SECOND LIEUTENANT GORDON MINTER FRIEAKE
OXFORDSHIRE AND BUCKINGHAMSHIRE LIGHT INFANTRY
1ST AUGUST 1916 AGE 19
BURIED: ST SEVER CEMETERY, ROUEN, FRANCE
It took Gordon Frieake eight days to die. Wounded on the 23/24 July when the 1st/4th Ox and Bucks formed part of the Fourth Army attack on Pozieres Ridge, he was evacuated to one of hospitals at Rouen where he died on 1 August. The 1st/4th War Diary has been transcribed and gives full details of the attack. Frieake was in D Company
There are no quotation marks round the words, I have only done my duty and have no regrets for result, but it must be Gordon Frieake speaking, whether before he was wounded or afterwards there is no way of knowing.
Gordon Frieake was the only child of his parents' second marriages. He had eight step-siblings. Educated at Ardingley College, he joined the Territorial Battalion of the London Rifle Brigade in 1914 when he was seventeen. He received a commission in the 1st/4th Ox and Bucks in April 1916 and died just over four months later.