Selected Biographies

Last, Fred – Born: Long Melford, Suffolk on 3.3.1894.[1] Parents: William Last (Coconut Mat Weaver) and Lucy [née Pleasants] (Horsehair Weaver). Family Connections: Brother to Joe Last [b1891]. Home: Bridge Street, Long Melford (1901). Service Record: Although no definitive military record has been found, Fred may have been conscripted on 8.2.1916 as Pte.3903, later Pte.201277 with 1/4^th Battalion, Suffolk Regiment.  If this assumption is correct then he was posted to France as part of 98^th Brigade, 33^rd Division and would have seen action on the Western Front during the Somme Offensive of 1916, the Arras Offensive and Third Battles of Ypres in 1917. He was wounded in one of the latter actions, issued with a Silver War Badge and discharged on 21.12.1917.[2] Died: Fred died in 1929 as a result of ‘privations endured while serving with H. M. Forces in the war’.[3]

Last, Joe – Born: Long Melford, Suffolk on 13.8.1891.[4]  Parents: William Last (Coconut Mat Weaver) and Lucy [née Pleasants] (Horsehair Weaver). Family Connections: Brother to Fred Last [b1894]. Home: Bridge Street, Long Melford (1901), lodging as a servant with George Letts at Cemetery Road, Hadleigh, Suffolk (1911). Occupation: Nurseryman (1911). Service Record: Joe was enlisted as Pte.4315 with the Essex Regiment, transferring as Pte.G/34202 to 11^th [Service] Battalion, Duke of Cambridge’s Own [Middlesex] Regiment and posted to France as part of 36^th Brigade, 12^th [Eastern] Division.  The Battalion saw action during the Battles of the Somme in 1916, and the Arras Offensive and the Battle of Cambrai in 1917.  It was on 20.11.1917, the opening day of Cambrai, that Private Last was hit by machine gun fire while crossing no man’s land.[5] Died: Joe died of wounds the following day at a Casualty Clearing Station at Tincourt-Bourcly near Péronne and is buried in Tincourt New British Cemetery [grave ref: II.G.3], Somme, France. He is also commemorated on the Long Melford War Memorial under the name Joseph Last.[6]

Notes – [1] Date of birth from the Baptism Register 4.12.1896, Holy Trinity Church, Long Melford. [2] For details of 1/4^th Suffolk’s movements see War Diary [WO 95/2427/2].  See also his assumed Service Medal and Award Rolls, First World War, Silver War Badge [WO 329] record [ref: 300667], Service Medal and Award Rolls 1914-1918 [WO 329] and Service Medal and Award Rolls Index Cards 1914-1922 [WO 372] in the name of Frederick Last. [3] See his mother’s obituary ‘The Late Mrs W. Last’ in The Essex Chronicle 6.12.1935, which refers to the cause of her son’s death. [4] Date of birth from the Baptism Register 4.12.1896, Holy Trinity Church, Long Melford. [5] For an eyewitness account see Essex Weekly News 21.12.1917.  My thanks to Andy Begeant for bringing this reference and his own comprehensive article, found on https://chelmsfordwarmemorial.co.uk, to my attention.  For details of 11^th Middlesex’s movements see War Diary [WO 95/1856/2].  The Battle of Cambrai is noted for being the first action where tanks were deployed en masse.  See also his Service Medal and Award Rolls 1914-1918 [WO 329] and Service Medal and Award Rolls Index Cards 1914-1922 [WO 372] in the name of Joseph Last. [6] Commonwealth War Graves Commission record and British Army Registers of Soldiers’ Effects, 1901-1929 file [ref: 628294].