FRANCIS WILLIAM DRINKWATER, known as Frank, was serving as a Private in the 5th(Service) Battalion, The Oxfordshire & Buckinghamshire Light Infantry when he was killed in action on the first day of the First Battle of the Scarpe, 9th April 1917. He was aged 31 and is buried in the Tilloy Military Cemetery in the Pas de Calais.
He was the son of George and Sarah Drinkwater, of Charlbury. Born in Spelsbury in 1911 he was living at Park Street, Charlbury with his two sisters and younger brother Frederick, working as an assistant grocer. His brother Horace killed in action in 1918.
He had enlisted into the 4th Territorial Battalion of the Ox and Bucks in 1913 transferring to the 5th, one of the new armies, when it was formed in Oxford in August 1914. Under the orders of the 42nd Brigade in 14th (Light) Division, they landed in Boulogne on 21st May 1915. They took part in The Action of Hooge, in which the Division had the misfortune to be the first to be attacked by flamethrower and The Second Attack on Bellewaarde later that year. In 1916 they were involved in The Battle of Delville Wood and The Battle of Flers-Courcelette, actions of the Battle of the Somme.
On 8th April 1917 the Battalion were in assembly trenches in preparation for an attack on the Telegraph redoubt, part of the Harp on the Hindenburg Line. They attacked at 0730, despite fierce resistance the objective was achieved with 45 men of the Battalion killed, including Private Drinkwater.
Steve Kingsford