Frederick Morgan: A Littlebourne Buff Lost at Rainbow Trench

Early Life and Family

Frederick Morgan was born in Lyminge, Kent, during the second quarter of 1890, the son of Henry Morgan and Jane Young. He was baptised at the parish church of Ss Mary and Ethelburga, Lyminge, on 8 June 1890. The baptismal record described his father as a waggoner, giving a glimpse of the agricultural working life into which Frederick was born. [1]

By the 1891 census, Frederick was living with his family at Park Houses, Littlebourne, near Canterbury. He remained in the local area into childhood, appearing at Park Houses in Wickhambreaux in 1901. These villages in the Stour valley formed the setting for his early life before the war carried him to France. [1]

Frederick later lived at Littlebourne, which was recorded as his place of residence in military and casualty sources. He did not marry and left no recorded children. His parents, Henry and Jane, became the principal claimants in the pension records that followed his death. [1]

Frederick Morgan was a Kent man of the New Army who served from January 1915 until he disappeared during the assault on Rainbow Trench in October 1916.

Military Service

Frederick enlisted at Canterbury and served in The Buffs (East Kent Regiment), initially as Private 8767 and later as Lance Corporal L/8767 or G/8767. He first entered the French theatre of war on 17 January 1915, earning the 1914–15 Star as well as the British War Medal and Victory Medal. [1]

His principal wartime unit was the 6th (Service) Battalion, The Buffs, a Kitchener New Army battalion raised at Canterbury in August 1914. It joined the 37th Brigade of the 12th (Eastern) Division and trained at Colchester, Purfleet, Shorncliffe and Aldershot before embarking for France in June 1915. [2][3][1]

Frederick’s surviving medical record also identifies earlier service with the 2nd Battalion, The Buffs, then part of the 28th Division. On 25 September 1915 he was admitted from the 86th Field Ambulance with contusions to the head and was transferred the following day by an improvised train. This provides evidence that his war service involved more than one battalion and that he had already experienced injury or illness before his final posting to the 6th Battalion. [1]

His service was later recognised by entitlement to a wound stripe. Casualty-list information issued in November 1916 recorded him as wounded, and a subsequent list described him as previously reported wounded and then wounded and missing. The formal status of “presumed dead” was ultimately attached to 7 October 1916. [1]

The 6th Buffs

The 6th Buffs served on the Western Front as a front-line infantry battalion in the 37th Brigade, 12th (Eastern) Division. The brigade also included the 6th Queen’s (Royal West Surrey Regiment), 6th Queen’s Own (Royal West Kent Regiment) and 7th East Surrey Regiment, supported by machine-gun and trench-mortar units. [3][4]

Before Frederick’s death, the battalion had fought at Loos in 1915 and then in the Somme battles of 1916, including Albert and Pozières. By October 1916, the 12th Division had already suffered severe losses: nearly 11,000 casualties in forty-three days of fighting on the Somme. [2][1]

In late September the division returned from the Arras sector and moved into forward positions at Gueudecourt, in appalling conditions. Its task was to continue the Fourth Army’s offensive towards the Transloy ridges, ground beyond the earlier Somme objectives where German defences remained deeply entrenched and strongly supported by artillery and machine guns. [5][2]

Rainbow Trench

The attack on 7 October 1916 formed part of the Battle of the Transloy Ridges, the final phase of the Somme offensive. The 12th (Eastern) Division had taken over trenches north and north-west of Gueudecourt during the night of 1–2 October. When the attack resumed on 7 October, its 36th and 37th Brigades were ordered forward. [2][1]

The 37th Brigade attacked on the right. The 6th Queen’s Own Royal West Kent Regiment and the 6th Buffs were the leading battalions, while the 6th Queen’s Royal West Surrey Regiment and 7th East Surrey Regiment followed in support. Their objective was Rainbow Trench, part of a fortified German trench system near Gueudecourt. [4][6][1]

The assault was met by devastating German fire. Before the advance began, enemy machine guns and artillery struck the British front line, particularly affecting the 37th Brigade. Men of the 6th Buffs reached Rainbow Trench, but too few survived to consolidate their gain; they were compelled to withdraw. [5][1]

The losses were catastrophic. The individual report records that, after the withdrawal, only one officer and forty other ranks of the 6th Buffs remained uninjured. Frederick Morgan was among those lost in this unsuccessful attack, a small part of the heavy human cost of an operation that failed to secure a lasting advance. [1]

