233818 Pte. Edgar Frederick Tompkins British Army 11th (Cambridge) Btn. Suffolk Regiment from:Swavesey, Cambridgeshire Fred Tompkins was born in Northampton in 1883 and moved with his parents George and Emily and his younger sister Harriet Emily to the village of Swavesey, Cambridgeshire, in around 1890. The 1901 census shows him living with his parents and working as a farm labourer. He married in 1905, Sarah Jane Norman from Swavesey; the couple had no known children and lived apart within a few years of their marriage sometime before the 1911 census, when Fred was again living with his parents and working as a farm labourer.
Fred joined the 11th Battalion, Suffolk Regiment as a volunteer on 5th October 1914. He served in the battalion until 5th February 1917, when he was discharged as medically unfit for service Wounds P. 392 (xvi) King's Regulation 1912. He was awarded the Victory Medal and Silver War Badge (No: 20272). No other details of his military service are known to me.
Following his discharge, Fred Tompkins returned to Swavesey and resumed his occupation locally as an agricultural labourer. Fred moved into Cambridge probably in the early/mid 1930s. He was employed by Chivers at Histon as an agricultural labourer. On the death of his estranged first wife, in 1955, Fred married his long-term partner Beatrice Odell. Fred died on 21 June 1961, leaving no known descendants. His spouse survived until 1976.
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