Lieutenant Francis Arnold Warrington

 

His father was born in Staffordshire, and his mother in Liverpool. His father had a number of children from previous Staffordshire marriages (including George Duncan, William Barrett, Margaret and Joseph who appear on censuses). He moved to Liverpool with his second wife by 1869, and was widowed again in 1871.  He married Francis’ mother in 1873 in Uttoxeter.  Francis had older siblings May, Dora, and Sidney, and younger brothers Garfield and Harold, all born in Liverpool.

 

Francis was baptised on 02nd April 1879 in St. John’s (Wesleyan) Chapel, Belvidere Road, Liverpool.

 

The 1881 census finds the family living at “Dingle Field”, Toxteth Park with six children and four servants. His father 54, is a shipowner/provision merchant employing 25 men, his mother is 36.  Two half-siblings are in the household, Margaret 21, and Joseph 20, both born in Staffordshire.  Francis is 2.

 

By 1891 Francis, 12, is a boarding pupil at Mead House School, a Wesleyan establishment for boys ages 7 to 16 in Shortmead Street, Biggleswade, Bedfordshire.  His parents are still at “Dingle Field”, with half brother William (a medical student), and siblings May, Dora, Sidney, Garfield, and Harold.  Francis later attended the Leys School, a Wesleyan Methodist school in Cambridge, from 1893.

Upon leaving school he went into business which led to a stay in Canada before returning to Liverpool where he traded on the Stock Exchange.

 

At least three of his half brothers emigrated to Canada.  Francis has not been found on the 1901 census, in England or Canada, nor on passenger lists.  His parents are still in “Dingle Field”, Dingle Lane with May and Garfield and three servants. His father is 74, a retired merchant, his mother is 56.  Harold, 16, is a pupil at the Leys School.

 

His eldest brother Sidney worked in their father’s business until moving to South Africa, where he married in 1911.

His father died aged 84 on 1st February 1911 leaving an estate of over £61,000.   

 

At the time of the 1911 census Francis, 32, Garfield, 29, and half brother George Duncan, 46, are at 30 Belvidere Road, Liverpool (all listed as sons). George is a provision merchant, Garfield is a cotton salesman, and Francis is a stockbroker’s clerk.  His recently widowed mother, 67, is living with (or perhaps visiting) married daughter Dora and her family in Heswall, Cheshire. His mother returned to Liverpool and lived at 2 Waverley Road and later at 4 Belvidere Road, then 39 Parkfield Road in Princes Park.

 

Francis appears on the Electoral Roll for 1914, at 4 Belvidere Road, his residential address, and 8 Hackins Hey, the address of his business, Gamon & Warrington, stock brokers.

 

He joined the 17th Battalion of The King's Liverpool Regiment as Private 16688. From the 23^rd September 1914 he was billeted at Hooton Park Race Course and remained there until 03^rd December 1914 when the Battalion moved into the hutted accommodation at Lord Derby’s estate at Knowsley Hall. 

In January 1915 he gained a commission and transferred to the Royal Horse Artillery and Royal Field Artillery.

Francis was killed in action as Lieutenant on 07th October 1916 and buried close to where he fell. After the Armistice his grave was identified (marked with two crosses), his body was exhumed and reinterred in Guards’ Cemetery, Lesboeufs, Somme, where he now rests.  

 

Lesboeufs was attacked by the Guards Division on 15 September 1916 and captured by them on the 25th. It was lost on 24 March 1918 during the great German offensive, after a stubborn resistance by part of the 63rd Bn. Machine Gun Corps, and recaptured on 29 August by the 10th Bn. South Wales Borderers.

 

At the time of the Armistice, the cemetery consisted of only 40 graves (now Plot I), mainly those of officers and men of the 2nd Grenadier Guards who died on 25 September 1916, but it was very greatly increased when graves were brought in from the battlefields and small cemeteries round Lesboeufs.

 

There are now 3,137 casualties of the First World War buried or commemorated in this cemetery. 1,644 of the burials are unidentified but there are special memorials to 83 soldiers known or believed to be buried among them. Other special memorials record the names of five casualties buried in Ginchy A.D.S. Cemetery, whose graves were destroyed by shell fire, and three officers of the 2nd Bn. Coldstream Guards, killed in action on 26 September 1916 and known to have been buried together by the roadside near Lesboefs, whose grave could not later be located.

The cemetery was designed by Sir Herbert Baker.

CWGC shows his age as 43; however, based on birth and census records, Francis was 37 years old.

 

His mother placed a notice in the Liverpool Echo on 13th October:

“October 7, killed in action, Lieut. F. A. Warrington (R.F.A.), the beloved son of Mrs. Warrington, 4, Belvidere Road, Prince’s Park, and of the late J. T. Warrington, J.P.”

 

The Liverpool Post & Mercury gave some biographical details on 19th October:

“Lieutenant F. A. Warrington, R.F.A., has been killed in action.  He was the son of the late J. T. Warrington and Mrs. Warrington, Belvedere Road, Prince’s Park, Liverpool.  He was educated at the Ley’s School, Cambridge, and was a member of the Liverpool Stock Exchange.  On the outbreak of war he enlisted in the K.L.R and in January, 1915, was gazetted to the County Palatine Brigade, R.F.A.  He went to France with his brigade in December, 1915, and served continuously until the time of his death.”

 

His mother received his Army effects and War Gratuity. Probate of his personal estate was granted to his mother, in the amount of £2,384-11s-7d, re-sworn £1,886-1s-11d.

 

Ten months later his mother suffered another grievous loss. His brother Garfield was commissioned and served as a Second Lieutenant in the Army Service Corps.  He went to France on 10th June 1916 and was killed by a bomb from a German aeroplane on 18th August 1917, aged 35. He now rests in Bertenacre Military Cemetery, northeast of Hazebrouck.

 

Yet more tragedy was to befall the family less than four months later. Francis' youngest brother Harold Gordon, a Corporal in King Edward’s Horse, was commissioned on 20th September 1915 and served as a Lieutenant in the 63rd Anti-Aircraft Section, R.F.A. in France and Italy. He was killed on the Piave front on 06th December 1917, aged 33. He now rests in Giavera British Cemetery, Arcade, Italy.

His mother died in 1925, aged 80.

 

Francis is commemorated on the following memorials - 

Liverpool Stock Exchange

Woolton Golf Club

Liverpool Cricket & Rugby Clubs, Aigburth

 

Francis and his brother Harold are commemorated on the Leys School Memorial and Roll of Honour 

 

Garfield and Harold are commemorated on the Liverpool Cotton Association Memorial

 

All three brothers are commemorated in Liverpool’s Hall of Remembrance, Francis on Panel 35, and Harold and Garfield on Panel 34.

 

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