FRANCIS HERBERT CARPENTER
From May through to September 2026, Andrew will be fulfilling his dream to hike the iconic Land’s End to John O’Groats! You are all warmly invited to follow Andrew’s epic journey on his Facebook page, “Andrew Beal LEJOG”: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61577588795730
As Andrew hikes the 1,300+ miles, he will raise funds for the Ipswich War Memorial Project to help finance our future exhibitions and research of the brave Ipswich men and women who lost their lives in conflict. If you would like to make a small donation, please click on the link: https://gofund.me/5d4a50570
Thank you for your love and support. Andrew & Helen – I.W.M.P.
Picture from the Evening Star – 10th January 1943.
Recorded as FRANK HERBERT CARPENTER on war records.
Born: 1916, Liverpool, Lancashire.
Died: 24th October 1942; age: 26; Died of Wounds – after being hit when returning to help a wounded man.
Residence: 8, Shaftesbury Square, Ipswich.
Rank: Lance Sergeant; Service Number: 46696.
Regiment: Royal Engineers, 7 Field Squadron.
Medals Awarded: Distinguished Conduct Medal. Gazetted 14th January 1943.
Grave Reference:
XI.C.7.
Matruh,
Egypt.
Relatives Notified & Address: Son of Frank Ernest & Pearl Edith Carpenter; husband of Doris Gladys Evelyn Carpenter, of Ipswich.
Father: Frank Ernest Carpenter, born 1897, Ipswich – died 1941, Birkenhead, Cheshire. A Car Park Attendant. During the Second World War Frank was an A.R.P. First Aid Depot.
Mother: Pearl Edith Carpenter (nee Bill (1st marriage Oakes)), born February 1893, Birkenhead, Cheshire.
Carpenter family home – 11, Midlands Street, Birkenhead, Cheshire.
CENSUS
1921 11, Midland Street, Birkenhead, Cheshire.
Frank was 4 years and 11 months old and lived with his parents, brother and widowed maternal grandfather.
Frank Carpenter, 24 years & 8 months old, a Police Constable for the Borough of Birkenhead Corporation.
Pearl Carpenter, 28 years & 4 months old, Home Duties.
Briant Reginald Carpenter, 13 months old, born Birkenhead.
Herbert Thomas Bill, 56 years & 10 months old, a Quartermaster – Marine for Bibby Brothers, steamship owners, of Birkenhead.
In 1939, Ipswich, Francis married, Doris Gladys Evelyn Friend, a machine hand and bottle for a brewery, born October 1916, Ipswich – daughter of William Robert Friend, an Insurance Agent, and Emma Eliza Friend (nee Child), of 7, Albion Place, Ipswich.
15th January 1943 – D.C.M. for Ipswich Sergeant
HAS SINCE DIED OF WOUNDS
The King has been pleased to approve the following awards in recognition of gallant and distinguished services in the Middle East:-
D.C.M.: No. 4696 Lance-Sergeant Frank Herbert Carpenter, Corps of Royal Engineers, of Ipswich.
L/Sergt Carpenter has since died of wounds. In a letter to his widow, who lives at 8, Shaftesbury Square, Ipswich, his commanding officer gives this account of the circumstances in which he was wounded:
“We were making a gap in a minefield at the time. We had got through and came to some trenches. There was a tank battle going on ahead of us. I called out to ask if everyone was O.K., and was told that ‘Chippy’ was missing from his slit trench. I saw him lying about 30 yards away. He told me that he had seen a wounded man, and had gone out to get him, and got hit in the process.”
MY BEST N.C.O.
“He was my best N.C.O. I have never seen anyone so calm under fire. His wound was due to things: his indifference to fire and his heart being so big that he attempted to do a thing that was at the time impossible.”
Leave a Reply