Colin McMillan has provided the following:
Frederick Fram jnr was one of seven children born to Frederick and Mary Fram.
In 1901 Frederick Fram snr was a 38 year old coal miner hewer, born in Chirton. His wife, Mary, was 37 and born in Backworth. Their children were 17 year old Andrew, who worked underground, Mary (12), John (9), Lizzie (6), Margaret (5), Frederick (2) and 5 day old Eveline. All of the children were born in Shiremoor and the family lived at 14 Duke Street, Shiremoor. There was also a domestic servant living with them. She was 17 year old American born Elizabeth J Gill.
By 1911 many changes had taken place. Frederick Fram snr still worked as a coal miner hewer but he had taken another wife, also called Mary. She was 28 and born in Newcastle. The oldest son, Andrew (27) was still with the family and still worked as a coal miner hewer but siblings Mary, John and Margaret were no longer there. They would have been 22, 19 and 15 respectively. Also missing was Eveline who would have been 10. Frederick Fram jnr was 12 and still at school. However, the family had increased by the addition of three more children. One of them was another John who was 8. Since he was born before the second marriage can we assume that the older John had died? The most recent marriage was only 2 years old and the census shows that the new Mary had had three children of whom one had died. Some information had been crossed out as it was incorrectly documented, but tellingly it shows that she’d had a son, Henry Potts (3) during a previous relationship. He is shown as Frederick Fram snr’s step son and was born in North Shields, indicating that that was where his mother lived at the time of his birth. The youngest addition to the household, Marjorie Fram (1) was Frederick’s daughter. She was born in Shiremoor where they lived at 14 Duke Street.
We know little of Frederick’s military career except that he served with the 10th Battalion Lancashire Fusiliers and died of wounds on 28th September 1918. He was 19 years old. At the time the CWGC were putting their records together Frederick’s father (and presumably step mother) were living in Morpeth.
Frederick Fram is remembered in Morpeth on M17.01, M17.02, M17.09 and M17.29
