Fred was born in Apr/May/Jun 1897, in the district of Crediton, Devon, the illegitimate son of Isaac 'Harry' Harwood Vernon (28), an agricultural labourer and farm carter, and Ellen Tonkins (21), a domestic servant and later a housewife.
When Fred was conceived, his father Harry was still married to his first wife Lucy James. Lucy was dying of TB and would pass away on 25th March 1897 - less than a month to three months before Fred was born.
On New Year's Eve 1897, when Fred was six to eight months old, his parents married. On their Banns, Harry is described as being Ellen's lodger. At the time, the couple lived, likely along with baby Fred, in Chawleigh. After this, on all records, Fred is acknowledged to be Harry's son and takes his surname of Vernon.
Fred had four older half siblings - the legitimate offspring of Harry and his first wife Lucy James - :
- Edith Ellen 1891 - 1971 (79)
- Walter Charles 1892 - 1965 (73)
- William John 1894 - ???? (?)
- Frank 1896 - 19?? (?)
And nine younger full siblings (7 brothers and 2 sisters):
- Frederick 'Fred' (born Tonkins, later Vernon) 1897 - 1915 (18)
- Mabel Ellen 1898 - 1994 (95)
- George 1900 - 1900 (0 - 3 months old)
- George Henry 1901 - 1973 (71)
- Ernest Isaac 1904 - 1997 (93)
- Isaac Harry (went by Harry like his father) 1906 - 1964 (58)
- William Harwood 1908 - 1972 (64)
- Florence Emily 1911 - 1993 (82)
- Sidney 'Sid' 1913 - 2004 (91)
- Percy 1915 - 2002 (86)
The fact that the family moved around mid-Devon a lot, likely as Harry sought farm work, is revealed in the children's different places of birth and their attending different schools...
Having spent his first months in Chawleigh, by 1898, Fred and his family could be found in Crediton. There his younger sister Mabel was born in Tolleys on 25th November, and his elder half sister Edith attended Crediton Hayward School for one week from 28th November. Mabel's birth certificate shows that though she was born in Crediton, her mother's residence was Shobrooke, which is two miles west of Crediton. At some point, around this time, his elder half siblings Edith and Walter attended school in Thorverton, which is four and a bit miles east of Shobrooke.
1899 saw Fred and the family move again, about four and a bit miles, this time from Thorverton to East Coombe. Whilst the family resided there, Edith and Walter attended nearby Stockleigh Pomeroy Church of England School from the October. 1900 saw them move again: that year from East Coombe, about three miles east, to West Bowley, Cadbury. Edith and Walter attended Cadbury School from the 12th March to the 7th September, when the family left the area.
In Jul/Aug/Sep 1900, when Fred was three, his younger brother George passed away as a very young baby - only zero to three months old. His parents would name their next son George also, likely after their lost child.
The 1901 Census shows the family had moved back to Thorverton:
At some point between 1901 and 1904, the family moved three and a half miles south to Upton Pyne, for there Edith and Walter attended school for a time, before returning to Crediton in 1904.
Did Fred's older half siblings live apart from their father and step family for a time? Notably, whilst Edith and Walter attended Crediton Hayward School and their address is listed as Chapel Down in Crediton in October 1904; their younger sibling half siblings Fred, Mabel and George began attending Sandford School from 25th June 1904, and their address is given as Priorton Mill (a mile north of Sandford, and three and a bit miles north of Crediton). These three stayed at Sandford School for three years, till the family left the area in July 1907. Also Walter appeared to be staying, neither in Crediton nor Sandford, but with their grandfather in Chawleigh in the summer of 1905, when, aged twelve, he made attempt to steal a silver watch and chain. He was soon discovered and sent to an industrial school. This and the army were said to have reformed his character.
The family moved next back to Crediton, where Mabel and George attended Crediton Hayward School, like their older half siblings had done before them. Then from February 1908, they and Fred began attending Dunsford County Primary School. By this time, the family were living at Sowton Cottage, in Dunsford, which is about nine miles south of Crediton where they last lived. They left the school only five months later, in July 1908, when the family moved again - this time, five miles east, to Holcombe Burnell, where they again attended the local school.
Around 1909, Mabel, George, Ernest and Harry attended school in Longdown (only a mile west of Holcombe Burnell where they previously attended), before the family moved about ten miles to Hittisleigh - the children attended the school there from September 1910. At the time they lived at Beer or Bera Cottage, which was seemingly about half way between Hittisleigh and Cheriton Bishop. The family were still there a year later at the time of the 1911 Census; however, Fred was not with them, and had seemingly stopped attending school with his younger siblings. Had he left home to work?
Fred disappears from records as a teenager. Did he live and work on farms around Devon, as did most of his male relatives?
His older half brother Walter had joined the army, after leaving the industrial school. The First World War saw Fred follow in his older brother's footsteps. Fred's army service record doesn't seem to have survived, but we know Fred didn't survive the war. His name appears on the Men of Dunsford war memorial. Devon Heritage gives his army details: no. 14895, Private Fred Vernon, of the 9th Battalion, the Devonshire Regiment. He was killed on Thursday 30th September 1915, aged only eighteen.
He is memorialised also in France at the Loos Memorial at Dud Corner Cemetery, at Loos-en-Gohelle, Departement du Pas-de-Calais, Nord-Pas-de-Calais, France. His Plot is Panel 35 to 37. His Memorial ID: 15761976.
Fred's Army Medical Card states he arrived in France on 27th July 1915. It appears he saw action for the first and last time in the Battle of Loos. From The Keep Military Museum website:
"In early August 1915 the 8th and then the 9th [Devonshire Regiments] joined 20 Brigade in the 7th Division in Frances. After the briefest experience in the line, both Battalions were hurled into the Battle of Loos on 25th September. Despite German shelling and British gas blowing back on them during the attack, the 8th pressed on leading the attack and captured the German position. The 9th followed in support and lost a great many men to machine gun fire as they crossed No Man's Land to join the 8th in their stretch of German trench. The survivors of the two Battalions held the position until the evening of 26th September, when they were withdrawn. In this single battle the 8th suffered 639 casualties and the 9th 476."
Andrew Rawson, in Battleground Europe, describes how they were "shot to pieces before they had reached the Gun Trench".
Yet Fred's death is recorded as some days later. Did he survive the Battle of Loos, only to be killed or die on the 30th, a 'quiet day' when only "intermittent shelling went on throughout the day" (from 9th Devonshires Forum)? Or perhaps he did not actually survive the battle, and his body wasn't recovered, or his death wasn't recorded, until the 30th. Indeed, rather than stating his death of date, his Medical Card words it as his 'death regarded [or 'recorded' - its hard to read]: 30.9.15'
For his service, he was awarded the Victory, Britain and 1915 Star Medal, though whether he ever saw these, seems unlikely.
