Frederick Tyler PO/5127
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The information relating to Frederick's family
has been kindly provided by his Great Great Grandson Kevin Day
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Frederick Tyler was born in the London town of Stratford on 28th December 1875, his parents Robert and Sarah Ann nee Mitchell. He enlisted with the Royal Marines on 28th October 1889 where he is recorded as being employed as a painter & paperhanger.
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Serving with the Portsmouth Division, Frederick would be promoted to the rank of corporal in August 1893 before marrying Millie Fuge at Totnes in Devon four years later. The couple would see the arrival of five sons, Frederick Robert Marcus (b. 1899) would also serve with the Portsmouth Division during WW1. He was enlisted on 6th April 1914 as a bugler with the service number 17224.
In February 1897 Frederick landed with the Benin Expedition. Eight men were killed in the action as the city was captured and sacked. This would lead to the collapse of the kingdom and its absorption into colonial Nigeria. Frederick was awarded the Ashanti Medal with the Benin "97" clasp in May 1898. Promoted to the rank of sergeant in September 1900, he was awarded the General Service Medal in 1907.
As a colour sergeant Frederick landed with Royal Marine Brigade at both Ostend and Dunkirk before serving at the defence of Antwerp. After the Division moved to Gallipoli, Frederick was killed during the action of the Second Battle of Krithia. Initially buried on the north side of the track halfway up Dead Man's gully, Frederick's grave was lost and his name commemorated on the Helles memorial.
It is with Frederick's death that we start to see some discrepancies in his details recorded at the time of enlistment. The Royal Navy and Royal Marine War Graves Roll gives a different birth date, 23rd December 1870, to that shown on the service record. This document does state his widow as Millie residing at Greenwich. The family believe that Frederick is actually Frederick John born 5th December 1869 at Ardleigh in Essex, the following census records in support of this (click to enlarge):
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Frederick R. M. Tyler PO/17224
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1901
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1911
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Further details were received from another of Frederick’s relatives concerning the discrepancies described above. This information suggests that he is Frederick John Tyler, born 5th December 1869, citing his marriage certificate and pension card. The family does not know why Frederick's date of birth is incorrect or his middle name omitted on the service record. His age at enlistment would change from 20 to 14, the reasons remain unknown. It is believed that Frederick was killed and buried on the Anzac battlefield, which would be consistent with the location of the Portsmouth Battalion on the 6th May 1915.
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Marriage certificate of Frederick John Tyler
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Pension Card of Frederick John Tyler
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A further update was received from the second relative:
Frederick’s attestation states that he was born “In the Parish of Stratford in or near the town of London in the County of Essex.”
Stratford was not part of London in 1870, it was still in Essex.
Frederick's birth certificate with corrections on the right hand side which are signed off by both parent’s marks as they were illiterate.
I suspect on a daily basis Frederick was never called by his second name, therefore did not know he even had a second name.
Frederick’s certificate of service states that he joined the Navy on 28 October 1889, and received his fourth class certificate on 20 December 1889, third class certificate in June 1900, and second class in March 1901. Frederick was most likely illiterate until he joined the Navy, and so were his parents. To me that explains why his date of birth and place of birth are incorrect, and the missing middle name. My theory is the discrepancy is due to the lack of literacy of Frederick and his parents. That the information written in all the early Navy forms were written by someone else, based on verbal answers by Frederick.
He probably knew he was born in Essex, but not exactly where, was always called Frederick so never used, or possibly even knew he had a middle name and knew he was born about Christmas time but not exactly when. Probably did not know the date, and the date of birth was back calculated by the navy based on his stated age. If you are illiterate and you cannot count, how do you keep track of your age?
Our family also obtained Fredericks death certificate which has a date of birth of 28 December 1870, and would have been transcribed from the original casualty list when the 8 had not faded to look like a three.
This additional information from the National Archives and the GRO convinces us that Frederick Tyler 5127 is definitely Frederick John Tyler born in Ardleigh Essex 1869. I passed this information on to the National Archives and they agree with me, and have changed the description of the document ADM 159/9/5127 on their website to a birth date of 28 December 1870,
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