Captain Frederick William Hunt

Frederick William Hunt was born on 22nd December 1880, son of the Reverend William Cornish Hunt and Jane Elizabeth Hunt (nee Pym).

The family came from Odell, Bedford and moved to Feering in 1898 and lived at The Warrens (now called Feering Place).

Frederick went to Marlborough College from May 1894 until Christmas 1897.

In February 1899 Frederick was commissioned to the 4th Battalion, The Essex Regiment as 2nd Lieutenant, Warley Depot.

Commissioned into the Leicestershire Regiment from The Essex Regiment on the 18th April 1900 and advanced to Lieutenant on 18th June 1901.

He transferred to the Indian Army on 10th April 1903 and appointed Squadron Commander of the 19th Bengal Lancers (Fanes Horse) on the 18th April 1904.

Employed with the King’s African Rifles in Somaliland from April 1907 until October 1911.

Frederick advanced to Captain on 18th April 1909.

One of the original 55 intelligencers with the British Expedition Force to France at the beginning of the Great War.

He was wounded at the Battle of Mons, Belgium 22nd August 1914 with a bullet through his jaw but back on the Front on 17th September 1914.

He was gazetted as Staff Officer, but soon resigned as he thought his job was ‘too soft’ and wanted to be on the fighting line.

Captain Hunt was then attached to the 4th Hussars in the front line near Ypres.

On 31st October 1914 aged 33 years he was killed in action whilst trying to recover a machine gun having rescued the body of Lieutenant Kenneth North.

For his bravery, he was Mentioned in Despatches gazetted on 17th February 1915.

A memorial was erected near The Warrens by his parents and was used by Feering residents as a War Memorial until it was taken down in the 1960’s as considered unsafe.

The inscription on the original memorial is a quotation from Euripides @Trojan Horse’ about the horrors of war for both the victor and the vanquished and is included in the new memorial.

His name is on the Ypres (Menin Gate) Memorial and on the Roll of Honour for the Parish of Odell where his Father was the vicar and Frederick was born.

The Heritage Society became involved in the story of Captain Hunt and the memorial when undertaking research for a guided walk around Feering village in 2010 and came upon a worn out stone in a pavement by Glebe Gardens. Enquiries revealed the background to both Captain Hunt and the original memorial in the form of a cross parts of which were then being used as paving. The Society felt it should be reinstated in a more modern format for the area and arranged with the Parish Council for the slabs to be taken up and put into safe storage until such times as funds could be raised for the new memorial.

It was always the intention of the Society, if at all possible, to rededicate the memorial in 2014 as part of the World War One anniversary which was successfully achieved.

The Society is grateful to the following for all their support in the project:

The Community Initiatives Fund

Hunnaball of Witham / Janet C Davies of Kelvedon for all their help with the memorial

Ridgeons

Granville Homes

Peter Best Insurance

Tom Foster

A local resident

Kelvedon & Feering Heritage Society members

Greenfields for allowing the memorial to be sited on their land.