Pte 16695 Frank Adlington

• Age: 29
• From: Liverpool
• Regiment: The King's (Liverpool Regiment) 18th Btn
• K.I.A Saturday 1st July 1916
• Commemorated at: Thiepval Memorial
  Panel Ref: P&F1D8B &8 C.

16695 Private Frank ADLINGTON, 18^th Battalion KLR. 

Frank was born in St Domingo Grove, Everton  on 21st May 1887, the youngest of eight children born to commission agent, Thomas Pennington Adlington and his wife Isabella (nee Pybus) who married who married on the 15th Dec 1869 at St Mary’s, West Derby. Thomas was a commission agent of Liverpool, father William Clayton, whilst Isabella was of West Derby, father Christopher. Frank was baptised in St Peter's Church, Liverpool on 01st August 1887. 

His father, Thomas, died aged 49 in 1889, his previous 10 years living under a cloud. 

Liverpool Journal of Commerce 12th July 1878 

THE BANK FRAUDS OF A LIVERPOOL MERCHANT. 

CONVICTION OF ADLINGTON.   

At the Liverpool Borough Sessions yesterday, before Mr. J. B. Aspinall Q.C., recorder, Thomas Pennington Adlington, 38 years of age, described as a commercial agent, was indicted for having on the 24th November last, and other days, obtained by false pretences from the Bank of Liverpool the sums of £2566 3s 3d, £2,084 2s 4d, and £2,100. He was also indicted for having, on the 19th March last, by false pretences, caused £1,400 to be paid by the Adelphi Bank Limited, to Arthur Daly, who is now undergoing a sentence of five years' penal servitude for fraud. Mr. Gully, Q.C., and Mr Kennedy (instructed by Messrs. Harvey, Alsop, and Stevens for the Bank of Liverpool. and by Messrs. Goffey and North for the Adelphi Bank), appeared for the prosecution; and Mr. Russell, Q.C. and Mr. James (instructed by Messrs. Laces), defended the prisoner. Mr. Gully, Q C., in opening the case for the prosecution, recapitulated the circumstances of the case as previously disclosed before the magistrates. and evidence was afterwards given. Mr. John Hope Simpson, sub-manager of the Bank of Liverpool, and other witnesses were called on behalf of the prosecution, which admitted that Adlington had handed over to Daly substantially the whole proceeds of the frauds. Some evidence was also given in support of the indictment in respect to the Adelphi Bonk. Mr. J. H. Harrison, the manager, and Wm. Morrison, a clerk, being the witnesses. On behalf of the prisoner, Mr. Russell, in an able speech, did not deny the fraudulent nature of the transactions with the Bank of Liverpool, but urged that Adlington was a mere tool in the hands of Daly, that he received not a penny of the proceeds of the frauds, and though he had acted foolishly, and even dishonestly, in putting his name to the documents. He had no intention of defrauding, being under the belief that the wheat did exist. The Recorder, in summing up, said that as some technical difficulty arose in regard to that indictment, and as the other was sufficient to proceed upon, he would not put it to the jury. It appeared to him that the case lost much of its serious aspect when it was found that the prisoner did not himself obtain any portion of the money. Nevertheless, he could not agree with the counsel for the prisoner, and he should tell the jury that if the prisoner, either in words or writing, made a false statement to the bank with the view of obtaining money which he knew he would not obtain without that false statement, and did get the money, it was a fraud. The jury after a short absence from court found the prisoner guilty. The Recorder is addressing the prisoner said he had been most properly convicted, though, as he had told the jury, the offence assumed a considerably less serious aspect when it had appeared that there had been no intention on the part of the prisoner of getting any of the money for himself. But on that ground he thought it almost more important that there should be a conviction, because there was growing up a sort of false morality among a certain class of commercial men which ought to be put a stop to. People had begun to think that if they were not going to put money into their own pockets there is no harm in assisting and winking at other people’s frauds. The prisoner most wickedly and most falsely went to the bank and induced them to think that a totally different state of things existed from that which in point of fact did exist, and he got large sums of money, if not for himself at least for his friends; he must, therefore, bear the consequences. It was very sad to see him in that position, no one could feel more sorry than himself (the recorder). He would not keep him there any longer, but would sentence him to be imprisoned and kept to hard labour for eight calendar months. 

