Name
Frank Victor Thornton
1889
Conflict
First World War
Date of Death / Age
10/07/1916
27
Rank, Service Number & Service Details
Private
19108
Bedfordshire Regiment
2nd Bn.
Awards: Service Medals/Honour Awards
1914 /15 Star, British War and Victory medals
Cemetery/Memorial: Name/Reference/Country
ABBEVILLE COMMUNAL CEMETERY
V. C. 3.
France
Headstone Inscription
HE SLEEPS WITH ENGLAND'S HEROES IN THE WATCHFUL CARE OF GOD PEACE PERFECT PEACE
UK & Other Memorials
Hitchin Town Memorial, 4 Co' Hertfordshire Reg' Territorials’ Memorial, Hitchin, Not on the Preston Memorial, Ascott under Wychwood War Memorial, Oxfordshire
Pre War
Frank Victor Thorn was born in 1889 in Charlbury, Oxfordshire, the son of William and Ellen Kate Thornton and one of eight children. He was baptised on 7 July 1889 at Charlbury.
On the 1891 Census the family were living at Shorthampton Village, Oxfordshire where his father was working as an Agricultural Labourer, Carter. In 1901 they had moved to Shipton Road, Ascott, Oxfordshire
He later lived in Hitchin, Herts.
Wartime Service
Frank enlisted in Hitchin and joined the Bedfordshire Regiment, serving as Private 19108 in the 2nd Battalion, arriving in France on 22 June 1915.
The Battalion fought in the Battle of Loos in September 1915 and were in support trenches near Maricourt when the Battle of the Somme began on 1 July 1916.
The Battalion had moved up to trenches near Machine-Gun Wood in the old British front line on the 9th July and were told to attack Trones Wood the following day. At 11.00pm on the 10th July 1916 the Battalion moved up to Briqueterie Road then to the Sunken Road under shell-fire prior to the attack on Trones Wood. It is likely that Frank was wounded during this operation and taken to No.2 or No.5 Stationery Hospital or No.3 British Red Cross Society Hospital, all of which were stationed at Abbeville from October 1914 to January 1920.
He died from his wounds on 10 July 1916, aged 27 and is buried in Plot 5, Row C, Grave 3 in the Abbeville Communal Cemetery, Somme, France.
Additional Information
A private inscription on the headstone reads "He sleeps with English heroes in the watchful care of God. Peace perfect peace". In the St. Mary's Parish Magazine it states that his home was in Preston, near Hitchin but his name does not appear on the Preston Church War Memorial.
His mother received a war gratuity of £7 and pay owing of £10 11s 3d. She also received a pension of 5 shillings a week.
Acknowledgments
Brenda Palmer
Adrian Dunne, David C Baines, Jonty Wild,
