Private Frederick Tickner
| Date of Birth | c. 1885 |
|---|---|
| Age at Death | 31 |
| Date of Death | 20 July 1916 |
| Service Number | 2171 |
| Military Service | Australian Infantry Australian Imperial Force |
| Merton Address | Garth Road, Morden |
| Local Memorial | St. Lawrence Church, Morden |
Additional Information
Frederick was one of six children. His older siblings included Herbert, Alice, William and Leonard and he had a younger brother, Alfred. Most of the boys worked as general labourers, apart from Alfred, who was a carman. Frederick had already begun work by the time he was 16. By 1902 the family had moved from Epsom to Morden, where they were living in a four room house at 20 Garth Cottages. They lived there throughout the 1910s; (by 1911 this area was regarded as part of North Cheam).
Frederick emigrated to Australia soon after 1911 and found work as a brickmaker near Newcastle, New South Wales. He joined the army in September 1915 and travelled to Zeitoun training base in Egypt, before heading to Marseille to join the British Expeditionary Force. He briefly went AWOL on 6 July, but returned a day later and was given three days of field punishment No. 2 (being handcuffed, but allowed to march with one’s unit as well as hard labour). He had been back on normal duty for just 10 days when he was killed at the Battle of Fromelles.
He was a member of the Druids Lodge (a fraternal organisation), which awarded his mother a pension after his death.
He is commemorated at St. Lawrence’s Church, Morden, where his name appears on one of the panels in the Lychgate which serves as the parish war memorial and also on a brass plate in the Assembly Hall of Morden Primary School.