Capt Frederick William Gosling

 

23rd Battalion Manchester Regiment War Diary 

 

1916 

 

18th JULY - Moved to BILLON WOOD and later to tell TALUS BOISE and bivouacked.  

20th JULY - W and X coys moved to BRICQUETRIE WOOD and later on to our new position for in front of MALZ HORN FARM (sheet 62.c. NW) held by 105th Brigade supporting them in an attack made upon the German lines at 5 a.m. This was unsuccessful.  Y and Z coys with H.Q. and Lewis gun detachments received instructions to join the first two coys before MALZ HORN FARM and at 11 30 a.m, in conjunction with the French on our right, attack on the enemy trenches. They were not able to arrive in time and the assault hard started. Officers and men went over with no clear idea of their direction or objective, and meeting with very heavy artillery, M.G. and rifle fire ultimately retired to the position of assault. The Battn. remained in to hold the line, and at 9:00 p.m. was relieved by the 18th Lanc. Fusiliers. Major Maxwell fell in this attack. He was the first over and was later reported missing believed killed. Capt’s Rothband and Gosling were killed, Major Grimshaw shell shocked, and Capt. Cooper, Lt Wilson, 2nd Lt’s Hamer,  A. Simpson and Tye wounded (2nd Lt Tye died on the 21st) 28 other ranks were killed, 98 wounded, 9 shell shocked and 13 missing. The Battn., after relief, moved back to TALUS BOISE. 

 

His body was not found and identified after the war, however, and he is commemorated on the Thiepval Memorial.  

 

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 01st 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.” 

 

His death was reported in the Liverpool Echo on Friday 28 July 1916:

 

 

 

His death was also reported in the Grimsby News on Friday 04 August 1916:  

 

 

 

GOSLING Frederick William of 40 Marlborough Road, Tuebrook Liverpool captain 23rd Manchester Regiment died 19 July 1916 in France Probate Liverpool 12 October to Mary Emma Gosling widow. Effects £707 8s 2d. 

 

William received his two medals. 

 

His Soldiers Effects, Army pay of £109 11s 8d and £5 War Gratuity went to his mother Mary Emma. A pension card exists but no amount stated. 

 

On the 1921 Census his mother Mary, aged 66, is living with son Harry 39, a chartering manager, and daughter Edith 33, a secretary. 

 

His mother died, aged 70, in 1925. 

 

The family grave in Toxteth Cemetery reads:- 

 

 

Frederick  is commemorated on the following memorial:- 

 

St John the Baptist Church Statue (WMR 15699), Tuebrook, Merseyside.