BAGGOTT, Fritz William

Fritz Bagott was the son of Edward and Agnes Bagott, of The Mount, Dudley. and later of 78 Pembroke Crescent, Hove. He attended Dudley Grammar School and then moved to King's School, Worcester. He entered School House in September 1906 to join the Third Form and left three years later from the Fifth, gaining a qualification in Law and being articled at Dudley. He was a keen horseman and joined the Worcester Yeomanry but, preferring an outdoor life, joined the African Mounted Police. After the outbreak of war he bought himself out in order to come home to fight with the South African Heavy Artillery. He served in the 125th Battery (South African) which went to the Western Front in July 1916. They were very active in the Battle of the Somme, notably at Delville Wood. In 1917 they were in the front line again in the battle of Arras and at the Hindenburg Line, where he was killed in action on the 29th April. Gunner Fritz Bagott was 26 years of age and is buried in Duisans Military Cemetery (III H 16) outside Arras and commemorated on the South African Heavy Artillery Memorials at Pretoria and Port Elizabeth and on the Dudley, Dudley Grammar School and King's School, Worcester, Memorials.