FREDERICK HENRY RICHARDS 1884 – 1917

Frederick Henry Richards was the son of Job and Eliza (nee Wills) Richards. Frederick was baptised in Ashcott Parish Church on 6 July 1884 when his parents were declared as Job and Eliza Richards. Job’s occupation was a ‘labourer’.
When Job and Eliza were married in the same church on 30 May 1870 they were both living in Ashcott and their respective parents were William Richards and Thomas Wills.
By the time of the 1891 Census Frederick was the seventh of the ten surviving children and described as a ‘scholar’. There is no record of Frederick being enrolled at Ashcott School in this period. The family was living on Station Rd, Ashcott.
In 1901 Frederick is working as a farm labourer in Gidleigh, Devon employed by Thomas and Mary Ann Rowe. Mary Ann was born in Ashcott so could have been a relative of Frederick. Both the Rowe’s were in their fifties and Frederick was just 16 so the relationship, if there was one would have been through Frederick’s parents’ generation.
Within seven years Frederick has move from country to town, married a Somerset girl and is living in Islington, London. His wife was Ethel Minnie Jeanes, a milliner, from Street.
Frederick enlisted in the South Wales Borderers (5th Battalion) and was killed on 6th May 1917 in the Ypres area of Belgium. He had no known grave and is commemorated at the Vlamertinghe Military Cemetery along with another 1163 casualties.
Frederick was awarded the Victory Medal and the British War Medal.

Attachments – Commonwealth War Graves Commission Certificate
– Commonwealth War Graves Commission Cemetery Details

References – Ashcott Parish Church Registers
– 1881-1911 Censuses
– World War 1 Medal Cards
– Mr Phillip Bawn and Mrs C. M. Foster, family members.

Casualty Details

Name:	RICHARDS
Initials:	F H
Nationality:	United Kingdom
Rank:	Private
Regiment/Service:	South Wales Borderers
Unit Text:	5th Bn.
Age:	33
Date of Death:	06/05/1917
Service No:	22980
Additional information:	Husband of Mrs. Richards, of 40, Skipworth Buildings, Bourne Estate, Holborn, London. Born Ashcott, Somerset.
Casualty Type:	Commonwealth War Dead
Grave/Memorial Reference:	VII. A. 1.
Cemetery:	VLAMERTINGHE MILITARY CEMETERY

Cemetery:	VLAMERTINGHE MILITARY CEMETERY
Country:	Belgium
Locality:	Ieper, West-Vlaanderen
Location Information:	Vlamertinghe Military Cemetery is located 5 Kms west of Ieper town centre, on the Hospitaalstraat, which is a road leading from the Poperingseweg (connecting Ieper to Poperinge). From Ieper town centre the Poperingseweg (N308), is reached via Elverdingsestraat then straight over two small roundabouts in the J. Capronstraat. The Poperingseweg is a continuation of J. Capronstraat and begins after a prominent railway level crossing. On reaching the village of Vlamertinge ( Vlamertinge is the modern spelling of Vlamertinghe) the cemetery is located on the Hospitaalstraat, which is the second right turning after the village church. The cemetery lies 50 metres along the Hospitaalstraat on the right hand side of the road.
Historical Information:	Vlamertinghe Military Cemetery was started by French troops in 1914 and was taken over by Commonwealth forces in April 1915. It was used by fighting units and field ambulances until June 1917, when the land adjoining the cemetery was claimed for a military railway preventing further extension. The cemetery is remarkable for the care with which men of the same unit were buried side by side if they died at about the same time. There is also a very high proportion of graves of Territorial units, in particular Lancashire Territorials, who have nearly 250 graves in plots IV, V and VI. During the early months of 1917, whenever it was possible, the 55th Division brought their dead from the front for burial here. The cemetery now contains 1,175 Commonwealth burials of the First World War. The French graves were removed after the war, but three German war graves remain. There are also four Second World War burials dating from the Allied retreat to Dunkirk in May 1940. The cemetery was designed by Sir Reginald Blomfield. The wrought iron gates were presented by the family of the late Lord Redesdale, whose son, Major Mitford, is buried in the Cemetery.
No. of Identified Casualties:	1164