F H Passmore

Frederick Herbert Passmore

Born 1888 in Plaistow, London  Killed in Action 1 May 1918

Buried Nine Elms British Cemetery, Belgium

Lance Corporal 80803 Royal Army Medical Corps  Enlisted Newquay 30 October 1915

Frederick was the son of Frederick Thomas Passmore and Florence Louisa Parr.  The couple married in 1882 in Bristol.  Frederick Snr was a pastor, working as a city missionary in London during his son's childhood.

The couple had four children, one of whom died in infancy.  The three surviving children were:

Edith Miriam b. 1884
Frederick Herbert
Dorothy Winifred b. 1900

By 1911, Mrs Passmore and Dorothy were living in Golf Terrace, Newquay.  Frederick Senior was visiting in Devon at the time of the census.  Frederick Herbert had found work in Bristol as an assistant chemist.  He must have moved back to Newquay by 1915 since that was the year he made two important decisions and both record him as living in Newquay.

Frederick had met Helena Maud Irons, a young woman born, like him, in 1888.  Helena was the daughter of George and Eliza Irons, her father making his living as a master mariner.  Helena worked as a shop assistant and lived with her parents at Alma Place.  On 30 October 1915 Frederick and Helena married in the town and, on the same day, Frederick enlisted in the Royal Army Medical Corps.

Very little of Frederick's service records survive.  They do tell us that he was a small man, just 5 feet 3 1/2 inches tall, with a 33 1/2 inch chest.  The RAMC was probably delighted to have him; he was a registered dispenser and his records show that he passed his first aid course earning him an increment on the pay scale.  He was posted abroad on 31 July 1916.  No doubt he was needed, that being the first day of the Battle of the Somme.

Frederick's record shows that he was promoted to Lance Corporal on 27 December 1917.  This is confirmed by the Commonwealth Graves Commission Registration Reports, but he is shown as a Private on both the Roll of Honour and his gravestone.

The CWGC Registration Report shows that four other men of the 75th Field Ambulance died alongside Frederick on 1st May 1918.

His widow asked that his gravestone be inscribed with the words "The blood of Jesus Christ his son cleanseth us of all sin".

Helena appears not to have remarried and lived until 1968.

S Jacka - An Australian Cornishman on ANZAC Day

Sydney Jacka

Born in 1893 at Sydney, NSW, Australia.  Died 6 November 1914 in or near Bristol.

Pte 1969 2nd Wessex Field Ambulance, Royal Army Medical Corps.

Sydney Jacka was born in Sydney, Australia in 1893 to John and Ellen Jacka.  The NSW register shows his middle initial as "E", however his is listed as Sydney James Jacka on the list of soldiers dying in WW1.  What is certain is that his father was Newquay born and bred.  John's mother, Elizabeth, appears to have been widowed early and brough John and his siblings up herself, working as a dressmaker into her seventies to support herself and her family.  John made a living as a carpenter and joiner and plied his trade in Australia for a while.  However, by the turn of the century he was back in Newquay living in Belmont Place, just up the road from his mother.  Sydney had three sisters and a younger brother, Ernest, born in Newquay in 1899. 

Sydney clearly answered his country's call promptly and became a driver for the 2nd Wessex Brigade Field Ambulance.  Field Ambulances were not vehicles (as I once thought!) but a mobile front line medical unit.  Sydney would have been driving the horses pulling the carts carrying equipment.  I have no information as to how Sydney met his death; perhaps it was simply an accident, perhaps he became ill.  He is buried in Arnos Vale Cemetery, Bristol.  As an Australian Sydney is also listed on the Australian Commemorative Roll. 

With Sydney's death John and Ellen Jacka lost their only surviving son; young Ernest had died aged three.  They appear to have continued living in Belmont Place for many years. 

Writing about Sydney today is something of a coincidence.  On my family history blog today I have written about two of my great uncles.  They lived in Bristol, not far from Arnos Vale Cemetery, but emigrated to Sydney, NSW from where they embarked for Gallipoli and then the Western Front where they were killed in action.  http://www.theviewfromthetreehouse.blogspot.com/.