Frederick Wheelhouse
- Family History
- Military History
- Extra Information
- Photographs
Frederick was the son of William Wood Wheelhouse and Maria Wheelhouse nee James. His father William Wood was the son of Marshall and Arabella Woodhouse. He was baptised on 7 July 1861 at St Paul's, Nottingham; the family was living at 23 Robin Hood Yard, Nottingham. William and Maria James were married on 20 December 1879 at St Matthias, Sneinton (O/N/D Radford). They had at least seven children all of whom were born in Nottingham: Arthur b. 20 May 1880 (A/M/J Nottingham), Leonard birth registered 1884 (J/F/M Nottingham), Frederick b. 1886 (A/M/J Nottingham), Mary Elizabeth (Elizabeth), birth registered 1888 (J/F/M Nottingham), Emily b. 30 October 1889 (O/N/D Nottingham), Frank b. 1893 (O/N/D Nottingham) and James Thomas b. 1897 (J/A/S Nottingham). In 1891 William (31) a labourer, and Maria (32) were living on Golden Lane in the parish of St Mary Nottingham; they had five children: Arthur (10), Leonard (7), Frederick (5), Elizabeth (3) and Emily (1). By 1901 the family was at 5 Alvey's Yard, Nottingham. William (40) was now working as a whitewasher and painter and Maria (42) was a lace scolloper. In the home on the night of the census were five of their seven children: Frederick (15), Elizabeth (13) a fringe net lace finisher, Emily (11), Frank (7) and James (3). The eldest son Arthur had married in 1900. Frederick's mother, Maria, died in 1903 (O/N/D Nottingham) aged 45. His father William was still at 5 Alvey's Yard in 1911 but only Emily (21) a lace jennier and James (13) were in the home on the night of the census. Frederick married Hannah Maria (k/a Maria) Abley (b. 1884 J/F/M Wolverhampton Staffs) in 1905 (J/A/S Nottingham). However, it appears from his military record that he may have already been serving in the Militia but then joined the regular army in 1906. His battalion was serving in India from 1906 and Frederick was certainly serving abroad by the summer of 1908 and was in India at the time of the 1911 census. The battalion probably returned to England shortly before joining the BEF in France. A newspaper report of Frederick's death in 1915 gave his address as 5 Alvey's Yard, Fisher Gate, the family home in 1901/1911, and a Pension Ledger record describes Hannah Maria as his 'separated wife'. Reports in the Nottingham Evening Post on 5 and 12 August 1908 of a case before Magistrates at the Shire Hall named Hannah in connection with a monetary theft in which an Arthur Gibson was implicated; it was recorded that, 'she was the wife of a soldier who was abroad and she had been co-habiting with Gibson.' In 1911 Hannah Maria Wheelhouse (27 b. Staffordshire) married, a lace worker (at home), was a boarder at 3 East Street, Nottingham, in the household of a widower, Arthur Gibson (31), an unemployed labourer. Arthur had married Mary Ann Turner in 1901 (J/A/S Nottingham) but she had probably died aged 26 in 1906 (J/A/S Nottingham). Also in Arthur Gibson's household were another boarder and his son and daughter, George Gibson Wheelhouse (3, b. 1908 A/M/J Nottingham-Abley) and Gladys Gibson (1. b. 1909 O/N/D Nottingham). Two more children were born in the next three years; Ann G Wheelhouse b. 1913 (O/N/D Nottingham-Abley) d. 1913 (O/N/D Nottingham), and Emma G Wheelhouse b. 1914 (O/N/D Shardlow Derbyshire-Abley). Maria married Arthur Gibson on 11 May 1916 (A/M/J Shardlow Derbyshire); he was then serving as a corporal in the Notts & Derby Regiment. They probably had two more children, Alfred C. b. 1916 (J/A/S Shardlow) and Thomas W. birth registered 1919 (J/F/M Shardlow). The CWGC record gives Maria Gibson's address as 5 Luther Square, Halls Road, Stapleford, Nottingham. Of Frederick's siblings: Arthur married Alice Hind in 1900 (A/M/J Nottingham, and had at least six children: Alice Mary b. 1900 (J/A/S Nottingham, Elsie b. 1901 (J/A/S Nottingham), Leonard birth registered 1903 (J/F/M Nottingham), Frederick b. 1904 (A/M/J Nottingham) death registered 1905 (J/F/M Nottingham), William birth registered 1908 (J/F/M Nottingham) and Arthur b. 1911 (A/M/J Nottingham). Arthur died in Nottingham General Hospital on 26 October 1916 after his clothes caught fire while he and his brother William were alone in the home before going to school, their mother having left for work. (Reports Nottingham Evening Post 26 October 1916 and 27 October 1916-inquest.) In 1911 Arthur, a house painter and Alice (30) were living at 20 Gough Street, Notingham, with Leonard (8) and William (3), three of their five children having died in infancy. Their sixth child, Arthur, was born later that year. The famliy later lived at King's Arms yard, Woolpack Lane, Nottingham. Arthur enlisted on 10 September 1914, initially in the Sherwood Foresters but was transferred to the Royal Marine Light Infantry, on 16 September. He served with the RN Brigade at home then embarked 18 November 1914 for France and joined the Chatham Division RMLI. He was demobilised on 10 September 1919. Leonard was a collier but served in the Militia and then in the Notts & Derby Regiments on a 12 year engagement being discharged to the Reserve in 1906. He married Martha Wheldon at St Philip's, Nottingham, in 1906 (O/N/D Nottingham) and they had three children: Leonard b. 7 June 1908, Emily b. 23 November 1910 and Lilian b. 17 May 1913. In 1911 Leonard, a bobbin and carriage (-), and Martha were living at 3 Alvey's Yard, Fisher Gate, Nottingham, with their children Leonard (3) and Emily (u/1yr), another child had probably died in infancy. Leonard was mobilised in 1914 (7219 Private, 1st Bn Sherwood Foresters) and died of gas poisoning on 5 October 1916. (See record on this Roll of Honour). Mary Elizabeth [Elizabeth] may have married in 1908 (A/M/J Nottingham) Emily married William E Oakland in 1912 (J/A/S Nottingham). They were living at 13 Ball Street, Nottingham, in 1939 when the England & Wales Register was compiled; William (b. 25 April 1891) was a transport foreman cleaning staff. Emily died in 1973 (J/F/M Nottingham). Frank has not been traced after the 1901 Census. James has not been traced after the 1911 Census although his name was included in a notice his sister Emily put in the local paper in 1915 on the anniversary of their brothers' deaths.
