| Description | Work completed by volunteer includes the following information:
Frank was born in Beverley in early 1889. He was one of three children born to Aaron Lazenby (1865-1938) and his wife Annie, both local, who had married in 1887. Annie died in 1893 and Frank’s father remarried in 1898 and had six children with Harriet Goforth (1875-1933). Aaron was a tanner’s labourer and would be Frank’s occupation too. The family lived on Keldgate, later at Swaby’s Yard and then at 107 Lairgate. Frank was unmarried.
1912 Frank had joined the 5th Battalion of the Yorkshire Regiment who were in the Territorial Force. Along with many Beverlonians in the part-time 5th, Frank agreed to serve overseas and arrived in France on April 17th 1915 and immediately taking part in the 2nd Battle of Ypres at St Julian and later battles in that area of Belgium. He later became a regular soldier with the 5th. The 5th were part of 50th Division who In the summer of 1917 were assigned to the Arras section of the Western Front. In April and May 1917, a battle had been fought in the area but now the 50th were now performing a holding operation whilst battles were fought elsewhere. However, their holding trenches which were still subjected to frequent German shelling and to trench raiding. On July 19th 1917 Frank was killed in action. According to a letter written by Lt E M Robinson, his company commander, and sent to Frank’s father he was killed “by the explosion of a shell, death being instantaneous”. Frank had “died like a true soldier, facing the enemy, and will be missed by his comrades. He is buried at the Hensinel Communal Cemetery Extension near Arras. He is commemorated on the Hengate Memorial in Beverley, on the East Riding Memorial in the Minster and on Hodgson’s Roll of Honour. He was awarded the 1915 Star and the War and Victory Medals.
Frank’s brother Ernest W Lazenby, born in 1886, also served in the army with the 50th Division as a sapper and signaller of the Royal Engineers. He had been in the 5th and in the 2nd Reserve Battalion of the East Yorkshires. Married in 1909 and with three children, he lived at 58 St Andrew’s St. He was taken prisoner at Craonne on May 27th 1918, as were many Beverlonians, in the surprise German attack called Operation Blucher. He returned home in November 1918.
Includes information taken from census, military records, Commonwealth War Graves, newspapers |