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Captain Frederic Herbert EMMET
9th (Service) Battalion Leicestershire Regiment Date of birth: 27th February 1890 Date of death: 14th July 1916 Killed in action aged 26 Commemorated on the Thiepval Memorial Panel and Face 2C and 3A
Frederic Herbert Emmet was born at 111 Ladbroke Grove, Notting Hill in London on the 27th of February 1890 the sixth and youngest son of the Reverend William Edward Emmet ,Vicar of St Mark’s Church, Notting Hill, and Ellen Maude (nee Greenstreet) Emmet later of 161 Woodstock Road, Oxford. He was christened by his father at St Mark's Church, Notting Hill on the 26th of March 1890. He was educated at a school near Winslow and at Lancing College where he was in News House from September 1903 to July 1909. He was a Sergeant in the Officer Training Corps, achieving Certificate A and was appointed as a House Captain in 1908. He decided while at School that he wanted to take Holy Orders and with that in mind he went on to Keble College Oxford in October 1909 where he achieved a Second Class BA in History in 1912. He was a member of the Oxford University Officer Training Corps and was President of the Tenmantale Club in 1912. He was a member of the College Hockey XI from 1911 to 1913 being Captain in 1912/13. He stayed on at university for a further year to read theology and, on leaving he decided to teach before taking a place at theological college. In September 1913 he accepted a position as an assistant schoolmaster at Allen House School at Hook Heath in Woking. He left this post in July 1914, joining the Officer Training Corps at Aldershot camp in August. Following the outbreak of war he applied for a commission on the 11th of September 1914 in an application which was supported by W. Lock DD, Warden of Keble College Oxford and by the Reverend W. F. Bond MA, Assistant Master at Lancing College (1905-1929). He underwent a medical examination at Pennings Camp on the 12th of September where it was recorded that he was fit for general service. He was commissioned as a 2nd Lieutenant in the Leicestershire Regiment on the 19th of September 1914 and was sent for training at Perham Down on Salisbury Plain. He was promoted to Lieutenant on the 10th of November 1914 and to Captain on the 23rd of December 1914. He embarked for France with his battalion from Folkestone on board the SS "St Seiriol" on the 29th of July 1915, landing at Boulogne at 2.15am the following morning.He had two short periods of leave from the front in December 1915 and in May 1916. On the 13th of July 1916 the 9th Battalion Leicestershire Regiment was ordered forward with the rest of their Brigade to attack the German second line positions on Bazentin Ridge between Bazentin-le Petit and Mametz Wood the following day. They moved forward through the shattered remains of Mametz Wood and under shell fire. They were to be in support of two other Leicestershire battalions and were to "mop up" any Germans the leading waves had missed or bypassed. At 3.25am the whistles blew and the leading waves moved forward from the shelter of the wood and into the open, all the time under a canopy of British shells heading towards the German first line. It was a race against time to get across No Man's Land before the enemy machine guns could be brought into action. The 6th Leicesters managed to enter the enemy first line and began bombing down the trench to assist the 7th Battalion who were under murderous fire from a machine gun. After heavy fighting the German first line fell and the Leicesters, with the 9th Battalion now engaged in the fighting, moved forward to their second objective of Bazentin Wood. The wood was now a tangled maze of fallen trees which contained three lines of German trenches each with their own wire entanglements in front of them. In the confusion Emmet gathered about fifty men from his own and other units to continue the attack, in particular to rush a German machinegun position in the north west corner of the wood where resistance was most stubborn. As they went forward thirty six of the men, including Frederic Emmet, were cut down by the machine gun before they had gone twenty yards. Despite the obstacles, and the fierce resistance from the defenders, the wood fell to the Leicesters by 4pm after over twelve hours of continuous fighting. Frederic Emmett had fallen as one of four hundred and twelve casualties his battalion had suffered during the fighting. His father received the following telegram dated the 26th of July 1916: - "Deeply regret to inform you that Capt. F.H. Emmet Leicester Regt. was killed in action 14th July. The Army Council express their sympathy." His Colonel wrote:- "He had such a charming personality that we all feel his loss very deeply. He met his death in a most gallant manner." He is commemorated on the war memorial at Pattingham in Staffordshire, on the memorial at St Margaret's Church, Oxford and on the memorial in the chapel at Keble College Oxford.

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