Birch, Frederick William

BIRCH,

FREDERICK WILLIAM

BORN 3 MARCH 1869

Frederick William Birch was

born on 3 March 1869 in Bengal, India, son of Major Henry (Harry) Holwell Birch (b 1837 in Peshawar Bengal) and Sarah Henrietta Birch (b 1841). Frederick had a sister Henrietta Eleanor Birch (b 1872 in Bengal), who died in Bengal in 1874 aged 2. Harry Birch died on 21 November 1878, aged 41, in Peshawar, Bengal. Frederick joined the School in VI Modern in September 1882, aged 13.

At that time, he lived with his widowed mother at 32 Fernbank Road, Redland. He left the School in December 1885, aged 16. The Chronicle of March 1888 records (below) he passed the Sandhurst Final Examination for Commissions in Cavalry and Infantry.

He served at Samana and Hazara (1891) in the Tirah Punjab Frontier Campaign, with the 30th Punjabis (1897-1898). Frederick married May Onslow Thompson (b 1869 in Carmarthenshire, Wales) on 2 November 1892 in Bombay. May died in 1908 and was buried in Sussex. After the death of his first wife, Frederick married Mary Dorothea (née McKenzie b 1887 in Cheshire) in 1910. By 1911 they were living in Poole, Dorset. Frederick was a Pensioned Indian Army Officer. Whilst living in Poole they had two children, Frederick William Alexander Birch (b 1911) and James Holwell Birch (b 1913).

Though retired from the Indian Army, Frederick was recalled and subsequently served as a Major in the South Wales Borderers, 4th Battalion, before being killed in action in Mesopotamia on 17 April 1916, aged 47.

He is remembered with Honour on the Basra Memorial in Iraq (panels 16 and 62).

He left a wife Mary Dorothea Birch, aged 29, of 25 Florence Park, Redland, Bristol, and a widowed mother Sarah Henrietta Birch.

BGS Chronical March 1888

Fifth Panel 13