Frederick J Bond

Memorial: Olveston

Regiment: Cheshire Regiment

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

Rank and number: Private 39670 (34878)

Parents: Caroline Bond. Grandparents, Charles and Mary Harding

Home address: Sheepfair Lane, Marshfield

Pre-war occupation: Carter

Date of birth: 1885

Place of birth: Marshfield, Wilts

Date of death: 28/05/1918

Buried/Commemorated at: Daours Communal Cemetery, Amiens

Age: 33

Further information:

Frederick was brought up in Marshfield by his grandparents, Charles and Mary Harding, and spent his early life with them, initially on Main Street then in Sheepfair Lane working as a carter on a nearby farm

He enlisted in Hereford originally as a Private in the South Wales Borderers but was subsequently transferred to the 19th Battalion of the Cheshire Labour Corps. Unfortunately we do not have his date of joining the unit but it is reasonable to assume that he joined when the unit was formed in May 1916 when he would have been 30 years old

The Battalion moved to France almost immediately after being formed, and was led by Lt. Col. O’Sullivan who had previously been with the Northern Rhodesia Police. The work of the Battalion involved making gun emplacements, creating stores for munitions, petrol, and all other war materials. Making roads and laying railways was another of their tasks together with the construction of billets, cookhouses, latrines etc. This took place while the Battalion was housed in tents throughout the summer of 1916. Their construction work was done both behind our lines and at the ever-changing front line when they would be under enemy fire. By December 1916 their strength was 11 officers and 959 men, they had already suffered the loss of 31 men. In April 1918 the Battalion was transferred to the Fourth Army and was working alongside the Anzacs in the area of the Somme where the whole front was reacting to the Kaiserschlacht enduring gas attacks from which one of their men died. On the 28th of May three more men were killed by enemy action, one of these being Frederick Bond. His grave is at Daours Communal Cemetery 6 miles east of Amiens

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

Forces War Records and CWGC