Frank Herbert Howard
Age: 30
Rank: Acting Corporal
Regtl. No.: 19904
Regiment: 4th Battalion South Wales Borderers
Medals: 1914-1915 Star, Victory, British War
Frank Herbert Howard, a coal miner, of Penmaen, but originally from Somerset, husband of Margaret Jane, had three children. He served in the 4th Battalion South Wales Borderers and arrived in the Gallipoli Peninsula in December 1915.
Basra War Memorial, Iraq.Photo: Memorials Officer / Wikimedia
The battalion, part of the rear-guard, was evacuated in January 1916 to Egypt then to Basra, southern Mesopotamia (modern Iraq), the part of the Turkish Ottoman Empire. In March the battalion, part of 13th (Western) Division, Tigris Corps, Mesopotamia Expeditionary Force, was sent north.
On 9 April, at Sannaiyat, in an attempt to relieve the besieged Kut Garrison which was upstream to the south west, the division made a frontal assault across 650 yards of open marshy ground and were repulsed with heavy losses by the Turks.
Acting Corporal F H Howard (19904) was killed in action on 9 April 1916, aged 30, and is commemorated on the Basra Memorial, Iraq.
Additional information taken from the Army Registers of Soldiers' Effects, 1901-1929:
Frank's widow Margaret J received pay of £1 19s and 10d and a gratuity of £11.
