H.J.M. has submitted the following:
Fred was born in Escomb on May 3rd, 1896 and lived with his parents Thomas and Sarah until his death. Initially living in Wear Terrace, Escomb, the family later moved to Escomb Road in Bishop Auckland.
On enlistment in September 1915 he was an unmarried electrician aged nineteen and had recorded his faith as Wesleyan. Service records say that Fred was “missing, presumed dead” and “regarded for office purposes as having died” giving 23/24 October 1918 as a death date. The Vis-en-Artois memorial commemorates almost 9,000 men who have no known grave and who fell between The Somme and Loos.
He is remembered in Bishop Auckland on B140.24 and in the D.L.I. Book of Remembrance page 294
