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Frank Waldron, aged 34, was in 1918 awarded the Meritorious Service Medal, given only to non-commissioned officers, for his role in the war, mostly spent in France, having arrived there in late Feb 1915. He served initially as a Farrier Quartermaster Sergeant in the Royal Field Artillery, a position only given to the most skilled shoe-smiths, and then transferred to the Royal Army Veterinary Corps as a Staff Sergeant. Given the role played by animals for transportation and supply in the war, this was a position of great importance but not one on the frontline. Frank was also awarded the 1914-15 Star and the War and Victory Medals.
Frank Waldron was born in Kenley, Surrey in 1884, the son of Harry and Elizabeth Waldron. Harry was a coachman and the family had moved regularly. In 1891 they were living in Shepperton, Middlesex, in 1901 in York, by 1911 they were in Wath on Dearne, Rotherham. In the 1890s they lived in Beverley and where two of Frank's siblings were born. The 1911 census shows Frank was working as a groom at Scorborough Hall near Beverley and living at No 1 Bothy on the estate.
Frank met his wife Annie Chapman at Scorborough Hall where she was employed as a housemaid. They married in Beverley in Jul 1911 and later living at 54 Walkergate. Frank left the army in 1919. Frank died in Norton, North Yorkshire aged 80 in 1964. Annie died in Bridlington in 1978.
Includes photograph, information taken from census, military records, Commonwealth War Graves, newspapers |