Pte 1860 Frank Reid/Read. Later Pte 46707 12th Royal Fusiliers

[Tim Bell]

Pte 1860 Frank Reid/Read. Later Pte 46707 12th Royal Fusiliers

Private Read enlisted in 5th (Reserve) Battalion and served at Home with 45th Provisional Battalion.  Frank was posted in Margate when he was discharged and conscripted for General Service.  Mobilised with the Royal Fusiliers, Frank joined their 12th Bttn in France on 5 September 1916.
Pte Reid was posted Missing and later Presumed Dead on 15/06/1917,aged 22. His Mother Kate received a Pension at 22 Poolstock Lane, Wigan. Frank had previously been employed by the Lancashire & Yorkshire Railway. He is commemorated on the Wigan Wallgate Memorial and St James' Poolstock Memorial & Roll. Enquiries were made with Red Cross and Frank was reported missing in the Press on 22/09/1917.
Nine other members of 12th Royal Fusils died on 15 June 1917.  Eight are commemorated on the Menin Gate and one at Lissenthoek.  No commemoration has been found for Frank Reid.

Credit to Mack's research.

[mack]

hiya tim
are the IFTC people going to get him commemorated,they seem to only take on death in service ones lately,frank is one of these men

mack

[Tim Bell]

Hi Mack,
The case is being put forward. The absence for a DC for overseas deaths is irregular, but not unknown.  The inconsistency of the Read / Reid Surname doesn't help. 
T

[PaulC]

I posted about this man on GWF earlier this year, I assumed the absence of a DC would be a problem and never got any further. Good to see that he's gone forward!

[Tim Bell]

Great minds think alike Paul! Frank Reid is our only overseas death in our current group of applications. No action required, as there is no know grave.
CWGC policy for unknown overseas burials is to commemorate them on the most appropriate memorial to the missing - in this case the Addenda Panel of the Menin Gate.  He will be joining his comrades of 12th Royal Fusiliers, not far from his Manchester Regiment comrades.  "He is not missing; he is here." Fd Marsh Plumer 1927.

[Tim Bell]

Frank Reid's commemoration was accepted today and entered in the UKBOR.
https://www.cwgc.org/find-records/find-war-dead/casualty-details/75470558/frank-reid/

[Tim Bell]

Frank Reid's commemoration has been moved to the Menin Gate where his name will be inscribed on an Addenda Panel. In the absence of age, Next of Kin & Basic Address being published by CWGC, nobody will be able to verify that this the Frank Reid we found from Wigan. Forgotten for more than a century & now unidentifiable. Disgraceful in my view.

[Tim Bell]

Frank's name is evidently inscribed on Addenda Panel 58.

[PaulC]

Just wrote a brief bio for him on Find a Grave. Not sure where the L&Y Railway info came from, the service papers I have say he was a coal miner at Douglas Bank Colliery in Wigan.

[Tim Bell]

Hi Paul,
Take a look on GWF. https://www.greatwarforum.org/topic/148203-memorial-tablet-found-on-ebay/