Motherby, Frederick

BORN HULL 1889. WIFE GRACE MAUD LEWIS ABOVE. MOTHER MARY ANN GILLETT ST. HULL PAL. WOUNDED 28/7/16. BROTHER GEORGE MOTHERBY, 6TH EYR – 39 GLASGOW ST;
PRIVATE FREDERICK MOTHERBY 12/971. Born December 1889, Frederick (‘Fred’ to his family and friends) was the third of four children to George and Mary Ann Motherby of 5 Arion Terrace, Gillett Street, Hull. A Labourer before the war, Fred joined the long queues of Autumn 1915, enlisting for the fledgling 12th Battalion East Yorkshire Regiment at Hull City Hall in October 1914. He trained throughout 1915 and shipped for Egypt in December, where the Pals helped defend the Suez Canal from the Turks. They sailed for France early in 1916 and entered the trenches in late March. Fred fought on the Somme and came through the hell of Oppy Wood, before fighting the German Spring Offensive to a standstill at La Becque Farm. He came through all that only to be killed in action by his own artillery during the attack on Le Cornet Perdu on 28th June 1918. They did’t know it of course, but they were close now to the end of the war. The closer we get to 11th November 1918, the more losing the original Pals gets to me, so near and yet so far. Fred Motherby’s body was never recovered and his name is commemorated on the Ploegsteert Memorial to the missing; he was 28 years old.