Heslop’s Local Advertiser 20/07/1917
Pauline Priano has submitted the following:-
Fred Wilson was born at Felling, Gateshead, County Durham in 1881, the only son of John Wilson born 1848 at Felling and his wife Elizabeth native of Chester-le-Street, County Durham born 1849, he had 2 sisters, Elizabeth born July 15th 1888 and Sarah in 1889.
Newly married John and Elizabeth moved to 10, High Street, Felling, John was unemployed at the time having been a grocer. By 1891 their family was complete and John was now in employment as a shipyard labourer, Fred (10) attended school. Only a few months later during June 1891 Fred’s father died aged 43 years, the effect on his family was disastrous, Elizabeth found work as a charwoman, while Fred worked as a stone dresser, Sarah (13) remained at home, Elizabeth (14) had been taken in by her maternal aunt Sarah and her husband, blacksmith striker, James Veith, living at 150 Albion Row, Byker, near Newcastle-upon-Tyne. By 1911 Fred, his mother and sister Sarah had moved to 22 Holly Street, his mother was still a charwoman and Fred a stone dresser/mason.
On the outbreak of war he left his employment as a mason to enlist a Felling, August 24th 1914 for a period of 3 years or the duration of the war. He was assigned as Private 13382 to the Durham Light Infantry joining the Regiment as South Shields the following day where he was posted to the 3rd (Special Reserve) Battalion, part of the Tyne Garrison coastal defences as well as training troops for active service overseas. October 26th 1914 he was transferred to the 16th Battalion which was not destined to serve overseas however in April 1915 it became a Reserve Battalion, moved to Darlington and by September to Penkridge Bank Camp near Rugeley in Staffordshire where the Battalion underwent intensive training and it supplied drafts of men for service overseas.
October 8th 1915 Private Wilson was drafted to France where he joined the 14th Battalion as a replacement for one of the many losses sustained by the Battalion during the Battle of Loos that had taken place the previous month when they were cut down by machine gun fire as they advanced on the Germans. November 1915 the 14th Battalion joined the 18th Brigade, 6th Division and moved to the Ypres salient to relieve the troops and where they had a relatively quiet time for the rest of the year.
At the end of July 1916 the Division was withdrawn having suffered 11,000 casualties and in September joined in the Battles of the Somme. Private Wilson did not follow his Regiment as he was admitted to the 24th General Hospital at Etaplea suffering from disease and from there transported aboard H.S. Brighton, which in peace time had been built for the London, Brighton and South Coast Railway, running their Newhaven-Dieppe route and in 1914 had been requisitioned by the Royal Navy, back to England. He spent 62 days at the Connaught Hospital, Aldershot, Hampshire before being reviewed by the Medical Board November 26th 1916, passed fit and returned to duty.
He was drafted to France January 25th 1917 arriving at the 35th Infantry Base Depot and transferred to the 19th Battalion Durham Light Infantry where he remained for retraining until being reposted to the 14th Battalion in the filed March 16th 1917 on the Ypres salient. The main body of troops had spent another miserable winter in the trenches until the 14th Battalion joined an attack during April 1917 at Lens coalfield where they captured Nash Alley but later forced to retreat. It was noted that Private Wilson was missing as of April 20/22nd 1917 and confirmed May 5th that he had been wounded, taken prisoner and transported to Germany. He had been taken to Aachen a city near Germany’s border with Belgium as a prisoner of war to the Reserve Hospital suffering from grenade splinter wounds.
Private 13382 Fred Wilson Durham Light Infantry died at 7 a.m. May 16th 1917 at the Reserve Hospital, Goethe Street, Aix-la-Chapelle, Aachen, Germany. The Chief Medical Officer Aix-la-Chapelle issued a death certificate May 18th 1917, stating the cause of death as. “grenade splinter wounds and sepsis”.
The official news of his demise was communicated to the Infantry Records Office by the Netherlands Legation List and was deemed to be sufficient evidence for official purposes to inform Private Wilson’s next of kin of his demise. His mother was made aware of his death in July 1917 and received all monies due to him as his sole beneficiary, a pension and his awards of the 1914-15 Star, British War Medal and Victory Medal sent to her at 22 Holly Street, Felling, County Durham. An official copy of his death certificate was not received by the British authorities until 1920, a copy of which was sent to his mother Elizabeth, July 9th 1920.
Private Wilson was initially interred at the Cemetery of Honour, Aachen grave 207 until in 1922 it was decided that the graves of Commonwealth servicemen who died all over Germany should be brought together into four permanent cemeteries at Kassel, Berlin, Hamburg and Cologne, this process took several years. Private 13382 Fred Wilson Durham Light Infantry is at rest at Cologne Southern Cemetery, Nordrhein-Westfalen, Germany, grave XIII. C. 19. At the time of his demise in 1917 he was 36 years old and single.
In God’s safe keeping. Rest In Peace.
Heslop’s Local Advertiser 20/07/1917 carries an In Memoriam notice which reads:
“Private F. Wilson, died of wounds. Son of Mrs. E. and the late John Wilson, 22 Holly Street, Felling.”
Fred Wilson is remembered at Felling on F32.07
He is also remembered in The DLI Book of Remembrance page 120
