DURHAM Frederick

Frederick Durham was born in Brackley, Northamptonshire, in 1883, the son of John Henry Durham who was a rural letter-carrier in 1881. His father died in 1883 before Frederick was born (the fate of his mother is unknown), and in 1891 Frederick and younger sister Margaret were living with their grandmother in Stoke Lyne, near Bicester, Oxfordshire. Ten years later Frederick was living in Blockley with his uncle George Chesher, a miller, Frederick also working as a miller. This was also the situation in 1911.

In late 1913 Frederick married Susanna Ward locally (the marriage was registered in Shipston). They moved to Oxford, which is where the birth of a son Frederick G. was registered (in the Headington district) in late 1916, and where Frederick was living when he enlisted for military service at an unknown date.

Frederick’s personal military papers have not survived but there are other documents. He served in France at a mechanical transport base of the Army Service Corps and lost his life there in 1917. He was not awarded a campaign star and thus will have been posted abroad no earlier than 1916. He is likely to have been a late volunteer or a conscripted man. His personal money was divided between his widow and son (“Rick”).

His widow presumably did not return to Blockley, though Frederick’s uncle George Chesher remained (he was living in the village when he died and was buried there in 1949 at the age of 89). She may be the Susanna Durham who married George Bourton in Stratford-on-Avon in 1920.

From the Medals Card and Corps medals roll:
Frederick Durham
ASC, Private, M2/264155
Victory and British medals

From Soldiers’ Effects:
Frederick Durham
ASC Base MT Depot
died 13/2/17 25th Stn HQs, France
GBP3 4s 11d (GBP2 0s 11d to Rick, GBP3 4s 0d to widow Susanna)
plus GBP3 0s 0d War Gratuity to widow Susanna