Stockton Cemetery

In Stockton Cemetery is a family headstone which reads:-

In loving memory
of
Sgt. George H. Cummings "Canadians"
Who died of wounds Aug. 29th 1916
Aged 27 years
Also Pte. Fred Cummings "Canadians"
Killed in action April 12th 1917
Aged 20 years
The beloved sons of
Henry and Mary Ann Cummings
Also Pte. Harold Cummings York Regt.
Brother of the above
Died from the effects of wounds
Sept. 25th 1921 aged 27 years
Also Frank
Brother of the above
Died Oct. 9th 1925 aged 24 years
Also the above
Mary Ann Cummings
Died Oct. 30th 1931 aged 69 years
Also the above
Henry Meynell Cummings
Who died Feb. 14th 1937 aged 78 years

Jean Longstaff has submitted the following:-

The second youngest of the five sons of Northallerton born ironworks fitter Henry Meynell Cummings and his Stockton born wife Mary Ann (nee Bainbridge), Frederick (always known as Fred) was born in Stockton-on-Tees on 27th June 1896. His oldest brother George had been born in 1889, followed by Norman (b.1892), Harold (b.1894), and Frank (b.1900).

In 1901 the family were living at 57 Third Street, Stockton, and when of an age the boys all attended Stockton Secondary School. By 1911 they had moved to 57 Hind Street and apart from Frank who was still at school, all the boys had jobs; Fred was an office boy, George was working as a solicitor’s clerk, , Harold a shoemaker and Norman an engineer’s patternmaker.

On 3rd July 1914 Fred arrived in Canada on board the SS Empress of Britain with the intention of joining his brother George who had been farming in Edmonton for the last two years, but two months later after war had been declared George enlisted in the Canadian Expeditionary Force. Aged just 18 Fred remained in Edmonton living in Lorne Street, working as a clerk, and joining the local militia group, 19th Alberta Dragoons, who were on active service for local protective duties.

Fred waited until December 1915 before enlisting in the CEF, and he became Private 811340 in the 138th (Edmonton, Alberta) Battalion with which he sailed to England in August 1916. Absorbed into the 175th Battalion n October and then the 49th Battalion the following month, he as then posted to France and joined his new battalion on 28th December 1916. Mid February saw the battalion move to new billets at Bruay, where they spent four weeks before moving to Villers-au-Bois, and then in April to Vimy Ridge, where on 12th April 1916 Private Fred Cummings was killed in action.

Fred Cummings is remembered in Stockton on S138.12, S138.17, S138.18a and S138.33

In Canada he is remembered on their Virtual War Memorial and in their Book of Remembrance.

Canadian Book of Remembrance
Canadian Virtual Memorial
The CWGC entry for Private Cummings