Private. 2nd Battalion, Duke of Wellington’s West Riding Regiment, Service number 24249.
Early life:
Fred was born on May 3, 1884 to parents Ellis and Elizabeth Moore.
He was baptised on May 1, 1887 at Christ Church, Oakworth.
In the 1891 census he was six years old and living in Oakworth with his parents, three brothers and one sister. His father was a Grocer.
By 1901 he was 16 years old and living with his parents and at 2 & 3, Bogthorn, Oakworth. His father was still a grocer, probably at their family home in Bogthorn.
In 1908 he was 24 and living at 60, Bogthorn when he married 22 year old Catherine Dixon Mather of 5, Diamond Street, Ingrow.
Fred was working as a joiner at the time and they married at St John’s Church, Ingrow.
By 1911 they had moved to 5, Opal Street, Ingrow which was just a couple of streets away from Catherine’s home. Fred was a joiner and contractor and Catherine was a weaver for a worsted dress goods manufacturer.
War service:
Fred enlisted at Ripon in June, 1916 and went out to the front the following October. He served at the front with the 2nd Battalion, West Riding Regiment and in February 1917 he developed pneumonia and died at No. 5 Casualty Clearing Station which was based at Bray between January 29 and June 6, 1917.
He was buried in grave 61, row A, plot II of Bray Military Cemetery in the Somme region of France.
The family inscription on the headstone reads “Though Death Divide Sweet Memory Clings.”
His wife Catherine was living at 34, Queen’s Road in Keighley after the war.
Keighley News February 24, 1917 page 6:
Private Moore, West Riding Regiment, of 34, Queen’s Road, Keighley, has died from pneumonia abroad.
He enlisted in June last, and went out to the front in the following October. Formerly he was engaged on munitions.
Post war:
Fred was posthumously awarded the British War Medal and Victory Medal for his war service and in 1920/21 these would have gone to his wife Catherine as his next of kin, along with his memorial plaque and scroll. She also received his outstanding back pay of £4 7s 10d in June 1917, and a war gratuity of £3 in October 1919.
Remembrance:
He is remembered locally on the Oakworth War Memorial, the Ingrow War Memorial and Keighley’s roll of honour book in Keighley Library.
At Oakworth cemetery the family Headstone inscription reads: “Also of Pte. Fred Moore, his son, who died in France Feb 10th 1917, Aged 32 years.”
His name is also on Oakworth’s Great War Centenary roll of honour in display at Oakworth Community Hall.
