 |
| Bombardier Fred Rothwell (Click over to enlarge) |
Royal Field Artillery,
Died of wounds at Weymouth hospital on 5th August 1917
Buried at St. Johns Stonefold on 9th August 1917.
Fred Rothwell was born in Haslingden in 1888. He was the son of James and Alice Ann Rothwell of 7, Pilling Street, Acre. On the 1901 Census, Fred, at the age of 12, still living at 7, Pilling Street with his parents, brother James and sisters Sarah Jane and Betsy, and was still attending school. In 1909 he married Sarah Ann Chadwick and they had one daughter, Elsie, born in 1910. In 1912 Fred’s father died and was buried in Stonefold Churchyard. Fred was a warper at Messrs. Nicholas Worsley's Hazel Mill up to his enlisting in February 1915 in the Accrington Howitzers. He was wounded on 31 May 1917 and died of his wounds in Weymouth Military Hospital on 5 August of that year. He was 29 years of age. His home was at 447 Blackburn Road, Acre.
He was buried with full military honours at Stonefold Churchyard on 9 August 5 1917. The Rev. W.T. Evans officiated. Wounded soldiers from Haslingden Auxiliary Military Hospital acted as bearers and the firing party were also patients from the same hospital, while Private Jack Brady, a discharged soldier, sounded the “Last Post”. A Union Jack, on which lay the deceased’s cap and belt, covered the coffin.
Newspaper Report:
A HERO'S GRAVE -
LAST POST SOUNDED YESTERDAY AT STONEFOLD CHURCHYARD
Yesterday (Thursday) the funeral took place with military honours at Stonefold Churchyard of Bombardier Fred Rothwell, R.F.A., a Haslingden man, who died of wounds at Weymouth Hospital on August 5th, 1917. The Rev W.T. Evans officiated.
Wounded soldiers from Haslingden Auxiliary Military hospital acted as bearers, and the firing party were also patients from the same hospital, while Private Jack Brady, a discharged soldier, sounded the "Last Post." A Union Jack, on which lay the deceased's cap and belt, covedred the coffin.
The mourners were:- Mrs. Fred Rothwell (wife), Elsie and Ruth, Mrs. Rothwell and Betsy, mother and Libby, Mr. and Mrs. S. Rothwell, Harold, Joe and Jim Rothwell, Mr and Mrs. James Rothwell, Annie Rothwell, Aunt Sarah, Mrs. Ireland, Mr. Chadwick, Mrs. Pilkington, Mrs. H. Chadwick, Mr and Mrs. A. Chadwick, Mr and Mrs. J. Chadwick, Mr and Mrs. W. Chadwick, Mrs. Parkinson, Mrs. Hargreaves.
Floral tributes were sent as follows:- With love, Mr. and Mrs. Hargreaves and family; To Uncle Fred from little Ruth, "With love"; "Deepest Sympathy," Polly and Kate; "In loving memory," from May, Alf, and Libby; From friends, "In the midst of life we are in death"; "In loving remembrance," Albert and Gertie, Manchester; "With deepest sympathy," Jim, May and Annie; from cousin Annie and Jany; from the Corporation.
Mr. J.J. Hamer, Blackburn Road, Haslingden, carried out the funeral arrangements.
The deceased enlisted in February 1915 and was wounded at the front on May 31st 1917. He leaves a wife, a child, and widowed mother. Before the war he was a warper at Hazel Mill, Haslingden.
Newspaper Memorial:
In loving memory of Bomb. Fred Rothwell, R.F.A., died of wounds received in France, August 5th 1917.
"The happy hours we once enjoyed,
How sweet the memory clings;
No morning dawns, no night returns,
But what I think of him."
From his sincere friend Jack (in France)
