3rd Battalion, Gloucestershire Regiment attached to Royal Flying Corps
Frederick King Laverton was born on 30 July 1898 at Dawlish, Devon, one of three children born to William King Laverton (a farmer) and his wife Ethel Maud.
He was educated at Brymelyn School, Weston-super-Mare and for a short time at Cheltenham College. Prior to the war he had lived at Lithgow, Victoria Road, Clevedon, Somerset.
On 10 November 1915 he was commissioned into the Gloucestershire Regiment and was posted to 3rd Battalion before going to France where he saw action with the 1st Battalion in the Somme battles of 1916.
On 1 September 1916 he was attached to the Royal Flying Corps (RFC) and commenced training as a pilot. He was awarded his Royal Aero Club Aviation Certificate on 15 September 1916 and was posted to 63 Squadron in Scotland on 18th of that month.
He spent about a year at various airfields becoming qualified in aerial photography, wireless and aerial gunnery. He was promoted to Lieutenant on 1 March 1917.
Has final posting was to No 3 School of Aerial Gunnery near New Romney, Kent on 23 November 1917.
He met his death in an accident at New Romney on 18 December 1917, age 19, whilst attempting take off in a Sopwith 1½ Strutter (Serial Number A1014). Lieutenant Laverton was about to fly but developed engine trouble before he left the ground. There was an unavoidable collision with another aircraft and Laverton was severely injured and died in an ambulance, whilst on his way to Shorncliffe Military Hospital. His observer/gunner Serjeant Querry was uninjured.
The Clevedon Mercury & Courier of 29 December 1917 quoted from a letter sent by Lieutenant Colonel C Cooper, RFC to Lieutenant Laverton’s mother: ‘I feel I must write to you to say how grieved I was to hear about the accident to your son, and offer you my sincerest sympathy. He was a personal friend of mine. We were pupils together last year and only recently I specially applied for him to be allowed to join me in Scotland. He was one of my best pilots and you may be glad to know that he was in no way to blame for the accident. I am glad to say he suffered no pain, he was unconscious at once and never regained it’.
The Laverton family were by this time living at The Chestnuts, Longlevens, Gloucester. Holy Trinity Church at Longlevens was at that time a daughter church of St Lawrence Church, Barnwood (the Barnwood Parish encompassing a far greater area than today) but it has no graveyard. Lieutenant Laverton’s ‘semi-military’ funeral and interment was therefore held at Barnwood on 24 December 1917. The Gloucester Chronicle of 28 December reported this and stated that ‘few but immediate relatives of the deceased were present’, which included a Miss Angus of Cheltenham, his fiancée.
Lieutenant Frederick Laverton’s grave is marked by standard CWGC headstone, stating that he was of the Gloucestershire Regiment, attached to the Royal Flying Corps. He is commemorated on the Roll of Honour in the Parish Church of Clevedon St John and also on war memorial tablets in Holy Trinity and St Lawrence Churches.
Researched by Graham Adams 29 October 2015 (updated)
(Information on the Longlevens and Barnwood parishes has been supplied by John Williams of Barnwood)