Pte 12052 Frank Plaice

• Age: 26
• From: Shouldham Norfolk
• Regiment: The King's (Liverpool Regiment) 17th Btn
• K.I.A Thursday 12th October 1916
• Commemorated at: Thiepval Memorial
  Panel Ref: P&F1D8B &8 C.

Frank Plaice was born in 1890 in Shouldham, Norfolk, the son of Frederick and his wife Berry Sabina (nee Golder) who married on the 12th October 1878 n Stokesby Church, Norfolk. 

The 1891 census shows the family living ‘On the Hill’ Shouldham. Frederick is 34 and is an agricultural labourer who was born in Shouldham. Berry is 34 and was born in Stokesby. The couple had seven children at this time – Elizabeth 12, Frances 10, Harriet 8, Florence 6, Margaret 5, Edward 3 and Frank aged 1.

By 1901 the family live at Westgate Street, Shouldham. The couple have several more children – Ralph aged 8, Walter 6 and Maurice aged 3. Frank and Margaret are still at home and Edward at the age of 13 is an agricultural labourer like his father.

The 1911 census records Frank is working as a footman, part of a staff of 25, in the household of Adelbert Wellington Brownlow Cust, 3rd Earl of Brownlow at Belton House, Grantham, Lincs.

His parents are still on Shouldham. His father is now a licencee and coal dealer. Records show that Frederick was licencee of The Rampant Horse from 1912 to 1926. The census record shows that Frederick and Berry have been married for 31 years and have had 10 children all of whom are alive (sadly daughter Harriet dies in 1912). Still living at home were Florence who is a domestic servant, Ralph and Walter who are farm labourers and Maurice at the age of 13 is a harness maker.

Frank’s service records have survived and show he enlisted in the Kings Liverpool Regiment in Liverpool on the 12th August 1914 aged 24 years and 160 days and gave his occupation as a Footman.

He was serving in the 17th Battalion, The King’s Liverpool Regiment as Private No 12052 when he was killed in action on the 12th October 1916 aged 26 during the Battle of the Transloy Ridges which was part of the ongoing Somme Offensive.

17th Battalion War Diary: Battle of Transloy Ridge –

11-10-16 - Gird Trench/Gird Support – Battalion in front line and support trenches. British bombardment of enemy front line system commenced about midday. Hostile shelling was intermittent throughout the day.

12-10-16 - Our bombardment continued. Enemy reply weak. 2.5 p.m. Zero hour. Attack on German front line system commenced. Enemy wire was found to be uncut and attack was unsuccessful. Hostile machine gun fire was very heavy and caused many casualties. Battalion H.Q. and Support Trench were heavily shelled throughout afternoon and evening. […] During this action all communication had to be carried out by runners and carrier pigeons as all wires were being continually cut by enemy shelling.

Casualties: 5 officers killed, 5 officers wounded, 38 OR killed, about 225 OR wounded/missing etc.

Graham Maddocks, in “Liverpool Pals” p.140, adds: “As the whistle blew, the 17th Battalion left its trenches to move forward. […] As soon as the attacking waves left their trenches the enemy artillery began to register on them, and at the same time, the defending infantry commenced a murderous rain of fire. […] Although their numbers had been depleted by the British bombardment, they were trained and experienced soldiers, well dug in on high ground, and for the most part, looking out on uncut wire. As such, it was virtually impossible for them to miss the City Battalion men struggling to advance in the mud towards them. The 17th Battalion, on the left, was particularly badly hit, as its portion of No Man’s Land contained a slight rise in the ground, and as the troops emerged onto it they were silhouetted against the sky and became easy targets. Those on the left of the attack, who managed to avoid the hail of bullets and make it to the German wire, then found that it was totally uncut, and thus trapped, they too became easy targets, to be picked off almost at the enemy’s will. It was hardly surprising that, seeing the first waves being wiped out, some of the following waves turned back and made for their start lines. These lines were now packed with other waves of troops, however, and the fleeing men added to the congestion already there, and became easy prey for the German gunners. There is some evidence also, to suggest that at this stage, the British trenches were also being hit by their own heavy artillery shells which were falling short.”

Frank's body was not recovered or was subsequently lost as he has no known grave and is commemorated on the Thiepval Memorial to the Missing of the Somme in France.

The Thiepval Memorial, the Memorial to the Missing of the Somme, bears the names of more than 72,000 officers and men of the United Kingdom and South African forces who died in the Somme sector before 20 March 1918 and have no known grave. Over 90% of those commemorated died between July and November 1916. 

On 01st August 1932 the Prince of Wales and the President of France inaugurated the Thiepval Memorial in Picardy. The inscription reads: “Here are recorded the names of officers and men of the British Armies who fell on the Somme battlefields between July 1915 and March 1918 but to whom the fortune of war denied the known and honoured burial given to their comrades in death.”

After the war the list of his close relatives show that his brother Edward had emigrated to Canada, and all his sisters were married. Walter had served as 60984 in the Royal Engineers and Ralph as 16338 in the Norfolk Regiment. The 1939 Register shows Maurice was a Police Sergeant in Bristol.

Their father died, aged 82, in 1939 in Downham, and their mother, aged 87, in 1944 in Amersham. 

We currently have no further information on Frank Plaice, If you have or know someone who may be able to add to the history of this soldier, please contact us.