LEATHERHEAD WAR MEMORIALS - WWI
Gnr Frederick R Lavender
D Bty, 250th Bde, Royal Field Artillery
Town Memorial P5.R2.C1
Gunner
Frederick R
Lavender
Royal Field Artillery
Quedlinburg
Oct 12 1918
Taken, Not Given, Liam Sumption, L&DLHS
Quedlinburg lies just below the Harz mountains in Saxony and about 30 miles South West of Magdeburg. This is where Frederick Lavender died as a prisoner of war. He is not listed among those held prisoner in Germany in 1916 but this does not necessarily mean that he was not captured before that date.¹
Little is known about the camp. A Foreign Office card index² contains a substantial number of complaints against its administration. Three specific references are made with regard to the treatment of prisoners, especially the hospital. The Index notes that HM Government protested vigorously against the filthy condition in which prosoners from Quedlinburg were repatriated, and another reference staes that their "condition showed evidence of much neglect."
Such were the circumstances in which Frederick Lavender died.
Soldiers who Died in the Great War - RFA shows Frederick Robert Lavender, No.207722, Gunner RFA, Enlisted Guildford (Leatherhead)
Sources
1. File Air1/392/204/5/696, 697 & 698 (Lists of Prisoners
held in Germany in 1916), PRO Kew
2. Foreign Office General Correspondence (1906-19) card index, PRO Kew
Further research
Name:
LAVENDER FR
Rank: Gunner
Regiment: Royal Field Artillery
Unit Text: "D" Bty. 250th Bde
Date of Death: 12/10/1918
Service No: 207722
Grave/Memorial Reference: VIII. J. 4.
Cemetery: NIEDERZWEHREN
CEMETERY (after WWI the Allied burials from all over Germany were
brought to four cemeteries - those from Quedlinburg were among those
brought here)
250 Brigade RFA was formerly 1st Northumbrian Brigade, numbered 250 Brigade 16th May 1916.
He is not listed in the May 1915 issue of Leatherhead Parish Magazine among those serving.
His Medal Roll records state he was a Prisoner of War from 27 May 1918.
So far no press reporting of his death has been traced.
His life
Frederick Lavender was born on 4 September 1886 at Eastcote, Middlesex and baptised on 3 October 1886. He was a Milkman.His father was Henry Lavender (1842-1922) from Ruislip, Middlesex; Henry's parents are not known.
His mother was Sarah Ann Pendry born 1842, from Iver, Buckinghamshire, a daughter of Joseph Pendry (1812-1843) and Mary Anne Beane (1816-1882).
They were married on 7 February 1836 at St James, Paddington, London.
His siblings were Walter Henry, Florence Lucy Mary and Ethel Mary.
When growing up Frederick lived at:
1886 Baptism: Hill Corner Estate, Ruislip
1891 Census: West End Road, Pinner, Middlesex
1901 Census: Prospect Villa, Roxborough Road, Harrow on the Hill: he was a Telegraph Messenger, age 14
On 14 March 1903 he entered service with the Coaching Department of the London & North Western Railway at Sudbury & Wembley Station (renamed Wembley & Sudbury in 1910) as a Junior Porter. He resigned on 1 June 1905.
He married Gertrude Mary Stockdale on 25 April 1909 at St John the Baptist, Greenhill, Harrow, Middlesex. She was born 21 February 1888, from Shouldham, Norfolk, a daughter of William Robert Stockdale and Frances Frances Mary Mackinder.
The church's Marriage Register entry reads: 25 April 1909 Parish Church Greenhill, Middlesex
Frederick Robert Lavender 22 Bachelor Milkman: 42 Roxborough Rd Greenhill: Father - Henry Lavender, Woodman
Gertrude Mary Stockdale 21 Spinster Housemaid: 2 Liggar Terrace West Kensington W: Father - William Robert Stockdale, Farm Labourer
They had two children, Gertrude Frederika b 1910 and Leslie Henry b 1915.
After his marriage in 1909 Frederick lived at:
1911 Census: The Laurels, Vale Road, Bushey, Herts
Soldiers Died in the Great War records that Frederick was resident in Leatherhead at the time of his enlistment, and he is on the Church Lads Brigade Leatherhead Company memorial. However other evidence of his residence in Leatherhead is yet to be found eg on an Electoral Register.
However his widow Gertrude was listed at 2 Oakleigh Terrace, Leatherhead, in the 1918-1921 Electoral Registers. That is about opposite where the Royal Oak public house stood in Kingston Road, Leatherhead.
After WW1
Frederick's mother died in 1925.His widow Gertrude Mary remarried in 1921, to Albert Taylor, and they lived briefly at 2 Oakleigh Terrace before moving to 194 Kingston Road, Leatherhead, where they were listed in the 1923-24 Electoral Registers. Her death at the age of 90 was registered in July 1978 in Surrey Northern District.
His daughter Gertrude Frederika died in 1992 and his son Leslie died in 1986.
Frederick Lavender is remembered on these memorials
Leatherhead Town Memorial
Leatherhead RBL Roll of Honour, Leatherhead Parish Church
Ladies War Shrine, Leatherhead Parish Church
Church Lads Brigade Memorial Tryptich, All Saints Leatherhead
Surrey in the Great War
Links
the website editor would like to add
further information on this casualty
e.g. a photo of him, of his grave and of any recollections within
his family
page last updated 22 Nov 2005: 12 Feb 14 CWGC links updated 7 Nov 17: 1 Nov 20