13TH MAY 1916: THE BATTLE OF FREZENBERG RIDGE
The Battle of Frezenberg Ridge was one of a series of actions that formed the Second Battle of Ypres between 22nd April and 25th May 1915. It was notorious for being the first time chlorine gas was deployed by the Germans on the Western Front. 13th May was also the worst day of their history for the Leicestershire Yeomanry.
By the end of this hellish day, despite tenacious fighting, 94 of their number had been killed and 92 wounded. 14 Loughborough men were amongst the dead; the highest number of fatalities for the town in a single day.
Starting at 3am, it was a nightmare of shelling, artillery bombardment, machine gun fire, attacks and repulsions, gas and slaughter; a microcosm of many other trench battles on the Western Front. Other regiments were also involved and there are many accounts of the battle and its tactical aims to be found on military websites.
The human cost
In line with the Loughborough Carillon Museum’s theme of The Human Cost, this blog focuses on the lives of the 14 Loughborough men of the Leicestershire Yeomanry who died at Frezenberg, all of whom are commemorated on the Carillon Roll of Honour. The 1st/1st Leicestershire Yeomanry was mobilised on 5th August 1918 and they were in France in November of the same year.
Private Thomas Brookes, aged 21
Like many people in Loughborough, Thomas worked in the hosiery industry. At 17 he was an apprentice in a hosiery factory, as was his older sister Elizabeth. Their home in 1911 was 24 Paget Street. Thomas enlisted in the Yeomanry before the war started, probably in early 1912, when he was about 18. Yeomanry regiments were originally manned by volunteers and were not expected to serve overseas, although many did. There was an emphasis on horsemanship and many came from the more privileged ranks of society, so factory worker Thomas was not typical.
George was born in Yorkshire but his father Ernest, a railway station master, came from Woodhouse Eaves. By 1911 Ernest was station master at Hathern Station, which closed in 1960. Ernest Clowes would have been a respected figure of authority, and the station house, now a bed & breakfast, is a handsome building so we can imagine that home life was comfortable. The 1911 Census shows that George and his two sisters were aspiring to skilled jobs. Sister Louie was a typist in a perfume factory; it may have been Zenobia. His other sister Elizabeth was a dressmaker while George himself, aged 15, was an apprentice draughtsman at Brush. He joined the Leicestershire Yeomanry in 1913.
William was born in Kegworth. His father was an auctioneer and house furnisher and William worked with him in the family business, as did his sister Elsie. The family lived in Swingbridge Lane. William joined the Leicestershire Yeomanry in 1908, aged 18. His probate record shows that he left £1280, which in 2026 is the equivalent of £170,000, quite a large amount for a young man to have accumulated. It was bequeathed to his father.
Lance Corporal Bertie Diggle, 21
Bertie’s father was Sergeant Major George Davis Diggle, who served with the Imperial Yeomanry during the Boer War. In 1911 Census the family lived at the Half Moon Inn, 21 Pinfold Street, where George Diggle was the landlord. (It closed in 1959). Young Bertie worked as a coach painter at an electrical engineering works and joined the Leicestershire Yeomanry in 1911.
Private Henry Archer Grudgings, 24
Henry’s father Daniel and his uncle William were in business together manufacturing hosiery needles. In 1901 Henry’s family were living at 20 Beacon Road. Daniel Grudgings died in 1904, leaving the equivalent of £320,000. Henry attended Loughborough Grammar School from 1903 to 1906, playing in the football and cricket teams, and leaving to learn the trade of electrical engineer at Herbert Morris. He joined the Leicestershire Yeomanry at the end of January 1911, aged 19.
Private Gilbert Edwin Hawker, 22
Gilbert was born in Darlington. By 1911 the family had relocated to 65 Toothill Road Loughborough. Father Frank Hawker had a fairly senior position for a manufacturer of railway stock. Gilbert later left Loughborough for Barrow in Furness, and in 1911 was working as an apprentice engineer. He lived as a boarder, along with three others, in the home of widow Eleanor Holmes.
Gilbert got into some trouble around this time. Accused of counterfeiting a gold coin, and possessing the mould to do so, he was sent to Lancaster Jail on remand on 13th November 1911, and appeared before the magistrate a few weeks later. He was found not guilty of counterfeiting, but guilty of having the mould. He was bound over for £10. In the summer of 1913 he joined the Leicestershire Yeomanry.
