Private Frank Birch

Army Number: 201593 (formerly 4491)

Battalion: 1/5th Battalion Sherwood Foresters (Notts & Derbys) Regiment.

He lived at Belvedere Road, Woodville, Derbyshire.   Son of Henry and Harriett Birch, of Blacksmith Lane, High Street, Woodville. Husband of Mary Jane Birch of Reservoir Cottages, Ashby Road, Woodville. He was a fire clay miner prior to enlisting on 8th June 1915 at Derby. He went to France on 10th November 1915 and was killed in action, on 1st July 1916, in the attack on the German positions at Gommecourt, France, on the first day of the Battle of the Somme.

Buried: Gommecourt Wood New Cemetery, Foncquevillers, France. Plot 1, Row D, Grave 11.

Gommecourt Wood New Cemetery, Foncquevillers, France.
Private Frank Birch grave
Private Frank Birch grave

Private Frank Birch is also commemorated on the following local memorials:-
Woodville War Memorial, Woodville, Derbyshire.
Woodville Methodist Church War Memorial, Woodville, Derbyshire.
Woodville Weslyan School War Memorial, Woodville, Derbyshire.