Fred and Frederick Newman (1879/80- ??)

Post date: Nov 13, 2015 11:15:38 PM

The School record of those that served in WW1 shows both a Fred and a Frederick Newman. Inevitably they get well confused.

Fred Newman was born in 1880 to William and Phillis Newman, both farm labourers, of Canon Heath. He was 2 years older than his brother Lewis who was killed in the Somme offensive. By 1911 he was a farm labourer, married to Ellen Emma and living in Pizien well.

Frederick Newman was born in 1879 to Richard J. a farm labourer and Eliza Newman and lived in Cooks Cottages, Old Road.

Boys' School log of January 24 1890: In a casual talk about influenza its preventatives and cures with the Upper Division , one boy, F. Newman said they wanted to take plenty of Poppy-head tea (opium) . G. Costin said “that was what you gave baby on washing days”. Several of the other boys intimated an acquaintance with this concoction. I impressed upon them that those who use such stuff ran a very great chance of imprisonment as it was a deadly poison and brain destroyer.

May 1915 Parish magazine: Fred. Newman, of the Royal West Kent, has been very unlucky: he was first slightly wounded soon after he went out on Dec. 6th; again at Neuve Chapelle in March; and a third time, dangerously, at Hill 60 on April 17th ; he is now in the Royal Nations' Orthopaedic Hospital in London.

In the vicars list of men serving from Jan 1917 Frederick Newman is shown as www meaning he had been wounded 3 times.

MH106/289 at The National Archives in Kew (accessible through Forces War records) contains First World War Representative Medical Records of Servicemen from No. 3 Casualty Clearing Station: it shows Fred was admitted (admission number 11912) on 23/3/15 with a gunshot wound to right jaw and No 2 Ambulance Train is referenced. He was in the 1st Btn RWK.

MH106/10 at The National Archives in Kew (accessible through Forces War records) contains First World War Representative Medical Records of Servicemen from 14th Field Ambulance: it shows Fred was admitted as admission number 8023 on 18/4/1915 with a gunshot wound to the right thigh when he was in C Company of 1st Btn RWK. It records him as 40 years of age and having served 22 years. He was transfered to No 3 Casualty Clearing station, Poperinghe.

Hill 60 was a spoil heap 750 feet long and 150 feet high, made from the diggings of a cutting for the Ypres–Comines railway. The hill formed a low rise on the crest of Ypres ridge, at the southern flank of the Ypres Salient and was named after the contour which marked its boundary. The hill had been captured on 11 November 1914, by the German 30th Division, during fighting against a mixed force of French and British infantry and cavalry, in the First Battle of Ypres. Observation from the hill towards Ypres and Zillebeke was coveted by both sides, for the duration of the war.

In the first British operation of its kind, Royal Engineer tunneling companies laid six mines by 10 April 1915, an operation planned by Major-General Edward Bulfin, commander of the 28th Division and continued by the 5th Division when the 28th Division was relieved. The 173rd Tunnelling Company began work early in March and three tunnels were begun towards the German line, about 50 yards away, a pit first having been dug some 16 feet deep. By the time the work was finished, the tunnels stretched more than 100 yards . Two mines in the north were charged with 2,000 pounds of explosives each, two mines in the centre had 2,700 pounds charges and in the south one mine was packed with 500 pounds of guncotton, although work on it had been stopped when it ran close to a German tunnel. The locality was photographed from the air, which revealed German gun emplacements and entrenchments.

At 7.00p.m. on 17th April 1915 Hill 60 was attacked by the 1st Battalion of the R.W.K. with Fred's company, C, the actual storming party. Fred was unlucky to be one of only 7 injured in the successful attack. The battalion had been placed under cover of darkness the previous night, having to lie quiet all day waiting for the hour to come. Planes patrolled to stop enemy planes finding out what was going on. The mines were fired at 7.00 p.m. and simultaneously 70 guns opened a bombardment . The bulk of the hill's German garrison was wiped out and the remainder offered no effective opposition.

The Germans counter-attacked continually and Hill 60 was retaken by the Germans following a series of gas attacks from 1–5 May.