Frank Barnes, Service no. 250549, Essex Regiment, 5th Battalion.
Rank: Sergeant
Frank Barnes died on 10th January 1922 aged 41 and after the WWI Memorial at Benhall Church had been completed. He appears in the Suffolk County Roll of Honour and was also mentioned in dispatches.
He married Clare Chambers, the Benhall School Headmaster’s daughter, by licence:
From the Evening Star, 16 July 1915
BARNES – CHAMBERS
On July 14th at St. Mary’s, Benhall by the Rev. L B Delap, Vicar. Frank Barnes, 54th Division Infantry Base Depot. St. Albans, third son of Frederick Barnes, The Glen, Saxmundham to Clare, only daughter of John Chambers, The Schoolhouse, Benhall.
Frederick Barnes, Frank’s father
Ellen ‘Nellie’ Jane Hammond, Frank’s mother
Clare Chambers, Frank’s wife
From Essex Regiment Museum:
Frank Barnes was in the 5th Battalion of the Essex Regiment, one of the Essex Territorial Battalions – the others were the 4th, 6th and 7th Battalions. Together, these 4 battalions made up the 161st (Essex) Brigade, part of the 54th (East Anglian) Division. The territorial battalions were part-time and trained to be ready for call up to defend the homeland when needed.
During the First World War, the Essex territorial battalions were sent overseas (to Gallipoli and the Middle East) and renumbered to 1/4th, 1/5th, 1/6th, 1/7th, with second line battalions created to continue the defence of the homeland (2/4th, 2/5th, 2/6th and 2/7th battalions). Our database records show that Frank Barnes rose to the rank of sergeant in the 1/5th Battalion.
From this we can see that Frank Barnes went to Gallipoli with the 5th Battalion (actually the 1/5th) on the 9th August 1915. He was eligible for the 1914-15 Star, the British War Medal and the Victory Medal. He was also mentioned in dispatches.
Courtesy Steve Davey, Essex Regiment Research Volunteer
Chelmsford Museum
At the end of WWI Frank returned to civilan life. In June 1921 Frank & Clare Barnes were boarders in Ipswich. Frank stated that his occupation was as an Audit Clerk for a Chocolate Manufacturer but he was out of work due to ‘war disablement’.
Frank died at Borough Fever Hospital in Norwich on 10th January 1922 of Phthsis, which we know as Pulmonary Tuberculosis or TB.
TB surged after WWI due to cramped unsanitary conditions and returning soldiers bringing the disease home. The war exacerbated TB, turning it into a significant health crisis.
He is buried at Benhall St. Mary’s Church. A memorial cross on a plinth indicates his burial place & states:-
FRANK BARNES
died January 10th 1922
Aged 41 years
“On him be the peace and the blessing for he was great-hearted”
He is not alone, his brother Alan Barnes is also buried at the same location. Alan lived at the Glen, Bigsby’s Corner, Benhall and also died of TB. His memorial states:
