25th Battalion, Royal Fusiliers (City of London Regiment)
Frederick John Baldwin was born in the first quarter of 1873 at Cheltenham where he enlisted.
He had previously served for twelve years with the colours in the Royal Marine Light Infantry and nine in the Naval Reserve.
On the outbreak of the Great War he volunteered for service with the Legion of Frontiersmen, hoping to see service in East Africa, with which he was familiar.
The Frontiersmen were a unique self-governing military body which had been in existence since 1904 with branches throughout Great Britain and the Empire. The Commandant, Colonel Driscoll, offered to raise 2,000 men for special service of a commando nature. The War Office, however, rejected this proposal and the Legion therefore raised the 25th Battalion Royal Fusiliers.
Whilst stationed in London between February and April 1915, Frederick Baldwin caught and died of cerebrospinal meningitis (at St Bartholomew’s Hospital, London) on 3 April 1915, aged 41.
He left a widow, Sarah Matilda Baldwin and a child who lived in Cheltenham at Kimberley House, in Bath Road.
He was buried in Cheltenham Borough Cemetery and his grave is marked by a CWGC headstone. He is commemorated on the Cheltenham Borough War Memorial.
Researched by Graham Adams 6 February 2012
(Taken from Leaving all that was dear – Cheltenham in the Great War by Joe Devereux and Graham Sacker)