Remembering the Fallen: on this day in 1915 Lieutenant Frederick John Briscoe, 3rd Battalion, the York and Lancaster Regiment, was killed in action during the fighting near Ypres.

The only son of a headmaster at a Shropshire school, he attended university in Birmingham and London and obtained a BSc with honours. After leaving university in 1912, he worked as the science master at Orme Boys’ School in Newcastle-under-Lyme. He had been in the Birmingham University Contingent OTC and qualified for an officer’s commission, which he received on the 14th of August, 1914.

The medical officer of his battalion wrote to his parents after his death: “I do not exaggerate when I say he was admired for his pluck and determination throughout the period of his service by the whole battalion. A few days before, the battalion had made an attack, and Lieutenant Briscoe was the only officer left on the field, thus having the responsibility of the whole battalion, and he kept his men together splendidly until help came.” Other officers also wrote praising him, one captain stating: “His conduct on this and all previous occasions has been such as to call for Mention by his Commanding Officers, and I hope it will be recognized by the authorities. He is a great loss to the regiment.”

Frederick, from Dawley Magna in Shropshire, was 23 years old.