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47th of the Old Boys of St Wilfrid's school, Haywards Heath to have lost his life in WW1.
Son of Thomas and Elizabeth Cottingham, he was born on 26 May 1885 in Haywards Heath, 3rd of eight children. His father was a railway porter at the time of Frederick’s baptism at St Wilfrid’s on 27 May 1885. By 1891 they lived at Liverpool Arms Cottage (now demolished, it was in Clair Road where the railway car park is now) and his father was a grocer’s porter. Frederick married Kate Sayers in 1910 and in 1911 they lived in Mill Green Road with their daughter Kathleen. Frederick was a grocer’s cellar man at Beenys Stores which was just round the corner from his home, opposite the Burrell Arms. They had another daughter, Malvina Cecily and two sons, Charles Frederick and Ernest John before Frederick joined the Army. He enlisted on 5th June 1916 at Brighton, and was sent abroad on 19 January 1917. He died of wounds on 23 Aug 1917, and is buried at Bedford House Cemetery, Ieper, Belgium, grave Enclosure 2 I. F 21. There was a piece about him in the local paper: MID SUSSEX TIMES On Tuesday last Mrs Cottingham, of Mill Green Road, received the sad intelligence that her husband, gunner Frederick Cottingham RGA, had been killed in action. His Major wrote saying that the end came on 23rd August.DEATH OF GUNNER COTTINGHAM “He was wounded just over the heart on his left side by a large piece of shell, which fell a few yards from him. He never recovered consciousness though he did not die until after we got him to the ambulance station.” The Major concluded “You have the deepest sympathy of all the officers and men of the Battery.” Gunner Cottingham was 32 years of age, and a very worthy young man and a devoted father. He has left to the protecting care of his widow four children aged 7, 5, 4 and 2 years respectively, and it worthy of note that he died on the fourth birthday of his third child. When he joined up in July, 1916, he was in the employ of Captain Speer, of Lindfield, as a gardener, and prior to that he was for several years a warehouseman at Beeny’s Emporium. He went on to Flanders last January, and had not been home since November, 1916. The deepest sympathy of many persons has been extended to Mrs Cottingham, who is bearing up bravely for the sake of her little ones. From the Rev R Goodwin (Chaplain) Mrs Cottingham received on Saturday a very consoling letter. In it he said: “Although your husband has not been very long with the Battery he is highly appreciated by all, and will be missed very much. We buried him in a little cemetery not far away from where he was killed, and there all that is mortal of him lies peacefully in the soil of the country he gave his life to defend. I know you will not think of your husband as out here. He followed the example of the Divine Master Himself and gave his life for the right, and in His service he has gone on higher. In that service, too, I am confident he is allowed by God’s love to be near to all of you whom he loves, joining your worship and sharing your prayers. So in the Communion of Saints he still lives with you in Christ. I am sure it is if the greatest help to all of us to keep this clear in our minds in these times. Even so this must be a terrible blow to you, and very hard to bear. May God comfort and help you in your great sorrow.” His widow Kate received a War Gratuity of £4 and his pay of £2 4s 2d. She remarried in 1925 and lived on until 1973. |
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