Frank Arthur Underhill

Memorial: Thornbury - St Mary's Church

Regiment: Royal Warwickshire Regiment

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

Rank and number: Private 35558

Parents: Edward James and Alice Beatrice Underhill

Marital status: Single

Home address: 47 High Street, Thornbury, Bristol

Pre-war occupation: Builder's Clerk

Date of birth: 11/03/1896

Place of birth: Thornbury, Bristol

Date of death: 19/04/1918

Buried/Commemorated at: Tyne Cot Memorial (Panel 23 to 28.)

Age: 22

Further information:

Bronze Tablet and Wooden Memorial Board

Frank Arthur Underhill was born in 1896, the son of Edward Underhill, a solicitor's clerk, who lived in the High Street. He was baptised at St Mary’s Church on 5th April. His mother, Alice, was a draper and dressmaker. He had two sisters. At the time of the 1911 census Frank was working as a telegraph messenger boy. Before the war he was employed as a clerk by builder P.G. Hawkins

On 21st September 1914 Frank enlisted in Bristol, joining the Royal Army Medical Corps. He seems to have served in England with 3rd South Midland Field Ambulance Reserve

By early 1916 Frank had developed chronic eczema. The condition was aggravated by his military service and he was discharged ‘physically unfit’ at the end of May. He found work as a clerk for auctioneers Luce, Young and Alpass in Thornbury

During the following year Frank’s condition must have improved. In July 1917 he applied for exemption from military service. It was claimed that his employers needed him and that he was still suffering from eczema. However, a military medical examination had declared him fit for duty. Frank was granted a temporary exemption until 30th November 1917 when he presumably had to rejoin the Army. One record notes that he was formerly Private 35827 Gloucester Regiment. At the time of his death Frank was serving in 10th Battalion, Royal Warwickshire Regiment, 57th Brigade, 19th Division

On 9th April the Germans launched their attack in Flanders, as part of their Spring Offensive. On 10th April the 10th Warwicks were holding a section of the front line near Messines. They took part in several of a series of battles which made up the Fourth Battle of Ypres or Battles of the Lys. Under heavy bombardment and artillery fire, the British Army was pushed quickly westwards, losing its hold of the Messines Ridge, and Wytschaete and Messines villages, which had been captured from the enemy in June 1917. The village of Passchendaele, taken by the Allies at huge cost during the Third Battle of Ypres, was retaken by the Germans on 16th April. By this time, Kemmel Hill, or Kemmelberg, south of Ypres, was held by the 19th Division. From 17th to 19th April the Warwicks were in action in the First Battle of Kemmel Ridge. Following hours of bombardment, the enemy attacked the British lines but failed to break through

The War Diary notes that between 9th and 18th April the 10th Warwicks sustained 246 casualties killed and wounded, with a further 207 missing. The defence of Kemmel was handed over to the French Army on the 18th, with the British withdrawal going on into the night

Although the Commonwealth War Graves Commission gives Frank’s date of death as 19th April, other military records note that his death was presumed to have occurred ‘on or since 10th April.’ Frank has no known grave and is remembered on Tyne Cot Memorial to the Missing

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

Thornbury Roots Website. Thornbury and District Museum Research Group. Forces War Records and the CWGC