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In his Norfolk Regiment days
He attested in Norwich on 24th February 1916 and was placed in the Army Reserve Class "B". He gave his age as 32, born in Brandon, a bricklayer living at 8
White horse Street, Brandon. He was 5 feet 3.25 inches (160.5 cm) tall, weighed 130 lbs (59.2 kg), chest 33" to 36" (83.8 to 91.4). He was married to Mary Elizabeth ROYAL, and they had 4 children,
Ellen May [8 May 1904], Frederick Thomas [5th April 1908], Robert George [22nd May 1909] and Mary Elizabeth [9th February 1915].
Mobilised into the Norfolk Regiment Territorials on 31st May 1916 and the 3rd/5th Norfolks on 13th June that year. He was transferred to the 5th Middlesex on
1st May 1917. Embarked at Southampton on 18th July 1917 reaching Alexandria, Egypt on 4th August and joining the 2nd/10th Middlesex in the field on 14th August.
Receiving a gun shot wound to the skull, in action on the 27th December 1917, he was admitted to No.53 Field Ambulance where he died from his wounds the
following day.
His widow was awarded 37 shillings 11 pence (£ 1.89)per week pension for herself and 5 children. Their 5th child, Walter, was born late in 1916.
CWGC have his age incorrectly as 25 years.
The 2/10 Middlesex were part of the 160th Brigade, 53rd Division in the fighting for Jerusalem. Possibly,(his wounding is recorded as at
a place unknown) he may have been part of what is described in How Jerusalem Was Won - Being the Record of Allenby's Campaign in Palestine" by W.T. Massey:-
" The Turkish ambulances were seen hard at work on the Jericho road throughout the day. There was a stout defence of a detached post at Ibn Obeid. A company
of the 2/10th Middlesex Regiment had been sent on to Obeid, about five miles east of Bethlehem, to watch for the enemy moving about the rough tracks in that
bare and broken country which falls away in jagged hills and sinuous valleys to the Dead Sea. The little garrison, whose sole shelter was a ruined monastic
building on the hill, were attacked at dawn by 700 Turkish cavalry supported by mountain guns. The garrison stood fast all day though practically surrounded,
and every attack was beaten off. The Turks tried again and again to secure the hill, which commands a track to Bethlehem, but, although they fired 400
shells at the position, they could not enter it, and a battalion sent up to relieve the Middlesex men next morning found that the company had driven the
enemy off."
photo: Commonwealth War Graves Commission
Frederick Newell is buried in Jerusalem War Cemetery, grave S:35
click here to go to the Commonwealth War Graves Commission website for full cemetery/memorial details
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