WALL Francis Edgar

Date of birth incorrectly given as 6th April 1880 on naval records.  The birth of Francis Edgar Wall is registered in the June Quarter 1879 under the Bromsgrove Registration District.

Appears in the Worcester/Worcestershire Roll of Honour Book for navy casualties located in Worcester Cathedral.

On the 1891 census Francis Edgar Wall, aged 11, scholar, lived with his parents Charles and Elizabeth Wall and his siblings in Arrow Road, Redditch.  On the 1901 census Francis Wall, aged 20, was an able seaman on vessel Galatea, Chatham Dockyard, Kent.

On 23rd March 1917 the destroyer HMS Laforey was on escort duty between France and England.  The ship hit a mine in the English Channel and sank shortly afterwards with the loss of 59 crew.

On Ancestry site Military records: Francis Wall, born in Rowney Green, Service No 186233 (CH), AB, HMS Laforey, Royal Navy, killed or died as a direct result of enemy action, 23rd March 1917.  His brother was Thomas Wall of 68 Prospect Hill, Redditch, informed of death.

Evening Despatch, Saturday 31st March 1917:
News has been received of the death of Petty Officer Francis Edgar Wall of Redditch.  He was in his 37th year.  The officer was buried at Dover on 28 March.

Evening Despatch courtesy of the British Library:  http://www.britishnewspaperarchives.co.uk