Name
Frank Edgar Marcham
Conflict
First World War
Date of Death / Age
29/03/1915
22
Rank, Service Number & Service Details
Private
2780
Hertfordshire Regiment
1st Bn.
Awards: Service Medals/Honour Awards
1914 /15 Star, British War and Victory medals
Cemetery/Memorial: Name/Reference/Country
GUARDS CEMETERY, WINDY CORNER, CUINCHY
I. E. 16.
France
Headstone Inscription
IN LOVING MEMORY
UK & Other Memorials
Tring Town Memorial, St Peter & St Paul Church Roll of Honour, Tring, Hertfordshire Regimental Memorial, All Saints Church, Hertford
Pre War
Frank Edgar Marcham was born in 1892 in Tring to Frederick William Marcham, ironmonger’s assistant, and Elizabeth (nee Osborn).
On the 1901 Census the family of parents, Frank, Edith Hilda (born 1896) and Elsie Frances (born 1898) were living at Miswell Lane, Tring.
On the 1911 the family of parents, Frederic was an invalid, Elizabeth, a fancy draper, Frank, a coach painter, Edith, a milliner, Elsie at school and Dorothy A (born 1902) were living at ‘Oakleigh’, Western Road , Tring.
Wartime Service
Frank enlisted in the Hertfordshire Regiment at Hertford as a Terrritorial Soldier about October 1914 as Private 2780. He went to France on 23 Jan1915 to the 1st Battalion at Ypres. The Battalion at that time was a unit of 4th (Guards) Brigade 2nd Division and were deployed in the Bethune/Givenchy area. During Mar 1915 the Battalion was rotated in the front line trenches, improving their positions. Frank was killed by a shell on 29 March 1915 when out of the front line.
From the Bucks Herald 10th April 1915: The stern realities of war have been brought home with startling force this week. At the end of last week news reached Tring of some severe casualties amongst the Herts Territorials, in which several Tring men were involved. Frank Marcham, son of Mr. Fred Marcham of Western-road, was reported killed, and Fred Rodwell, son of Mr. W. J. Rodwell of the Tring Brewery, badly wounded. Later particulars are that Marcham, Rodwell, Bruce, and Barber, all of Tring, were with others in a stable. Some of the men were chopping up wood to take back to the trenches when a shell, probably intended for the Battalion Headquarters, fell just inside the doorway and exploded on striking the ground. Marcham and three others were killed instantly, and fragments of the shell struck Rodwell, with the result that he has lost one eye and sustained other injuries. Barber is thought to have escaped injury as he was able to help Rodwell to the hospital, but there is some uncertainty as to what happened to Bruce. Private Rodwell was later sent home and is now in the military hospital, St. Gabriel’s College, Camberwell. The doctors, happily, feel no anxiety at all about his ultimate recovery.
Additional Information
War Gratuity of 3 and arrears of £3 9s 7d was paid to his mother, she also received probate of £108 .
Acknowledgments
Neil Cooper
Jonty Wild
