Third son of Joseph Atkinson and Ellen Matilda Atkinson (Sell).
1901 Census aged 5 living at 64 Brompton Lane, Strood with his parents and 2 brothers and two sisters. His father is a grocer/Shopkeeper
1911 Census aged 15 at 48 Weston Road, Strood with his father and his elder brother and sister. Frank is listed as a Milk Boy and father a Senior Gas Meter Collector. Hi mother had died in 1905 and his other sister in 1906
Military Career
Enlisted in Royal West Kent Regiment, service number G/4597
At the time of his death he was a Corporal in the 10th Battalion Royal Fusiliers (City of London Regiment) and died on 11th April 1917 in the early stages of the Battle of Arras.
Service No G/61873.
The note in UK, Army Registers of Soldiers’ Effects, 1901-1929 states – Death presumed on or since 11.4.17.
He has no known grave and is listed on the Arras Memorial, Pas de Calais France http://www.everymanremembered.org/profiles/soldier/739106/
His father died 4 days later and his sister, Mabel N Atkinson is listed as next of kin and received his effects of £8 2s 3d which was split between the surviving family. He has a memorial tablet on the family grave in Strood Cemetery.
Extract from the War Diary 10th Battalion Royal Fusiliers (City of London Regiment)
11th April 3am. Orders received to attack and take MONCHY LE PREUX at 5.30am. Major R. A. Smith arrived to take command.
After a stubborn resistance, the village was entered & occupied, the enemy placing on it a very heavy barrage.
By 3pm were all entrenched about the western edge of the village except for a small advanced part on eastern side of the village. Enemy shelling of village very intense, & the Cavalry who entered the village about 100am suffered severe casualties.
At 11pm the Battalion was relieved by the Queens (12th Div: )
12th April
Terrible night of heavy snow & very cold. Marched to FEUCHY CHAPEL, arriving therat 2am, spent the remainder of the night in ruined houses. Total casualties 9th -11th 12 Officers & 240 ORs
Sources
Ancestry.com sources
England & Wales, FreeBMD Birth Index, 1837-1915
1901 Census Class: RG13; Piece: 721; Folio: 87; Page: 32
1911 Census Class: RG14; Piece: 3873; Schedule Number: 201
Military-Genealogy.com, comp. UK, Soldiers Died in the Great War, 1914-1919 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2008
England & Wales, National Probate Calendar (Index of Wills and Administrations), 1858-1966, 1973-1995 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2010.
National Army Museum; Chelsea, London, England; Soldiers’ Effects Records, 1901-60; NAM Accession Number: 1991-02-333; Record Number Ranges: 685001-686500; Reference: 408
The National Archives of the UK; Kew, Surrey, England; First World War and Army of Occupation War Diaries; Class: WO 95 Piece 2532: 111 Infantry Brigade (1915 – 1919)
Research
Biography compiled by Sean Ryan