He lived to see the Armistice –
THE WEARSIDE MAN WHO SURVIVED THE SOMME AND BEING SHOT IN THE CHEST
A South Hetton soldier survived battles, a mite infection and even being shot accidentally – only to die days after fighting ended. Private Frederick George Waters, from South Hetton, made it all the way through the First World War. But the sheer toll of a gruesome illness cost him his life, 22 days after peace had been declared. Historian Kevin Dance shared his story.
Life had been horrendous for Private Frederick Waters. By the age of 20, he was already a veteran of working below ground as a putter at South Hetton pit. Joy came at last in 1905 when he married Jemima Cook. Three children quickly followed – Frederick George in 1906, Isabella in 1908, and Henry John in 1910. A fourth bundle of joy – William Cook Waters – followed three years later. But then came war, and Frederick volunteered in 1914. He was a 34-year-old father of four at the time. His medical history shows him as 5ft 2ins tall. Kevin said: “Due to his stature, he was posted to the 15th (1st Birkenhead) Cheshire Regiment which was raised as a Bantam Battalion. “Bantam Battalions were those which admitted soldiers who were under the normal regulation minimum height of 5ft 3ins.” After training in Britain, the battalion eventually arrived in France – after an aborted plan to head to Egypt – and got into Europe in January 1916. It was tough from the start. Yet somehow, Frederick came through the horrific battles of The Somme at Bazentin Ridge, Arrow Head Copse, Maltz Horn Farm, and Falfemont Farm. But what he did get was a dose of scabies (where tiny mites burrow themselves in the outer layers of human skin.) Frederick was taken to a French hospital in April 1916. It was a nasty condition to get rid of and needed several courses of treatment in the