Francis Edward Gary
This name is on St Mark's War Memorial, Kennington Oval, London SE11
(Gary, F. E.)
(Francis Edward Gary)
Service no 113961
Pioneer, Royal Engineers, 25th Div. Signal Coy.
Killed in action age 19 on 7 June 1917
Son of Alfred James and Florence Ann Gary, of 9, Camberwell New Rd., Kennington Park, London.
Remembered at St Quentin Cabaret Military Cemetery, Belgium and at St Mark's Church
Born in Islington
Francis Edward Gary - not suited to the military life
Francis was an 18-year-old clerk when he signed up on 2 September 1915. "Wireless operator (learner)" wrote one of the recruiting officers on his form. He may have worked for the GPO (General Post Office - which at that time ran the postal system as well as the phone system) as a handwritten note in the file states: " Recommended by the GPO. Refs not necessary."
His training at Biggleswade, Bedfordshire was not a wholehearted success. Sapper Gary (he was later promoted to Pioneer) was often in trouble:
8 March 1916: Absent from 1st parade - Admonished
2 April 1916: Absent from 7:45am parade - 1 hours drill
4 April 1916: Absent from 1st parade - 2 hours drill
13 April 1916: Disorderly conduct in the ranks - 4 days CB (confined to barracks)
29 April 1916: Absent from 12:45pm parade - forfeit 4 days pay, 2 hours extra fatigues
12 May 1916: Absent from 8.30am to 6.00am 13 May 1916 (21 hours 30 mins) - forfeit 1 days pay
23 May 1916: Absent from 6.00 to 6.30am - 2 days CB
1 June 1916: Absent from 8.30am parade; Irregular attendance at medical; officers room on 1st parade* - 4 days CB
15 June 1916: Absent from 1st parade - 2 days CB
Gary, 5 feet 10 inches, 126 pounds in good physical order, joined his unit on 1 November 1916 and by 10 June the following year, he had been killed in action. His mother was awarded 1 shilling and elevenpence (1s. 11d.) separation allowance and a temporary pension of 3s. and 6d.
*I am not sure of the significance of this.
Information from the 1911 census
In 1911 the Gary family, Alfred James Gary, 50, a shader of artificial flowers, born in St Giles, London and his second wife, Florence Ann Gary, 37, born in Hoxton, lived at 61 St Agnes Place, Kennington. Their eldest daughter, Eleanor Eliza, 16, was a maker of artificial flowers, while the next two children, Francis Edward (later killed in the war), 13, and Rosina Alice, 11, were at school. Florence Millicent Gary, 8, was the youngest. All the children were born in Islington, north London. Another son, Alfred James Gary, lived with his wife and her widowed father in a separate household within the same house.