Swain, Frederick 1918.

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Frederick Swain. Died 27 February 1918

Frederick was born in 1899 to father Frederick John and mother Lucy in Tunbridge Wells, Kent. He was the first born and had a brother, Arthur. We first find the Swains as a family in Lewisham in 1901. The records show the individuals are from different parts of the country, Frederick senior is from Reading, his wife Lucy from Northampton, Frederick jr from Kent. How they came to be moving to south London we do not know and there is no clue in Frederick Snr’s occupation as he was an ironmonger’s assistant in 1901. By the age of 12, Frederick jr’s family had now settled in Wokingham and they have set up a grocer’s business and living at 70 Rose Street in the centre of Wokingham town. We can assume that Frederick was helping with the family business is likely to have been well known in the town.
In a sense, it is not surprising that Frederick should join the Royal Flying Corps; the media called this elite group ‘the knight of the air’ and their heroes became national icons. We can also observe an ambitious family, both parents being fully prepared to travel and take risks in order to achieve their goals. Frederick, undoubtedly was a ‘chip off the old block’. Although not able to warn the infantry of the lack of damage to the German line on the first day of the Somme, (low cloud prevented their appearance) the RFC was to play a large part in the battle and also pay a high price of over 200 losses. The development of aircraft lagged behind that of the Germans, but was largely equalised by 1917. We do not know of Frederick’s eventual fate, but he is recognised on the Arras Flying Services Memorial in France. Frederick was a Serjeant at the time of his death and aged only 19 years.

Name: SWAIN, FREDERICK JAMES
Initials: F J
Nationality: United Kingdom
Rank: Serjeant
Regiment/Service: Royal Flying Corps
Unit Text: 25th Sqdn.
Age: 19
Date of Death: 27/02/1918
Service No: 75078
Additional information: Son of Frederick John and S.M. Swain, of 70, Rose St., Wokingham, Berks.
Casualty Type: Commonwealth War Dead
Memorial: ARRAS FLYING SERVICES MEMORIAL

Historical Information: The French handed over Arras to Commonwealth forces in the spring of 1916 and the system of tunnels upon which the town is built were used and developed in preparation for the major offensive planned for April 1917. The Commonwealth section of the FAUBOURG D’AMIENS CEMETERY was begun in March 1916, behind the French military cemetery established earlier. It continued to be used by field ambulances and fighting units until November 1918. The cemetery was enlarged after the Armistice when graves were brought in from the battlefields and from two smaller cemeteries in the vicinity. The cemetery contains 2,651 Commonwealth burials of the First World War. In addition, there are 30 war graves of other nationalities, most of them German. The graves in the French military cemetery were removed after the war to other burial grounds and the land they had occupied was used for the construction of the Arras Memorial and Arras Flying Services Memorial. The ARRAS MEMORIAL commemorates almost 35,000 servicemen from the United Kingdom, South Africa and New Zealand who died in the Arras sector between the spring of 1916 and 7 August 1918, the eve of the Advance to Victory, and have no known grave. The most conspicuous events of this period were the Arras offensive of April-May 1917, and the German attack in the spring of 1918. Canadian and Australian servicemen killed in these operations are commemorated by memorials at Vimy and Villers-Bertonneux. A separate memorial remembers those killed in the Battle of Cambrai in 1917. The ARRAS FLYING SERVICES MEMORIAL commemorates nearly 1,000 airmen of the Royal Naval Air Service, the Royal Flying Corps, and the Royal Air Force, either by attachment from other arms of the forces of the Commonwealth or by original enlistment, who were killed on the whole Western Front and who have no known grave. The British Air Services originated in the use of balloons for purposes of reconnaissance. The balloon gave way to power-driven air machines and in 1911 an Air Battalion of the Royal Engineers was formed. In 1912 the Air Battalion was superseded by the Royal Flying Corps (RFC) which was orgainsed into two branches; one military (army) and one naval. However, divergent priorities prompted the Royal Navy to form its own air arm, the Royal Naval Air Service (RNAS) which was officially recognised in July 1914. Towards the end of the First World War, on 1 April 1918 both the RFC and the RNAS were merged to form the Royal Air Force.

70 Rose Street, Wokingham Berkshire.

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