Lance Corporal, 237 Machine Gun Company. Service no. 86331.
Previously 3rd Battalion, Duke of Wellington’s West Riding Regiment. No. 29992.
Early life:
Fred was born on 13th August 1893 at Barley Cote, Riddlesden and this was registered at Keighley in the third quarter of that year. His parents were John and Mary Jane Kay, née Driver (married at Riddlesden 1st March 1875.)
Fred was baptised at St. Mary The Virgin Parish Church on 3rd September. John was working as a carter.
In 1901 the family were still living at Barley Cote. John was still a carter and 50 years old. Their eldest two children, Margaret and Charlie had moved out, leaving Willie age nineteen (working as a coal carter) and Fred aged seven.
On 22nd July 1909 John died aged about 58, leaving Mary to manage the family home on her own. John left her £165 in his will with the probate dated 21st August of that year. Fred would have been seventeen at this time.
In the 1911 census Fred was aged seventeen and working as a clerk in cloth finishing, probably at the Stockbridge Dyeing and Finishing Company on Bradford Road, which is very near to Riddlesden.
He was living with his mother Mary, now aged 62 and a widow surviving by her own means.
The census records that Mary had been married for 34 years and had given birth to five children, one of whom had since died.
War service:
Fred was employed as a clerk when he enlisted for General Service in the Army on 2nd March 1916. He was called up for service on 4th December in the same year aged 23 years and 4 months and went straight to the Wellesley Barracks at Halifax where he had his medical. His details were: Height, 5 feet 6 inches; Chest, 37, 1/2 inches.
Fred was initially with the 3rd Battalion West Riding Regiment with the service number 29992 and transferred to 237 Company Machine Gun Corps on 15th February 1917 with a new service number 86331. On 30th April 1917 he was appointed Lance Corporal (unpaid) He appears to have been paid in this rank from 4th October the same year.
237 Machine Gun Company war diary gives us a précis of where Fred was serving:
12th July 1917: The Company was at Belton Park, they departed for entraining for Grantham, then to Southampton where they embarked for Le Havre, arriving on 14th July.
17th July they entrained at Le Havre Station and travelled for Boisleur-au-Mont then to Moyenneville the same day, and joined 21st Division.
At Moyenneville they spent the next weeks training receiving instruction in trench routine. On 1st August they were ‘in the field’ and in trenches, although the war diary is rather scant in detail.
In the next weeks they were at: Eecke, Méteren, Dainville, Savy and were billeted at Conqueror Camp, and at Scottish Camp on 30th September 1917. The page for October is absent from the war diary, which is unfortunate because according to his Army service records, Fred was wounded on 8th October. (Casualty list C.1360.) This may be his wounds mentioned below.
He was posted home on 16th October 1917.
An Army form 3226 headed: Particulars as to character of a ‘Soldier serving with an Expeditionary Force who is sent Home for discharge or permanently for any reason.’ This gives details of his character: Sobriety: Excellent.
Reliability: Yes, very. Intelligence: Yes, very.
Fred was awarded the Military Medal, which appeared in the London Gazette 14th January 1918. No citation for his gallantry award has been found, but it’s possible that he earned it on 8th October when he was wounded.
Keighley News 19th January 1918, page 6:
The Military Medal has been awarded to Lance Corporal F. Kay, Machine Gun Company, of Keighley.
The Military Medal was sent to him at Belton Park near Grantham where the Machine Gun Corps was based and he signed for it on 25th April 1918.
His Dispersal certificate to the Class Z reserve dated 17th January 1919 shows he was a Lance Corporal.
His protection certificate dated 21st January 1919, shows he had been medically downgraded to BII.
A further document from the Pensions office shows he had received a gunshot wound to the head and the right chest and had lost an index finger, his degree of disablement was 50% and he was awarded a weekly pension of 13 shillings and nine pence from 19th February 1919, which was to be reviewed after one year.
Fred was discharged to the Z Reserve on 18th February 1919.
His British War Medal and Victory Medal were despatched on 18th October 1922.
Remembrance:
Fred survived the war but he is named on the roll of honour list of those who served and returned from the war, at St. Mary the Virgin Parish Church and also on Riddlesden Methodist Church War memorial.
Later life:
In the 1921 census he was aged 27 years and 10 months and living at Barley Cote with his mother Mary Jane who was 72 years old. Fred was back working as the Chief clerk on the piece work system at the Stockbridge Finishing Company, who were piece dyers and finishers.
Fred must have moved to the parish of Bolton Abbey for a while, because he was engaged to marry Mary Evelyn Smith of Riddlesden. Their Banns were read at St. Mary the Virgin Parish Church and at Bolton Abbey Parish Church on the 11th, 18th and 25th of May 1924 and they were married on 2nd June 1924 at Bolton Abbey Parish Church. Fred was aged 30 and a dyers representative, living at The Green, Bolton Abbey and Mary was the same age and living at 28, Bar Lane, Riddlesden.
Fred was registered as an elector at Barley Cote in Riddlesden until 1928.
In the 1939 register Fred and Mary were living at ‘Lark Field’ in Blackpool. Fred was 46 and still working as a ‘Piece Goods Dyer’s Representative’ and Mary was at home.
The final records show that Fred died aged 71 in 1965 and Mary died aged 82 on 29th September 1976 with probate of £5001.00.
Information sources:
England & Wales, FreeBMD Birth Index, 1837-1915.
West Yorkshire, England, Church of England Births and Baptisms, 1813-1910.
1891 England Census; 1901 England Census; 1911 England Census; 1921 Census.
England & Wales, National Probate Calendar (Index of Wills and Administrations), 1858-1995.
British Army WWI Service Records, 1914-1920.
British Army WWI Medal Rolls Index Cards, 1914-1920.
World War I Service Medal and Award Rolls, 1914-1920.
British Army Recipients of the Military Medal, 1914-1920.
London Gazette.
Campaign, Gallantry & Long Service Medals & Awards, Great Britain.
The National Archives: Reference WO 372/23/128339.
UK, World War I Pension Ledgers and Index Cards, 1914-1923.
West Yorkshire, England, Church of England Marriages and Banns, 1813-1935.
North Yorkshire, England, Church of England Marriages and Banns, 1754-1937.
1939 England and Wales Register.
England & Wales, Civil Registration Death Index, 1916-2007.
West Yorkshire, England, Electoral Registers, 1840-1962 results for Fred Kay.
