SOUTHALL, Frederick

Frederick Southall lived with his parents at 73 Crosswalks, Lye, and worked as a cog maker at the Crown Works in Lye. He volunteered on the 1st September 1914 and served in the 2/5th Battalion of the North Staffs in the 59th (North Midland) Division. One of their early duties was to keep order in Dublin after the 1916 Easter Rising. In January 1917 they moved to France and Frederick Southall was twice wounded in the next year on the Western Front. The North Staffs took part in the follow-up of the German forces to the Hindenburg Line and were engaged in the Third Battle of Ypres in September at the Menin Road and Polygon Wood. They were then relieved and sent to Lens in the Artois sector. In the course of trench duties Private Frederick Southall was killed in action on the 18th October and is buried in Sucrerie Cemetery (I B 17) at Ablain-St. Nazaire. He was 27 years of age and is commemorated on the Lye and Wollescote and Lye church Memorials.