Private Percy Spencer Jones, 20
He was born as Percy Allen in Warwickshire, but his widowed mother Annie married Herbert Jones in Leicester in 1908. Jones was a county court bailiff, and the family lived in Gladstone Street, Loughborough, young Percy earning his living as a porter for a fishmonger. Late in 1912 or early 1913 he joined the Leicestershire Yeomanry, adopting his step-father’s surname of Jones on enlistment. Herbert Jones served in WW1 as well, and was killed in action in September 1917. Annie Jones therefore lost her son and her husband to the war.
Sergeant Henry Percy Kealey, 29
Known as Harry, he was born in Kettering. His mother Alice died when he was only three, and his father Henry Cato Kealey remarried, to widow Caroline Humphrey. She died only a year later and Henry married again, to Elizabeth North, who died in 1896. Young Henry was part of a ‘blended’ family which included full siblings and step siblings. They lived at 14 Cartwright Street, Loughborough, and Harry’s father worked as an engineer’s fitter. Harry, who became a mechanic, joined the Leicestershire Yeomanry as Private 1508 in the spring of 1908. In 1910 he married Constance Diggle, sister of Bertie Diggle, who also perished at Frezenberg. They had two daughters.
Lance Corporal William Francis Kent, 25
William was the son of Frederick Kent and his wife Lucy. Frederick Kent became the joint manager of a hosiery and gentleman’s outfitting business ‘Barrow and Kent’ at 34 High Street Loughborough, and the Kent family, which included a daughter and another son, lived on the premises.
William attended Loughborough Grammar School from 1902 to 1905, where he was a keen sportsman. In 1911 he was employed as an education clerk with the County Council and was living at home. He and his brother enlisted when war broke out.
John was born in Quorn, the eldest son of Thomas and Sarah Jane Lucas. He had three sisters. The family lived at 18 High Street, Quorn, which in those days was the Old Bull’s Head pub. John’s father was a watchmaker and jeweller as well as being the publican and in 1911 John, aged 16, was assisting him. John joined the Leicestershire Yeomanry as trooper in early March 1912.
Major William Francis Martin, 39
William Martin came from a prosperous family, several of whom served in the military. His father was Colonel Sir Robert Martin JP, who had been second on command of the 5th Leicestershire Regiment before being invalided out in 1916.
He was also managing partner in the Mountsorrel Granite quarry. The Martins lived at The Brand, Woodhouse, and William was educated at Harrow and Trinity College, Cambridge. He joined the Leicestershire Yeomanry in 1897 and was gazetted 2nd Lieutenant in September 1898.
He served in South Africa in the Second Boer War, receiving the Queen’s Medal with four clasps. In July 1901 he was made Honorary Lieutenant and in 1904 a Captain. In 1911 William became a Major in command of C (Loughborough) Squadron of the Leicestershire Yeomanry. He was also a director of Mountsorrel Granite and enjoyed a lifestyle typical of his class, hunting and shooting. In 1912 he married Violet Wynter. They made their home in Woodhouse and had two children. William’s body was not recovered until after the war.
Regimental Sergeant Major George Charles Parker, 42
The oldest Frezenberg casualty on the Carillon Roll of Honour, George Parker, was born near Windsor. He married Edith Kingston in 1905 and they had three children. He served with the 19th (Queen Alexandra’s Own Royal) Hussars in the Second Boer War and with the Hussars in Ireland, and later trained cadets at Eton College.
By 1911 the family had moved to Toothill Road, Loughborough, and George, a seasoned soldier, had already enlisted in the Leicestershire Yeomanry. He died in a trench when he was shot through the neck, trying to help Lt. Colonel Evans-Freke, who also lost his life that day.
Private Charles Edgar Pritchard, 22
Charles was born in Woodhouse Eaves, the only surviving son of Charles Pritchard, joiner and builder, and his wife Elizabeth. In 1911 Charles was working with his father in his business. In March 1912 he joined the Leicestershire Yeomanry.
Private Thomas Joseph Sherriff, 19
Thomas and his family came from Grantham, and in 1911 lived at 27 Watergate, where 15-year-old Thomas worked as a grocer’s assistant, perhaps with his father Edward who was also in the provisions trade. Thomas enlisted when war broke out and joined the Leicestershire Yeomanry. The family suffered two more war tragedies. Edward Sherriff’s brother Charles was killed in action in October 1915, and Edward himself in February 1917.
These men, and their comrades who were also killed at Frezenberg and in other conflicts, are commemorated on the Leicester Yeomanry’s War Memorial in Bradgate Park. Each year, on the Sunday closest to the 13th May, there is a service at Newtown Linford church, followed by a wreath laying, to recognise their sacrifice.
