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Lance Corporal Frederick Charles Foord Stickells (service number 6288922) was a Kent-born infantryman of the 2nd Battalion, The Buffs (Royal East Kent Regiment), who died in Iraq on 3 April 1944 as the result of an accident, aged just twenty‑four.

He is buried in Mosul War Cemetery, Iraq, and is commemorated in perpetuity by the Commonwealth War Graves Commission, with his parents’ moving inscription marking the family’s loss.

Early Life and Family

Frederick Charles Foord Stickells was born on 21 March 1919 in Ashford, Kent, his birth registered in the East Ashford district in the J quarter of 1919 (volume 02A, page 1266). He was the son of Frederick Richard Stickells and Eliza Annie (née Foord), firmly rooting him in a Kentish family whose ties to the county would later be echoed in his service with a Kent regiment.

By 19 June 1921, Frederick appeared in the census as a two‑year‑old living at “The Corner” in Ruckinge, Kent, recorded as the son in the household. This rural setting in the Weald, south of Ashford, suggests a childhood shaped by village life in the aftermath of the First World War, when many communities were still coming to terms with recent losses.

On 29 September 1939, when the 1939 Register was compiled at the outbreak of the Second World War, he was living at Little Waddenhall, Stone Street, in the Bridge‑Blean registration district near Canterbury. Then aged twenty and single, he was employed as a grocer’s assistant, working long hours in a local shop supplying essentials to his community just as wartime rationing and disruption were beginning.

By 1941 he is recorded as residing in Canterbury itself, a move that likely coincided with, or soon preceded, his full‑time military service and brought him closer to the traditional recruiting area and depot of The Buffs. The individual report records no spouse, no shared facts with a partner, and no children, strongly suggesting that Frederick never married and left no direct descendants.

Born in Ashford in 1919 and raised in rural Kent, Frederick’s short life bridged the years between the two world wars.
Family reconstruction from civil and census records

Military Service with The Buffs

At some point after 1939, Frederick enlisted in the British Army and was posted to The Buffs (Royal East Kent Regiment), one of the British Army’s oldest infantry regiments with origins dating back to 1572. By the twentieth century the regiment was firmly associated with Canterbury and the county of Kent, drawing many of its men from local towns and villages.

Within The Buffs, Frederick served in the 2nd Battalion and rose to the rank of Lance Corporal, holding the service number 6288922. The National Army Museum notes that during the Second World War the 2nd Battalion fought in France in 1940 and later took part in the invasions of Iran and Iraq, before serving in other theatres such as Burma, reflecting a pattern of deployment that shifted from north‑west Europe to the Middle East and beyond.

The “Military Unit Notes” in his individual report state that in April 1944 the 2nd Battalion, The Buffs (Royal East Kent Regiment), was stationed in Kirkuk, Iraq, as part of the British Army’s presence in the Middle East. The battalion had been deployed to the Middle East, including Iraq, to protect strategic interests and maintain regional stability, and its activities in Kirkuk involved standard military duties, training, and regional security operations rather than large‑scale battles.

Frederick’s medal entitlement is recorded as the 1939–45 Star, the Africa Star, the Defence Medal, and the War Medal, indicating that he served in a recognised theatre of war and contributed to both campaign service overseas (including North Africa and the Middle East) and the broader defence effort of the United Kingdom and Empire. His rank of Lance Corporal suggests that he carried junior leadership responsibilities within his section or platoon.

As a Lance Corporal of the 2nd Battalion, The Buffs, he served in the Middle East, helping to safeguard vital oil routes and regional stability.
Regimental context from The Buffs’ wartime history

Circumstances of Death

Lance Corporal Frederick Charles Foord Stickells died on 3 April 1944 in Iraq, aged twenty‑four. His individual report records the cause of death as “Died Result of Accident”, distinguishing his loss from those killed directly by enemy action and highlighting the ever‑present dangers of military service even away from the front line.

The “Death Notes” section, reflecting Commonwealth War Graves Commission wording, records him as “STICKELLS, L. Cpl. FREDERICK CHARLES FORD, 6288922, 2nd Bn. The Buffs (Royal East Kent Regt.), 3rd April, 1944. Age 24. Son of Frederick and Eliza Annie Stickells, of Petham, Kent.” The minor variation in the spelling of “Foord/Ford” is a typical clerical inconsistency, but the full CWGC entry confirms his identity and family.

The report notes that detailed operational information for April 1944 is limited, and no narrative survives here to describe the precise nature of the accident—whether it involved transport, weapons, training, or another mishap associated with routine duties. Given that the battalion was then based in or around Kirkuk, it is likely that the fatal incident occurred in that area during the course of its garrison and security tasks.

“THE LOSS WAS GREAT, THE SHOCK SEVERE, TO LOSE THE ONE WE LOVE SO DEAR.”
Family inscription on his CWGC headstone

Burial and Commemoration

Frederick is buried in Mosul War Cemetery, Iraq, where his grave is recorded in modern sources as plot 2, row D, grave 1. Mosul War Cemetery, established in 1918, is the northernmost Commonwealth cemetery in Iraq and serves as a major resting place for British and Commonwealth personnel who died in Mesopotamia and the wider region during both world wars.

The burial notes in his report state that Mosul War Cemetery holds a significant number of First World War graves and 145 burials from the Second World War, along with two non‑war graves and 13 non‑war consular burials. This variety underlines its broader role as a memorial space for those linked to British and consular activity in northern Iraq across several decades.

The cemetery is maintained by the Commonwealth War Graves Commission (CWGC). Following the liberation of Mosul from ISIS control in the twenty‑first century, the site suffered from neglect and damage, but collaborative efforts involving the CWGC and the United Nations Assistance Mission for Iraq (UNAMI) have worked to clear and restore the cemetery, marking important steps towards its rehabilitation.

Lance Corporal Frederick Charles Foord Stickells is buried in Mosul War Cemetery, Iraq.

His official Commonwealth War Graves Commission entry can be viewed here: CWGC casualty details for Lance Corporal F. C. F. Stickells. There is also an online memorial page at Find a Grave memorial 65721754, which may include photographs and additional tributes.

Legacy and Descendants

The individual report records no spouse, no shared facts with a partner, and no children for Frederick, suggesting that he did not marry and left no direct descendants. His legacy therefore lies principally in the memory preserved by his parents; in the inscription on his headstone in Mosul War Cemetery; and in the collective history of The Buffs, whose ranks were long filled by men from the villages and small towns of Kent.

Regimentally, his story forms part of the wider narrative of The Buffs’ service in the Middle East during the Second World War, a theatre often overshadowed in popular memory by Dunkirk, El Alamein, and Normandy but vital to Allied control of oil supplies and lines of communication through Iraq and Iran. The 2nd Battalion’s deployments to Iran and Iraq, highlighted by the National Army Museum, provide the operational backdrop to Frederick’s final posting in Kirkuk and his burial in Mosul.

For those researching his wider family, platforms such as Ancestry and other genealogical websites hold the civil registrations and census returns that underpin this reconstruction. Key anchors include his birth registration in East Ashford, the 1921 residence at Ruckinge, and the 1939 Register entry at Little Waddenhall, Bridge‑Blean. Together with CWGC and regimental sources, they ensure that Lance Corporal Frederick Charles Foord Stickells’s life and service are documented and remembered.

Tag: 6th cousin 1x removed

Lance Corporal Frederick Stickells: A Kentish Hero

Early Life and Family

Military Service with The Buffs

Circumstances of Death

Burial and Commemoration

Legacy and Descendants