| Description | Work completed by volunteer includes the following information:
Frederick was born on 30 Jun 1878 to William and Kate Meek, he had three brothers and three sisters, and was the second eldest. In 1891 Frederick was living away from home working as a page boy at the Conservative Club in York. In 1901 he was back in Beverley working as a printer's compositor, the same profession as his father; in the same year on 7 Sep he married Emma Boulton. Between 1902 and 1912 he and Emma had four children, Dorothy, Rowland, Bernard and Arthur William. In 1906 his father died and his mother moved to Hull to live with his elder sister Frances.
Frederick joined the reservists on 7 Apr 1908, documents show he was 5 foot 8 inches tall. He entered the theatre of war in 1914 and the Beverley Guardian, dated 13 Jul 1918, states that he was reported missing on 27 May 1918, this was confirmed by the war diaries. He was part of a mission to remove the Germans from the Californie Plateau , at 4.30am the Germans bombarded the British trenches from three sides obliterating them, the remains of the 5th Battalion were either killed or taken prisoner. The Beverley Guardian dated 7 Dec 1918, reported he had been taken prisoner and had been a prisoner of war for seven months but was now safe and well in Ripon after being released by the Germans.
Frederick Ernest Meek died in 1951.
Includes photograph, information taken from census, military records, Commonwealth War Graves, newspapers |