MY WAR DEAD
SIMKIN, Frank - died 3rd December 1917.
Frank Simkin was born in West Wickham, Cambridgeshire, in 1875, being one of the numerous children born to Edward Simkin, a blacksmith, and his wife who had been born Louisa Flack. His early years were spent in the village with his family and he was recorded there in 1891, working as an agricultural labourer. By 1901, he had moved to Heyshott in Sussex, where he was employed as a gardener at the Rectory, and ten years later he had added 'groom' to his capabilities though was still unmarried.
Frank finally married Mary Frances Lewendon in Richmond, Surrey, in mid-1916 and moved back to Heyshott with his new wife. He joined the Royal Field Artillery as a driver and was reported 'missing, presumed killed' at the battle of Cambrai on 3rd December 1917, aged 42; he is commemorated on the Cambrai Memorial at Louverval. Frank was awarded the Bristish War Medal and Victory Medal.
Frank Simkin's widow subsequently marrried Sidney Lovejoy, who had also been widowed, in Hackney, London, in 1919. Sidney died in 1935 but Mary outlived her second husband by almost 30 years, dying in 1964, aged 90.
Frank Simkin was the first husband of the second wife of my 3rd cousin, three times removed.