HUGHES, Frederick Benjamin

Frederick Hughes was the son of Thomas and Anne Hughes of Tenby House, Melbourne Road, Halesowen. He was educated in Wolverhampton and was a member of the Halesowen Methodist church and a well known athlete and football player He volunteered for service in the Worcester Territorials and joined the 2/8th Battalion who were fighting on the Western Front from 1916. In November 1917 the Worcesters were facing the Hindenburg Line and took part in the successful battle of Cambrai. However, the German counter-attack was not anticipated adequately and Frederick Hughes was taken prisoner in the German counter-attack of the 30th November and sent to a camp inside Germany. He was released on the 26th December 1918 but became ill on his way home at a casualty clearing station of disease contracted in the camp, probably flu. Lance Corporal Frederick Hughes died on the 27th January 1919 and is buried in Cologne Southern Cemetery (I D 23). He is commemorated on the Halesowen and Halesowen United Methodist church Memorials.