| Description | Work completed by volunteer includes the following information:
Fred Brooks was born in 1882 in Brantingham, the son of Charles Brooks. He married Rose Simpson, daughter of William at Hornsea on 22 Dec 1904 and settled down there at Southgate Gardens. Fred was a platelayer for the railway, and they had eight children, Allan, Nora, Eric, Percy, Donald, Eunice and Fred, the youngest, Muriel was born in April 1918, just a few months after her father's death.
On 6 Jan 1915 Fred enlisted as Private 1122 in the 17th (Service) Battalion of the Northumberland Fusiliers and served with the Expeditionary Force in France and Flanders. He was killed in action 19 Nov 1917. An officer wrote ‘Your husband was very highly thought of by all the officers and in him we have lost whom it was a pleasure to have in the company.’
Private Fred Brooks is buried at Bard Cottage Cemetery near Boezinge, Belgium. He is remembered on the Hornsea War Memorial, the Railwaymen's Memorial in St Paul's Cathedral and De Ruvigny's Roll of Honour. He was awarded the British War and Victory medals and the 1915 Star.
Includes photograph, information taken from census, military records, Commonwealth War Graves, newspapers |