Name
Frank Gentle
1879
Conflict
First World War
Date of Death / Age
17/02/1916
37
Rank, Service Number & Service Details
Private
20052
Bedfordshire Regiment
8th Battalion
'B' Coy.
Awards: Service Medals/Honour Awards
1914 /15 Star, British War and Victory medals
Cemetery/Memorial: Name/Reference/Country
LIJSSENTHOEK MILITARY CEMETERY
II. B. 40.
Belgium
Headstone Inscription
None
UK & Other Memorials
Baldock Town Memorial, St Mary the Virgin Church Memorial, Baldock, All Saints Church Memorial, Radwell, Stotfold War Memorial, Beds
Pre War
Frank Gentle was born in Stotfold, Bedfordshire, in 1879, the son of George and Ann Gentle, and one of eleven children, although five had died by 1911.
On the 1881 Census Frank was aged 2, and living with his parents, brothers Noah 11, Lewis 9, sisters Sarah 6 and Emily 4, in Astwick Road, Stotfold, Beds where his father was working as an agricultural labourer. They remained in Stotfold in 1891, at which time Frank, aged 12, was a field worker and the family had moved to The Green. They had been joined by brother Cyrus, 5, and sisters Annie 9 and Elizabeth, 18 months. His married sister Selina Manton and her daughter Dorothy were also staying with them. Frank remained with his parents and siblings in 1901 and they were living at Fen End, Stotfold, where he was working as a carter for a builder (carrier of goods by wagon).
In 1908 Frank married Grace Constance Ingrey in Stotfold and on the 1911 Census they were living in Grange Cottages, Radwell, Hertfordshire and his sister in law Florence Ingrey was living with them. He was then working as a farm labourer. Their son Ebenezer was born in 1912.
Wartime Service
Frank enlisted in Bedford and joined the Bedfordshire Regiment with the Service Number 20052 and served with the 8th Battalion in France from 30 August 1915.
Frank suffered shell wounds to his face and arms and died of his wounds at No 10 Casualty Clearing Station, Nr Poperinghe, on 17 February 1916. He is buried in Lijessenthoek Military Cemetery, Poperinge, Belgium.
Additional Information
His widow received a war gratuity of £3 and pay owing of £3 1s 2d. She also received a pension of 15 shillings a week for herself and their son.
Grace later remarried to Basil Smart in 1920 and died in Northampton in 1974.
Acknowledgments
Stuart Osborne, Brenda Palmer
Adrian Pitts, Paul Johnson, Stuart Osborne.
