Frederick Londy was born in 1893 in the St Giles district of Bloomsbury, London, but seems to have had few settled places of residence in his short life. His mother, Eliza, appears to have been the breadwinner. In 1911 the family are recorded as living in 1 Hubert Villas, Hubert Road, Clacton, Essex: Eliza ran a boarding house, along with her daughter Ethel Clara, and Frederick’s occupation is given as “dyer’s porter” – although on enlistment, his trade is given as a telephone operator, perhaps the reason for his joining a signals company when he enlisted at Chelmsford on 15th June 1915. On enlistment Frederick’s address is given as 72 Pier Avenue, Clacton. He is shown as being 21 years and 9 months old.
Frederick’s role in the Signals Company was a specialist one, in a Lines of Communication Signals Company, and dangerous. The Royal Engineers carried out a number of different roles for the army both in the battlefield and along the lines of communication. The various specialisms were organised into different types of units, none of which was bigger than a Company in size. These units were attached to Divisions, or to larger formations at Corps, Army or even GHQ. The main ones, of which there were many, were the Field Companies and the Signals Companies. As they were attached to the fighting portions of the Divisions, these Companies often saw action and took part in the fighting.
Frederick was posted for service in France on the 21st January 1916.
Frederick was injured wounded in September 1916 with shrapnel wounds to the legs, back and left hand. He was sent back home to receive treatment at Nottingham Hospital from the 27th September to the 24th November 1916 and then to a convalescent hospital in Epsom.
Returning to service he was posted overseas to East Africa leaving Devonport on the 1st August 1917 arriving in Durban, South Africa and joining an Imperial Signals Company. Frederick transferred to Mombasa, Kenya and then to Dar Es Salaam in German East Africa, now Tanzania. He contracted malaria, being hospitalised in Mombasa on the 20th July 1918. On the 11th February 1919 Frederick was demobilised and left for England the next day, probably already showing signs of the illness that would lead to his death.
On the 18th June 1919 Frederick died aged 25 in Basingstoke Cottage Hospital of yellow atrophy of the liver a fatal degenerative disease that stops the liver functioning. The disease was probably attributable to the malaria contracted in East Africa during his war service.
Frederick is buried at Basingstoke (Worting Road) Cemetery.
There is a long set of pensions correspondence between the regiment and Frederick’s mother Eliza, who, according to the 1920 minutes (of the East Wickham War Memorial Committee), was staying at 21 Bethel Road in Welling.
From c 1921 onwards, Eliza is recorded as living in the Sydenham and Bromley areas, where she died in 1942 aged 84.
Commemorated
This story has been researched by volunteers. We have taken every effort to ensure its accuracy. If you are related to Frederick W Londy, or if you have any further information, please do get in touch.