John Henry Puzey was born on August 10, 1895 at Upper Stratton, the youngest of four sons. By the time of the 1911 census his parents John and Sarah with younger sons Alfred Robert and John Henry were living at 165 Redcliffe Street, Rodbourne. Three elder sons had followed their father into the GWR Works but John Henry had taken a different career path and at 15 was an apprenticed house decorator. A bit of a lad was John, so say those who remembered him.
John Henry Puzey enlisted at Swindon on October 7, 1915 with the Wilts (Fortress) R.E. (T) and was later transferred to the 3/1 Wessex Field Coy. R.E. serving in Salonika. On August 1, 1919 John Henry Puzey was examined at Tiflis prior to being demobilised. He signed the following statement: I do not claim to be suffering from a disability due to my military service. His signature reveals a shaky hand. On September 14, 1919 he was discharged from Fovant in Wiltshire, No. I Dispersal Unit. His Medical Category was described as A1. But John was clearly not in good mental health.
“His illness was not diagnosed as shell shock but merely a worsening of his mental state before WWI,” says his great niece, Mary. He was clearly suffering from what would now be called Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). Whatever the terminology, whatever name you want to give it, John’s mind was destroyed by war.
John Henry Puzey was admitted to Roundway Hospital, the former Wiltshire County Lunatic Asylum, in Devizes, Wiltshire. His family visited him regularly, his brother Alfred taking over the responsibility after their mother’s death. Alfred would bring his little granddaughter Mary to see his brother. Mary recalls how when he was in good health he shopped in Devizes for the staff and went out with the staff football and cricket teams.
“During visits if he was well, we saw him in the canteen/visitors room. I remember one Christmas one of the inmates had painted an alpine scene around the walls. It was wonderful. In summer months we would walk around the grounds, which he helped to maintain. He always took us to the garden tool store room under the main hospital. He called this his dugout. To him it was a safe area the same as his dugout in Salonika,” said Mary.
John Henry Puzey died at Roundway Hospital on July 25, 1962. He was 66 years old. He left administration of his will to the brother who had visited him in hospital for all those years, retired boilermaker Alfred Robert Puzey. John Henry was buried in Radnor Street Cemetery on July 31, 1962. He shares plot D636 with his parents, John who died in 1928 and Sarah Ann who died in 1947.
Radnor Street Cemetery 