Name
Frederick Charles Talbot
Conflict
First World War
Date of Death / Age
09/10/1917
32
Rank, Service Number & Service Details
Captain
Tank Corps
“D” Bn.
Awards: Service Medals/Honour Awards
Not Yet Researched
Medaille Militaire (France) Mentioned in Despatches
Cemetery/Memorial: Name/Reference/Country
TYNE COT MEMORIAL
Panel 159 to 160.
Belgium
Headstone Inscription
Not Researched
UK & Other Memorials
Not on the Rickmansworth memorials*1 Plaque in St Mary the Virgin Church, Moreton, Essex, Listed on London War Memorial website
Pre War
Frederick Talbot was born in 1885, son of William and Eliza Talbot, Toot Hill, Ongar, Essex. They were still living at Toot Hill in 1891, with an elder brother and sister and a younger brother in the family and their father, William, working as an agricultural labourer. In 1901, the family was living at Rose Lane Gate, Dagenham with William being described as a carter on a farm. Frederick was by then serving in the army. In 1911 Corporal Frederick Charles Talbot of 1st (King’s) Dragoon Guards, service number 4865 was listed in the census as being at Preston Military Barracks, Brighton, and was a drill instructor.
On 15 November 1916, he married Violet May Spencer of 115 Jermyn Street, London, at St James’ Church, Westminster. He was a Warrant Officer with the 4th Dragoon Guards, living at Grays,Thurrock, Essex at time of his marriage.
Wartime Service
Frederick Talbot entered France in August 1914 with 1st Cavalry Brigade. He was gazetted 2nd Lieutenant to the Tank Corp and was killed in action.
From Deborah and the War of the Tanks, 1917 by John Taylor:
"One of the section commanders disappeared after the tank he was travelling in was destroyed. This was Captain Frederick Talbot who fought as a cavalryman in the Boer War and had begun the present war as a Sergeant Major in the 4th Dragoon Guards. Major Watson who called him ‘the old dragon’ commented “I never had a better section commander. It had been a day of desperate tragedy. We had failed, and to me, the sense of failure was inconceivably bitter. We began to feel that we were dogged by ill fortune; the contrast between the achievement of Maris’s company and the sudden overwhelming disaster that had swept down on my section was too glaring. And we mourned Talbot.”
Frederick Charles Talbot is commemorated on the tombstone of his brother Herbert Talbot who died on May 16th 1916, in Chorleywood Road Cemetery, Rickmansworth. The inscription reads: "The beloved and darling husband of Violet May Talbot and brother of the above who was killed in action at Poelcapelle Oct 9th 1917 aged 33 years. For King and Country".
Additional Information
Probate for his will shows that he left the sum of £180 to his widow, Violet May Talbot. In 1939 Violet May Talbot, who had not remarried, was living at 113 Jermyn Street, London.
Frederick is also commemorated on the family grave in Rickmansworth (Chorley Road) Cemetery. His part of the inscription reads:
IN LOVING MEMORY OF MY DEVOTED HUSBAND
ALSO OF FREDERICK CHARLES [CAPT. TANK CORPS]
THE BELOVED AND DARLING HUSBAND OF VIOLET MAY TALBOT. [& BROTHER OF THE ABOVE(Herbert Talbot)
WHO WAS KILLED IN ACTION AT POELCAPELLE OCT. 9 1917 AGED 33 YEARS.
FOR GOD. FOR KING AND FOR COUNTRY
Acknowledgments
Pat Hamilton
Malcolm Lennox, Deborah and the War of the Tanks by John Taylor
