Family :

Service Life:

Campaigns:

• The First World War 1914-1918, World-wide.

19 October - 22 November 1914. Following the failure of the German Schlieffen Plan in August and September 1914, both sides engaged in a series of linked battles as they sought to outflank each other. The climax of these manouvres was at Ypres in November 1914 when the might of the German Army attempted to break the much outnumbered British Expeditionary Force. The political importance of Ypres, being the last town of any size in Belgium that remained in allied hands, established its importance for both sides and ensured a series of battles over four years.

The First Battle of Ypres in 1914 is characterised by a series of linked heroic stands by outnumbered British soldiers in conditions of confusion and weary endurance. The Germans never knew how close they had come to winning - at one point just the clerks and cooks were the last line of defence for the BEF. By the end of the battle the magnificent original BEF, composed of professional regular soldiers, had been all but destroyed and already the Territorial battalions were called into battle. From the end of 1914 a 'Regular' battalion was in terms of its compostion little different to a Teritorial or later Service Battalion. The professional soldiers had all but vanished.

Detail :

2nd LIEUTENANT FRANK DEAN, 2nd BATTN. KINGS ROYAL RIFLE CORPS, was bom at Widnes, Cheshire, on the 28th August, 1876, and enlisted in the K.R.R.C. in October, 1898. He ran through the non-commissioned ranks, becoming Colour-Sergeant in September, 1910, being given his commission during the war on the 1st October, 1914, in his old regiment. He had served in the Boer War, where he was present at the relief of Ladysmith, at the action on the Tugela Heights and in the Transvaal and Cape Colony. He was killed in action on the 3Ist October, 1914, near Gheluvelt in the Battle of Ypres, and was mentioned in Sir John French's Despatch on the Battle of the Aisne, dated the 7th September, 1914. He was killed alongside Captain John SPOTTISWOOD of the same battalion who was a member of Honour Lodge No. 379. 2nd Lieutenant Dean was a good shot, and took an active interest in the sports of the battalion, especially cross-country running.

Masonic :

Joined Castle Lodge No. 1436 from Alexandra Lodge No. 1065 on the 13th March 1911. He resigned from Alexandra in 1910, probably as a result of being posted.

Source :

The project globally acknowledges the following as sources of information for research across the whole database:

• The Commonwealth War Graves Commission
• The (UK) National Archives
• Ancestry.co.uk - Genealogy, Family Trees & Family History online
• ugle.org.uk - The records of the United Grand Lodge of England including the Library and Museum of Freemasonry

Additional Source:

• Founder Researchers : Paul Masters & Mike McCarthy
• Researcher : Bruce Littley