Sunday 24 May 2015

Pollitt, Fred - Private (44904)

Private Fred Pollitt
2nd Battalion,
Lincolnshire Regiment,
Killed in Action,
23rd October 1918
Buried Romeries Communal Cemetery Extension

Newspaper Report:

Mrs. Pollitt of 364, Holcombe Road, Helmshore, has received official intimation from the War Office that her husband, Private Fred Pollitt, of the 2nd Lincolnshire Regiment was killed in action in France on October 23rd.
Private Pollitt joined the army on New Year's Day 1917, and was attached to the East Lancashires Regiment., but subsequently was transferred to the Lincolns whilst on active service.  Private Pollitt had been wounded and gassed.  He was of a quiet disposition and highly respected in the village.  Much sympathy will be felt for his widow and children (of whom there are two, a boy and a girl) in their sad bereavement.
The following is a copy of a letter which Mrs. Pollitt has received from her late husband's closent friend:-
"Dear Mrs Pollitt, I am very sorry to be the bearer of bad news to you, but I expect by this time you will have been notified by the War Office that your husband Pte. Fred Pollitt, was killed on the 23rd.  I am sending a few of his belongings home to you.  Fred and I were in the same platoon and I was just behind him when the shell came that killed him.  He did not live many seconds, so he had no pain.  I can assure you that he is very much missed by his pals.  He was well liked, and I as a personal friend was very sorry indeed when it happened, and I very much sympathise with you.  All we can do is to put our trust in God.  I helped to bury him along with three more of my pals.  Trusting God will give you strength to hear this trying experience, Yours etc.,
PTE. E. BUTLER
2nd Lincolns, B.E.F., France

Newspaper Memorials:

In loving memory of Private Fred Pollitt, killed in action, October 23rd 1918

"One year has passed, our hearts still sore,
As time goes on we miss him more,
His memory is as fresh today
As in the hour he passed away."

From his loving wife and children.

"Why should our tears in sorrow flow,
When God recalls His own?
But let our hearts in every woe,
Still say, "Thy will be done."

From his loving father and mother, brother and sister in law. Albert and Bertha.

"No one knows the silent heartache,
Only those who have lost can tell;
Today recalls and memories,
Of a brother we loved so well."

From his loving brother and sister in law, Harry and Gladys.

"A soldier's grave is a touching thing,
Where loving hands no flowers can bring;
But God in His most loving care,
Will guard our dear lad sleeping there."

Remembered by Mother and Father.

"Two minutes silence is not much,
But it breaks an aching heart;
Two minutes thought each day we live,
Remembers a hero's part."

From Brother and Sister, Harry and Gladys

"We little thought when he left home,
He would no more return,
That he so soon in death would sleep,
And leave us here to mourn."

From his sorrowing Wife and Children 364 Holcombe Road, Helmshore.

Somewhere abroad in a soldier's grave,
Lies our brother among the brave.

From Father in law and Family, 13 Green Haworth.

"Often we pause to think of you,
And think of how you died;
To think you could not say goodbye,
Before you closed your eyes.
"Greater love, faith no man than he lay
down his life for his friends."
From his loving Cousin Sarah Ann and Jack in France.