Devonshire Regiment
Frank Cecil Ballinger was the third of 11 children born to Henry (Harry) and Julie Alice Ballinger (née Drive) of Stroud. Harry had been born in Badgeworth, Alice in Bisley.
Frank was baptised together with his sister, Frances Ethel on 28 April 1895. Ethel died within her first year as did a brother, Ralph. At this time the family were living in Summer Street, Stroud with Harry was working as a milkman.
The family appear in the 1901 Census still living at Summer Street. There were now seven children and Harry was still selling milk.
By the time of the 1911 Census the family had grown to nine children and were living in Elcombe, a hamlet near Slad. Harry and Alice were now 41 and Harry was a farm labourer. Harry and Alice had been married for 18 years. Frank, his brother William and sister, Julia, were all working in the cloth industry.
Frank served in the Devonshire Regiment and later the 448th Agricultural Company, Labour Corps with the regimental number 245641.
There are several photographs of Frank (and other members of his family) on Ancestry with one of him in uniform.
Frank died on 31 October, 1918, aged 23.
There are no surviving service records. The UK Register of Soldiers Effects states that Frank died in Newton Abbott Infirmary. A payment of £6 6s 4d was made to his Mother, his Father having died in 1915. The Pension Ledger states that Frank died from pneumonia (almost certainly the result of contracting ‘Spanish Flu’), his Mother being his dependant.
Frank is buried at Holy Trinity, Slad with a CWGC headstone and is commemorated on the Slad village war memorial.
William’s older brother, served with the Worcestershire Regiment. He suffered a gun shot wound to the left hand leading to a loss of sensation. He was discharged in May 1918. He was married with two children.
Researched by Helen Wollington December 2020
