FREDERICK J. GRICE 1883-1943 REMEMBRANCE ANZAC-100 2015
Frederick John Grice 23/9th Battalion AIF. WW1. Enlisted 30/8/1916. Joined 9th Battalion 30/9/16. Aged 33; 7st 7lb; 5 foot 2 inches. Tattoo R. forearm. Steward. Born Stoke-on Trent. Wife Alice, and three daughters (Rosa, Madge, Violet) Lived Bowley, St Ascot, Brisbane (after discharge at Tower St, Ascot). Date of embarkation 17/11/1916, from Brisbane on HMAT A.55 "Kyarra". Arrived England 30/01/1917, Plymouth. Marched 134 miles through heavy snow to the 3rd Training Battalion, Durrington, Wiltshire, arriving on 16/2/1917. (Photo - (some) "Australians marching with fixed bayonets shortly after arriving in England.") Later evidence proves he took approved leave after the initial warfare training at Durrington and went to Stoke-on-Trent to visit his family/relatives. He did not return to duty on the date expected (no leave records). 'AWOL' - 6/4/1917, "Absent" in England from 6/4/1917. Admitted 6/4/1917, Stoke-on-Trent War Hospital. Transferred to 1st Auxiliary Hospital, 21/5/1917. Declared "illegal absentee" by CO of "3rd Training Battalion." 1/5/1917. Fined "deficiency of kit, 4.15.00". "Complete entry deleted" (AWOL). 28/5/1917. [All his WW1 records are here] His Conduct Sheet is therefore blank. He has no charges or any disciplinary action against him. This proves he was on authorised leave to 5/4, going to Stoke-on-Trent, but could not return to Durrington due to illness. Just after the Battle of the Somme, with the loss of 1,000,000 causalities, no soldier would be in a war hospital unless it was absolutely necessary. It took many weeks for the Training Camp to be advised he was in the War Hospital. Fred left for Australia on Hospital Ship No 1, 3/7/1917, from Avenmouth, with "myalgia; chronic bronchitis pneumonia". Arrived in Australia, 29/8/1917. Discharged :- 3/10/1917; medical grounds. Pension granted with extra for wife and each of three children.
Frederick J. Grice volunteered to go WW1, even though he had a wife and three daughters (standing is Rosa (Virgin), on high stool is Marjory ("Madge" Blacklock) and on Alice's lap is Violet). Photo of family before departure, 17/11/1916. The Battle of the Somme. 1 July and 18 November 1916. 1,000,000 men were wounded or killed. The Battle of the Somme was a battle of the First World War fought by the armies of the British and French empires against the German Empire. It took place between 1 July and 18 November 1916 on both sides of the River Somme in France. The battle was one of the largest of World War I, in which more than 1,000,000 men were wounded or killed, making it one of the bloodiest battles in human history. Frederick enlisted eight weeks after "The Somme" started. He arrived in England on 30 Jan 1917, six weeks after it ended.
"WE SHALL REMEMBER THEM" "THE SOMME. The whole history of the world cannot contain a more ghastly word." Friedrich Steinbrecher When Fred VOLUNTEERED in Toowoomba in Aug 1916 he would have well known that he was going into a war which was witnessing the most horrific causalities the world had ever seen (Somme in its 2nd stage). When he arrived in the UK from Australia on 30 Jan 1917 :- 1916/1917 (Winter, UK): One of the most SEVERE WINTERS of the 20th century up to 1939/40. 16th January 1917: "HEAVY SNOWFALL in England. 31cm at West Witton, West Yorkshire and 15cm at Durham. This was followed by a HEAVY SNOWFALL in England between the 25th and 26th January." Fred contracted "chronic bronchitis pneumonia" sometime in the Training Camp at Perham Down during one of most severe winters of the 20th century to 1940. (He had left Queensland in summer.) Pneumonia was regarded in the 19th and early 20th century as "the captain of the men of death" (NB: no anti-biotics!). Aussie troops had little time for authority or military discipline and it was common, par for the course, to go 'AWOL' to see their family and relatives in UK (only ever chance for majority). However, it is fact that Fred had approved leave to see his relatives in Stoke-on Trent. He was not AWOL - he was sick in a war hospital! From sooty Stoke-on-Trent area, the Grices came from a very long line of hereditary potters. This area was the absolute worst for industrial pollution! Being born there, did Fred have underlying lung problems before returning back and during one of worst winters for 40 years? Did his desire to see family once more, most likely for the last time, contribute to his serious illness? (I haven't searched to see where his younger brothers Joseph and Harry were.) Fred remained ill and incapacitated for the rest of his life and died only aged 60, in 1943. He was constantly nursed by his wife Alice, who sadly predeceased him by 8 years, and was also cared for by his many daughters. Frederick John therefore suffered for 27 years and his WW1 service contributed to his death. " L E S T W E F O R G E T " Ian R. Macdonnell 21 April 2015. (Son of Dorothea Alice (nee) Grice, who as a teenager, nursed her father Frederick until his death. Alice, died in 1935, age 47, mother of 8 children.)
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