Chambers, Frederick 1918

Frederick was born in Wokingham  in 1888 to William and Naomi Chambers. He was the eldest of their 4 children and in 1901 the family lived at Market place, Wokingham. William was a self-employed Baker/Confectioner.

By 1911 Frederick was a regular soldier serving in the 9th Lancers who, at the time were stationed in Canterbury, he was 23. He went from the  Cavalry to the Machine Gun Corps (Cavalry) 16th Squadron in the 5th Mounted Brigade. This Corps only existed from 1917 to 1922. He died in Mesopotamia (now Iraq) and is commemorated on the Basra memorial. The photo of the memorial was taken there in 2003, round the time of the Iraqi War.

Frederick’s Grand Niece, Linda Shaw, provides the following information:

“Frederick Tom was my great uncle; he had three brothers – William, George and Frank. George was my grandfather. Their parents, William and Naomi ran a confectioners shop with tea rooms on the Market Place in Wokingham. Frederick Tom was considered to be the family hero, bit of an adventurer but sadly dying too young. Family tradition had it that he died of malaria on his way back from East Africa so the Basra connection was interesting to see. I have obtained a copy of his war record from the National Archives but find it difficult to decipher, there seems to be a number of entries for him. As well as the Machine Gun Corps he was also in the East African Mounted Rifles between August 1914 and February 1915.”

Rank: Lance Corporal

Service No: 52128

Date of Death: 14/11/1918

Regiment/Service: Machine Gun Corps (Cavalry) 16th Sqdn.

Panel Reference: Panel 41. 

Memorial: BASRA MEMORIAL

[iframe_loader width=”625″ height=”550″  frameborder = “1”  longdesc=’ ‘marginheight=’0′  marginwidth=’0′ name=’ ‘click_words=’ ‘click_url=’ scrolling=’yes’ src=’http://wokinghamremembersco.ipage.com/Family trees/Chambers Frederick T’]