Service no. 700552
Lance Corporal, London Regiment, 2nd/23rd Bn.
Killed in action on 24 August 1918, aged 25
CWGC: "Son of the late Frederick and Julia Elvina Sibley."
Remembered at Tyne Cot Memorial, Zonnebeke, West-Vlaanderen, Belgium
British Army Service Records
Frank Thomas Sibley enlisted early in the war - on 6 September 1914 - at St John's Hill. He gave his occupation as "clerk" and stated that he worked for C. J. Hambro and Sons of 70 Old Broad Street. The Army judged him to be of "good" physical development, measured him as 5 feet 10½ inches tall, with a 35½-inch chest (expandable by 2½ inches). He weighed 142 pounds (just over 10 stone).
Sibley served 3 years and 353 days before he was killed in action. His body was not recovered and he is listed at Tyne Cot Memorial to the Missing, 9 kilometres from Ypres. The Army listed out his effects: a piece of soap, a tube of toothpaste, a hairbrush, a pair of braces and a shaving strop. There is a letter from his mother in the files, but it is too water damaged to read. There are no incidents on his Conduct sheet. His medical records include only one entry. He was treated for haemorrhoids in May 1916. He started as a Private and died a Lance Corporal.
Information from the 1911 census
Frank Thomas Sibley lived with his widowed mother and siblings in four rooms at 8 Smedley Street, London SW4. In 1911, aged 18, he was working as a clerk for a foreign exchange broker. His mother, Julia Elvina Sibley, 57, born in Lowestoft, Suffolk, had six surviving children, all listed on the census return:
Julia Kate, 30, a single shop assistant for a newsagent, born in Paddington
Caroline Sibley, 28, a lady's maid, St Marylebone, London
George Frederick Sibley, 23, a law clerk, born in St Marylebone, London
Elizabeth Sibley, 20, an insurance clerk, born in St Marylebone, London
Frank Thomas Sibley, 18, a clerk for an foreign exchange broker, born in St Marylebone, London
Sarah Sibley, 16, born in St Marylebone, London
On the night of the census, Emily Beatrice Ayers, a single domestic nurse, aged 23, was visiting. She was born in Lowestoft.