| Description | Work completed by volunteer includes the following information:
Fred Boyes was born in Beverley the 16 Feb 1881 and was baptised in the Methodist chapel the 31 Mar 1881, the son of Alfred Boyes and Phoebe, they married in Thorne in 1877. Alfred worked in the printing trade. The family lived at 14 Cherry Tree Lane, Beverley. Fred was educated at Beverley Grammar School and became a clerk, in 1901 he was a tanner’s clerk, by 1911 he was a “merchant’s clerk”. On 17 Aug 1909 Fred married Nellie Jameson at Beverley Minster, they had a son Alfred, born 10 Aug 1910 and were living on Grovehill Road, Beverley.
Fred served as a rifleman in the King’s Royal Rifle Corps, he was in the 9th Battalion and would have served in France. On 21 Mar 1918 Germany launched Operation Michael, Fred was injured and died of his wounds. He is buried at St Souplet British Cemetery, 20km SE of Cambrai. Initially he was reported as missing in the local press and it wasn’t until the Beverley Guardian of 15 Jan 1919 that more information on his death appeared. According to Rifleman J Watkins,
“I saw him lying dead in the cookhouse on 21`Mar 1918, on the night of St Quentin, about an hour before we were taken. He had been killed by a sniper. There were thirteen sheltering in the cookhouse and only two escaped, they were all sniped”
After the war his wife moved to Grimsby and in 1939 was living in Barton-upon-Humber, son Alfred was an insurance agent. She died in Cleethorpes in 1973.
Fred is commemorated on the Hengate War memorial, his name also appears on the Grovehill Street Shrine and the Beverley Grammar School Roll of Honour.
Includes photograph, information taken from census, military records, Commonwealth War Graves, newspapers |