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Private Ronald Frayne of Pilton Street was 21 when he died on March 8th 1916 helping to relieve British comrades besieged inside the city of Kut, near Baghdad, He was one of five children of John and Martha Frayne. A few days before he was killed he had met his brother Harold who was in the Devonshire Regiment. He had told his parents in a letter of a “coming great fight”. A fellow soldier wrote that Ronald died from a head wound as they advanced on the city. "He was liked by all who knew him and you can be proud he died fighting for his country". Before volunteering at the outbreak of war, he had been an apprentice engineer at Raleigh Cabinet Works and was known in Barnstaple for his athleticism and football skills. He is remembered on a family stone in Pilton Church Yard.
Download this file to read more about Ronald Frayne’s life.
Many thanks for the contribution of Jon Frayne, Ronald’s second cousin, the North Devon Journal and the comprehensive research of Brian Barrow and his many helpers for his story.