HILL Frederick William

FREDERICK WILLIAM HILL

Gunner 124708, 1st Siege Battery, Royal Garrison Artillery
Killed in Action on Tuesday 31st July 1917
Commemorated: Ypres Memorial (Menin Gate) Ieper, Panel 9

Lancing was home to more than one Frederick Hill, but it seems likely that it is this man whose name appears on the war memorial. Little is known about him, and 'Soldiers Died in the Great War' CD gives him as having been born in Hartfield, Sussex, and enlisting in Worthing while resident in Tunbridge Wells. He was the son of George and Emma Hill of Balcombe, Sussex, and the following item appeared in the Worthing Gazette on the 26th September 1917:

LANCING - KILLED IN ACTION - News has been received at Lancing that Gunner F. W. Hill, of the Royal Garrison Artillery, has been killed in action. A single man about thirty-one years of age, Hill was for a year or two at Lancing where he occupied the position of gardener to the Rev. Edmund Peel at the Vicarage, and was highly esteemed. He was the son of a farmer at Coleman's Hatch, Forest Row, and three of his brothers are serving.

I have not been able to trace either a service record for Frederick Hill, nor the unit war diary for 1st Siege Battery during that period, but as his name appears on the Menin Gate, it must have been in that area that he died, the 31st July 1917 being the first day of the 3rd Battle of Ypres, more familiarly known as Passchendaele. I would be glad for any further information that might add to his story.

Menin Gate, Ypres, at sunset

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