WORLD WAR I
Bingham War Memorial
Service Record
| 204637 | Private Frank Flowers Burrows Or Burrows Flowers | Age 41 1st Battalion, The Sherwood Foresters(Notts& Derby Regiment) "D" Coy. 1st Bn. |
Born Aslockton 1878 |
| CWGC and www.forces-war-records.co.uk | Died in Damstadt Hospital of wounds suffered, 30/03/1918. He was posted missing on 26th March. |
Buried Niederzwehren
Cemetery, Niederzwehren, Kasseler Stadtkreis, Hessen, Germany. Also private memorial stone in Bingham cemetery |
Plot: I.F.4 |
| Sherwood Forester’s War Diary |
"25th March - The Battn holding the line along the Somme. Soon after dawn the troops on our right withdrew under orders leaving the right flank of the Battn "in the air". To remedy this, a defensive flank was formed. 4 p.m. The Battn under orders withdrew through MISERY having to fight its way out, the enemy being directly in its rear. It then took up position in front of ESTREES. 26th March - 3 a.m. The Battn under orders to withdraw to VERMANDOVILLERS. Here orders were received to march to a position south west of LIHONS under the command of the 25th Brigade. This movement was done by noon and about 4 hours later orders were received to withdraw to ROSIERES as support Battn." It was during this withdrawal that Private Flowers received his wounds from which he died |
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| Wikipedia | This was the beginning of the German Spring Offensive. It succeeded at first but eventually the supply lines became too long and the allies launched a counter offensive in August. This became the second Battle of the Somme and led to eventual victory for the Allies. | ||
| Ancestry.com | His enrolment report when Frank was 40 years 3 months [1918] shows that he had previously served in 4th Battalion, The Sherwood Foresters (Notts& Derby Regiment). He was awarded the British War Medal and the Victory Medal. On his enrolment form, he requested a posting as an engineer to the Railway company, his last occupation having been Platelayer. | ||
| CWGC | Son of William and Mrs. Burrows Flowers, of Aslockton, Notts; husband of the late Mary Elizabeth Flowers (neé Dawn). | ||
| 1915 AR/Ancestry.com | Frank had previously enlisted on January 28th 1915 and joined the 4th Battalion Sherwood Foresters with the service number 22646. On the 19th April he was declared unfit to serve as “being unlikely to become an efficient soldier” and discharged that day. There is no explanation. | ||
| 1917 AR/Ancestry.com | In December 1917 he spent 21 days in Grimsby Military Hospital with a knee problem. The medical history forms trace the rest of his service. | ||
| Register of Effects | Frank’s back pay was paid on 18th February 1919 to his widow Mary
E (£6.14d.6d), son John H (£1.13s.8d) and daughter Florrie (£1.13s.8d) |
On 19th December 1919 a War Gratuity of £3.0s.0d was paid to his widow | |
| NB. Army records found in Pensions collection, Ancestry.com.,
under name Frank Burrows Flowers - first period of service and under Burrows
Frank Flower in “Soldiers died in Great war” – second
period. Burrows medal card copied |
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Family history etc
| 204637 | Private Frank Flowers Burrows or Burrows Flowers | ||
| 1878 | Born Aslockton |
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| Census 1881 | Lived Aslockton with: Father: William Burrows, b 1838 Nottingham Mother: Elizabeth Burrows, b 1838, Orston, Nottinghamshire Brothers: William, b 1868 John H, b 1876. |
Agricultural Labourer Agricultural Labourer |
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| Census 1891 | Living as Frank Flower in 4 roomed house in Aslockton with: Father: William B Flower, b 1838 Mother: Elizabeth Flower |
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Brother, John Flower, butcher’s assistant, age 18, with John Wise, master Butcher in Nottingham. |
| Enrolment form | 05/11/1899 married Mary Elizabeth [surname not readable], spinster, at St John’s Church, Derby. (See CWG Commission web – says née Dawn). Army record and Free BMD confirm this. | Free BMD shows he married as Frank Burrows Flowers | |
| Census 1901 | Frank Burrows living in Mansfield as a boarder. Family: Mary E Flowers, b1876 in Aslockton, Nottinghamshire, married, was living at Rebecca Row, Derby, with her Son: John H Burrows, b 1900 in Derby Daughter: Florrie Burrows, b 1901 in Derby. |
Working as Sand carter | Members of the family seem to have used both Burrows and Flowers as their surname at different times. |
| 1901 census implies Frank was working away from home and the family had reverted to the name of Flowers (as listed in CWGC web site) | |||
| Census 1911 | Frank Burrows living at 7 Moor
Lane, Bingham with: Wife: Elizabeth, b 1876 Children: John Henry, b 1900 Florrie, b 28/10/1901
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Working as Labourer on Farm
John Henry not mentioned on second service record. BUT he is on the absent
voters list for Moor Lane (as John Henry Burrows Flowers) for several
years after the war as serving on HMS Queen Elizabeth. He is listed on
the roll of honour and joined the navy in 1915.
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| 1917 Army enrolment form | Occupation: Platelayer Children: lists only Thomas and William |
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| 1918 | Frank is shown in the absent voters list for 1.10.1918 electoral roll. It was not uncommon for a soldier killed towards the end of the war to be included in the absent voters list. The soldier’s family usually initiated the listing which was then confirmed by the adjutant of the appropriate regiment. Partly the mistake was administrative timing but sometimes because the family clung to the hope of survival. | ||
| 1919 | Mary Elizabeth was awarded a pension of 25 shillings and 5 pence per week for her and two children w.e.f 03/03/1919) so she must have died sometime after that and before CWGC records were compiled, which state “ Husband of the late Mary Elizabeth Flowers (neé Dawn)”. | ||
| Bingham Cemetery | His widow, Elizabeth, died on 11th December 1924 aged 50. She is buried in Bingham cemetery with the surname Flowers, and her headstone remembers “Frank Burrows Flowers died of his wounds 30 June 1918 aged 41”. Their son, John Henry is also buried here. He died on 27th May 1984 aged 84. | ||
