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Frederick Victor ColemanFrederick Victor Coleman was born the day the census was taken, 5 April 1891. The midwife, Agnes Jackson, was recorded in the family's home at The Lake; his parents, George Coleman, a dock labourer, and Florence née Mabbett had not even had time to decide upon his name. By 1901 George was the captain of a dredger and Frederick the middle child of five. Ralph, the youngest of the Coleman children, arrived a couple of years later and the family moved to The Street c. 1913. Frederick enlisted as a private in the 2nd Battalion of the Grenadier Guards on 7 June 1909 and was stationed at the Blenheim Barracks in Aldershot at the time of the 1911 census. By the outbreak of the war Frederick had become a guardsman and had apparently transferred to the 1st Battalion. On 19 October he landed at Zeebrugge in Belgium and his battalion was immediately thrown into the First Battle of Ypres (19 October to 22 November), as were his comrades of the 2nd Battalion. After this campaign each battalion retained only 4 officers and 140-200 men from their original effective strengths of around 1,000. Although Frederick may have come safely through that trial he was later wounded, quite possibly in one of the actions of the Second Battle of Artois in May-June 1915. He was discharged on 17 July 1915 as unfit for further military service and awarded the Silver War Badge. He later received 1914 Star, British War Medal and Victory Medal, and is commemorated on the plaque in the village hall. Frederick was not listed in the 1918 electoral register, but he was included the following year. On 19 April 1919 he married Florence Elizabeth Hitchings (the sister of Charles, Ashley, Frederick and Percival) at St Mary's. The couple moved to Parks Cottage, The Green, for a few years and were living in Newark Road, Gloucester, in 1939 when Frederick was employed as a postman. They later moved to The Glen, Corse End Road, Hartpury. Frederick Victor Coleman died on 12 April 1956. |