Name
Frederick James Sanders
Conflict
First World War
Date of Death / Age
23/08/1914
26
Rank, Service Number & Service Details
Private
L/8203
The Queen's (Royal West Surrey Regiment)
1st Bn.
Awards: Service Medals/Honour Awards
1914 (Mons) Star, British War and Victory Medals
Cemetery/Memorial: Name/Reference/Country
LA FERTE-SOUS-JOUARRE MEMORIAL
France
Headstone Inscription
Not Researched
UK & Other Memorials
St Michael and All Angels Church Memorial, Watford,
Bushey Memorial, Clay Hill
Pre War
Born in Chelsea, London on 26 October 1888 and baptised at St Augustine in Paddington on 30 January 1899, Frederick James was the son of Nelson Horatio and Mildred (nee Venn) Sanders. His parents were married in 1876 in the registration district of Kensington, London. Nelson died in 1928 in Bushey, Herts, aged 76, and was buried on 23 May at St James’, Bushey. Mildred died in 1935 in Bushey, aged 84, and was buried on 13 June, also at St James’ Church.
At the 1891 census, Frederick was two years old and living with his parents and five siblings at 38 Herries Street, Kensal Town in Chelsea. His father was working as a house decorator and he an Mildred were 39 and 40 years old respectively. Frederick’s siblings were Mildred, Nelson, Arthur, Ernest and Gertrude, whose ages were 15, 12, 8, 6 and 4 years respectively. Apart from Frederick, all of the children were at school. Birthplaces for the family were given as Birmingham for Nelson (Snr.), Billinghurst in Sussex for Mildred (Snr.), Kensington for Mildred and Nelson, and Chelsea for all of the remaining children.
At the 1901 census, the family was still living at the same address and Frederick now had two additional siblings: eight-year-old Arthur and six-year-old Laura. In December 1902, Frederick joined the Great Western Railway as a Vanguard at Regent Street station.
Frederick joined the Royal West Kent Regiment before the war and was a professional soldier, probably enlisting in 1905. He served in India, and on the 1911 census, aged 24, he was stationed at Roberts Barracks in Peshawar, India. By that time, Frederick’s parents and two of his siblings had moved to 24 Watford Heath in Oxhey, Hertfordshire.
Frederick married Ellen Matilda Sharpe on Christmas Day in 1913 at All Souls Church in Harlesden. He was 25 years old, working as a commissionaire, and Matilda was 27 years old. The addresses for both were given as 108 Buchanan Gardens, Kensal Rise. Ellen’s father (deceased) was named as Charles Sharpe. They also moved to Hertfordshire and may have lived with Frederick’s parents.
Wartime Service
Frederick enlisted in Gravesend, Kent and re-joined the Queen’s Own (Royal West Kent) Regiment. He served with the 1st Battalion as Private L/8203 on the Western Front and was killed in action on 23 August 1914. He was entitled to the Victory, British War and 1914 Star medals, his qualifying date being 15 August 1914. Frederick is thought to have been the first Great War casualty from the Watford District.
He is remembered with honour at La Ferte-Sous-Jouarre Memorial, which commemorates 3,740 officers and men of the British Expeditionary Force (BEF) who fell at the battles of Mons, Le Cateau, the Marne and the Aisne between the end of August and early October 1914 and have no known graves.
He is also commemorated on the Bushey Memorial on Clay Hill, in the National Roll of the Great War and at St Michael and All Angels Church in West Watford.
Additional Information
Dianne Payne - www.busheyworldwarone.org.uk, Jonty Wild, Sue Carter (Research) and Watford Museum (ROH on line via www.ourwatfordhistory.org.uk)
Has a entry in the National Roll of the Great War. Frederick is thought to be the first Watford casualty of the War.
Additional information provided with kind permission of Bushey First World War Commemoration Project – Please visit www.busheyworldwarone.org.uk.
Acknowledgments
Andrew Palmer
Sue Carter (Research) and Watford Museum (ROH on line via www.ourwatfordhistory.org.uk), Dianne Payne - www.busheyworldwarone.org.uk, Jonty Wild
