Jean Longstaff has submitted the following:-

Frederick Hetherington Reed, taking his mother’s maiden name for his middle name was born in Tynemouth on 10th June 1894; he was the third and youngest son of business owner William Fenwick Reed and his Killingworth born wife Mary Duxfield. Edward was born two years after their marriage in 1890, and John William a year later.

By 1911 Fred was working and living at Hold House Farm in Ponteland, while his brother John was living and working on his own farm in Canada. At the end of May 1913 Fred left Liverpool making for Saskatchewan to farm with, or nearby his brother.

After the harvest had been gathered the following year Fred left his farm and enlisted with the 32nd Battalion CEF in Winnipeg, becoming Private 81728 in “C” Company. He gave his father as his next of kin (his mother had died in 1911) and assigned his pay to his brother John living in Marshall, Saskatchewan.

The end of February 1915 saw the battalion sail from Halifax to Avonmouth on what was once a German owned ship the SS Southland, and on arrival on 7th March they were posted to camp at Shorncliffe, Kent, where the battalion was redesignated as a reserve battalion. On 2nd May Private Reed was posted to the 5th (Western Cavalry) Battalion, part of the 2nd Infantry Brigade, 1st Canadian Division and joined them at Transport Lines, Poperinghe in Belgium.

For four months over the winter of 1915/16 Fred was attached to the 2nd Infantry Brigade Bombers Section, rejoining the 5th Battalion at Ypres at the end of March. The next winter he was attached to the Brigade Salvage Section, rejoining his battalion in May 1917 at Houdain, just over the border in France. Returning from leave in June he was again attached to the Bombers’ Section, and on rejoining the 5th Battalion at Maisnil-les-Ruiitz in September he was promoted Corporal.

In May 1918 Corporal Reed returned to England to attend the Canadian Training School at Bexhill, Kent, and on completion of the course he was commissioned as a Lieutenant on 11th August. Before returning to France, on 7th September he married London girl Emma Lillian Spencer in Paddington and just two week later rejoined the 5th Battalion as Lieutenant Reed at Boiseux-au-Mont

According to the Battalion War Diary, the 5th moved into the front lines near Haynecourt on 1st October 1918. The following morning, three officers, including Lieutenant Reed and their batmen, were in a shell hole when an artillery shell landed nearby, killing Fred and the three batmen, and wounding the other two officers.

The Circumstances of Casualty report states that “some pieces of the shell hit him in the head and he was instantly killed”.

Fred Hetherington Reed is remembered in Whitley Bay on W84.01 and W84.30, page 22

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 Lieutenant Reed