Lance Corporal Frederick Thomas Stephens MM
46th Battalion, South Saskatchewan Regiment, the Canadian Infantry, CEF
Accidental death
Date of Birth: 1893
Place of Birth: Linkinhorne, Cornwall
Date of Death: 30th September 1918
Buried: Commemorated Bucquoy Road Cemetery, Ficheux, the Shaldon War Memorial and on Stokeinteignhead War Memorial.
Lance Corporal Frederick Thomas Stephens MM age 23.
Born 14 March 1893 in Linkinhorne, Cornwall. Frederick was baptised 1895 at Southill, Cornwall. His parents Frederick Stephens of Linkinhorne, Cornwall and Emily (nee Halford - born Diptford, Totnes in 1868) were married, 1893, in St Germans, Cornwall.
In 1901 and 1911 the family were living in Cornwall where Frederick's father worked as a waggoner/coal carter and Frederick as a brush maker.
His brother, Signal Boy Charles Stephens, was to die due to an accident near Flamouth in 1917. Frederick Thomas emigrated to Canada and information on his Attestation Paper gives his occupation as farmer whilst his father's address is Ringmore, Devon England. It also states that Frederick had two and a half years service with the 5th Duke of Cornwall Light Infantry.
46th Canadian Infantry cap badge
On 29th December 1914, at Moose Jaw Sacatchewan, Frederick was assessed fit to fight for the Canadian Overseas Expeditionary Force. He joined the 46th Battalion Canadian Infantry (Saskatchawan Regiment) service number 426188. Their action at Canal du Nord Pas de Calais France, from 27 Sep - 1 Oct 1918, is described as perhaps the most complex, intricately-planned, and audacious assault of the war.
Using ladders to cross at a dry section of the ditch they then fanned out to outflank the German defences along the rest of the canal. The 46th Battalion was one of the lead battalions in the assault. They crossed the canal and took their initial objective, a sunken road six hundred yards beyond. The next day, the 46th continued the attack and took the Cambrai-Douai road, breaching the Marcoing Line at that point. The cost was 370 casualties. The 12th Brigade attacked through the battalion's lines on the 29th, and the 46th was withdrawn to the Divisional reserve for the remainder of the battle. The strength of the 46th Battalion on 30 September was 567 all ranks. They had taken more casualties in September 1918 than at Vimy Ridge and Passchendaele put together.
Fred and Emily were living in Ringmore when they received official news of the loss of their son just a year and two months after the tragic death of his younger brother in a naval accident off the coast of Falmouth, Cornwall. Their grandmother, Miriam Halford, nee Holmes, appears on the 1891 census for Shaldon. She married Arthur Smerdon in 1899, shortly after the death of her first husband. The 1901 and 1911 censuses show her living with her new husband at Vine Cottage, Ringmore.
Lance Corporal Stephens MM died on 30th September 1918 in France while fighting with the 46th Battalion of Canandian Infantry.
He is commemorated Bucquoy Road Cemetery, Ficheux, the Shaldon War Memorial and on Stokeinteignhead War Memorial.
Inscription: Great was his sacrifice, great is his reward.