Circumstances of Death

Lance Corporal Frederick Morgan was killed in action on 7 October 1916, aged twenty-six. He was initially reported wounded, then wounded and missing; the medal records later noted that he was presumed dead on the date of the Rainbow Trench attack. [7][1]

The available evidence does not identify precisely where Frederick fell, whether he was killed by artillery, machine-gun fire or another cause, or whether he reached Rainbow Trench. It is therefore more accurate to place his death within the 6th Buffs’ attack than to attribute it to a particular incident for which no individual witness account has been found. [5][1]

The attack was part of a wider and costly period for the 12th Division. Further attacks around Bayonet Trench on 12 and 18 October also encountered heavy machine-gun fire. When the division was relieved on 19 October, it had sustained more than 3,300 additional casualties around Gueudecourt. [2][1]

In the attack on 7 October, the 6th Buffs entered Rainbow Trench but could not hold it; the battalion withdrew after suffering overwhelming casualties.

Burial and Commemoration

Frederick has no known grave. He is commemorated on Pier and Face 5D of the Thiepval Memorial, France, which bears the names of more than 72,000 British and South African servicemen who died in the Somme sector before 20 March 1918 and whose graves are unknown. [1]

The absence of a known grave reflects the confusion and destruction of the Somme battlefield, where many men killed in shell-torn trench systems could not be recovered or identified. The Thiepval Memorial provides a permanent place for Frederick’s name and for the family remembrance that could not be centred on an individual burial place. [1]

His parents’ subsequent pension claims record the immediate domestic consequences of his death. Jane Morgan, then living at 20 Cottage, Littlebourne, received a weekly pension of five shillings from 6 November 1918; another claim named Henry Morgan at The Ponds Cottage, Littlebourne. Administrative activity continued into the 1920s and 1930s. [1]

Legacy

Frederick Morgan’s story links three Kent communities—Lyminge, Littlebourne and Wickhambreaux—with the battlefield around Gueudecourt. He was the son of a Lyminge waggoner, grew up in the Stour valley, and enlisted in his county regiment at Canterbury. [1]

His military record also illustrates the changing experience of a wartime infantryman: service with more than one battalion, a medical evacuation after head contusions, promotion to lance corporal, wounding, and finally disappearance in an attack that left the 6th Buffs almost destroyed. [1]

Frederick left no wife or children, but his sacrifice was remembered through his parents’ pension records, his medals and Memorial Plaque, and his inscription on the Thiepval Memorial. His name endures among the missing of the Somme and within the local history of the Kent villages from which he came. [1]

