No.152615, Private, Frederick Charles PEACHEY
Aged 24
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Frederick Peachey was born in Saxon Street on 9th May 1892 (Newmarket Q2-1892 3B:535), baptised on 31st July 1892 in Woodditton, son of Edward and Susannah PEACHEY
(née WESTLEY).
1901 census...Aged 7, he was in Saxon Street with his father Edward [38] a bricklayer born Woodditton; his mother Susannah [35] born Poplar, London; brother William Edward [11] and sisters Rose Gertrude [6] and Elizabeth M [4]. The children all recorded as born in Woodditton. ( more accurately Saxon Street). 1911 census... Aged 18, a help at home, he was at Rose Cottage, Saxon Street with his parents, sister Winifred Mabel and brother Harry Alfred [6] no place of birth given unless the Saxon Street Woodditton was intended for all the entries. He is very likely the Fred PEACHEY, 20 year old labourer who sailed on the SS "Corsican" from Liverpool to Quebec, Canada on 26th July 1912. |
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He enlisted in Boissevain, Manitoba, on 30th October 1915 for the 79th Overseas Battalion, giving his next of kin as father Edward Peachey of Rose Cottage, Saxon Street, Cambridgeshire, England. His occupation was farmer . He was 23 years old (dob given as 9th May 1892), 5' 9.5" 176.5 cm)tall, chest 35" to 37" (88.9 to 94 cm cm), weighing 140 lbs (63.5 kg) brown eyes and brown hair, Church of England. Canadian Archives- RG 150, Accession 1992-93/166, Box 7676 - 9..Item Number:572315 He sailed on RMS Lapland on 24th April 1916,landing in UK on 5th May. He joined the 1st Canadian Mounted Rifles in France on 9th June 1916 and according to his 'circumstances of death card', he was killed in action south west of Courcelette. The Battle of Flers-Courcelette, part of the battle of the Somme, started September 15th 1916. The Canadian Corps assaulted on a two-kilometre front near the village of Courcelette. Advancing behind a creeping barrage, by 8:00 a.m. the main objective, a defence bastion known as the Sugar Factory, was taken, and the Canadians pushed ahead to Courcelette. Numerous German counter-attacks were successfully held and by the next day the position was consolidated. In the weeks that followed, the three Canadian divisions again and again attacked a series of German entrenchments. The final Canadian objective was the "ditch of evil memory," Regina Trench. Repeatedly they failed to take it until November. Then the first autumn rains turned the battlefield into a bog and the offensive staggered to a halt. The line had been moved forward only ten kilometres. The Somme had cost Canada 24,029 casualties. Frederick was initially buried by a graves registration unit but not not moved until a sweep of the area shown below in 1919, when he and a few others (unidentified) were moved to Regina Trench Cemetery. |
photo: Rodney Gibson photo:Rodney Gibson
click here to go to the Commonwealth War Graves Commission website for full cemetery/memorial details