Rectory Lane Cemetery, Berkhamsted

Frederick Ernest Bedford (1895-1925)
Driver Royal Field Artillery 605 & 890551

Frederick was born in 1895 and was the youngest child of Edward Hervey and Sarah Jane (see graves 968 & 877). When Frederick was just 8 years old, he lost both his parents, along with two brothers and a sister, supposedly from an hereditary condition which appears unlikely because it impacted both his mother and father.

By 1911 he was living with his married sister Florence and his only remaining brother Frank. His father had a carrier company and so at the outbreak of war Frederick joined the Royal Field Artillery as a Driver in the Royal Horse Artillery. He spent the war in France, arriving there in November 1915. His only surviving brother died in March 1918. When Frederick returned from the war in the summer of 1919 his only living family member was his sister Florence.

On 21 February 1920 he married Eva Alice Stothert in her parish of Stanford-le-Hope, Essex. They set up home at 15 Shrublands Avenue, Berkhamsted and their first child, Margaret, was born the following year. The second son Hervey was born in 1925.

Frederick died on 1 September 1925 aged 30.