Brothers in Arms: The Christmas Family's Story of Loss and Legacy

On Remembrance Sunday, my thoughts always turn to those ancestors who paid the ultimate sacrifice.   Between my husband and I we have 7 ancestors who died in WWI, but today I would like to tell the story of my great-grandfather and his two brothers.

My great-grandfather, Frederick Charles CHRISTMAS, was born in Bow, East London, in April 1891, the second (surviving) son of James and Mary CHRISTMAS. By the time the Great War was declared in August 1914, the couple had three sons and two daughters but had suffered the tragic loss of a further eight children in infancy.

In February 1914, Frederick’s younger brother, Henry Arthur (Harry), enlisted in the Dorsetshire Regiment a month before his 19th birthday. When war broke out just 6 months later, he was immediately sent to Flanders and was involved in the Battle of Mons which took place on 23rd August. Shortly after this, on 15th September, he was admitted by field ambulance to hospital due to an injury to his arm and he returned home to England a week later to recover.  Harry didn’t stay back in England long and in January 1915, whilst serving on the front line in Ypres, he was promoted to Lance Corporal, though sadly he was killed in action a few weeks later on 12th February 1915, just a month before his 20th birthday.

Harry Christmas’s Gravestone in Wulverghem-Linenhoek Road Military Cemetery, nr. Ypres, Belgium.

Harry is buried in Wulverghem-Lindenhoek Road Military Cemetery, a few miles south of Ypres, in one of 6 graves that are marked as special memorials moved there from their initial resting place of Frenchman’s Farm after the armistice in approx 1920, when it was realised that their original graves had been disturbed during fighting in that area in 1917/18.

At the time, Frederick was newly married with a one-year-old son, also named Frederick, and his wife, Eliza Mary, was pregnant again. In July 1915, his older brother William James, who was also married with two small children, enlisted in the Duke of Cornwall’s Light Infantry (“DCLI”).  He enlisted the same week that Frederick and Eliza welcomed twin boys, whom they named Harry and William after Frederick’s brothers. One of these twin boys was my grandfather.

Unfortunately, in September 1915, my grandfather’s twin died at just two months old. Shortly after his death, in December 1915, Frederick followed in his brothers’ footsteps and enlisted in the Queen’s Royal Regiment (West Surrey), and was subsequently posted to France.

By August 1917, Frederick had been transferred to the Labour Corps and was on service in Saint-Pol-sur-Ternoise in Northern France. He was admitted to the 12th Stationary Hospital St. Pol on 20th August, and his records showed that he had been ill for eight days before his admission and was suffering from a left cerebellar abscess. He unfortunately died on 27th August 1917. The cause of death was recorded as a left cerebellar abscess and cerebrospinal fever. A post-mortem revealed that the cerebellar abscess was a direct result of middle ear disease he had contracted while on military service, which was undoubtedly aggravated by active service conditions. I imagine his passing was, sadly, prolonged and very painful.

Fredrick Charles Christmas’s Gravestone in St. Pol Communal Cemetery Extension, Saint-Pol-Sur-Ternoise, France.

The 12th Stationary Hospital was stationed at St. Pol Racecourse from June 1916 to June 1919.  My great grandfather is buried in the nearby St. Pol Communal Cemetery Extension G22.

William James was the only one of James and Mary CHRISTMAS’s sons to survive the Great War; during his service he transferred from the DCLI to the Somerset Light Infantry.  Though William didn’t escape entirely unscathed — he was gassed and injured bearing the effects of both for many years — he did return to his family and went on to have five more children with his wife, Florence. As well as being a loving father and husband, he was a much-loved uncle to my grandad Harry the surviving twin, and also great-uncle to my Mum – providing a crucial link for them both to the Christmas side of their family.

I only uncovered the story of my great-grandfather Frederick and his brothers just before the centenary of WW1. I have since visited both Frederick and Harry’s graves in France and Belgium several times and laid wreaths at the Menin Gate on the centenary of their deaths, determined to ensure that their sacrifice is not forgotten.

We will remember them.