FREDERICK GEORGE HENRY LEEK

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.

Photo courtesy of Julie. 

Image from 17th March 1945 – Evening Star

Born: 5th December 1907, Woodbridge, Suffolk.

Died: 25th August 1943; age 35; died of Malaria and Heart Failure at Tarsao POW Camp whilst a Japanese PoW – Thailand – Burma Railway.

Details of Frederick’s death were learned from statements of repatriated Prisoners of War.

Captured: 15th February 1942 – Fall of Singapore.

Residence: ‘Labada’ 770, Foxhall Road, Ipswich.

Rank: Company Sergeant Major/Warrant Officer Class II; Service Number: 5823687.

Regiment: Suffolk Regiment, 4th Battalion.

The body was originally buried at Tarsao No. 2 Cemetery, grave number 507. On the 1st March 1946, the body was exhumed, identified by records and reburied at Kanchanaburi War Cemetery.

Grave Reference:

4.E.1.

Kanchanaburi War Cemetery,

Thailand.

Image courtesy of Elaine McGough.

Relatives Notified & Address: Son of James Thomas Leek & Beatrice Louisa Leek; husband of Lily Ellen Leek, of Ipswich.

Father: James Thomas Leek, born 1881, Snape, Suffolk – died in November 1908 at Harwich—a Master of the barge “Devonport.”

Mother: Beatrice Louisa Leek (nee Finney), born in 1888, in Woodbridge, Suffolk.

CENSUS

1911   Brook Street, Woodbridge, Suffolk.

Frederick was 3 years old and living with his maternal uncle & aunt, cousins & sister.

William Henry Finney, 54, a Quay Labourer, born Trimley, Suffolk.

Martha Elizabeth Finney (nee Blake), 50, born Kent.

Ethel Cecilia Finney, 20, born Woodbridge, Suffolk.

Gertrude May Finney, 17, born Woodbridge.

Norah May Leek, 5, Woodbridge.

1921   68, New Street, Woodbridge, Suffolk.

Frederick was 13 years & 6 months old. He attended School and lived with his maternal grandparents, sister and maternal cousin.

William Finney, 65 years old, a Fried Fish Shop Proprietor – own account – at home, born Trimely, Suffolk.

Martha Elizabeth Finney (nee Blake), 61 years & 5 months old, Home Duties, born Strood, Kent.

Norah May Leek, 15 years & 6 months, born Suffolk.

Gladys Victoria May Finney, 8 years & 7 months old, at School, born 28^th November 1912, at 2, Hackney Villas, Melton, Suffolk (mother Ethel Cecilia Finney, a draper’s assistant – died on the 8^th May 1916, at the East Suffolk and Ipswich Hospital).

E.A.D.T. – Monday, 9^th November 1908 – MIDNIGHT DISASTER – TWO SUFFOLK MEN DROWNED AT HARWICH – A sad boating tragedy occurred at Harwich soon after midnight on Saturday, a boat capsizing, and two men being drowned, while another man had a narrow escape from a similar fate.

It appears that the Mate of the barge Unity, of Ipswich, Ernest Scrivener, and two other men, James Leek, Master of the barge Devonport, whose home is at Brook Street, Woodbridge, and Simpson, cook of the barge Unity, whose home is Chelmondiston, left the Unity at midnight on Saturday to go to the barge Devonport, which was lying off the Guard Buoy in the harbour. They hoisted the sail as soon as they got into the boat, which belonged to the Unity, but the boat gybed and immediately turned over, and the three occupants were thrown into the water.

There was a nasty sea running at the time, and the wind was blowing strong from the E.S.E. Ernest Scrivener seized an oar, and floated down the harbour towards Felixstowe Pier, but the others sank almost immediately Ernest Scrivener shouted and screamed for help as he floated down the harbour, and his cries were heard by the crew of the small Dutch schooner Alive, which was bound from Groningen to Yarmouth, but which had put into Harwich Harbour wind-bound.

A boat was launched, and the Mate of the Alive picked the man up and then took him on board the Unity. The poor fellow had a most undesirable experience in the icy cold water in the middle of the night, and his inability to swim rendered his position even more precarious.

Both the men who drowned were said to be good swimmers, particularly the skipper of the Devonport, James Leek. The latter vessel belonged to Mr. John Burstead, and the Unity belonged to Mr. George Hayward, of Chelmondiston. The boat was subsequently discovered by H.M.S. Nith half full of water and is now safely anchored in the Pound at Harwich. The bodies of the two men have not up to the present been recovered.

Frederick’s mother, Beatrice Leek remarried in 1912, at Bury St. Edmunds, Suffolk to Walter George Plumb.

Frederick was a well-known Ipswich, Suffolk County and Territorial athlete.

In 1934, Ipswich, Frederick married Lily Ellen Stowe, born February 1905, Ipswich – daughter of Joseph Stowe, a labourer, and Florence Alice Stowe (nee Fitch), of Ipswich.

Lily and Frederick had one son:

Anthony J.S. Leek, born 1937, Ipswich.

ENGLAND & WALES REGISTER 1939.

Lily was the Licensed Victualler, at The Swan, St. Ives, Huntingdonshire. Baby Anthony was living with Lily.

Probate to George Robert East, a retired Flour Packer.

Frederick is also remembered on the war memorial at Rushmere St. Andrew, Suffolk.

Wife, Lily Ellen Leek’s father Joseph Stowe died during the First World War of Pulmonary Tuberculosis.

Suffolk Regiment, 4th Battalion.

The Battalion was attached to the 18th East Anglian Division ( including the 4/5th Battalion of the Suffolk Regiment).
15 February 1942: After the fall of Singapore, approximately 620 of the Battalions were taken POW and later mostly died on the Burma-Thailand Railway.

SUFFOLK REGIMENT MUSEUM

Friends of The Suffolk Regiment