Frank FENN [8742]

  General Notes:

12 years service in the Royal Garrison Artillery, He received the West
African medal & Clasp, South African medal Ks & Qs.
Schoolmaster certificate 1894
Clerk in 1914
In 1914 he attested for the Special Territorial Reserve for the Royal
Garrison Artillery at Woolwich, giving his age as 41 yrs, 240 days, (One
year younger than his real age) and willing to serve for 1 year. Noted wife as: Sarah, The Old Hall, Mistley, Manningtree, Essex Married Sarah Neale, spinster, at Mistley July 8 1899 witnessed by OJ
Fenn & M.A. Neale.
15 August 1914 Bombardier : sent to France from Gt Yarmouth until 3.10.
in BEF.
Promoted to Acting Serjeant 1 12 1915.
9 9 1915 Medical: NYD mental (Not yet diagnosed) next of kin informed 12 4 1916: "When on active service absenting himself without leave"
sentenced to one month's Field punishment No 2 (e.g. publicly shackled) 12 5 1916 Scabies (contagious skin disease caused by mites) 10 5 1916: Posted to RA in Rouen then Le Havre General Base as a
reinforcement, and then to the field 2 8 1916.
9 8 1916: Admitted to field hospital - hence to Rouen with Lumbago &
debility
18 8 1916 To England on the HS Panama & to GH Cambridge. Discharged 29.8.1916, retained in England on service Submits claims for discharge as had met his commitment to serve for 2
years.
28 2 1917 Casualty - certified at Winchester
Feb 1917 Discharged under Kings Regulations 329(xxi) e.g. normal
termination of engagement. Age 45 & 3 mo. Character assessed as
"Indifferent"
In March 1917 he writes to ask for compensation for being held back
illegally beyond his required 2-year service period by an extra 200
days. A side note mentions that his CO kept him on longer, consistent
with a previous precedent, but Fenn seems to dispute his story. Between March & November 1919 WO calls for return of Fenn's field dress,
receipt eventually acknowledged 25.11.1919
He was assessed for a 20% war disability pension on account of varicose
veins, left leg below the knee.
He qualified for: 1915 Star, War Badge, GW & Victory medal
At some stage note that Sarah was in the Union.
So his discharge address as an institution in Woolwich, where the RA is
based, didn't strike me as odd.
However, it seems that he nursed a considerable grievance with the army,
even though he served with them for 12 years previous. He lied about his
age to be readmitted and it seems he regretted it!
Perhaps his position in France for more than a year in the heavy
artillery affected this, as he would have been in the retreats to the
Marne and, from 1915, be part of the main target for gas shells (gas
shells were typically mixed up in high explosive shells for
counter-battery fire prior to an attack.)
Nor was any leave mentioned, until he was admitted to hospital. Maybe he
suffered a bit from what they called shell shock - we will never know
but it seems that late 1915 his attitude changed. His promotion was soon
followed by his AWOL incident, his punishment saw him shackled in front
of his mates at a time of very bad weather and left him riddled with
scabies. He was already a skinny bloke and that can't have helped his
constitution or state of mind. Soon afterwards he must have decided to
get out of the army however he could. . . . . only to be thwarted by changing
rules.
He must have been bitter.

  Other Records

1. Occupation: Corporal Royal Artillery Dover, 1897.

Frank married Sarah NEALE [8747] [MRIN: 2918] on 8 Jul 1897 in Parish Church Mistley, Essex. (Sarah NEALE [8747] was born in 1873.)