Frederick George Eugene Mason

Frederick Eugene Mason worked as an electrical engineer before enlisting in 1914 and serving with the Queen Victoria’s Rifles at Gallipoli, Egypt and on the Western Front. He was killed aged 25 during the Battle of the Somme on 2 October 1916, and having no known grave, is commemorated on the Thiepval Memorial and Beaconsfield War Memorial

Civilian Life - Frederick was born in Stoke Newington in 1891. He was the son of Walter and Lizzie Mason, and had several siblings, including Ethel, Dorothy, Harold, John and Gladys. The family lived in Southgate in 1901 and later in Beaconsfield. By 1911, Frederick was working as an electrical engineer on his own account. At the time of the 1911 census, he was recorded as a visitor at Burnham-on-Crouch, Essex.

Military Life - Frederick enlisted in September 1914 and served with the 1st/16th Battalion, London Regiment, the Queen Victoria’s Rifles, as a Rifleman, service number 8789. His wartime service included Gallipoli and Egypt before he was transferred to the Western Front.

In 1916, Mason was serving with his battalion during the Battle of the Somme in northern France. On 2 October, the Queen Victoria’s Rifles were fighting in the heavily contested area around Flers and Transloy. The battalion was operating in muddy, heavily shelled ground and was subjected to German artillery and machine-gun fire. Mason was killed in action during the fighting at the age of 25. The research records state that he was killed on the battlefield, either by shrapnel from an artillery barrage or a sniper’s bullet. Because his remains were lost or could not be identified amid the constant churning of the Somme battlefields, he has no known physical grave.

Frederick is commemorated on the Thiepval Memorial to the Missing of the Somme in France, and his name also appears on the Beaconsfield War Memorial.