Name
Frederick Albert Leach
26 September 1897
Conflict
First World War
Date of Death / Age
31/07/1917
19
Rank, Service Number & Service Details
Private
267013
Hertfordshire Regiment
1st Bn.
Awards: Service Medals/Honour Awards
British War and Victory medals
Cemetery/Memorial: Name/Reference/Country
NEW IRISH FARM CEMETERY
XX. A. 19.
Belgium
Headstone Inscription
HIS TASK FULFILLED HIS DUTY DONE
UK & Other Memorials
Hemel Hempstead Town Memorial,
St Mary's Church Memorial, Hemel Hempstead,
John Dickinson & Co Memorial, Apsley Mills, Apsley,
Hertfordshire Regimental Memorial, All Saints Church, Hertford
Pre War
Frederick Albert Leach was born on 26 September 1897 at 3 Charles Place, Deptford, London, the son and eldest child of Frederick and Susan Leach and one of eight children, although two died in early childhood. He was baptised on 13 October at Christchurch, Deptford.
On the 1901 Census the family were living at 33 Abinger Road, Deptford and his father was working as a Colour Grinder (printing) and his mother is listed as a Collar Ironer.
The family moved to Hemel Hempstead in 1902 when his father joined John Dickinson & Co Ltd as a printer. Their first home there was at 57 St John's Road, Boxmoor and Frederick was initially educated at Boxmoor school, but in 1904 when the family moved to 36 London Road, he transferred to Two Waters School which was closer.
The family later moved again, this time to 107 Cotterells, Hemel Hempstead and he returned to Boxmoor School in April 1909. The following year he left school and started work at John Dickinson & Co Ltd, and was listed as a 13 year old Millhand, (in the Engineering Department), on the 1911 Census.
Wartime Service
Frederick enlisted in November 1915 and joined the Hertfordshire Regiment, being posted to Bury St Edmunds for basic training.
He was sent to France in late 1916 and posted to the 1/1st Battalion, Hertfordshire Regiment and saw action in the Battle of Ancre, the last phase of the Somme Offensive.
The following year the Battalion moved to Belgium and took part in the Third Battle of Ypres, which began on 31 July with the Battle of Pilckem Ridge. The Battalion moved forward at 3.50 am and captured enemy lines east of the River Steenbeck, but as they moved closer to the main objective of the Langemarck line, the casualties increased as a result of sniper and machine gun fire. Progress was slowed by thick enemy barbed wire and they suffered exceptionally heavy casualties as a result, particularly when the Germans made a strong counter attack on the left flank.
Frederick was initially posted missing, but later officially confirmed killed in action on 31 July 1917, aged 19. The 1st Battalion, Hertfordshire Regiment suffered heavy losses on that day, with 459 casualties killed, wounded or missing. (Reginald Ambrose and Richard Hoar from the Herts Regiment were also killed in this encounter and are also named on the Hemel Hempstead Memorial.)
Frederick is buried in New Irish Farm Cemetery, Belgium.
Additional Information
His father was called up, following the Military Service Act in May 1916, and joined the Royal Army Service Corps. He saw action on the Western Front and was wounded, but demobilised in 1919, having survived the war.
His father received a war gratuity of £7 10s and pay owing of £5 7s 7d. His mother received a pension of 5 shillings a week. His mother, when living at 107 Cotterells, Hemel Hempstead, Herts., ordered his headstone inscription: "HIS TASK FULFILLED HIS DUTY DONE".
Acknowledgments
Brenda Palmer
Jonty Wild, www.hemelheroes.com., www.dacorumheritage.org.uk., www.hemelatwar.org.
