Francis Henry Blake

Memorial: South Gloucestershire war dead not on a local memorial

Regiment: Gloucestershire Regiment

Medals: 1914–15 Star, British War Medal, Next of Kin Memorial Plaque 1914 - 1921, Silver War Badge, Victory Medal

Rank and number: Private 236121 and 235285

Parents: Theophilus and Harriet Blake

Marital status: Married

Home address: 161 Whiteway Road, Kingswood, Bristol

Pre-war occupation: Carter

Date of birth: 1883

Place of birth: St. George, Bristol

Date of death: 25/08/1918

Buried/Commemorated at: No known burial site but commemorated at Vis-en-Artois Memorial, Pas de Calais, France. Not commemorated on a local memorial

Age: 34

Further information:

Francis was born in St. George in Bristol, the son of a bootmaker and the youngest child of three with an older brother and sister. Francis married Jessie Ann Lewis in 1907 and they had four children, three boys and a girl with the youngest being just two years old when Francis died.

Francis first enlisted with the Gloucestershire Yeomanry and later transferred to the 12th Battalion, Gloucestershire Regiment who mobilised to France in November 1915. They fought in various actions on the Western Front including the Battles of The Somme, Arras and Ypres, and Francis died of wounds received during the Battle of the Lys (9 Apr 1918 – 29 Apr 1918). The Battle of the Lys was a victory for the allies but at a cost of 119,000 casualties. Francis 's body was never found and the memorial where he is remembered, bears the names of over 9,000 men who fell in the period from 8 August 1918 to the date of the Armistice in the Advance to Victory in Picardy and Artois, between the Somme and Loos, and who have no known grave.

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

This information has been provided by Sarah Hands, Volunteer Researcher for the South Gloucestershire War Memorials Web Site.
By kind permission, this information is based on the following source(s):
https://www.cwgc.org/
https://www.ancestry.co.uk/
https://www.findmypast.co.uk/
https://www.forces-war-records.co.uk/