Frederick Charles Witt was born on 19th June 1888 in Amesbury, Wiltshire. The second youngest of eight children, his parents were journeyman baker Richard Witt and his wife, Elizabeth.

By the time of the 1901 census, Richard had set up a bakery in North Tidworth, ten miles north-east of Amesbury, with Frederick’s older brother, Alfred, helping out. This was a line of work that Frederick was also to go into when he completed his schooling: the next census return, in 1911, noted him as being his father’s assistant.

On 26th December 1912, Frederick married a woman called Kate Howard. The marriage took place at St Luke’s Church, Enfield, Middlesex. Kate was living in Enfield at the time, while hew new husband was based in Southampton, Hampshire. How a connection was made between the two is unclear, but the couple settled back in Southampton, and went on to have two children: Ivy and Doris.

When war was declared, Frederick was called upon to play his part. Full details of his service are unclear, but he had joined the Royal Army Service Corps by the start of 1917. Private Witt was attached to the Reserve Supply Personal Depot in Bath, Somerset, but, soon after enlisting, he contracted pneumonia.

Frederick was admitted to the Bath War Hospital in April 1917, but the condition was to prove too severe. He passed away on 20th April, at the age of 28 years old.

Frederick Charles Witt was laid to rest in Bath’s sweeping Locksbrook Cemetery. Interestingly, a newspaper report of his funeral did not mention the attendance – or existence – of Kate or their children; instead his parents seemed to take centre stage.

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