RootsChat.Com
General => Armed Forces => Topic started by: sammy86 on Sunday 15 April 07 19:06 BST (UK)
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Hello my name is Samantha Holmes!And i am hoping you can shed some light for me concerning my great great grand father ' Fredrick William Hitchmough" he serviced in the ROYAL GARRISON ARTILERY his services number was 114467 he died on the 8th April 1917 in France aged 38. My granny his grand daughter was wondering how he past away. As we havent had much luck looking on the net apart from here. We would like to know abit about him. We know he was married to Elizabeth and they ran a new agents together and that they had children together. My uncle has visited his grave twice and so did his daughter in here last years. But were trying to finish the puzzle.
Thankyou for your time.
Samantha Holmes
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Hi Samantha and Welcome! :) :)
To begin with, do you have his details from the CWGC database?
http://www.cwgc.org/search/casualty_details.aspx?casualty=275134
I can also add that he was born in Warrington, Lancs, enlisted in Warrington, and died 8/4/1917 of wounds received.
Neil
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hi Samantha,
You might already have this information but just in case - in The National Archives website, documents online, you will find the "Medal Card" for Frederick in the section WW1 Campaign medals - it does however cost £3.50 to download the actual information.
Junev
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Hi Samantha,
As Neil has found more info I can now see him in the 1891 and 1901 census
1891 at 341 Knutsford Road, Warrington
Susan, head of household, widow, age 37 born in Sharnbrook, Bedfordshire
Frederick Wm. son, age 12 , born Warrington
Edith Alice, daughter, age 10 b. Warrington
Herbert John, son, age 7, b Warrington
Lilian Agnes, daughter, age 4, born Warrington,
Sarah Elizabeth Fountain, single, sister to head of household, age 38 born Sharnbrook
Syndney Gregory Fountain, single, brother to head of household, born Sharnbrook.
1901 at 16, Miller Road, Warrington
Susan, head of household, widow
Frederick, Edith, Herbert and Lilian are still living with her.
I cannot make out what Frederick's job was - perhaps another Rootschater can make it out (the name was down as Hetchmouth on the site I looked at, by the way).
Junev
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Hi Samantha
Your Gr Gr Grandfather died of wounds in April, 1917. That was round about the time of the Battle of Arras. However, I noticed that he is buried at Soissons, and as the CWGC site tells us:
'Soissons was under shell fire during almost the whole of the War, and was in German hands in September, 1914, and from the end of May to the beginning of August, 1918. It was later "adopted" by the City of Chester.'
Therefore, I would have thought that being Garrison Artillery (Big Guns) they would be a strategic prime target, thus a constant target for counter-bombardment.
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As some may remember Fred has been discussed here before, and Tisgrannie and her friend visited his lone grave last May and left flowers and a laminated card with his details, which i think was a fantastic thing to do :)
here's the thread
http://www.rootschat.com/forum/index.php/topic,156425.0.html
and fred's marker
(http://www.rootschat.com/forum/index.php?action=dlattach;topic=156425.0;id=17529;image)
(http://www.rootschat.com/forum/index.php?action=dlattach;topic=156425.0;id=17530;image)
does the inscription on the french stone say 'we think of you'?
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How wonderful that the family of F.W.Hitchmough found him on here. I am sure they were surprised that he was "known" already. A combination of people on here contributed to a visit that was successful.
Annie, mack, kidsnana. etc.
Its a nice ending to a kind thought from mack of a lone British soldier in France!
Glad the family found more info on here.
Job well done everyone
regards
tisgrannie
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you all deserve a toast,that was a nice way to welcome a new friend,all the info samantha asked for,and a bit more added,well done all of you.
mack
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Hi Samantha and a Warm Welcome to Rootschat
I know your great great grand father ' Fredrick William Hitchmough" held a fondness in macks heart, being buried where he is, and tisgrannie did a wonderful thing on behalf of us all.
Here is the link to the original tread, as I thought you might like to see how the photos came about
http://www.rootschat.com/links/01fl/
Special message for Tis - Well, how about that !!!!!!!!
Wendi :)
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it always bothered me why they didnt disinter him and bury him with the other soldiers in the main cemetery down the road,it occured to me,that the locals may have adopted him and agreed to look after his grave,someone apart from the CWGC is taking great care of his resting place,cos i dont think the border round his grave has been put there by the CWGC,and theres also the plaques,someone else is also watching over him,its nice to know he has family,shame he never got chance to meet them,mack
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Hi mack, I thought when we were there that they had looked after the grave. There were a few plaques if I remember in French.
For Samantha:
Samantha this is were you could check out about the grave. Maybe contact the mayor of Soisson and see what the story is!
I didn't contact the mayor when I went as we weren't sure exactly when we would get there as we had a few days.
Well F W Hitchmough is very well cared for I can assure you.
Would there be a chance of a photo of him?
It would be lovely to put a face to this episode.
kind regards
tisgrannie
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I've left making this post in case Sam did come on to the board herself
but I think Samantha was a little too shy.She did ask me a few questions through pm's and she and her Gran are very pleased
Well my granny asked me to look it up on the net so i just typed his name into google to see what id get. Expecting to get nothing off it! So yes a surprise when it brought me to here and to see that people have been to visit him is fantastic! Its a surprise because he was one in a million who died or was injured and to see people talking about him its so lovely.
Thank you all for your time. You were a great help
Samantha
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Hi to everyone,
i have just joined rootschat after searching for information (again) for my great grandfather Frederic Hitchmough. I'm Samantha's uncle and it was me, my partner Cath, sister Jayne and brother in law Nick that placed the French plaques on the grave. We also placed flowers on his grave and matching flowers on my great grandmothers grave in warrington. I first "found" his grave in 1998, with info from gwgc, and visited again in 2005, 2006, 2008, 2009, 2011. i too have wondered about his grave edgings and the general overall excellent condition of the grave. i am at a total loss as to what happened to frederic in his last days and would apreciate ideas as to which paths to follow to try to discover more information about my great grandfather and the royal garrison artillery. i have attached pictures of frederic and his wife elizabeth.
many thanks to everyone for their interest and kindness, wish i had discovered this forum years ago.
philipino