Name
Frederick Percival
1896
Conflict
First World War
Date of Death / Age
29/04/1917
21
Rank, Service Number & Service Details
Private
25263
Bedfordshire Regiment
6th Bn.
Awards: Service Medals/Honour Awards
British War and Victory medals
Cemetery/Memorial: Name/Reference/Country
ARRAS MEMORIAL
Bay 5.
France
Headstone Inscription
N/A
UK & Other Memorials
St Mary's Church Memorial, Apsley End,
John Dickinson & Co Memorial, Apsley Mills, Apsley,
Hemel Hempstead Town Memorial
Pre War
Frederick Percival was born in 1896 in Apsley End, Hemel Hempstead, Herts, the son of Paul and Mary Ann Percival.
On the 1901 Census the family were living at 93 Apsley End, Herts, where his father was working as a gasfitter's labourer. They had moved to 92 Weymouth Street, Apsley End by 1911 at which time Frederick was working as a book binder in the paper mill (John Dickinson & Co.), Also listed on the Census was a Nurse, Ada Cares, who was caring for Frederick's mother who died on 17 May 1911, age 41, as a result of pulmonary tuberculosis. Frederick's brother George was born in March 1911, but died on 9 April when only 23 days old, of 'prematurity and exhaustion', leaving Frederick as the only child.
Frederick was educated at Apsley Boys' School from 1901, but moved In January 1903 to Bury End Mill School on the other side of Hemel Hempstead, however he had returned to Apsley Boys' School by October and remained there until 1908. He left school to start work at John Dickinson & Co Ltd in Apsley Mills, where he trained as a Book Binder in the Book Department. He remained working at Dickinsons until enlistment.
His father remarried in 1913 to Emma Isabella Rolph who lived locally, and they lived at 92 Railway Terrace, Apsley End,
Wartime Service
Frederick enlisted in Watford on 18 January 1916 and joined the Bedfordshire Regiment. He was posted to the 6th Battalion and was sent to Aldershot for basic training, later moving for further training at Aldershot and Salisbury Plain.
He was sent to France a few months later, probably in July, and would have seen action at the Battle of Pozieres, experiencing heavy shelling and machine gun fire from the enemy, followed by the Battle of Ancre later in the year.
In April 1917 there was the spring campaign at Arras, and he fought in the First Battle of the Scarpe, followed by the Second Battle of the Scarpe on 23 April.
He was killed in action on 29 April 1917, age 21, during the Battle of Arleux. He has no known grave and his name is commemorated on the Arras Memorial, France. He was among 28 soldiers from the 6th Battalion to die on that day, 16 of whom are named on the Arras Memorial.
Additional Information
His father received a £5 war gratuity and pay owing of £7 14s. He also received a pension of 5 shillings a week.
Acknowledgments
Brenda Palmer
Jonty Wild, dacorumheritage.org.uk, hemelatwar.org.
