Interesting/Mysterious Soldier.

[rolt968]

This is a mystery. If he was in contact with his family the only reason to use an alias was for his service with the army for being underage which seems the amount of time he spent in the army would seem crazy to keep.

Not to mention what was was he doing in India.

I suspect that having enlisted under one name he was a bit stuck with it, or else he would have had to admit to having told a lie on his attestation form which might lead to his discharge.

I don't think his being India is much of a mystery. He was serving with 2 King's Liverpool who were based in India in 1911. They were still there in 1914 and stayed there throughout the war. I'm sure that there is someone on the forum who can tell us when they went to India.

It's more interesting how he came to be in 1 battalion in France in August 1914 having been in 2 battalion in India in 1911. I wonder if he had served his time in between become s reservist.

(ed)

This does not exclude the possibility that there was something he wanted to hide or avoid. As I said earlier, giving his fictional age as 17 years and 11 months gave him a quick way into the army a month later, which just might have been deliberately calculated.

RM

[Guest]

He seems to be a very clever character. It seems that he was close to his broke Luke (who became Mayor of Blackburn later).

May it be a possibility that he was a reservist and then somehow got in the 1st Kings Liverpool in France.

He must of experienced some things in India. But someone who was on this forum had his medals but he is no longer active.

[rolt968]

He seems to be a very clever character. It seems that he was close to his broke Luke (who became Mayor of Blackburn later).

May it be a possibility that he was a reservist and then somehow got in the 1st Kings Liverpool in France.

He must of experienced some things in India. But someone who was on this forum had his medals but he is no longer active.

He would have enlisted in the army to serve a number of years with the colours and a number following that as a reservist.

All reservists were recalled immediately at the time of mobilisation and allocated where necessary / appropriate to regular battalions of their regiments.

The home battalion was 1 King's Liverpool. He would have reported to the depot and been allocated to that battalion which landed at Le Havre on 13 August 1914.

RM

[Guest]

That has really fleshed out his life. It seems crazy that he went to India and did so much.

I always imagined him as being older but he was still young. But in death he was reunited with his real name.

[Loader]

Maybe a young lady involved? A promise broken? He could have joined up under alias to hide from her but kept in touch with his family.

[rolt968]

It's not completely impossible that he had enlisted before into another regiment under another name.

RM

[Guest]

It seems possible although we do know Frank was still in touch/close to his family as they paid for words on his gravestone. It would be amazing to have his medals.

[The Scorer]

I apologise if this is wrong, but might a crime have been committed for which he was suspected but later proven innocent?

I'm thinking that the former might have led to his departure and the latter to his return?

[Guest]

I was considering this as a possibility. I have to admit I do not have a great deal of knowledge. And my grandfather who was born the same year as Franks death did not know a great deal. And I suspect he did but I guess I was too young to ask him the questions which I want to know now.

We have his death penny. But I did suspect a crime had been committed I will have to delve into some research.