Frederick James Brickell

Story:
Frederick James Brickell was born in Enmore Green, Shaftesbury, Dorset, (Parish of Motcombe) on 5th April 1884 the son of Thomas Brickell and Elizabeth Brickell (née Hoskins).  He spent a very short time of his early life in Enmore Green before the family moved to Tredegar, Bedwellty, Monmouthshire, where his father obtained work in the coal mines.  Frederick, now a miner himself, married Margaret Ann Bevan in Bedwellty on 26 Dec 1905 and they went on have three children. He enlisted on 1st September 1914 as a Private with the 1/3rd Battalion of the Monmouthshire Regiment (Service No. 2128).  He served in France and Flanders from 13 Feb 1915 where he was gassed on three occasions during 1915 and also received a gunshot wound in his left arm.  He was transferred to the 4th Reserve Battalion of the Welsh Regiment on 21st September 1916 (Service No. 53750).  He soon joined the 9th Battalion in the field.  During 1918 he was accused of desertion but this was dealt with by forfeiture of pay and bonuses and no trial was held. Despite all this he was awarded the Military Medal. He was discharged on 7th January 1919 and additionally awarded the Victory and British War medals as well as the 1915 Star.  He made a claim for a pension in 1919 due to the gassing and the gunshot wound that had previously occurred.  After a considerable number of medicals he was awarded a limited pension.  His address at the time, and on the 1921 Census, was 56 York Terrace, Tredegar, Bedwellty, Monmouthshire. His wife regrettably died in 1925 and he went on to re-marry Sarah Ann Durham in Bedwelty, Monmouthshire in 1929.   His death was recorded in Tredegar on 1st December 1959. Frederick's younger brother Alfred John (b.1886) also enlisted with the Monmouthshire Regiment and transferred to the Welsh Regiment, but he sadly died in Flanders in 1917.