TATE, Frederick

Fred Tate came from Cradley and volunteered for the Worcester Territorials. He joined the 1/8th Battalion and went to France in 1915. Their first few months were spent near Ploegsteert in a relatively quiet sector and in the Spring of 1916 they moved to Picardy and the Somme. For the first days of the Battle of the Somme the Worcesters remained just behind the front but on the 14th July they attacked at Ovillers but suffered considerable losses. They returned in August to this highly contested village and a night attack was carried out on the 20/21st. Private Frederick Tate was among those killed in action on the 21st August and is commemorated on the Thiepval, Cradley and Halesowen Memorials.