SPRATTON LOCAL HISTORY SOCIETY


Private Frank Joseph DUNKLEY

7th Battalion, Northamptonshire Regiment 18116
Labour Corps 258403


Frank was born in Spratton on 11 April 1882, the son of George Dunkley, a bootmaker, and his wife, Julia Mary (nee Cave). George Dunkley came from a long-established family in the village. Frank had a younger sister, Edith born in 1895. The family lived in one of the Erskine Cottages on Manor Road. On leaving school, Frank followed his father into the shoe trade but by 1911, George was an under-gardener at Spratton Hall and Frank was one of nine staff working at Guilsborough Hall. He progressed from footman, to valet and finally to butler.

Frank volunteered in the Northamptonshire Regiment on 20 April 1915 and was posted to France on 1 September 1915. He took part in some of the fiercest fighting in the war, notably the battles of Loos, the Somme, Arras, Vimy Ridge, Ypres, Passchendaele and Cambrai. He was gassed at Cambrai on 16 October 1918 and spent some months in hospital. He was finally discharged on 11 May 1919 and was awarded the 1914-15 Star, the British War Medal and the Victory Medal. He died in Bedfordshire in June 1962 aged 80.

Erskine Cottages, Manor Road, Spratton
Erskine Cottages, Manor Road, Spratton
Erskine Cottages, Manor Road, Spratton
Erskine Cottages, Manor Road, Spratton