In writing the WW1 Memorial Volume for Neath and area, Ive come across such tragic stories told in letters and diaries of men who never came back. The scale of the tragedy for normal folk is hard to comprehend. The principal motivation in my writing it is to re-humanise the names that we walk past every day on the memorials in the town and in churches and chapels. Sometimes one catches a glimpse of the men through the survival of some source material, photographs or letters that someone has had the foresight to preserve. Heres the story of one hell of a lad from Neath who is on the Gnoll Memorial. Id like to have met him, and would have kept my had on my watch if I had! Heres his entry for the book. Sadly, I dont have a picture of him... Francis, Frank. Driver 42159, Royal Field Artillery. Frank Francis of Ethel Street, Melyncryddan waged a one man war against the British Army for nearly 4 years .A restless spirit; he was born in 1890, the son of William Francis and worked as a collier in Resolven before going to sea with the merchant service. During this time he was convicted three times for theft, serving 3 months hard labour for stealing a watch in Cardiff, 2 months hard labour for pinching a bicycle in Neath in 1910 and back breaking 9 months for clearing out the possessions of one Henry Jame Foreacre of Tenby later the same year, presumably while on shore leave. Frank volunteered at Neath for the Royal Field Artillery in November 1914 and was sent to Preston for training. Soon after arriving, he deserted for the first time. He was found, arrested and tried by District Court Martial. He escaped, was once again recaptured and sentenced to 84 days detention. Frank did his time, but after returning to duty went absent without leave again and was found in London wearing the uniform of a member of the Australian Imperial Force. The Westminster Police took a dim view of this and sentenced him to 6 months hard labour in St Albans Prison. He was released in June 1917 – 3 months early due to good behaviour. This time he stayed still long enough for the British Army to send him on active service to Mesopotamia. Or so they thought. While in India Frank deserted again and was sentenced to 18 months in prison. He was transported to the UK in March 1918 to complete his sentence, which he did in August. Posted back to his depot he put in a solid two months with his unit before deserting again in October. Captured after a week he was sent to gaol again and was finally released in September 1919, nearly a year after the war had ended. Lengthy spells in prison had, by this time taken their toll on Frank’s health. He died 6 months later at Netley Military hospital. His effects were returned to his father who was still living at 13 Ethel Street. The last entries in Frank’s military file concern the army’s debate on whether he was still a serving soldier at his time of death and whether they were therefore liable for his funeral expenses. The answer is not recorded, but for the sake of his indomitable free spirit and persistence it is the author’s earnest hope that he was, and that they were.
Posted on: Thu, 27 Mar 2014 21:18:09 +0000
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