8th Battalion, Wiltshire Regiment
Francis Biggs, known as Frank Biggs, was born in Woolaston in 1879, son of Elizabeth Biggs (1841-1919), his father is unknown. In 1881 Elizabeth Biggs, unmarried, and her six children, was housekeeper to a William Davis, a shoemaker, in Woolaston. In 1885 she married Francis Williams of Sand Tumps, Woolaston.
Frank Biggs worked as a railway plate layer also as a labourer and finally a quarryman before joining the Army.
On 1 September 1914 he attested at Lydney for service as 12193 Private in the 8th Battalion, Gloucestershire Regiment stating that he was aged 28 years and four months, but on 7 October 1914 he was discharged from the Depot at Bristol under King’s Regulations para 393 iii (c) — physically unfit.
He either re-enlisted, or was conscripted, as he next served for a short time as 24760 Private in the 8th Battalion, Wiltshire Regiment. He died at Connaught Hospital, Aldershot, on 11 August 1916, of pulmonary tuberculosis, age given as 36 years.
His grave in St Andrew’s Churchyard, Woolaston is marked by a standard CWGC grave.
Researched by Eric Nicholls February 2021