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Pte. Fred Purvis
British Army 1/5th Btn. Northumberland Fusiliers
from:Evenwood, County Durham
(d.9th Dec 1918)
Fred Purvis was my great-granddad. In 1915, he was living in Hull with his foster-brother, Will. Fred sent a postcard to his sister Alice of the Zeppelin attack on Hull in 1915. He wrote on the postcard that he would like Alice to send him some money if she could spare it and to remember him to his pal at Cragwood. Another postcard is of a sentry in Flanders that Fred sent to his sister Edith after he had gone to war (he was in the army from 1916 to 1918).
The Northumberland Fusiliers saw much action in France and Flanders. He went missing on 8th of July 1918, the first day of the 3rd Battle of the Aisne. The family didn't know what had happened to Fred until 29th of July, when they received a Red Cross letter saying that he was in a POW camp in Kassel. Evidently, he was then transferred to a POW camp in Quedlinburg, where, sadly, he died on 9 December 1918 from an unspecified cause.
There is not much more I can say of his short life except that we are proud he served his country.
