Military History

Frederick is listed as being killed in action on 9th September 1916 during the Battle of Ginchy, part of the Battle of the Somme. The following description of events for that day is taken from the Internet Archive book History of the Royal Munster Fusiliers, Volume 2 by Captain S. McCance.

"On September 9th the Battalion was in its allotted position, with the 8th Royal Munster Fusiliers on its right and the 7th Royal Irish Rifles on its left. At zero time (4.45 p.m.) it left the trenches in four waves, each company being on a platoon front, disposed as follows from right to left: X, W, Y, Z. With the exception of Second-Lieutenant Baily all the company officers and the Second-in-Command were either killed or wounded within the first fifty yards. ;

X Company, under Second-Lieutenant D. J. Baily, pushed forward towards the first objective, but finding that the right flank was exposed, owing to the fact that the 8th Battalion were being mown down from the left flank by two machine-guns, he wheeled to the right and dug himself in. The first two waves of his company were practically wiped out, leaving him with twenty-eight men.

W and Y Companies, under Captain B. E. Brown and Lieutenant A. J. Kearney respectively, which were both weak to start with, and without officers from the commencement, became merged in other units, and were carried on in the advance past the first objective.

Z Company, under Company Serjeant-Major Harris, who took charge after Lieutenant St. J. Beatty commanding the company was wounded, advanced on the first objective; the platoons on the right, however, were held up by the enemy, who were entrenched. Company Serjeant-Major Harris wheeled the left of his company and charged, driving the enemy out. Some of the scattered enemy were reorganized by a German officer and occupied a trench farther to the east. Company Serjeant-Major Harris then proceeded to encircle the party and dispersed them with heavy loss. On continuing the advance, he found the enemy strongly entrenched, so dug in opposite them, and with the assistance of one machine gun, held his position until relieved. His leadership prevented the enemy from cutting through the right flank and possibly cutting our lines of communication.

The remnants of W and Y Companies who had been carried forward to the second objective were collected, joined the Headquarter Company, and assisted in the consolidation of the position. Contact was lost with the 47th Brigade on the right, but connection was gained with the division on the left by means of patrols and bombing posts.

About 10.30 a battalion of Welsh Guards arrived and took over part of the line; the Battalion marched back to Carnoy on the 10th.

Battalion Strength:
Before the attack, 18 officers, 515 other ranks
After the attack, 5 officers, 305 other ranks.

Casualties: 13 Officers and 210 other ranks"