Name
Frank Osborne
Conflict
First World War
Date of Death / Age
24/05/1915
Rank, Service Number & Service Details
Private
979
East Surrey Regiment
2nd Bn.
Awards: Service Medals/Honour Awards
1914 /15 Star, British War and Victory medals
Cemetery/Memorial: Name/Reference/Country
NEW IRISH FARM CEMETERY
XXXIV. D. 6.
Belgium
Headstone Inscription
Not Researched
UK & Other Memorials
Sawbridgeworth Town Memorial, Great St Mary’s Church Memorial, Sawbridgeworth, Roydon War Memorial
Pre War
Elder brother of Percy Osborne, Frank was born in 1892 and lived at Roydon. In the 1911 census he was recorded as a ‘Domestic Gardener’.
His service number though implies that Frank was a professional soldier, enlisting before the Great War.
Wartime Service
Frank served with the 2nd Battalion East Surrey Regiment. This was a ‘Regular’ Battalion. In May 1915 this Battalion was stationed in Belgium and took part in the Second Battle of Ypres. This was a major German attack, and the first on the Western Front to use poison gas. Furthermore, the British were not equipped with gas masks at that time. Frank Osborne was killed in action 24 May 1915. It is quite possible that he died from the effects of gas. He was aged 23.
Frank Osborne is buried at New Irish Farm Cemetery, Ypres, Belgium. His link to Sawbridgeworth appears to be through the Congregational Church. He is also named on the Roydon War Memorial.
Acknowledgments
Paul Johnson, Douglas Coe
