Private FRANCIS JAMES FORDER

30, North View, Winchester
Service number 4/1417. 2/4th Battalion, The Hampshire Regiment (attached 1/4th Battalion)
Died in Turkish captivity, Mesopotamia, 7 July 1916.

Life Summary

Francis James Forder, the illegitimate son of Blanche Forder, was born in South Stoneham, Eastleigh, on 23 September 1892. Before the Great War he worked as a plumber and served as a Territorial soldier with the Hampshire Regiment. He served in India and Mesopotamia (modern Iraq) and was taken prisoner by the Turks following the siege of Kut-al-Amara in 1916. He is believed to have died from disease during the forced march to a prisoner-of-war camp in Turkey.

Family Background

Francis’s mother Blanche was the daughter of James and Jane Forder and was born in West Meon in 1873. James and Jane – Francis’s grandparents - had married in Lyndhurst on 10 December 1872. James had been born in Southampton in about 1838. The 1841 Census showed his family living in Nursling, on the outskirts of Southampton. Blanche’s mother was born Jane Read in the New Forest village of Stoney Cross in around 1832.

Francis Forder’s grandfather James died on 22 April 1888. Three years later his widow and daughter were living in Lyndhurst High Street with Jane working as a confectioner. In 1900 Blanche and eight-year-old Francis moved to 4, Andover Road, Winchester, where she took up work as a dressmaker. Meanwhile, Francis’s grandmother Jane, by then 66, was a live-in servant for Lieutenant-Colonel William Tilden, a retired Army officer living at 1, St James’s Lane, Winchester.

In 1903 Francis and his mother moved a few houses up the street to 11, Andover Road. At the time Francis was a pupil at Hyde Infants School, but on 21 March 1904 he enrolled at St Thomas Senior Church of England Boys’ School in Mews Lane. By the time of the 1911 Census Francis had left school and was working as a plumber’s mate. He, his mother and grandmother were all living at 11, Andover Road.

By 1912, however, Blanche Forder had moved from Andover Road. The Warren’s Winchester Directories of 1912-1917 have no entries in her name and she does not reappear until 1918 when she is listed living at 75, Parchment Street, Winchester. This is the address given for Francis Forder in the Winchester War Service Register.

But where were Blanche and Francis living between 1912 and 1918? The answer can be found in the Hampshire Regiment’s list of men taken prisoner at Kut-al-Amara in Mesopotamia 1916. This gives his address as 30, Arbour Terrace, Winchester, and names his mother as next of kin. The Warren’s Directories for the period show Francis’s grandmother Jane as the head of the house, although it is listed as 30, North View. Clearly the family had chosen to live together once more – probably as an economy measure – and it was from 30, North View, Fulflood, that Francis went off to war in 1914.

Great War Record

Francis Forder’s service number, 4/1417, indicates that he joined the 4th Battalion, The Hampshire Regiment as a Territorial in 1910, the year of his 18th birthday. The reasons behind his decision to join are not known, but possibly he had been influenced by his grandmother’s former employer, Lieutenant-Colonel Tilden.

As an experienced Territorial soldier, one would expect Francis to have been assigned to the 1/4th Battalion, The Hampshire Regiment when it was formed shortly after the outbreak of war in 1914. He would then have sailed for India with the battalion in October 1914 before being sent to Mesopotamia in mid-March 1915. However, his Medal Index Card reveals that he did not enter the Asiatic theatre of war until 25 October 1915, eight months after the 1/4th Battalion first arrived there.

What happened is that Francis Forder served with the 2/4th Battalion, The Hampshire Regiment in India until October 1915 when he was sent out to Mesopotamia as a reinforcement for the 1/4th Battalion. This is confirmed by the death notice for Francis in the Hampshire Regimental Journal in October 1916 which states:

FORDER - On July 17th, at Baghdad, prisoner of Kut, Pte. F. J. Forder, 1417, 2/4th Hampshire Regt, aged 23.

Francis’s name also appears in a report published by the Hampshire Chronicle on 10 June 1916 listing Hampshire Regiment prisoners captured at Kut. The report clearly shows him to be from the 2/4th Battalion but attached to the 1/4th.

Clearly, Francis had been assigned to the newly-formed 2/4th Hampshires in October 1914. Perhaps the battalion commander decided that he would provide the 2/4th – which was largely composed of raw recruits – with much-needed experience. The 2/4th Hampshires followed the 1/4th Battalion to India in early 1915 and remained there until 1917. However, regimental records show that in late October 1915 the 2/4th Hampshires sent a draft of 250 men to Mesopotamia. Francis Forder was almost certainly among them.

Once attached to the 1/4th Battalion, Francis was then assigned to the company of Hampshire troops that formed part of the British-Indian garrison at Kut-al-Amara which was besieged by Turkish forces for five months from December 1915. (For details of the siege see Kut.) When the garrison surrendered on 29 April 1916 Francis and his surviving comrades were marched off into captivity. Conditions on the march were appalling and according to another Hampshire prisoner, Regimental Sergeant Major William Leach, Francis became sick and was left behind at Baghdad. He died there on 17 July 1916, aged 23.

Family after the Great War

After the war, Francis’s mother and grandmother continued to live in Winchester. It is not known when or where Blanche died. His grandmother Jane passed away in Winchester in 1928, aged 95.

Medals and Memorials for Francis James Forder

Private Francis James Forder was entitled to the 1914-15 Star, the British War Medal and the Victory Medal. He was buried in Baghdad (North Gate) War Cemetery, Iraq (GR. VI. H. 8.) and is mentioned on the memorials at St Matthew’s and St Paul’s churches, Winchester. His name also appears on the St Thomas Church of England Boys’ School memorial, which is held today at Kings School, Winchester.

Researcher – DEREK WHITFIELD