Frank Odham Fletcher
A Private with , Frank died on 29th of October 1915 at the age of 29.
Frank was born at Lowestoft on 4 September 1886, a son of James and Alice Fletcher. He was baptised at Christchurch, Lowestoft, on 24 November 1886, and his family lived at 31 Saint Peters Street, Lowestoft. By 1891 his family were living at 85 Tonning Street, Lowestoft. In 1901 they lived at 12 Pier Terrace, Lowestoft.
In 1905 Frank worked at Wrentham Dairy, Maidstone Road. At this time he was also a student at Lowestoft School of Art.
By 1911 his family were living at 71 Beresford Road. Lowestoft, and Frank worked as a clerk for a coal merchant. Later his parents lived at 65 Royal Avenue, Lowestoft.
Frank was living at 71 Beresford Road and working as a clerk when he volunteered and enlisted in the Royal Army Medical Corps, at Lowestoft, on 15 February 1915. He joined the Royal Army Medical Corps training unit at Aldershot.
On 31 March 1915 Frank became unwell and was admitted to the Military Isolation Hospital at Aldershot: he was suffering from cerebro-spinal fever and phthisis. Several treatments were tried, but Frank died at Lowestoft Isolation Hospital on 29 October 1915.
Frank Fletcher
65
Royal Avenue
Lowestoft
United Kingdom
52.4877477, 1.7522729
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Pvt. Frank Odham Fletcher 1886-1915
K Company, R.A.M.C.
Service number: 55276
Laid to rest in Lowestoft Cemetery
Frank was born 4th September 1886 and baptised 24th November 1886 at Christchurch, Lowestoft, while his family lived at 31, St. Peter’s Street. His father James Butcher Fletcher was a 2nd generation Shipwright (Ship’s Carpenter) working at a shipyard. His mother Alice nee Barkaway was the daughter of a Master Mariner.
1901 – Frank was 14 and the family lived at 12 Pier Terrace, Lowestoft. A decade later, the Fletchers had moved to 71 Beresford Road and Frank worked as a Clerk. His parents recorded in the 1911 census that they’d had five children during their marriage, two of whom had died. The following year Frank’s older surviving sister Clara May, who worked as a teacher, married a Master Draper.
World War One broke out in 1914 and in January 1915 Frank enlisted at Lowestoft. Very shortly afterward, at the end of March 1915 while at Aldershot – although his service record is badly damaged – the scant legible information records that Frank had an acute attack of spinal cerebral fever and Phthisis (tuberculosis). He was kept in isolation at Aldershot with medical notes in his service record noting his emaciation. On 15th October 1915 Frank was discharged. The Army sadly and evidently sent Frank home to die because he died a fortnight later on 29th October 1915 of Pulmonary Phthisis (Tuberculosis) and exhaustion. Frank was laid to rest in Lowestoft Cemetery where his Barkaway grandparents also rest.
Frank’s inscription on the family tomb reads, “Oh call it not death but life begun”, a variant of a biblical verse from Luke vii 52, which inspired a hymnal by English author Eliza H Hamilton.
Evidence from Frank's service papers show that he did not serve overseas and was not entitled to any medals. However, his family applied for, and did receive, a Memorial Plaque in his honour.
His parents moved to 65, Royal Avenue, Lowestoft. Frank’s father died fewer than five years after him, in April 1920. The inscription on his side of the family tomb reads “Rest after labour, sweet rest at last”. About 1940 Frank’s mother moved to Rhos-on-Sea, where her daughter Clara now married lived, and she died there aged 84 in 1944.
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