Others, like Graham, were sent to military hospitals such as Cambridge for treatment while awaiting posting overseas.

Death and Burial

Army Register of Soldiers' Effects

Private Graham Perkins died on 13^th December 1915 at the Cambridge Military Hospital, Aldershot, aged just 20 years old. His death was recorded in the Army Register of Soldiers’ Effects, which documented the settlement of his military estate.

Abingdon Free Press 

Herald of Wales

Perkins family grave
Oystermouth Cemetery
credit - findagrave

The Abingdon Free Press reported his death, noting that his grandmother, Mrs. Reeves, lived in Shrivenham, Oxfordshire. His body was brought home to Swansea, where he was laid to rest beside his parents in Oystermouth Cemetery. His funeral was reported in the Herald of Wales, which paid tribute to the young Swansea soldier whose life and service had ended so far from home.

Legacy

Private Graham Perkins’s story links Swansea to one of the most important centres of wartime medical innovation — the Cambridge Military Hospital. His death in the care of the pioneering surgical and medical teams there reflects both the suffering endured by soldiers and the advances in treatment that emerged from their sacrifice.

Buried alongside his parents at Oystermouth Cemetery, Graham’s grave stands as a quiet testament to youth, loss, and the far-reaching impact of the Great War. His name joins those of Privates John Malcolm James and Arthur Michael, Captain Edward Talfourd Strick, and Major Llewellyn Thomas — men whose stories form the earliest chapter of Oystermouth Cemetery’s role in honouring Swansea’s fallen.