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Corporal Frank BYGOTT (15/74)
16 Platoon, D Company, 15th (Service) Battalion (Prince of Wales’ Own) West Yorkshire Regiment (1st Leeds Pals) Date of birth: 5th May 1894 Date of death: 30th March 1916 Killed on active service aged 21 Buried at Auchonvillers Military Cemetery Plot II Row C Grave 28
Frank Bygott was born at Cornhill Farm, Barton-on-Humber in Lincolnshire on the 5th of May 1894 the elder son of James Robert Bygott, a farm manager, and Mary Elizabeth (nee Towle) Bygott, later of 128 Austhorpe Road, Crossgates in Leeds. He was educated at at Twyford School in Winchester and Lancing College where he was in Olds House from September 1907 and in News House from September 1910 until December 1911. He was a member of the Cricket XI in 1911 and of the Football XI in 1910/11. Following the outbreak of war he enlisted in the Leeds City Battalion of the West Yorkshire Regiment on the 9th of September 1914. He sailed with his battalion from Liverpool on board the HMT "Empress of Britain" on the 7th of December 1915 for service in Egypt. They docked at Port Said at 8am on the 21st of December and began their task of guarding the Suez Canal. The battalion sailed from Kantara in Egypt on the 1st of March 1916 on board HMT "Ascania" landing at Marseilles on the 8th where they disembarked at 11am for service in France. On the afternoon of the 10th they arrived by train at Pont Remy where Frank Bygott and D Company were billeted in Forceville. On the 29th of March 1916 they entered the trenches opposite the village of Serre on the Somme. The following day Frank Bygott was accidently shot by a comrade. The bullet went through his thigh, pierced the main artery and he died shortly afterwards. His was the second death in the battalion, both had been accidental. Despite the fact that he had suffered an accidental death, letters of condolence carried the news that he was killed in action, presumably to spare his family the truth. Lieutenant Colonel Stuart C. Taylor wrote in a letter dated the 3rd of April 1916:- "I am writing to offer you our heartfelt sympathy on the death of your dear son. He was as good a lad as ever stepped, and a real favourite with all ranks in the Battalion, and a great loss to us as a soldier. He did his duty well, and set a splendid example. He was killed by a shot from a machine gun and died almost immediately..... The German lines are not more than two hundred yards away at this point, and he was on duty in charge of front line trenches. Please accept my personal sympathy. I feel very deeply for you all, and mourn his loss very deeply myself." His Company Commander, Captain F. Harwood Boardall wrote:- "It is with much regret that I have to inform you that your son Corporal F. Bygott was killed by a gunshot wound on the night of the 29th of March. I am writing on behalf of the officers, NCOs and men to offer you the sincere sympathy of the whole of D Company. I had known him for about four months, and had always found him willing and energetic in everything he was given to do, and I assure you his loss is felt very much in the whole Company, especially in No. 16 Platoon. He is buried at a little village cemetery about two miles behind the firing line, in a little village called Auchonvillers. We have had a stone put on his grave, and an inscription has been carved on it. Again let me offer you my most sincere sympathy in losing your son, who was a soldier and a man, and who died for his King and country." The Chaplain of the 15th West Yorks, the Reverend C.R. Chappell wrote:- "You will have heard the sad news of the death of Corporal Bygott, who was killed in action. I write just a word of sympathy, and I hope and pray that God will give you strength to bear this grief. I knew him well. We used to talk of the Bishop of London and Bishop King, who was well known to his aunt. His loss is deeply felt amongst his comrades in D Company, who knew him as a straightforward manly man. I buried him near the trenches-the exact spot I can let you know later. The little ceremony was simple and awe inspiring, and we were all much touched. We left him there in God's keeping, and our hearts went out to you who sorrow. If there is anything I can tell you please let me know. His grave will be well looked after."

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