| Description | Work completed by volunteer includes the following information:
Private Fred Ward, aged 32, was killed in action in unknown circumstances on 18 Sep 1918 during the Battle of Epehy, to the west of Saint-Quentin, France. The attack was generally successful but Fred’s Battalion, the 1st East Kent Regiment (The Buffs) suffered 21 deaths and 150 wounded on that day according to their War Diary. Fred is buried at the Trefcon British Cemetry, Caulaincourt, France.
Fred was one of the original Beverley Terriers who served in the 5th Yorkshire Regiment TA before the war, and having agreed to serve overseas arrived in France on 18 Apr 1915 to take part in the Battle of Ypres, at St Julien. Fred continued to serve with the 5th until it ceased to exist after its mauling by the Germans in May 1918 on the Aisne, France and in which large numbers of men (including commanding officers) were taken prisoner. Between 1915 and 1918 he would have seen action in Belgium in 1915-16, on the Somme in 1916, at Arras in 1917 and Ypres again at the end of 1917. According to the Beverley Guardian of 4 Mar 1916 he was wounded by a bullet in the shoulder. Fred was awarded the 1915 Star and the War and Victory Medals.
Fred was born in Beverley the 28 Apr 1886 and baptised at Beverley Minster the 13 Jun 1886, the son of Thomas Ward, tanner, and Louisa (nee Jeffels) Before enlistment he worked at the Storry and Witty Whiting Works at Queensgate, Beverley. He was unmarried and lived with his parents at 48 Keldgate.
Fred is commemorated on the Keldgate Street Shrine, on the Hengate Memorial and on the East Riding Memorial in Beverley Minster.
Includes photograph, information taken from census, military records, Commonwealth War Graves, newspapers |