Trooper Francis Herbert VAUGHAN
2nd Canadian Mounted Rifles (British Columbia Regiment)

Date of birth: 15th April 1888
Date of death: 25th March 1916

Died of wounds aged 27
Buried at Lijssenthoek Military Cemetery near Poperinghe Plot V Row D Grave 17A
He was born at Oswestry in Staffordshire on the 15th of April 1888 the son of Lewis Edward Vaughan, a gentleman, and Frances Maria (nee Gould) of Trederwyn Hall, Montgomeryshire in Wales.

He was educated at the Junior King's School from January 1899 and at the King’s School Canterbury to July 1905 where he was a keen sportsman. He went on to Wye Agricultural College near Ashford in Kent from 1905 to 1907.

He sailed for to Canada from Liverpool on board the SS “Empress of Britain”, landing at Quebec on the 29th of April 1910. By the following year he had made his way to British Columbia where he became a very successful farmer at Nahun on Okanagan Lake. He became engaged to Edith Isobel Somerset.

He enlisted at Victoria as Trooper 107595 in the 30th British Columbia Light Horse (2nd Canadian Mounted Rifles) on the 8th of December 1914. At a medical examination, which was held on the same day, it was recorded that he was five feet six inches tall with brown eyes, light brown hair and a fresh complexion. On the 14th of September 1915 he attended a bomb throwing course at Shorncliffe.

He travelled to England and embarked for service in France on the 22nd of September 1915 where he joined his unit in the field on the 29th of September. On the 25th of January 1916, he was admitted to 2nd Canadian Field Ambulance suffering from non-malignant epulis and was discharged to duty on the 29th of January.

At 5.30 pm on the 23rd of March 1916 C and D Companies of the battalion moved into the front line at Hooge in the Ypres salient. The following day saw a heavy snowfall. On the 25th of March 1916 Frank Vaughan was in the front trench when a German grenade landed in it. He picked it up and attempted to throw it clear but it struck the parapet and fell back into the trench. Without hesitation he threw himself onto the grenade which exploded, mortally wounding him. His selfless action saved the life of a comrade. He was evacuated to No. 10 Casualty Clearing Station with multiple shrapnel injuries to his right arm and leg where he died of his wounds later the same day.

Sergeant 442024 Harold Wreford Birkett, 7th Battalion Canadian Infantry wrote: -
“Although he was not in my battalion, I knew him very well and I met two 2nd C.M.R. men the other day on leave in Folkestone, who told me Vaughan was not killed instantly, but died in an hour or two, and when being taken into the clearing station, asked them to attend to men first who were worse than he was, although he was in a dying condition. I am sure his many friends in the Okanagan Valley will be proud to think that they had the privilege of once knowing him.”

Harold Birkett was himself killed in action on the 9th of September 1916.

General Sir Sam Hughes wrote to his brother:-
"Dear Mr Vaughan
Will you kindly accept my sincere sympathy and condolence in the decease of that worthy citizen and heroic soldier, your brother, Private F.H. Vaughan. While one cannot mourn too deeply the loss of such a brave comrade, there is a consolation in knowing that he did his duty fearlessly and well, and gave his life for the cause of liberty and, the upbuilding of the Empire. Again extending my heartfelt sympathy to you"
Faithfully
Major General, Minister Militia and Defence, Canada

He is commemorated on the war memorial at Wye Agricultural College and on the cenotaph at Kelowna, British Columbia. He is also commemorated on the Memorial Gates at Oswestry.

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