2nd Battalion, Worcestershire Regiment
Frederick Gilbert Oakes was born in Gloucester in 1897, the son of Thomas George Oakes who was a plasterer/labourer and his wife Clara Jane (née Lewis).
He was one of nine children, of whom seven living at the time of the 1911 Census, Frederick being the second eldest living child and son. The family lived at 2 Ducie Street, Tredworth, Gloucester.
Little or no documentary evidence has survived of Frederick’s Army career. However, a report of his death in the Gloucestershire Chronicle of 2 December 1916 states that he was wounded in the breast and forearm on 5 November 1916 and had died as a result of these injuries.
He had been in France for five months and had joined the Army in the previous March. He had previously been employed by Manu Marble Works.
From 2 March 1916 all unmarried men or widowers between the age of 19 and 41 were automatically conscripted and Frederick would have been an early conscript.
As such he would have been posted to any unit which had a need for additional men. He was posted to the 2nd Battalion, Worcestershire Regiment.
The battalion, part of 100 Brigade, 33 Division, joined the Somme Offensive on 9 July 1916 and was involved in a number of attacks up until the end of October.
At the beginning of November, 100 Brigade went into action east of the village of Lesboeufs and on the 5th the 2nd Worcesters seized and secured Boritska and Mirage Trench, bombing up from nearby French trenches.
Frederick suffered what turned out to be fatal wounds during this action.
He was brought back to the UK and to Beachborough Park Hospital, near Shorncliffe in Kent, where he died, aged 19, on 29 November 1916.
According to the above newspaper report his brother George Edward was also serving in the Army and had been in France for a year and nine months. The identity of George’s unit is not known but he would appear to have survived.
Frederick Gilbert Oakes is buried in Gloucester Old Cemetery where a standard Commonwealth War Graves Commission headstone marks his grave.
It is almost certain that he is the ‘F Oakes’ commemorated on the Gloucester War Memorial.
Researched by Graham Adams 2 September 2019