Thank you to Patricia Brazier for the following research.
Francis was born in Steyning in Sussex in the June quarter of 1897. Soon after his birth, his parents, Thomas Charles and Emma (nee Hartridge), moved to London and Francis was baptised at Christ Church in Gipsy Hill on 2nd April 1899.
In the 1901 census his family are living in Streatham, Thomas his father is a Journeyman Baker. Francis now has a brother, Hubert; he was born in in 1900.
In the 1911 census Francis’s family are living at 17 Glencoe Road, Cliftonville in Margate. Francis and his brother Hubert are at school. They now have a younger sister, Irene she is 6 years old and was born in Beckenham.
Sometime between 1911 and 1918 the family moved to Dorking and in the Electoral registers of 1918, Thomas is living at 23 Wathen Road, with his parents.
Whilst serving with the Royal Army Medical Corps in the convalescent camps at Nakuru in Kenya, Francis contracted Influenza and died on 22th November 1918, he is buried in Nakuru North Cemetery. His parents requested that “Mizpah” be inscribed on his headstone.
| Born | Steyning, Sussex | |
| Lived | Dorking, Surrey | |
| Son of | Thomas Charles and Emma (nee Hartridge) of 23 Wathen Road, Dorking | |
| Regiment | Royal Army Medical Corps | |
| Number | 88556 | |
| Date of Death | 22nd November 1918 | |
| Place of Death | Nakuru, Kenya | |
| Cause of Death | Died of influenza | |
| Age | 21 | |
| Cemetery | Nakuru North Cemetery |
