Name
Frederick Francis Ellis
1877
Conflict
First World War
Date of Death / Age
15/09/1916
40
Rank, Service Number & Service Details
Private
17492
Bedfordshire Regiment
8th Bn.
Awards: Service Medals/Honour Awards
1914 /15 Star, British War and Victory medals
Cemetery/Memorial: Name/Reference/Country
THIEPVAL MEMORIAL
Pier and Face 2 C.
France
Headstone Inscription
NA
UK & Other Memorials
Baldock Town Memorial, St Mary the Virgin Church Memorial, Baldock
Pre War
Frederick Francis Ellis born in Norton, nr Baldock in 1877 the son of William and Annis (Annice) Ellis. He was baptised on 23 November 1884 at St Nicholas Church, Norton, nr Baldock. He was one of seven children, although one died in infancy.
On the 1881 Census the family were living at Bygrave, where his father was working as a domestic house servant. By 1891 13 year old Frederick was living with his uncle and aunt George and Isabella Gray at 37 Windmill Road, Edmonton, Middlesex and working as an assistant to his uncle who was a florist. He remained in Edmonton in 1901, but was then a boarder at the home of Henry and Ada Scales and their family at 47 Windmill Road at which time he was working as a bricklayer.
Frederick married Ellen Mary Smith on 18 February 1904 at All Hallows Church, Tottenham, Middlesex. He was then working as a bricklayer and living at 47 Windmill Road, Silver Street, Edmonton. By 1911 they had returned to Baldock and were living near his parents at Chequers Yard with three children, Frederick William (b. 1904), Leonard Frank (b. 1906) and Dorothy Frances (B. 1908). They were joined by Leslie (1911) and Christabel (1914) and later lived at 30, Nightingale Way, Baldock, Herts.
At the time of Frederick's death, his parents were living at the The Hen and Chickens Public House, 51, Clarke's Lane, Baldock, Herts.
Wartime Service
He enlisted in Bedford and joined the Bedford Regiment, serving with the 8th Battalion in France from 26 September 1915.
Frederick was killed in action on 15 September 1916 during the Battle of Flers-Courcelette (part of the Battle of the Somme) during an assault on a German trench known as the Quadrilateral. It was during this battle that Tanks were used in action for the first time and during which Raymond Asquith, the Prime Minister's son was also killed. He has no known grave and his name is commemorated on the Thiepval Memorial, France.
Additional Information
His widow received a war gratuity of £8 10s and pay owing of £2 5s 11d. She also received a pension initially of £1 11s 3d a week which was later reduced to £1 8s 9d when their youngest son Leslie died in 1918.
Brother to George Edward Ellis who served with the Hertfordshire Regiment and died on 19 November 1914. His name is commemorated on the Ypres (Menin Gate) Memorial, Belgium.
Brother Herbert Frank enlisted on 18 April 1916 and joined the 28th Middlesex Regiment, serving in Salonika from November 1916, but also suffering from Enteritis and Dysentery. Correspondence in early November 1916 following the deaths of his brothers George and Frederick suggests that it was decided that Herbert, who had then been transferred to the Machine Gun Corps should not be sent abroad and retained in the United Kingdom on compassionate grounds.
Acknowledgments
Brenda Palmer
Adrian Pitts, Paul Johnson
