Frederick John Coward was born in the Somerset village of Cucklington, in September 1900. The youngest of eight children, his parents were farm labourer Frank Coward and his wife, Agnes.

It is likely that Frederick followed in his father’s footsteps when he left school, labouring on a farm. He was only thirteen when war broke out in the summer of 1914, and over the next few years, he probably watched with envy as his older peers – and older brothers – went off to serve their King and Country.

While full details are no longer available, Frederick probably enlisted as soon as he turned eighteen. He joined the Devonshire Regiment as a Private and was attached to the 53rd (Young Soldier) Battalion. He was sent off to Wiltshire and billeted at the Rollestone Camp, to the north of Stonehenge.

Army and naval barracks were crowded places, and brought together boys and men from all over the country in a way that had never happened before. The cramped nature of the billets meant that disease would run rampant and, once it took hold, it could prove fatal. Sadly, young Frederick was not to be immune from this: he was admitted to the camp hospital, and passed away from ‘disease’ on 6th October 1918. He was just 18 years of age.

The body of Frederick John Coward was brought back to Somerset for burial. He was laid to rest in the picturesque graveyard of St Lawrence’s Church in his home village of Cucklington.

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The loss of her youngest boy seems to have proved too much for Agnes to bear. She died the following spring, at the age of 55 years old.

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