FREELAND SHORT
STURMINSTER’S FIRST
CASUALTY
OF THE GREAT WAR
Freeland Short’s name appears on the right hand panel of the
memorial within the warrior chapel within St Mary’s Church
which commemorates the men from Sturminster Newton who
gave their lives in the Great War 1914 – 1918. His name is
carved near the end of the list of casualties but was in fact the
first of the Sturminster men who answered their countries call
to arms to be killed in action. The carving on the memorial
panel says Freelin Short but records show that he was
christened in St Mary’s church on 6th June 1886 and given the
name Freeland Short.
The regimental badge of the Dorsetshire Regiment
Freeland grew up in Sturminster and lived in a cottage at Butts
Pond with his father Samuel who was a road labourer working
for the local corporation, his mother Loveday (nee Ridout) and
his eight siblings (three of his brothers also served in the Great
War and thankfully survived).
Freeland was a professional regular soldier and was serving in
his county regiment the Dorsetshire Regiment. Before the war
he had served with the 2nd Battalion in India and Ceylon but on
the outbreak of war he was with the 1st Battalion in Ireland and
was mobilised for war on the 4th August 1914 setting sail ten
days later on the 14th from Belfast aboard the SS Anthony and
arriving in Le Havre France on the 16 th and joining the rest of
the British Expeditionary Force (B.E.F.) whose objective was
to stop the advance of the German Imperial forces. Freeland
and the 1st Bn of the Dorsets went into battle on the 23rd
August in the battle of Mons, during this first action twelve of
his comrades were killed forty nine were wounded and sixty
nine were reported missing. Freeland and his Battalion were
soon in action again at the strategic battle of Marne which
halted the month long advance of the German Army towards
Paris.
On the 14th September 1914 Freeland and his comrades were
taking shelter from shell fire in a sunken road, having the
previous night crossed the river Aisne on rafts constructed by
the Royal Engineers. At St Marguerite according to the
regimental war diaries “they incurred a few casualties” – sadly
Freeland was one of these - he died of his wounds along with
two comrades Fredrick Bridle (35) from Wareham and
Reginald Pitman (19) from Leicester.
Freeland was 28 years old when he was killed and like many of
the victims of shell fire has no known grave; he is
commemorated upon the memorial at La Ferté-sous-Jouarre, a
small town 66 km to the east of Paris. Freeland’s name is
engraved along with a further 3,739 men of the B.E.F. who fell
at the battle of Mons, Le Cateau, the Marne and the Aisne
between the end of August and early October 1914, and like
Freeland have no known graves.
Freeland Short has no known
grave and thus is remembered on
the memorial to the missing at La
Ferté-sous-Jouarre 66 km to the
east of Paris but he may well rest
somewhere in France under one
of the many headstones that have
the simple inscription
A SOLDIER OF THE GREAT
WAR KNOWN UNTO GOD
WE WILL REMEMBER THEM