Thank you to Jane Anthony for the following research.
Frederick James Upton was born in Brockham the second son and one of the eight children of John and Mary Upton. His father was a lime burner working at the kilns at Betchworth The lived at Brockham Pit Cottages, which it would appear, were tithe cottages inhabited by the workers at the Pits.
Frederick probably joined the army before the war. The Battalion he joined was one of the regular army units. Unusually rather than enlisting locally he enlisted at Beverley Yorkshire, where the headquarters of the regiment were based; whether this was to avoid following his father into the lime burning kilns or if he was in trouble and needed to get away from Brockham can only be speculated. However several of the sons of family working in the kilns did join up as regular soldiers, mostly in regiments from outside the immediate area,
At the outbreak of the war the 1st Battalion were stationed in York, moving to both Edinburgh and Cambridge before landing at St Naziare on 10 September 1914. Frederick Upton was killed in action aged 20 on 11April 1916. On the day he was killed there was considerable bombing action. He was buried in the Norfolk Cemetery at Becordel-Becourt which is in the area of Albert.
| Born | Brockham, Surrey | |
| Son of | John and Mary Upton of Brockham Pits Cottages, Betchworth, Surrey | |
| Enlisted | Beverley, Yorks | |
| Regiment | 1st Battalion, East Yorkshire Regiment | |
| Number | 13122 | |
| Date of Death | 11th April 1916 | |
| Place of Death | France | |
| Cause of Death | Killed in Action | |
| Age | 20 | |
| Cemetery | Norfolk Cemetery, Becordel-Becourt, Somme, France |
