Memorial at Basra
Frederick Chambers. 14 Nov 1918
Frederick was born in Wokingham in 1888 to William and Naomi Chambers. He was the eldest of their 4 children and in 1901 the family lived at Market place, Wokingham. William was a self-employed Baker/Confectioner.
By 1911 Frederick was a regular soldier serving in the 9th Lancers who, at the time were stationed in Canterbury, he was 23. He went from the Cavalry to the Machine Gun Corps (Cavalry) 16th Squadron in the 5th Mounted Brigade. This Corps only existed from 1917 to 1922. He died in Mesopotamia (now Iraq) and is commemorated on the Basra memorial. The photo of the memorial was taken there in 2003, round the time of the Iraqi War.
Frederick’s Grand Niece, Linda Shaw, provides the following information:
“Frederick Tom was my great uncle; he had three brothers – William, George and Frank. George was my grandfather. Their parents, William and Naomi ran a confectioners shop with tea rooms on the Market Place in Wokingham. Frederick Tom was considered to be the family hero, bit of an adventurer but sadly dying too young. Family tradition had it that he died of malaria on his way back from East Africa so the Basra connection was interesting to see. I have obtained a copy of his war record from the National Archives but find it difficult to decipher, there seems to be a number of entries for him. As well as the Machine Gun Corps he was also in the East African Mounted Rifles between August 1914 and February 1915.”
Service Record
- Rank: Lance Corporal
- Service No: 52128
- Date of Death: 14/11/1918
- Regiment/Service: Machine Gun Corps (Cavalry) 16th Sqdn.
- Panel Reference: Panel 41.
- Memorial: BASRA MEMORIAL
Frederick Tom was my great uncle; he had three brothers – William, George and Frank. George was my grandfather. Their parents, William and Naomi ran a confectioners shop with tea rooms on the Market Place in Wokingham.
Frederick Tom was considered to be the family hero, bit of an adventurer but sadly dying too young. Family tradtion had it that he died of malaria on his way back from East Africa so the Basra connection was interesting to see.
I have obtained a copy of his war record from the National Archives but find it difficult to decipher, there seem to be a number of entries for him, as well as the Machine Gun Corp he was also in the East African Mounted Rifles between August 1914 and February 1915.
I hope this may be of some interest to you and help fill in some gaps. Please let me know if you would like any further information. I have photographs if you would be interested. You might also be able to help us fill in the gaps in our knowledge of Frederick Tom’s army career!
Hello Mike,
Many thanks for the photo, as always apologies for not keeping up with correspondence as I should…!
Funnily enough I have just had an e-mail from a lady called Wendy who was instrumental in uncovering a lot of the history of the Chambers family, particular Naomi (nee Thirkell) mother to Frederick Tom, William, George and Frank. To cut long story short some years ago I had entered some family details onto Genes Reunited and in particular asked for info about Frederick Tom. I very quickly got a response from someone who was related to FT’s mother – Naomi – which also led to a contact from Wendy (who is not related in any way) who was in possession of a photo album which had once belonged to Naomi. Wendy lived in Liverpool but her family were from Berkshire originally. Wendy was intrigued by this album and did a huge amount of research with the help of Berkshire Records Office, until my Genes Reunited search brought us all together!
A lot of the history is of Naomi’s family pre-Wokingham days but we have some photos which you might be interested in. I will start with one of William (the baker) who appears to carrying the regalia of Wokingham! Is this the case – do you know if he was ever Mayor, or alderman?
Another of the bakers shop, post 1900 we think. And how about the football team – see if anyone recognises a family member?!
You might like to use them in your history of Wokingham; we have others of general scenes of Wokingham if you are interested?
Best wishes
Linda