By the time of the 1891 Census the family were living at 8 The Willows, Everton.

His mother is a 43 year old widow, born in Catterick who is now a coal agent. Frank is 3 years of age and shares the home with his widowed grandmother Jane Pybus aged 75 and seven siblings who were all born in Everton; Florence E. is 19 and a photographers assistant, Eleanor J is 17 and also a photographer's assistant, Isabella aged 15, George aged 14, Maude aged 10, William aged 8 and Hilda S. aged 6.     

His eldest sister, Florence Elizabeth, born in 1872, died aged 26 in 1898.

In 1901 Isabella, a 54 years old widow, lived with her surviving seven children at 8 The Willows, Liverpool, Eleanor J. aged 27, a photographers assistant, Isabel M. aged 25, a telephone operator, George aged 24, a clerk with a provision merchant, Maud A. aged 20, William aged 18, a cashier with a shipping company, Hilda S. aged 16, Frank aged 13. They have a boarder, Albert M. Davies aged 27. 

Frank aged 19, of 8 The Willows, Breck Rd, is found on the crew lists of the Cunarder “SS Campania” in 1906. 

By 1911, Isabella, still at the same address, lived with five of her children, Eleanor Jane aged 37, a photographer’s receptionist, Isabel Mary aged 35, a telephone clerk in charge, Maud Anne aged 30, William aged 28, a shipping clerk in a Steamship office, and Frank aged 23 also a clerk for a Railway company.  

Frank enlisted at St George's Hall in Liverpool on 02^nd September 1914 joining the 18th Battalion of The King's Liverpool Regiment as Private 16695. He gave his age as 27 years and 103 days, and his occupation as a clerk and his next of kin initially as his mother. He was five feet and six inches tall, weighed 124lbs, 35” chest, fair complexion, grey eyes, fair hair and gave his religion as Church of England.  

From the 23^rd September 1914 he was billeted at Hooton Park Race Course and remained there until 03^rd December 1914 when they moved into the hutted accommodation at Lord Derby’s estate at Knowsley Hall. On 30th April 1915 the 18th Battalion alongside the other three Pals battalions left Liverpool via Prescot Station for further training at Belton Park, Grantham. They remained here until September 1915 when they reached Larkhill Camp on Salisbury Plain. 

Frank married Ellen Jameson of 14 Prescot Road, Knotty Ash, on 29^th September 1915 at Liverpool Registry Office. He subsequently named her as his next of kin, replacing his mother whom he had nominated in September 1914. 

He went to France on board the SS Invicta reaching Boulogne at 4.30pm on 07th November 1915, just five weeks after his marriage.

On 01^st July 1916, Frank took part in the opening attacks of the Battle of the Somme at Montauban and was killed in action, aged 29. The Battalion diary gives an insight into the circumstances of the day:

At 6.30am the artillery commenced an intensive bombardment of the enemy’s trenches. Zero Hour – 7.30 am – the battalion commenced to leave their trenches and the attack commenced. The attack was pressed with great spirit and determination in spite of heavy shelling and machine gun enfilade fire which caused casualties amounting to 2/3rds of the strength of the Battalion in action. The whole system of German trenches including the Glatz Redoubt was captured without any deviation from the scheduled programme. Consolidated positions and made strong points for defence against possible counter attacks. 

Graham Maddocks provides more detail concerning the events of the day:

As the first three waves began to move forward towards the German reserve line, known as Alt Trench and then on to the Glatz Redoubt itself, they suddenly came under enfilading fire from the left. This was from a machine gun which the Germans had sited at a strong point in Alt Trench. The gun itself was protected by a party of snipers and bombers, who, hidden in a rough hedge, were dug into a position in Alt Trench, at its junction with a communication trench known as Alt Alley. These bombers and snipers were themselves protected by rifle fire from another communication trench, Train Alley which snaked back up the high ground and into Montauban itself. The machine gun fire was devastating and it is certain that nearly of the Battalion’s casualties that day were caused by that one gun.  

