Name
Frederick Ernest Riggs (DCM)
Conflict
First World War
Date of Death / Age
27/09/1915
27
Rank, Service Number & Service Details
Private
11299
Worcestershire Regiment
2nd Bn.
Awards: Service Medals/Honour Awards
Not Yet Researched
Distinguished Conduct Medal
Cemetery/Memorial: Name/Reference/Country
VERMELLES BRITISH CEMETERY
I. G. 36.
France
Headstone Inscription
Not Researched
UK & Other Memorials
Bushey Town Memorial, St Peter’s Church Memorial, Bushey Heath
Pre War
Born in the first quarter of 1888 in Hampstead, London, Frederick Ernest Riggs was the son of Joseph and Elizabeth (nee Lee) Riggs. His parents were married in February 1882 at New Ross, County Wexford in Ireland.
At the 1891 Census, Frederick was living with his parents and three siblings, Henry, Albert Edward and Edith Charlotte, at 20 Springfield Road in Bushey. The family’s ages are given as 32, 27, 8, 5, 3 and 1 years old respectively, and their birthplaces are Southampton for Joseph, Dublin for Elizabeth, New Ross, County Wexford for Henry, Middlesex for Albert and Frederick, and Bushey for Edith. Joseph is a Metropolitan Police Officer and both Henry and Albert are at school.
Joseph died, aged 38, in the first quarter of 1897, the death registered in the Paddington district. At the 1891 Census, Frederick was resident as a scholar at the Metropolitan Police Orphanage in Twickenham, whilst the rest of the family remained at home with his mother who was working as a charwoman.
Frederick enlisted in 1904 with the 2nd Battalion of the 1st Worcester Regiment, but at the time of the 1911 Census he was recorded as an inmate of H M Prison, Kingston in Portsmouth. He was 23 years old, single, and still serving as a soldier.
Elizabeth and her family moved to 86 School Lane and later to 31 Sparrows Herne.
Wartime Service
When war broke out, Frederick enlisted in London and served as Private 11299 in the 2nd Battalion of the Worcestershire Regiment. He fought on the western front and was awarded the Distinguished Conduct Medal for bravery. He died of wounds, aged 27, on 27 September 1915 and was buried at Vermelles British Cemetery in France. He is also commemorated on the Bushey Memorial and at St Peter’s Church, Bushey Heath.
Additional Information
The Register of soldier’s Effects shows payments of £5 14s 10d. to each of his mother, Edith, Elizabeth and Albert. There were also payments in 1919 of £3 12s. to Albert and £6 18s. 19d. to his brother William, and a further payment in 1920 of £6 18s. 19d. to his brother George. Dianne Payne - www.busheyworldwarone.org.uk, Jonty Wild
Acknowledgments
Andrew Palmer
Dianne Payne - www.busheyworldwarone.org.uk, Jonty Wild
