Francis Charles Newman (Frank) White

Memorial: Compton Greenfield, All Saints Church Memorial Window

Regiment: Gloucestershire Regiment

Medals: British War Medal, Next of Kin Memorial Plaque 1914 - 1921, Victory Medal

Rank and number: Sergeant (Service No. 8012)

Parents: William and Charlotte Catherine (Nee Newman) White

Marital status: Married

Home address: Home Address: 26 Pembroke Terrace, Penarth, Glamorganshire. Lived: 1891 Census – The family lived Vimpennys Lane, Easter Compton, Near Henbury. 1901 Census – Marsh Common, Pilning Road, near Pilning.

Pre-war occupation: Unknown

Date of birth: 1888

Date of death: 03/07/1916

Buried/Commemorated at: No Known Grave – Commemorated Thiepval Memorial, France

Age: 28

Further information:

Francis was born in 1888 – baptised All Saints Church, Compton Greenfield on 25 March 1888. He married Hilda Edith Daisy Jones - 2nd quarter 1912 Cardiff District. Francis and Hilda had three children – Hilda F C E White born 7.6.1912 and Graham C N White born 15.10.1913 and Leonard Gordon White born 1.9.15. The pension card states that Leonard was adopted by a Miss F. Edgington of Mayfield, Surrey in May 1916. After the war, Hilda moved to Cardiff with the 2 children.

I have not traced Francis on the 1911 Census, but I did find two of his sisters as a cook and housemaid in a house in Penarth, which is the town he lived in after his marriage to Hilda. Hilda was born in Cardiff, and on the 1911 census was a boarder with William White (Brother to Francis) and his wife Gertrude.

On the 1911 Census, Francis’s parents lived in Compton Greenfield.

Francis served with the 8th Battalion, Gloucestershire Regiment and died on 3.7.1916 – missing assumed killed in action.

Francis is commemorated on the Compton Greenfield All Saints Church Memorial window and the Easter Compton Methodist Church Memorial.

By kind permission, this information is based on the following source(s):

Commonwealth War Graves Commission, Findmypast (Soldiers Died during the Great War, 1901 & 1911 Census etc), Researcher John Davis.