Lance-Corporal FREDERICK ALEXANDER WHITE

36, Stockbridge Road, Winchester (no longer stands)
Service number 20024. 4th Battalion, The Grenadier Guards
Killed in action, France, 13 April 1918

Family Background

Frederick Alexander White was born in Evercreech, Somerset, in 1888, the youngest of the seven surviving children of William and Emily White. William, a road contractor and former silk worker, had been born in Evercreech in 1849. His wife was born Emily Southway in 1852, also in Evercreech. The couple married in late 1869.

In the 1911 Census, Frederick was recorded living at Horrington, Wells, Somerset, and working as an assistant in the local asylum. His parents, meanwhile, had moved to 18, Lower Stockbridge, Road, Winchester. This large property appears to have been home to several businesses - including T. Barnett (blacksmith’s shop), Hampshire County Council stores, A.S. Newman stores and G. Clements, coachbuilder – as well as being the White family home. It seems the house was later split into several smaller properties with the Whites taking over what became 36, Stockbridge Road when that was renumbered in 1918. It is unclear whether Frederick ever lived in the property, which no longer stands, but he would almost certainly have known it from visiting his parents.

Great War Record

It is not known when Frederick White enlisted, but given that he was not entitled to the 1914-15 Star it was obviously between 1916 and 1918. He was probably conscripted.

Frederick joined the 4th Battalion, The Grenadier Guards in Newport, but whether this was in South Wales or on the Isle of Wight is unclear. The 4th Grenadier Guards had been raised at Marlow in 1915 and the battalion moved to France in July the following year, coming under the orders of 3rd (Guards) Brigade, part of 31st Division.

In 1917 Frederick married Rosie Beaver of 6, Gatling Road, Plumstead, London. In 1911 Rosie had been working as an attendant at the Somerset and Bath Lunatic Asylum which is almost certainly where she and Frederick met.

Because Frederick’s date of enlistment is unknown it has not been possible to trace where and when he fought. However, we do have a detailed account of the action in which he was killed: the Battle of Hazebrouck in 1918. The battle formed part of the Lys offensive (9-29 April 1918), the second major German assault that spring. Its aim was to win the war before large numbers of American troops arrived on the Western Front. The German plan was to break through the British First Army, then sweep aside the Second Army to the north before driving west to the English Channel. This would cut off British forces from one of their major supply lines which ran through the ports of Calais, Dunkirk and Boulogne.

After a two-day artillery bombardment, the Germans quickly broke through Allied defences between Festubert and Armentieres which was captured on 11 April. The following day the advance continued towards the important supply centre of Hazebrouck which lay some six miles to the west of Armentieres.

The Germans pressed forward again on 13 April, launching two separate attacks – one against British positions at Vieux Berquin and another between Bailleul and Neuve Eglise. The 4th Grenadier Guards, who had been transferred to 4th (Guards) Brigade in February 1918, were defending the sector around Vieux Berquin which covered the approach to Hazebrouck.

At the height of the fighting that day, the German hurled more than three divisions against the 4th (Guards) Brigade and other units who were defending the Nieppe Forest on a 4,000-yard front. The assault, like that around Bailleul, met with only limited success and the Germans failed to make a decisive breakthrough.

The German Official History of the engagement dourly noted that ‘the battle on 13th April was not fought under a lucky star’. By the end of the day the British had managed to move enough forces in front of Hazebrouck to establish a solid defensive barrier.

The British Official History recalls that after the war a German officer of the Alpine Corps wrote the following to a British officer:

To us, the 13th April 1918 was a disappointment. We were accustomed to definite success in obtaining our objectives everywhere, in Serbia, in front of Verdun, in Romania and Italy. For the first time, on this 13th April, we succeeded in gaining only a few hundred metres of ground. I think I must say that the defenders on the British front in April 1918 were the best troops of the many with whom we had crossed swords in the course of the four and a quarter years.

Among those ‘best troops’ was Lance Corporal Frederick White who was killed in action that day, almost certainly in the Nieppe Forest. He was 30 years old. By a cruel twist of fate, the 4th (Guards) Brigade was transferred to GHQ Reserve on 20 May 1918 and took little further part in the war.

Family after the Great War

One of Frederick’s brothers, Walter, who lived in Winchester, also served in the war and survived. He joined the Royal Engineers in 1917, probably as a conscript, and worked on road construction. Both Frederick and Walter are listed in the Winchester War Service Register.

Medals and Memorials for Frederick Alexander White

Lance-Corporal Frederick Alexander White was entitled to the British War Medal and the Victory Medal. He is buried at Aval Wood Military Cemetery (above), Vieux-Berquin, Nord, France (GR. III. C. 2) and the inscription on his headstone reads:

BUT AFTER TOIL COMES RESTING AND CROWN WILL FOLLOW CROSS

Frederick is mentioned on the memorials at St Matthew’s and St Paul’s churches, Winchester, and on the United Church memorial, Winchester.

Researchers – DEREK WHITFIELD, CHERYL DAVIS and STEVE JARVIS