Private Arthur William Freer
16th Battalion, Devonshire Regiment
Died of Wounds
Date of Birth: 1886
Place of Birth: Paignton, Devon
Date of Death: 4 September, 1918, Moislains in France aged 32
Buried: Dernancourt Communal Cemetery Extension, Somme.Remembered on Seafront Memorial, St. Michael's Church and St. James' Memorial Window, Teignmouth, Devon
Awarded the British War Medal and the Victory Medal
Private Arthur William Freer (shown in some records as William Arthur Freer) age 32.
Born in Paignton on 2 December 1885, the son of William, a carpenter and Elizabeth Freer, he was baptised on 20 January 1886.
In 1891 he was living in Paignton with his mother, stepfather and stepbrother. No further trace on records until his marriage to Daisy Soper in 1909 at Newport, Monmouthshire. He was shown on the absent voters' list for Daimond's Lane in 1918 where his wife was living.
Lance Sargeant Royal Arthur Frederick FreerArthur had a son, Royal Arthur Frederick Freer, who fought in WW2 and survived.
Arthur enlisted in Exeter, with 1st Devon Yeomanry, service number 14714, during 1914. On 6 October 1916 the Teignmouth Post newspaper listed him as wounded.
Devonshire Regiment
cap badge
Later he was serving with 16th Battalion, Devonshire Regiment, service number 345953, who from 21st August to 3rd September 1918 were fighting at what became known as the Second Battle of Bapaume, in the second phase of the Battle of Amiens.
Arthur died of shell wounds to his head at a Casualty Clearing Station on 4 September 1918. Buried in Dernancourt Communal Cemetery Extension, Somme. Remembered on Seafront Memorial, St. Michael's Church and St. James' Memorial Window, Teignmouth, Devon.
"Pte W. A. Freer Devon Volunteers of Teignmouth has died of wounds. Volunteered after outbreak of war, Widow and two children at French Street, he returned to France last April, having been twice wounded." 17 September - Western times
