Service No: 14/1693 14th Battalion Royal Warwickshire Regiment
Frederick John Wyatt was baptised in 1877 at St James’s Church, Newbottle with Charlton, Northamptonshire. His parents, John and Mary Markham had married in 1860, and Frederick was their child.
His mother, Mary, died in 1888 when Frederick was eleven years old. He continued to live with his widowed father, John, and his older sister Emily, until at least 1891. He had left the family home for Kingsbury by 1901, and appears in Castle Bromwich in 1911, being listed as a 33-year-old labourer on the Midland Railway.
We don’t know when Frederick enlisted in the Army, but his medal index card shows he didn’t serve overseas before 1916, as there is no entitlement to a 1914 Star or 1914/15 Star. He has no known grave and is commemorated on the Thiepval Memorial, as well as on memorials in St Mary and St Margaret Church, Castle Bromwich and on the village war memorial. He is also commemorated on the war memorial in the church at which he was baptised.
The 14th Battalion of the Royal Warwickshire Regiment formed part of the attack on High Wood on the Somme on the 22nd – 23rd July 1916.
At 10pm on 22nd July 1916, the 14th Battalion joined in an attack on Wood Lane, with High Wood on their left. This was part of a general British attack from Guillemont to Pozieres. There was to be a five and a half hour bombardment of the German lines, with two hour concentrated shelling of the German front line before zero hour. At 10 minutes to zero, the attacking troops were to advance under the cover of an artillery barrage until they were close to the German line, and then to lie down and wait for the barrage to lift at zero. All ranks were warned: ‘hesitation is fatal… a quick bayonet charge is certain to have the required effect.’
At 9.55pm, the Germans opened ‘overwhelming machine gun and infantry fire’ and British troops were ‘cut to bits’.
Two companies from the 15th Battalion were later sent in to support the right flank of the attack, but they lost their way and were not used.
Frederick John Wyatt is recorded as having died on 23rd July 1916. He was not alone, his battalion recording 184 casualties during the offensive.
Frederick has no known grave and is commemorated on the Thiepval Memorial, Somme, France as well as on the Castle Bromwich War Memorial and on a plaque in St Mary and St Margaret Church.
