Name
Frederick William Brooks
Conflict
First World War
Date of Death / Age
Rank, Service Number & Service Details
M/324284
Army Service Corps
1023rd Mechanical Transport
Awards: Service Medals/Honour Awards
Cemetery/Memorial: Name/Reference/Country
Headstone Inscription
Not Researched
UK & Other Memorials
Biography
Frederick married Annie Priscilla Carter of Pirton on December 27th 1915, the same day as Jack Lawrence (another soldier) married Violet Abbiss. The North Herts Mail of January 6th explained that Frederick was from Cole Green, Hertingfordbury. His best man was his brother, William Brooks, who was already serving. Annie’s brother, Walter Edward Carter, also served and survived and attended the wedding wearing his ‘hospital blue’ uniform, so he had already been wounded.
The Parish Magazine of June 1917 records Frederick as serving in the Buffs (Royal East Kent or Royal West Surrey Regiment). In fact, he originally enlisted in the 3rd Bedfords in Hitchin on February 26th 1916. His service record shows that he was thirty years old, working as a motor car builder and living in the Carter family home, Burge End House (now known as Burge End Farm House). He was not mobilised until April 21st 1917, by which time Annie was pregnant. He went for training and on September 10th 1917 his son, Charles Frederick William was born. Charles was the name of Annie’s father; he had been the village policeman and then the school attendance officer. He died in May 1914.
At one point Frederick was Private G/22237, 3rd Battalion, ‘The Buffs’ and then became Private M/324284, 1023rd Mechanical Transport, Army Service Corps , probably in a posting on November 14th 1917. He passed his Army driving test a month later and served ‘at home’ until January 6th 1918, when he boarded a ship and headed to Mesopotamia, arriving on February 21st. He was there until April and then he moved on to India and served there until September 1919. In June 1919, he caught Spanish Flu in the pandemic, which started in 1918, and was in the 34th Gent Hospital in Deolali, between June 27th and August 14th 1919. Even without knowing how close he came to action, he may well have been in his greatest danger during this period. The 1918 flu pandemic spread right across the world; estimates of the number of deaths vary considerably, some as low as twenty to forty million and others between fifty and one hundred million - many more than were killed in the war. After recovering, he headed home, arriving in England on September 27th and was demobilised on November 16th 1919.
Acknowledgments
Text from the book ‘The Pride of Pirton’ by Jonty Wild, Tony French & Chris Ryan used with author's permission
