Name
Francis George Aslett
Conflict
First World War
Date of Death / Age
30/12/1914
24
Rank, Service Number & Service Details
Private
8528
Coldstream Guards
2nd Bn.
Awards: Service Medals/Honour Awards
1914 (Mons) Star (with Clasp & Roses), British War and Victory medals
Cemetery/Memorial: Name/Reference/Country
BETHUNE TOWN CEMETERY
Ref.111.B.21
France
Headstone Inscription
Not Researched
UK & Other Memorials
North Mymms War Memorial North Mymms War Shrine (now lost), St Mary's Church Roll of Honour, North Mymms, North Mymms Memorial Hall Memorial, Welham Green
Pre War
Born in Welham Green in 1890, the 1891 census shows the family living at the Sibthorpe Arms, father William being both a joiner/ carpenter and a licensed victualler, in 1901 the family were no longer at the Sibthorpe Arms, but living next to it in “Hope Cottage” in 4 rooms. The family consisted of Father William, Joiner/carpenter who in 1911 had become assistant overseer to the North Mymms Parish Council, and Sarah his mother, William his elder brother, who was called up in August 1917 into the Essex Regiment Machine Gun Corp, and Sisters Eliza and Ella.
Francis was in the North Mymms Brass Band along with William Collins who was also killed. Francis was employed in the gardens of St. Michael’s Woodside until he joined the 2nd Batt. Coldstream Guards in November 1909. In 1911 he was with his Battalion in Ramillies barracks, Wesleyan Soldiers Home, Churchill Terrace, Marlborough Lines, Aldershot. It is noted that he played football for his regiment in the 1st X1.
Wartime Service
According to the Parish News with the outbreak of war, Francis was sent with his regiment to France as one of the British expeditionary forces “The Old Contemptibles”, fighting at Mons, Ypres and elsewhere.
He was killed either by a shell, while working in front of the trench “Roll of Honour” or by a sniper, at 3am while attending his duties in the trench, dying later in hospital. (Parish News)
Acknowledgments
Mike Allen
