Francis George Driscoll
Memorial: Thornbury - St Mary's Church
Regiment: Gloucestershire Regiment
Medals: British War Medal, Next of Kin Memorial Plaque 1914 - 1921, Victory Medal
Rank and number: Private 28631
Parents: Francis George and Elizabeth Driscoll
Marital status: Married
Home address: 7 St John Street, Thornbury, Bristol
Pre-war occupation: Groom
Date of birth: 1883
Date of death: 18/11/1916
Buried/Commemorated at: Thiepval Memorial (Pier and Face 5 A and 5 B.); Thornbury United Reformed Church Memorial Tablet
Age: 33
Further information:
Bronze Tablet and Wooden Memorial Board
Francis George Driscoll was known as Frank. His father, also Francis George was from County Clare in Ireland, had been a private in the 5th Fusiliers and received an army pension in addition to working as a labourer and gardener
Frank, a general labourer, lived with his mother Elizabeth. He was employed as a groom at the time of his marriage to May Dyer in 1907. The 1911 census shows the couple, and their baby daughter Violet, still living with Elizabeth in St John Street. It is thought that Frank and May had two more children before 1917, including a son, the third generation to be named Francis George
Frank enlisted in Bristol. His wife May did war work at an Engine Repair Department
Frank was involved in the Somme offensive, the ‘big push’, from early July. His battalion took part in the capture of La Boisselle and in the attacks on High Wood and in the Battle of Pozieres Ridge. During the Battle of Ancre, in the early part of November, the 57th Brigade prepared an attack on Grandcourt, which would involve advancing across Battery Valley. On the 18th November the Brigade started its attack in the dark at ten past six in the morning. Sleet and snow were falling and the ground underfoot was a sea of freezing mud. The 8th Battalion Glosters successfully stormed the German trenches, then entered the south west of Grandcourt, capturing a gun and some prisoners. The battalion’s diary noted, ‘First objective reached and carried. Heavy losses among supporting waves. Casualties: 295.’ Frank Driscoll probably fell during this action
P. Hart wrote in his book The Somme, ‘For the infantry involved, this attack represented the epitome of suffering. Even moving into the line was a trial beyond measure for the new Divisions, faced as they were with wastelands awash with freezing water and cloying mud.’ Few gains had been made at great cost. On 19th November, with heavy rain once again falling on the battlefield, offensive operations were called off until the spring
Frank had been Killed in Action on the last official day of the Battle of the Somme. He has no known grave
The Thiepval Memorial, the Memorial to the Missing of the Somme, bears the names of more than 72,000 officers and men of the United Kingdom and South African forces who died in the Somme sector before 20 March 1918 and have no known grave. Over 90% of those commemorated died between July and November 1916
By kind permission, this information is based on the following source(s):
Thornbury Roots website: Thornbury & District Museum Research Group, Forces War Records and the CWGC