Passchendaele 29 October 1917. Frank Hurley.
Australian War Memorial A.N. E01220
Private John Albert Dommett
8th Battalion, the Devonshire Regiment, S/28757
Killed in Action
Date of Birth: 6 February 1889
Place of Birth: Sidbury
Date of Death: 2 October 1917 in Belgium, aged 28
Buried: Commemorated at Tyne Cot Memorial, West-Vlaanderen, Belgium, and also remembered on Tyne Cot Memorial; Seafront Memorial and St. James’ Church Memorial Window, Teignmouth, Devon
Awarded the British War Medal and the Victory Medal
Private *John Albert Dommett age 28. Born 6 February 1889 in Sidbury, the son of Abraham, farm worker, and Emily Dommett. His 1892 school records show John at school in Sowton, Exeter until 1895 when the family moved to Exminster where they were living at Shillingford. John attended school here until 1901 when the family move to Ashprington; he left school at 12 to work on a farm.
*Some records show his name as Albert John Dommett.
By 1911 the family were living at Coombeinteignhead and he was working as a builder’s labourer. Later that year he married Flossie Ellen Prediford at West Teignmouth Wesleyan Church.
John enlisted with 3rd Devonshire Reserves Regiment and attested on 23 March 1909 at Newton Abbot, service number 3/5722. He was one of the Teignmouth men called up in 1914 and went to France in 1915 where he was wounded. He continued to serve in France until 1916 when he was discharged on 22 March as his term had ended.
Devonshire Regiment
cap badge
He was then re-engaged with 8th Battalion Regiment, service number 28797, and was serving again in France. He was involved in the battle of Polygon Wood when he was posted as wounded in the Teignmouth Post’s edition of 15 June 1917. John was later posted as killed in action on 2 October 1917. Remembered on Tyne Cot Memorial; Seafront Memorial and St. James’ Church Memorial Window, Teignmouth.
“Mrs Dommett, Bitton Tce received a letter from chaplain at the Front informing that her husband Pte J A Dommett was killed in action during heavy fighting. He was a native of Combeinteignhead, 28. Pte. Dommet was a reservist and rejoined the army at outbreak of war, he was employed at Teignmouth Cemetery by the UDC. He leaves a wife and three children.” Teignmouth Post - 2 November.
In early October 1917, at the time when Albert died, his Battalion was fighting in the battle of Polygon Wood, which was a phase of The Third Battle of Ypres in Belgium.
The Third Battle of Ypres (Passchendaele)
This was one of the bloodiest campaigns fought on the Western Front.
It was made up of a series of battles and attacks between 31 July to 10 November 1917.
It started to rain heavily during the afternoon of the first day of the battle.
The rain then continued, quickly turning the war-torn landscape into a quagmire, thousands of men and animals drowned in the mud.
I died in hell, They called it Passchendaele.
Soldier poet Siegfried Sassoon
Hundreds of thousands of men died on both sides.
The bodies of more than 35,000 men from the battle were never found, they were lost in the mud.
