Name
Frederick William Hunt
1888
Conflict
First World War
Date of Death / Age
17/08/1917
29
Rank, Service Number & Service Details
Private
233519
London Regiment (Royal Fusiliers)
1st/2nd (City of London) Bn.
Awards: Service Medals/Honour Awards
British War and Victory medals
Cemetery/Memorial: Name/Reference/Country
BRANDHOEK NEW MILITARY CEMETERY NO.3
Ref.II.H.26
Belgium
Headstone Inscription
None
UK & Other Memorials
Hatfield Town Memorial, Hatfield In Memoriam Book, Welwyn Garden City Memorial, Hatfield Hyde Village Memorial, St. Mary Magdalene, Church Memorial, Hatfield Hyde, Not listed on the Hitchin memorials(*1)
Pre War
Frederick William Hunt was born in Hitchin, Herts in 1888, the son and eldest child of Frederick William and Lizzie Hunt, and baptised at St Marys, Hitchin on 2 Dec 1888.
On the 1891 Census the family were living at 4 Russell Slip, Hitchin, where his father was working as a shepherd/agricultural labourer. By 1901 the family had moved to Hatfield Hyde where his father was working as a Cowman and Frederick had been joined by two brothers and a sister.
He married Edith Nellie Griffin in early 1911 and was listed in the Census as a Farm Labourer, living with his wife in West End, Essendon, Hatfield. They also had his wife's brother Thomas living with them. At that time, his parents and siblings remained living at Hatfield Hyde at 15 Sandpit Cottages.
Frederick and Edith had two children, Emily in 1912 and Reginald in 1913.
Officially recorded as born in Hitchin and was living in in Hatfield when he enlisted in Hatfield.
Wartime Service
Frederick enlisted in Hatfield and initially joined the 5th Battalion, Bedfordshire Regiment (formerly 6595), later transferring to the 1/2nd Battalion, London Regiment.
He died from wounds on 17 August 1917, aged 29, at the 44th Casualty Clearing Station which was then in Brandhoek, Belgium and is buried in Brandhoek New Military Cemetery, Belgium.
The Bishop’s Hatfield Parish Magazine of May 1916, in the list of men mobilised from Hatfield, Recorded: “Hunt, Frederick W. Hatfield Hyde. 2/3 Beds Regiment.” and then in December 1917: “Died of wounds Frederick Hunt, 1/2 London Regiment.”
Awarded the British War Medal& Victory Medal.
Additional Information
His widow received a war gratuity of £5 and pay owing of £1 11s 11d. She would also have been entitled to a pension for herself and her children, but pension cards give no indication of the amount of pension received. Edith married again in 1919 to Harry Harding.
Brother to Arthur George Hunt who served with the Royal Navy and was killed on HMS Natal in 1915.
Hatfield Parish Council Souvenir Committee Ledger: Mrs Harding (Ex wife) of Hill Farm Cottages, Ayot St Lawrence received an “In Memoriam and Roll of Honour Album”.
*1 There is another Frederick Hunt who is on the Hitchin memorials but we believe this to be soldier 201172.
Acknowledgments
Brenda Palmer
Brenda Palmer, Christine & Derek Martindale, Hatfield Local History Society (www.hatfieldhistory.uk)
