| Description | Work completed by volunteer includes the following information:
Fred Boyes was born in Beverley in 1879, the youngest of three children born to Thomas Boyes and his wife Mary. Thomas was a cabinet maker but later became a shipwright at the Grovehill shipyard. Fred became a carpenter and joiner. In the early 1900s Fred was living in south London, he married Emma Jane Allison in Lambeth on 22 Jun 1902. Their first child, Francis William, was born the 21 Sep 1903 and baptised at Spitalfields, London. Their second child, Mabel, was born in 1908 in Beverley, the family living at 24 Denton Street,. Fred was employed as a joiner at Grovehill shipyard.
At the age of 35 Fred enlisted in the army on 28 Dec 1914 and was sent to Chatham to join the Royal Engineers as a sapper. He joined 71st Company RE who were attached to 13th (Western Division), their role to provide support to front-line forces through construction, logistics and transport. They were sent to Egypt on 14 Jul 1915 and then took part in the later stages of the Gallipoli Campaign in Turkey. Following withdrawal from there the 13th Division was sent to Turkish-controlled Mesopotamia (Iraq) and took part in campaigns along the Tigris and in the capture of Baghdad in 1917. They later spent time at Mosul in the north.
At Basra in Iraq in Jul 1918 Fred was discharged as a sought after skilled worker, to the Swan Hunter Neptune shipyard at Walker, Newcastle-upon-Tyne. He left the army on 29 Dec 1918.
Fred returned to Beverley where he died of malaria on 19 Feb 1921, aged 41. He is buried at Beverley, St Nicholas in a designated war grave. He was awarded the 1915 Star and the War and Victory Medals. He is commemorated on the Hengate War Memorial.
Includes information taken from census, military records, Commonwealth War Graves, newspapers |