Richard Fradd 1878



Richard Fradd was born about 1878 in St Mawgan in Pydar, Cornwall, England.  Richard was born to Josiah and Grace Williams; and was one of 9 siblings. He is the 2nd cousin 3 times removed of Gary Kenneth Fradd. St Mawgan in Pydar lies in and about the beautiful Vale of Lanherne.
Settlements dating from the Bronze Age and the Iron Age have been excavated in various parts of the parish. The village of St Mawgan can probably be said to date from the arrival, in the 6th Century, of the Welsh missionary, Meugan or Mawgan at what is now Mawgan Porth.

Fig 1. Richard Fradd circa 1900

Census records show that Richard was aged 23 and employed as a masons labourer in Cornwall in1901, and then as a miner in 1903 in Cape town, South Africa. 
His brother Francis David a Copper Miner also left Southampton for the Cape in 1902.
I suspect they were both caught up in the gold rush. 
Richard travelled all over the world as a miner in the early 1900's.

The steamship SS Galeka delivered him and many others from Southampton to the Cape in 1903. Of all of the trades, they were predominantly miners.

Fig.2 Taken in South Africa -Back Row, third from left

She served on the South Africa route until the First World War when she was used by the UK as a troop transport, carrying troops of the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps to the Gallipoli Campaign. Galeka was then refitted as a hospital ship with accommodation for 366 wounded passengers. On 28 October 1916 she hit a mine laid by the German U-boat UC-26.The ship was the last vessel to enter service before the merge between the Union and Castle shipping lines.

 

Fig.3 Attestation Paper

Richards Casualty Form - Active Service show that he attested oath aged 38 years and 1 month on the 25th February 1916 where he was mobilized to the Army Reserve, into

the11th Battalion, 3 months later onto the 53rd (Young Soldier) Battalion. Up to 27 October 1917, this was known as 95th Young Soldier Battalion and had no regimental affiliation. Before that it had been 11th (Reserve) Battalion of the Duke of Cornwall’s Light Infantry.
A basic recruit training unit based at Chisledon, it was part of 22nd Reserve Brigade. On 31 October 1917 when that Brigade was broken up it went to 8th Reserve Brigade at Larkhill.

In 1916 when conscription was first introduced for the British Army, the existing regimental system could not cope with the large influx of recruits. By January 1916, when conscription was introduced, 2.6 million men had already volunteered for service, a further 2.3 million were conscripted before the end of the war; by the end of 1918, the army had reached its peak strength of four million men. To train the recruits from 1916 onwards twenty-six reserve brigades were raised, with an official complement of over 208,500 soldiers.

Fig.4 Richard Fradd Circa 1916

After the war, Richard settled back in Trevarrian, Cornwall before he died on 29 Sep 1934 in Mawgan Porth, St Mawgan-In-Pydar, leaving effects and £710 to his wife Alice.

They have 1 sibling a daughter; Agnes Margaret shown listed in the 1939 Census.

1939 Census, Fradd Household

Croydon C.B., Surrey, England 

Agnes M Murray (Fradd) 1923

Alice Fradd and 1 more person are on this record.