In 1911 Frederick was serving as a Private in the Regular Army in 1st Battalion, Sherwood Foresters (Nottingham and Derbyshire) Regiment. He was stationed in Trimulgherry, Deccan, India. The 1st Battalion served in India from 1906, returning home to England only in late summer 1914 after war was declared, and was then prepared for immediate posting to France. Frederick originally joined up in mid 1905, and upon transfer to the Regulars, presumably sailed to India to join the Battalion, arriving there no later than early 1911. However, Frederick appears to have returned to England before 1914, and then disembarked for France with the British Expeditionary Force in 2nd Battalion Sherwood Foresters (Nottingham and Derbyshire) Regiment on 9 September 1914. The 2nd Battalion deployed to France from Plymouth (or possibly Southampton) on 9 September, and formed part of 18th Brigade in 6th Division, along with 1st Battalion West Yorkshire Regiment, 1st Battalion East Yorkshire Regiment and 2nd Battalion Durham Light Infantry. The British 6th Division was a Regular Army division. It served on the Western Front for the duration of the First World War. They landed at St Nazaire on 11 September 1914, and went straight into the bitter fighting on the Aisne Heights (River Aisne) with I Corps. On 20 September, the 2nd Battalion Sherwood Foresters carried out a counter-attack to plug a gap in the British Lines. The casualties were substantial. Reinforced, the Battalion fought another major battle with III Corps in October at Ennettiere on the way to Ypres, holding a vastly superior German force for 48 hours and losing in the process 16 officers and 710 other ranks. In 1915 the 6th Division moved into the Ypres Salient to relieve troops that had fought in the Second Battle of Ypres. The Salient was relatively quiet for the rest of the year, except for fighting around the Château in the small village of Hooge, near Ypres. The Château was used as the Divisional Headquarters for the area, and was the site of some bloody attacks and counter attacks throughout the summer. German troops took control of the Château and the surrounding area on 30 July, but a surprise attack by 6th Division on 9th August 1915 regained all of the ground lost. It was a bloody and terrible attack and the Hooge crater was full of British bodies. Frederick was killed in action on 9 August 1915, during the attack on Hooge. He has no known grave but is commemorated on the Ypres (Menin Gate) Memorial. Above information is courtesy of Jane Jackson and the 'find a grave' website.
Nottingham Evening Post, 2 November 1915. Photograph with caption: ‘Lance-Corpl F. Wheelhouse, 2nd Sherwood Foresters, 5, Alvey’s Yard, Fisher Gate, killed in action August 9’ Nottingham Evening Post, ‘In Memoriam’, 15 December 1915: ‘Wheelhouse. In loving memory of our dear mother [Maria], died December 15th [1903]; 12 years have passed since that sad day, when one we loved was called away. Also of our dear brother, Lance-Corpl. F Wheelhouse, killed in action, August 9th, 1915; often we sit and think of how you died, and to think you could not say good-bye before you closed your eyes; he died a hero’s death. From sorrowing father, sisters, brothers, Emily, Will [William Oakland], Jim [James].’ (www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk) Nottingham Evening Post, ‘In Memoriam’, 5 October 1917: ‘Wheelhouse. In loving memory of my dear brothers, Pte Leonard Wheelhouse, killed in action October 5th, 1916; also Lance-Corpl Frederick Wheelhouse, killed in action August 9th, 1915. Not forgotten. Brother Arthur, nephews Leonard and Willie, sister-in-law Alice ’ (www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk) The Register of Soldiers' Effects names his widow, Hannah M Gibson, as his sole legatee, but there are two Pension Ledger Records names one naming his father, William Wheelhouse of 8 Abbotsford Street, Corporation Oaks, Nottingham, and the other naming Hannah Wheelhouse but describing her as his 'separated wife'.
