Pte 24567 Frederick Kennedy

• Age: 35
• From: Liverpool
• Regiment: 12 KLR
• Died on Thursday 16th August 1917
• Commemorated at: Tyne Cot Memorial
  Panel Ref: P31-34 162 162A 163A

Frederick Kennedy was born in the September quarter of 1882, the son of Henry Kennedy and Frances Ann (nee Jones). His father, born in Ireland, and his mother, born in Denbigh, Wales, married in 1874 in Christ Church, Waterloo, his father’s occupation given as ‘seafaring man’.  They had at least seven children: Harry, Mary, Mabel, Frederick, Eliza, Ruth, and William (who died in infancy).

His father left the sea and became a (train) engine driver (per 1881 census), until becoming a licensed victualler, managing the Carriers Dock Hotel (overlooking Brocklebank Dock) in Bootle for many years.

By 1891 the family is living at the Carriers Dock hotel, 36 Regent Road, Bootle. The eldest son Harry assists in the business (and becomes the licensee after their father’s death). Frederick is 8.

The family is still living on the hotel premises in 1901. Frederick is 18, a mechanical engineer. Also at home are Harry, Mabel, Eliza, and Ruth.  His sister Eliza died the next year, at the age of 17.

His father died in 1907, aged 62, still living at 36 Regent Road, “licensed victualler’s manager”. By 1911 his widowed mother Frances, 61, and sister Mabel, 30, are at 21 Guernsey Road, Stoneycroft. His brother Harry, now married, is running the hotel. Unfortunately, Frederick has not been found on the 1911 census, nor definitively on any passenger or crew lists, or in any trade directory.

Frederick joined the Prince of Wales Freemasons Lodge, like his brother Harry, in 1912. He is described as a marine engineer. His membership continued (W.S., meaning war service), until he was killed in action.

Frederick enlisted in Liverpool as Private 24567, 18th Bn King’s (Liverpool) Regiment. After training  locally, then at Belton Park Camp in Lincolnshire, and finally at Larkhill Camp on Salisbury Plain, Frederick shipped to France with his battalion, disembarking at Boulogne on 7th November 1915.

Frederick’s name appeared in the list of K.L.R. Wounded in the Liverpool Daily Post on 10th February 1916:

KING'S LIVERPOOL 18th (2nd City) - Kennedy, 24567, F  

His name appeared in the list of wounded again on 10th October 1916 (when the battalion was in the Somme line). WOUNDED
King's (Liverpools) - Kennedy, 24567, F 


It is likely that Frederick was transferred to 12th Bn K.L.R. after recuperating from his wounds.

In July 1917 the 12th battalion left the Somme and arrived in the Ypres Salient, and on 15th marched to assembly positions in the western side of the Steenbeek River, starting at 9 p.m. Attacks on Langemarck began on 16th, Zero hour 4:45 a.m. Objectives were taken.  According to the narrative of operations for August 16-17 1917 detailed in the War Diary, Casualties for the battalion were :
Officers: 4 Killed, 7 Wounded
Other Ranks: 41 Killed, 230 Wounded, 34 Missing
Many casualties were caused by enfilade sniping and machine gun fire from the right.

Frederick was one of those killed in action on 16th August 1917. His body was never recovered, or was subsequently lost, and he is remembered, with so many others, on the Tyne Cot Memorial to the Missing, Flanders.

Those United Kingdom and New Zealand servicemen who died after August 16th 1917 are named on the Tyne Cot Memorial, a site which marks the furthest point reached by Commonwealth forces in Belgium until nearly the end of the war.

The Tyne Cot Memorial now bears the names of almost 35,000 officers and men whose graves are not known. The memorial, designed by Sir Herbert Baker with sculpture by Joseph Armitage and F.V. Blundstone, was unveiled by Sir Gilbert Dyett on 20 June 1927.

The memorial forms the north-eastern boundary of Tyne Cot Cemetery, which was established around a captured German blockhouse or pill-box used as an advanced dressing station.

Frederick earned his three medals.  His mother, at 21 Guernsey Rd, Green Lane, Liverpool, received her son’s effects, including a War Gratuity of £12, and a pension of 15/- a week. Probate, giving Frederick’s address as 21 Guernsey Road, was granted to his mother, effects £495 1s 5d.
His mother died in 1933.

Frederick is also commemorated on the Masonic Hall Memorial, Liverpool.

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