Three: Private F. Drewett, Wiltshire Regiment, taken Prisoner of War at the Battle of Le Cateau on 26 August 1914

1914 Star, with clasp (8985 Pte. F. Drewett. 1/Wilts: R.); British War and Victory Medals (8985 Pte. F. Drewett. Wilts. R.) good very fine (3) £180-220

Frederick Drewett was born at Easterton, Wiltshire, in 1896, and attested for service with the Duke of Edinburgh's (Wiltshire Regiment) in 1913, being posted to the 1st Battalion. On the outbreak of the Great War, the 1st Battalion, Wiltshire Regiment was assigned to the 7th Infantry Brigade, 3rd Division, and embarked for France aboard the transports S. S. South Western, and S. S. Princess Ena, landing at Rouen on 14 August 1914.

The Battalion was not heavily committed during the Battle of Mons, but on 25 August 1914, along with the 2nd Battalion South Lancashire Regiment, it fought a fierce rearguard action at Solesmes, which enabled the remainder of the brigade to fall back to the Le Cateau position. The following day, the Battalion defended the north-east edge of the village of Caudry, where the Battalion War Diary records that the Battalion was ‘heavily shelled and attacked by infantry, and suffered 80-100 casualties’.

Drewett was taken prisoner of war during this action, and was interred at Senne Prisoner of War Camp. Repatriated at the end of the War, he died at Easton-in-Gordano, Somerset, on 28 December 1959.