KELLEY, Frank

Frank Kelley was the son of Henry and Rose Kelley. His father had died in 1905 and his mother had remarried. She was living at 5 Cathcart Road, Stourbridge, in 1917. Frank Kelly was employed in the office of Mr Kent, the sanitary inspector for Stourbridge. He volunteered in September 1914 and joined the Warwicks. He was posted to the 16th Service (3rd Birmingham Pals) Battalion and went to France late in 1915. They joined the 5th Division and Frank Kelley was involved in two phases of the Somme at High Wood and Morval. In the Spring of 1917 the battalion moved to Arras and occupied the front line at the north end of Vimy Ridge. When the Canadians attacked on the 9th April, the Warwicks were in reserve, but were not called upon until the 13th when they went into the front line near La Coulotte. On the next day Private Frank Kelley was killed in action. He was injured by shell-fire and while resting in a shell hole was hit by a second shell. He was 23 years of age and is commemorated on the Arras, Stourbridge and St. Thomas's church Memorials and on his parents' grave at Wollaston.