Captain William Reginald Frend

Army Number: n/a

Battalion: 2nd Battalion Sherwood Foresters (Notts & Derbys) Regiment.

Born at Hambledon, Henley-on-Thames, London, 8th May 1875. Son of Mr And Mrs Edwin Frend, of Brighton, Sussex; Husband of Phyllis Frend, of 71 Cheyne Court, Chelsea, London. He was educated at Haileybury School, Haileybury, Hertfordshire, and Trinity College, Cambridge. He joined the Derbyshire Regiment on 9th November 1898, becoming Lieutenant in the amalgamated Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire Regiment on 18th May 1900.

He took part in the South African War, being present at operations in the Orange Free State, including actions at Houtnek (Thoba Mountain), Vet River, and Zand River; also at operations at Transvaal and Cape Colony, and received the Queen’s medal with three clasps and the King’s Medal with two clasps. He also served with the 1st Battalion Sherwood Foresters (Notts & Derbys) Regiment in China.

Becoming Captain On 21st September 1904, he was from April 1906 to December 1910, Adjutant to a battalion of Volunteers, afterwards the 5th Territorial Battalion of his own regiment; while on 6th December 1912, he was appointed Adjutant of the 2nd Battalion Sherwood Foresters (Notts & Derbys) Regiment. He went to France on 11th September 1914 and was killed in action, on 21st September 1914, aged 38, when the Battalion was ordered to retake trenches taken by the Germans at the head of the Troyon Valley, France, during the First Battle of the Aisne.

Buried: Chauny Communal Cemetery British Extension, France. Plot 6. Row C. Grave 3.

Captain William Reginald Frend is also commemorated on the following local memorials:-
Trinity College Chapel War Memorial, Trinity College, Cambridge.
Haileybury School War Memorial, Haileybury, Hertfordshire.