The Queens Own Royal West Kent R

The Queens Own Royal West Kent Regiment

Private A Fox

Private Alfred FOX, G/9218, 8th Battalion, Queens Own Royal West Kent Regiment, died of wounds, Flanders France, 29th March 1916, age 33.

Born Burton Overy, Leicestershire, son of Robert & Catherine Fox, Burton Overy, Leicestershire.

1903 December quarter, West Ashford, Kent, married Sarah Ann Luckhurst, of 25, Rugby Gardens, South Ashford, Kent / The Bogs, Hothfield, Kent.

Children - Robert Alfred Fox, born 30th July 1904, West Ashford; John Henry Fox, born 25th November 1905, Hothfield; Hilda Ethel Fox, born 24th July 1906, Pluckley; Thomas William Fox, born 21st October 1907, Pluckley; Frances Rose Fox, born 5th June 1910, Westwell; Louie Gladys Fox, born 6 January 1912, Westwell; ?Harry Leonard Fox, born 26th October 1915, Westwell.

1911 Census - Burnt House, Charing, Kent - Alfred Fox, head, age 28, married, cowman, born Burton Overy, Leicestershire; Sarah Ann Fox, wife, age 25, married 7 years, 5 children, all still alive, born Great Chart, Kent; Robert Alfred Fox, son, age 6, born Beaver?, Kent; John Henry Fox, son, age 5, born Hothfield, Kent; Hilda Ethel Fox, daughter, age 4, born Pluckley, Kent; Thomas William Fox, son, age 2, born Pluckley, Kent; Frances Rose Fox, daughter, age 10 months, born Westwell, Kent.

Enlisted Maidstone, Kent, age 33 years 4 months, height 5ft 5½ inches, weight 123lbs. Resided Fanchtons? Farm, Bearsted, Kent. Formerly dairyman.

Home, 20th July 1915 to 31st December 1915; BEF, 1st January 1916 to 29th March 1916.

20th July 1915, enlisted & posted Depot, Royal West Kent Regiment; 28th? July? 1915posted 9th Battalion, Royal West Kent Regiment; 1st January 1916, posted BEF & 8th Battalion, Royal West Kent Regiment.

Buried at St Quentin Cabaret Military Cemetery, I. D. 20, Heuvelland, West-Vlaanderen, Belgium.

External Link to Hothfield Roll of Honour

External Link to Men from Burton Overy who died in the Great War

The following information was supplied by Bernard SAGE, grandson of Alfred FOX - contact by email

My grandfather Alfred FOX and his sister Hettie, born in Burton Overy, Leicestershire.

The following notice was published by the Parish Church, Hothfield, Kent

"The Parish has lost another good man in Private A FOX, 8th Battalion, Royal West Kent Regiment, who had recently returned from Bearsted. He married in 1903 a daughter of John LUCKHURST, who then living on the Ashford Road. FOX was killed in the trenches in France by a sniper on the 29th day of March at the age of 33. He leaves seven children, the youngest of whom is only 6 months old. His widow has our sincerest sympathy on the great loss. The Regimental Chaplain speaks very highly of FOX's character and work".

Like so many from Kent that were killed in the war Alfred was a farm labourer. He came to Kent circa 1900 together with his brother William and they both worked at Yonsi Farm, Hothfield. Some of Alfred's ancestors went to Salt Lake City but I have not been able to connect them directly with the Mormom faith.

Hettie was a Hospital Nurse in Leicestershire in 1901. I cannot identify her uniform. Hettie also served in France and after the war returned to England to continue her nursing at a military hospital in Southampton where she married a Doctor. She wrote to my grandmother telling how she had nursed Alfred immediately prior to his death. I have been unable to trace Hettie or her relatives.

This page was last updated on 27-Jan-2019.