RIFLEMAN FREDERICK DOGGETT
MONMOUTHSHIRE REGIMENT
29TH SEPTEMBER 1915 AGE 18
BURIED: RENINGHELST CHURCHYARD EXTENSION, BELGIUM
Frederick's mother chose his inscription and said what she wanted to say without any reference to Doggett's father, who was still alive and didn't die until 1934. Not only does the inscription not refer to him but nor do the War Graves' records: Frederick is the son of Mrs Esther Doggett with no mention of his father, William Doggett. I don't infer anything from this, just that this is how she filled in the forms.
I can imagine that Esther Doggett's last image of her son was as a young soldier in uniform. I wonder if she had a photograph taken of him? There are so many photographs of young men posing in their newly acquired uniforms against painted pastoral backdrops in High Street photographers' studios - was Frederick Doggett one of them? How families must have regretted not taking one if their relation was killed.
Doggett served as an orderly in the 1st Battalion the Monmouthshire Regiment, a pioneer battalion attached to the 46th Division. He is buried in Reninghelst Churchyard Extension, a Field Ambulance burial ground, beside his friend Alfred George Williams, another orderly, who was killed on the same day.