7th Battalion, Somerset Light Infantry
Frederick White was born in Great Tew, near Enstone in Oxfordshire, and enlisted in Cirencester. He served as 32046 Private Frederick White in the Worcestershire Regiment before being transferred to the Somerset Light Infantry; at some stage he also served with the Gloucestershire Regiment. He was the son of George White of 1 Station Road, Lechlade and the husband of Caroline White.
The circumstances of Frederick White’s death at the age of 32 are unclear but after his death his grave was lost and he is listed on Tyne Cot Memorial. The day Private White was killed, 16 August 1917, was the first day of the Battle of Langemarck (16-18 August 1917) and the first day for names to be included on the Tyne Cot Memorial.
White’s battalion was part of 61st Brigade, 20th Division, XIV Corps, which engaged in an attempt to push the front line forward in the vicinity of the village of Langemarck. His battalion attacked around 4pm in response to a German counter-attack on the 60th and 61st Brigades to the south west of the village. Along with 7th King’s Own Yorkshire Light Infantry (KOYLI) they made good progress but then came under enfilade fire from a strongpoint marked on trench maps as Au Bon Gite. This point was soon overcome by 11th Battalion Rifle Brigade and the advance continued. Further heavy fire came from a blockhouse to the west of Langemarck and from Langemarck station but this too was captured. By 7.20am the following day the final objective had been reached and the new line formed on the far side of Langemarck. The whole advance by his battalion covered a front of 400 yards and moved forward by a mile and a half and it is in this area that Private White fell in action.
The family received a letter from a Lieutenant Hargreave of 7th Battalion KOYLI. It read: France, 28th August 1917, Mrs. F White
My Dear Madam, I expect that by now you will have had the bad news which it is my painful duty to repeat. The worst has happened to your husband. He was hit in an attack on 16th August. Today I had a party of men burying dead on the battlefield and was able to have your husband buried on the spot where he fell. The enclosed notes (value 15 francs) were found in his pocket. It may be a consolation to you to know that he earned a glorious epitaph ‘killed in action’. Allow me to offer my sympathy. Yours sincerely, Fred Hargreave Lieutenant 7th KOYLI *
Frederick White is one of the forty names from the Great War recorded on the Lechlade war memorial.
*Lieutenant Frederick Parker Hargreave was himself to earn the epitaph ‘killed in action’ on 20 November 1917. He too was denied an individual grave and his name can be found on the Cambrai Memorial at Louverval (Panel 8).
Tyne Cot Cemetery