SEOND LIEUTENANT GEORGE JESSE FROST
7TH SERVICE BATTALION, SUIFFOLK REGIMENT
DIED OF WOUNDS
9TH SEPTEMBR 1915
AGE 22 YEARS
George was the younger of the two Frost brothers who lost their lives during the Great War. He had been born on the 22nd March 1893 the third child of William an Ironmongers assistant and his wife Mary (née Coulson). At the time of his birth the family were living above the owners shop situated in the Market Place, Romford, Essex. By the time of the 1911 census the two eldest sons had gone their separate ways, with their parents now living at No. 24 Rectory Street, Halesworth, William now being employed as assistant to Robert Jarmy, the local ironmonger, at his premises at No.8 Thoroughfare. By 1914 William had bought out the business now becoming the owner.
Meanwhile George had remained in Essex, with he and his brother Robert boarding in a house in Ilford. At that time George was studying to become an Analytical Chemist at the East London College, also situated in Ilford. While studying he had also enlisted in the University of London’s Officer Training Corps. This had been formed as an arm of the Territorial Force in 1908, with the aim of training future Officers to serve in the part time reserve organisation.
On completing his studies, he found employment as an assistant to Doctor Bernard Dyer the Public Health Analyst, whose research was mainly in the field of food standards. After some time, George decided to alter the direction of his career and began working as a private chemist for the famous American mining expert and future President of the United States, Herbert Hoover. In early 1914, having also studied the Russian language, he was despatched to Russia to begin experiments in the separation of metals from their mined ore. On hearing of the outbreak of the war in August, George immediately set out to return home, arriving at the Swedish port of Helsingfors. He was just in time to sail on the last ship bound for England.
Prior to his leaving for Russia, George had sent a letter of resignation to the University O.T.C. but immediately on arriving back in Halesworth he contacted the Commanding Officer to ask permission to withdraw his resignation, which was immediately granted. In the London Gazette Supplement of the 31st August 1914, he had been awarded a King’s Commission with the rank of Second Lieutenant. Shortly after this announcement he was posted to join the 7th (Service) Battalion, Suffolk Regiment. This was one of the newly formed Infantry Units destined to join the British Army’s order of battle after Lord Kitchener’s appeal for all able-bodied men to join a new citizen’s army.
On joining the battalion he, along with all of the other volunteers, then entered into several months of intensive training before they were considered fit to serve on the front line. By mid-May they had reached the standard required, so they crossed over to France on the 30th May 1915. At that time the 7th Suffolks had a strength of twenty-seven Officers and eight hundred and eight Other Ranks. Possibly due to his knowledge of chemicals and no doubt due to the crude methods of making bombs (grenades) that early in the war, George was given the task of becoming the battalion’s Bombing Officer. With the fighting now settling down to one of static warfare, the role of bombers was becoming one of some importance. In the battalion they needed to be men strong of arm and with keen senses who were required to clear an enemy trench or underground dugout, as opposed to the standard infantryman who was armed with a rifle measuring over four feet long with a further fourteen inches of bayonet, making it very difficult to use inside an enemy’s trench. A note found within the 7th Suffolk’s war diary and dated the 29th June 1915 shows that George, with a Lieutenant Wood and Sergeant Cameron, were ordered to report to their 95th Brigade school of instruction to receive training in a new type of bomb.
Over the following months the 7th Suffolks, as part of the 12th (Eastern) Division, continued to serve both in and out of the firing line. On the 3rd September 1915, they relieved the 9th (Service) Battalion, Essex Regiment, from their positions in the area of the Belgian village of Pioegsteert, where, on the 9th September, after a fairly quiet six days, the battalion were preparing once more for the 9th Essex to take over their positions. It was during the brief period prior to moving back to the rest area that George had taken the opportunity to move his Bombers to the rear and teach them the drills associated with the use of a new type of bomb. This would have been most likely the Mills grenade mark 1. It was while demonstrating that he threw a grenade in the direction of an unused trench. Sadly it fell short, landing on the front parapet. Without any thought of danger, George ran forward with the aim of kicking the grenade into the trench, when it exploded, blowing off his right hand and shattering his right leg. He was immediately rushed to the No.2 Casualty Clearing Station where the remains of his leg was amputated but sadly, shortly after, he died from his wounds. The Halesworth Times Newspaper of the 14th September 1915, reporting on his death, mentioned a letter his parents had received from the nursing sister who helped to treat George in which she mentioned that his wounds had been so serious that he would have remained a cripple for the rest of his life.
After his passing he was laid to rest in the Baillieu Communal Cemetery in Northern France where he remains today. At the end of the war, when laying out the war cemeteries, the Commonwealth War Graves Commission marked each grave with an official headstone with the individual details of those who laid beneath. For a sum of money, the bereaved loved ones could add a script to the bottom of the stone, William and Mary chose “Greater Love Hath No Man Than This”. Later, on the death of their father in 1926, both George and his brother Robert’s names were added to the family’s headstone in the Halesworth Cemetery.
In 1919, at the settling of his Officer’s accounts, his parents received a total sum of £64.2s.5d (£64.12p). They would also have been entitled to claim his 1915 Star Trio of medals with his named memorial plaque and scroll.
The location of these is not known, as is the reason why, for his selfless act in running forward to save those around him from possible death or injury, his parents did not receive any token of bravery, such as a Gallantry award.
As a lasting memorial to the Frost family, the name of Frost and Son, Ironmongers, remains today painted to the side wall of what had been the family business in Halesworth Thoroughfare. (See above)