Current Information:

Age-26

64, Rommany Road, West Norwood

Born-Lambeth

In 1914 the British army had no trench mortars but as the war progressed and became bogged down in the stalemate of trench warfare, the need for such a weapon, became more and more apparent. Fired from the front line they were able to deal with individual targets such as machine gun nests or sniper posts and thereby assisting the infantry going into the attack. But they were not always welcome. Many an infantryman would complain bitterly about trench mortar sections that would join them in the front line trenches, fire a salvo of mortars and then disappear back, leaving the occupants to face the inevitable enemy retaliation.

Many different models were tried until in mid 1915 the three inch Stokes mortar became standard issue and each division had three Medium Batteries attached, which had the same number as the division. There were also Light Mortars attached to Brigades and bearing the Brigade’s number.. When an attack went in it was the job of the men of the Trench Mortar Batteries to accompany the infantry forward and resume their fire from captured positions. It was dangerous work.

The 41st Trench Mortar Battery of the Royal Field Artillery was part of 41st Division which arrived on the Somme battlefield in August, 1916. The exact circumstances of the death of Frederick Fray, who lost his life on 1st October, 1916, are not known, but on that day, 41st Division played a  part in the beginning of the Battle of Transloy Ridge