Lieutenant Colonel Edward Henry Trotter  wrote in the conclusion of his account of the days action:

I cannot speak to highly of the gallantry of the Officers and men. The men amply repaid the care and kindness of their Company Officers, who have always tried to lead and not to drive. As laid down in my first lecture to the Battalion when formed, in the words of Prince Kraft:

“Men follow their Officers not from fear, but from love of the Regiment where everything had always and at all times gone well with them”.    

Joe Devereux in his book A Singular Day on the Somme gives the Casualty Breakdown for the 18^th Battalion as Killed in Action 7 Officers and 165 men and of those who died in consequence of the wounds 3 Officers and 19 men a total of 194 out of a total loss for the four Liverpool Pals Battalions of 257. 

Frank's body was not recovered and his name is commemorated on the Thiepval Memorial to the Missing of the Somme.

The Thiepval Memorial, the Memorial to the Missing of the Somme, bears the names of more than 72,000 officers and men of the United Kingdom and South African forces who died in the Somme sector before 20 March 1918 and have no known grave. Over 90% of those commemorated died between July and November 1916. 

On 01^st August 1932 the Prince of Wales and the President of France inaugurated the Thiepval Memorial in Picardy. The inscription reads: “Here are recorded the names of officers and men of the British Armies who fell on the Somme battlefields between July 1915 and March 1918 but to whom the fortune of war denied the known and honoured burial given to their comrades in death.”

In a letter to the Home Office on the 24th July 1916, his wife explained how prior to their marriage Frank’s separation money was paid at his request to his mother :- 

“Sir, 

 news has just been received from the War Office that Frank Adlington (16695) 9th Platoon 3rd Company 18th King’s Liverpool Regiment has been killed in action on the 1st of July. I want to know how I stand as regards everything due to him. I am his wife, I have not been receiving any Separation money, as he joined the army before we were married he left it to his mother, so I left this to her thinking I would see him again. I enclose my marriage certificate for you to see I am his wife and to see what you can do for me. I think I stood in my own light not to take the Separation money when he asked me but I thought I would leave it as he left it till he should return to me. I would like to hear from you as soon as possible.  

I am, Yours respectfully  

(sd) E. Adlington.” 

Liverpool Daily Post 24th July 1916 

Private Frank Adlington has been killed in action, he was formally employed for many years on the office staff of the C.P.R. in Liverpool, and enlisted in September 1914. [Canadian Pacific Railway] 

Liverpool Echo 24th 25th and 26th July 1916 

KILLED IN ACTION. 

ADDLINGTON – July 1, killed in action, Private Frank Adlington (“Pals”), the dearly beloved husband of Nellie Adlington, 14 Prescot Road, Knotty Ash. 

Liverpool Echo 31st July 1916 

CONDOLENCE. 

ADDLINGTON – Mrs Addlington and family sincerely thank all friends for their kind sympathy in their sad bereavement. - 8 The Willows, Everton. 

Liverpool Echo 1st 2nd and 3rd July 1917 

LOST AT THE BATTLE OF THE SOMME. 

ADDLINGTON – In loving MEMORY of my dear husband Private Frank Adlington K.L.R. (Pals), killed in action July 1, 1916. (Too dearly loved to be ever forgotten.)  Nellie Adlington, 14 Prescot Road, Knotty Ash. 

Liverpool Echo 1st and 2nd July 1918 

IN MEMORIAM. 

ADDLINGTON – In ever loving remembrance of my dear husband Private FRANK ADDLINGTON (K.L.R.), killed in action July 1, 1916.  Ever remembered by his loving wife, Nell. 

Ellen was awarded a pension of 10 shillings a week from 22^nd January 1917. 

Her Pension is declared “Dead” on 18/9/1926. This coincides with her being remarried to Walter Douglas Jervis in 1926. They appear on the 1939 register at 36 St Aiden Crescent, Cardiff, Ellen has a dob 15th Sept 1892. 

Mother died aged 86 in 1932 and was buried on the 21st October at Anfield Cemetery. 

Frank is commemorated in the Hall of Remembrance, Liverpool Town Hall, Panel 16 Right

We currently have no further information on Frank Adlington, If you have or know someone who may be able to add to the history of this soldier, please contact us.