Sources and Further Reading

Sources
[1] Individual-Report-for-Frederick-Morgan.pdf https://ppl-ai-file-upload.s3.amazonaws.com/web/direct-files/attachments/141549598/0e5c2a1c-1882-48d9-898d-10bf3d89bfa3/Individual-Report-for-Frederick-Morgan.pdf?X-Amz-Algorithm=AWS4-HMAC-SHA256&X-Amz-Checksum-Mode=ENABLED&X-Amz-Credential=ASIA2F3EMEYEY4J27RAU%2F20261007%2Fus-east-1%2Fs3%2Faws4_request&X-Amz-Date=20261007T135236Z&X-Amz-Expires=2622&X-Amz-Security-Token=IQoJb3JpZ2luX2VjEEYaCXVzLWVhc3QtMSJIMEYCIQCD3YGng4ToAxNMzcJwueHX7HoL7J2EfmayBPvJhxOj7AIhANLX%2BBUKTfIT9oeNFnDZF42sQ6XYdaY2AyOCDHUymePKKoAFCA8QARoMNjk5NzUzMzA5NzA1IgyMOuLj7N7VJhX9dDkq3QQP1KOWw5%2B6d7bsTWzDL5YehE37mADMF8PoYHPkspbVc90xa%2FOw0bN8a8IEBJLuXAjPM3tG4o%2F5IhzmgZIKgJmRUNug56wsxJUH%2FBkFOwYa9p1iNONR0Wp1rrLa7xUrLeiLvBYcRlROAlVwU2Hkr%2BmqE6tfe0xU7lBxwcFa1ARw4EEOMYUVPGn1VcMo6S8BohZQA3vq%2Bk5WR5Yp50%2BEWSx2UHtppRqW9Izk6AOYzldbSBmSI5d2rJ8A3BC02AzaLT%2Bj%2B6vfz1vEO108bJ2piD0YwjubiHY1UjYrXd49HhMR0ij3MfCYAC0XiSzK3EMmHSA6hNm4EaTozsbFWaKjLghWlFhGN5GnSPpXXXT26aKVJruhikR%2BQ6Buu6Ljn0dc7amkEwYWjyWWEiFWUQdfK5%2FQ%2Bhm%2BumzKXHQO2UmH4XS3nXV4KHKPwrcSbu0XrSpTuaOJ1gv%2BJ7RJNO3BOzQk7YHpJywhTU1KdWHQSGy62vyMRgJG6YwYx9SvwM5pcrbEzcdtrohDwUqZha%2B2y5SAGQ1IDMoRUwUTNx76o8aKlGu1UO9XC6ceBuekZIuWKTUVml5oaOf3ZHLP6wMvbaI8pyxsocuvJu89bwRbuJCaiZWNZRm66Hd%2FhVaz2r2SxblydQ5pAsG7SQpovl8b5YFiZYIi%2FwjRLvr9tU%2FoqmFVIUs1eW3wV2Aa4L84hhGi7k5wkl8xaPSsnS3IrRrKs3Mr3JN%2BNidVEO9aXFBfy8Y3j4muKvCK%2FU6nvQgHC6Hmh5IV5i5inysMdz9DgiKb8oSeebAKCfFibLVbKl0TbzWKvzCPlpnWBjqXAcD4YRkxsd7mc4YouD4LLOq35cEyHVguz6Nm8BwlU3RrblqOtrUCIJj2iwDI6oITtxjrxGIMeYAXnQkvhhX0C4S5YynsYCN8Q8nfJt54JFwrULgjuapGm6WKiXjTelb0h4%2BRFg47k6YDHCCTbf63izQepI0XA18VBrmn3APzjAACwlFLKfq9cGX2icScm8Y5iYzrFuQus3U%3D&X-Amz-SignedHeaders=host&x-id=GetObject&X-Amz-Signature=ad1a0dfae6fc5280105198dc3e2975dafbd931b91be595c57f059294c30bd4ab
[2] 12th (Eastern) Division – The Long, Long Trail https://www.longlongtrail.co.uk/army/order-of-battle-of-divisions/12th-eastern-division/
[3] History of the 12th (Eastern) Division in the Great War, 1914-1918 … https://archive.org/details/12theasterndivisiongwar
[4] 12th (Eastern) Division – Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/12th_(Eastern)_Division
[5] Battle of Le Transloy – Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Le_Transloy
[6] 12th EASTERN DIVISION https://somme-roll-of-honour.com/Units/british/12thDivision.htm
[7] 2209 died on this day: Sat 07/10/1916 – First World War https://firstworldwaronthisday.blogspot.com/2016/10/2209-died-on-this-day-sat-07101916.html
[8] Remembering Fallen Heroes of 1916 | PDF | British Army – Scribd https://www.scribd.com/document/326397233/Todays-Fallen-Heroes-Saturday-7-October-1916
[9] Transloy Ridges – Rainbow Trench – Great War Forum https://www.greatwarforum.org/topic/167912-transloy-ridges-rainbow-trench/
[10] 6th THE BUFFS (East Kent Regiment) https://somme-roll-of-honour.com/Units/british/6th_The_Buffs.htm
[11] Somme centenary: the Battle of Le Transloy https://www.liverpoolmuseums.org.uk/stories/somme-centenary-battle-of-le-transloy
[12] The Transloy Ridges, 1916 – Worcestershire Regiment http://www.worcestershireregiment.com/wr.php?main=inc/h_transloy_ridges
[13] 12th (Eastern) Division | Military Wiki – Fandom https://military-history.fandom.com/wiki/12th_(Eastern)_Division
[14] Gueudecourt – October 12, 1916 https://rnfldrmuseum.ca/history/regimental-history/first-world-war-1914-1918/gueudecourt-october-12-1916/
[15] Frederick Morgan Art for Sale: Available Works & Gallery Listings https://www.mutualart.com/Artist/Frederick-Morgan/A08CC6672361F822/artworks-for-sale
[16] Fred Morgan – HSBC History https://history.hsbc.com/entity/4027224-fred-morgan

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