No.12451, Private, Frederick BRUNNING
Aged 25
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Born 1890 (1st qtr 1891 Bury St Edmunds 4a:768) son of Edward and Mary Ann BRUNNING (née PIZZEY )
1891 census...Aged 3 months, he was at 15 St.Edmunds Place, Bury St.Edmunds, with his father Edward BRUNNING [45] labourer born Icklingham; his mother Mary Ann [43] born Felsham; brother Arthur [16] errand boy; sisters Alice [9] and Ellen [5]. All the children were born in Bury St.Edmunds 1901 census...Aged 10, he was still at 15 St.Edmunds Place with his parents 1911 census...Aged 20, a draper's porter, he was still at 15 St.Edmunds Place with his widowed mother. His father had died in 1902. |
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He enlisted in Bury St.Edmunds. The action was part of the battle for the Frezenberg Ridge, just east of Ypres. The Battalion were just north of Verlorenhoek between the St Juliaan and the Zonnebecke roads, the 2nd Cheshire Regt on their right and the 1st Monmouth on the left, with 2nd Northumberland Fusiliers further left. There seems to be a gap in the archived war diaries for the 1st Suffolks, which start again on 9th May 1915. Murphy's "History of the Suffolk Regiment" tells us however that Capt Balders had gone round on 7th telling them an attack was coming on 8th and the Battalion was expected to yield no ground and stand to the last man From the diaries of the other battalions it appears that on the 8th the Germans commenced a very intense barrage of every conceivable calibre and gas. The attack started at 10 am and eventually the Germans forced their way through the Cheshires line. This exposed the right flank of the Suffolks. Then the Monmouths fell back and when they tried a counter attack, this failed, thus compounding the grave situation of the Suffolks who now had the enemy to their left, front and right. By noon they were overwhelmed and forced to withdraw the remnats of the battalion. Practically every officer was either killed, wounded, or missing and over 400 other ranks were casualties. CWGC figures show a total of 95 killed, only one having a known grave, the rest all named on the Menin Gate
and on the St.Edmund's Place memorial. click here to go to the Commonwealth War Graves Commission website for full cemetery/memorial details |
