Frederick Gurr (1899-1918)

Post date: Sep 26, 2017 3:42:57 PM

Frederick James Gurr was born in Wateringbury in the first quarter of 1899 and was baptised on 9th April 1899. He was the son of William and Emily Gurr who lived on Bow Road, Wateringbury. William was a drayman for one of the breweries. They had had 8 children born alive, but 2 had died by the time of the 1911 census. They lived in a place with 4 rooms (including the kitchen). The family had evidently moved frequently as before Fred's birth as his 3 older siblings were born in Yalding, East Malling and Leybourne.

Fred attended Wateringbury School (as had his older siblings; both John and George are on the school's list of pld boys who served in the war) and in 1907 won a drawing prize (lower division) and in 1908 received a full attendance medal at the Empire Day celebrations. He was evidently in the Wateringbury Scouts as in 1919 he was commemorated at a church service as one of the 5 former Wateringbury scouts killed in the war.

He never appears on the vicar's lists of men from the parish serving and is not on the village memorial (but is on the school memorial) At sometime between the 1911 census and 1918 his parents had moved to The Green, Matfield. We do not know when he joined up but given his age it is unlikely to have been at the start of the war.

From the Commonwealth war Graves Commission we learn he was killed on 9th April 1918 serving as a Gunner (103278) in the Royal Field Artillery (97th Bty). He is buried (II.B.10) at Beuvry Communal Cemetery Extension (200 meters north of Beuvry Church) about 3 km east of Bethune in the Pas de Calais. There are 192 identified casualties buried there.