Name
Eric C Freear
Conflict
First World War
Date of Death / Age
15/04/1917
20
Rank, Service Number & Service Details
Second Lieutenant
Bedfordshire Regiment
4th Bn.
Awards: Service Medals/Honour Awards
British War and Victory medals
Cemetery/Memorial: Name/Reference/Country
BAILLEUL ROAD EAST CEMETERY, ST. LAURENT-BLANGY
I. K. 6.
France
Headstone Inscription
IN LOVING REMEMBRANCE
UK & Other Memorials
Harpenden Town Memorial, Church of St Nicholas Memorial, Harpenden
Pre War
Eric Charles was born in 1897 in Harpenden. He was the son of the late Henry (Harry) Marshall Freear, an Analytical Chemist, and Margaret Anne (nee Pickering), who died in 1917 shortly before the death of her son. Eric’s father had died in 1914.
On the 1901 Census the Family were living in Wavendon, Bucks. By 1911 the family were now living at Woburn Sands, Beds. Eric was the nephew of Mr A.I. Anscombe, architect, with whom he lived at Vaughan Road, Harpenden. Eric had worked as an engineer at Vauxhall, Luton.
Wartime Service
Eric Charles enlisted in the Inns of Court Officer Training Corps as Private 9064 and after training he was commissioned as 2nd Lieutenant for the Bedfordshire Regiment on 22 Nov 1916.
He went to France to join 4th Battalion, arriving on 8 Mar 1917 at Martinsart. By marching and by bus the Battalion were moved to Gravelle in preparation for the Battle of Arras. A reconnaissance on 15 Apr 1917 was underway when Eric was killed in action. ( Some records record his death as 13 Apr 1917, but his unit were inactive that day.)
Additional Information
Probate of £5276 9s 11d to his elder sister Gladys May Freear
Acknowledgments
Neil Cooper
Jonty Wild, Mary Skinner, Harpenden & District Local History Society (www.harpenden-history.org.uk)
