Name
Francis (Frank) Brown
Conflict
First World War
Date of Death / Age
19/04/1916
33
Rank, Service Number & Service Details
Private
17297
Bedfordshire Regiment
8th Bn.
"B" Coy.
Awards: Service Medals/Honour Awards
1914 /15 Star, British War and Victory medals
Cemetery/Memorial: Name/Reference/Country
YPRES (MENIN GATE) MEMORIAL
Panel 31 and 33
Belgium
Headstone Inscription
Not Researched
UK & Other Memorials
Hitchin War Memorial, St Mary's Church Roll of Honour, Hitchin, Hitchin British Boys' School Memorial, Hitchin, We are not aware of any Charlton memorial
Pre War
He was born in Hitchin and his home was 7, Parcell's Place, Bucklersbury, Hitchin and he was the son of Frank and Emma Brown and attended Hitchin British Boys' School.
Frank was the husband of Fanny Frances Brown; they had two children at the time of his death. Frank was resident in Charlton, worked for Messrs. William Pierson & Sons, coal merchants, in Hitchin, and enlisted there as a volunteer in September 1914.
Wartime Service
He was posted to the 8th Battalion of the Bedfords and was given the Regimental Number 17297.
He was sent to the Western Front in August 1915 and after fighting in several engagements and being gassed on the 19th of December 1915, was killed in action on the Somme. The ‘National Roll’ shows his date of death as the 11th April 1916. On the 11th April the 8th Battalion was in camp at Poperinghe providing work parties before moving up to the line on the 15th April to a position called ‘Duck's Bill’ near La Belle Alliance one mile from the canal in the Mortaldje Salient.
A letter from a Private A.G. Slater of 51, Florence Street, Hitchin written in 1917 said that on the 19th April 1916 there was a terrible bombardment and the dugouts collapsed. Brown was dug out by the Germans and was killed at the time that Slater was captured. After the bombardment the Germans attacked at 8.00pm on the 19th April 1916 and overran what was left of the Bedfords trenches. Ninety-nine other ranks and five officers were killed at this time.
The Hertfordshire Express ran an article on the 6th of January 1917 reporting that, after eight months of suspense, Mrs Brown has received official notice that her husband was killed in action after having been reported missing on the 19th of April 1916.
He has no known grave, but is remembered on the Menin Gate Memorial to the Missing at Ypres in Belgium on Panels 31 to 33.
Additional Information
Francis was the cousin of Frederick Brown who was killed in action on the 9th March 1918.
Acknowledgments
Jonty Wild, Derry Warners
Adrian Dunne, David C Baines, Jonty Wild
