PRIVATE 78358 FRED PLOWS, 19th BATTALION DURHAM LIGHT INFANTRY (2nd COUNTY PALS). KILLED IN ACTION (BELIEVED), 24th MARCH 1918 AGED 19.


PRIVATE 78358 FRED PLOWS, 19th BATTALION DURHAM LIGHT INFANTRY (2nd COUNTY PALS). KILLED IN ACTION (BELIEVED), 24th MARCH 1918 AGED 19.


The 19th Durham Light Infantry were in the Ypres area as the German Spring Offensive pounded the British front line north of the Somme. As the scale of the German attack became clear the British began to move reinforcements in attempt to shore up their weak defences. On the 22nd March 1918 the 19th DLI entrained for the long journey south, reaching the Somme are the following day. Moved up to the front line by bus the battalion reached Maricourt at 3am on 24th March.

Serving with the 19th DLI was 19 year old Fred Plows who had enlisted into the army the previous summer and had arrived at the front in December 1917. Within hours of arriving at Maricourt Fred would be killed shot in the head and killed instantly.
Fred was born in Ilkley in 1899 the son of a stonemason Arthur Plows and his wife Hannah. He was the middle of three sons and together the family lived at 2 Grosveror Terrace, on Bridge Lane (opposite the Riverside Gardens). After leaving school he was employed by plumber William Lawson who had premises on Brook Street.
During his brief service Fred wrote letters to his older brother George who was a mechanic in the RAF and based at Farnborough and his sister Lily who remained in Ilkley. Some of the letter have survived and in them Fred details his life in the army which he seems to have enjoyed.
Following Fred's death the 19th DLI became heavily involved in the fighting in and around the Somme. Records were lost or incomplete and Fred's death was erroneously dated as the 21st March. Without any positive news about their son, parents Arthur and Hannah had little information about Fred except notification from the war Office that he was missing. It was a friend of Freds in the same battalion who was left to break the sad news when he wrote to them that he had seen Fred's dead body and that he had been shot in the head. Further news came from an Australian sergeant who wrote to Fred's brother George at Farnborough. He reported that he had come across the body of a young lad who had been shot in the head. As he searched the remains he found a letter from George to his brother. The Australian noted that he had buried the body and had written to George so that he would know what had happened to his brother.
In subsequent fighting Fred Plows grave was lost and today he has no known grave. He is commemorated on the Memorial to the Missing at Pozieres and remembered with pride on our war memorial in Ilkley.
Photograph taken from 'Durham Pals' by John Sheen along with some details of his letters home.



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