Frederick Ramplin

Rank: Gunner

Service Number: 12734

Date of Birth: 1879

Regiment: Royal Garrison Artillery

Date of Death: 9 December 1918

Age at death: 40

Cemetery / Memorial: Hadleigh Cemetery

Country: UK

Grave / Reference:

Relatives: Husband of Edith Ramplin. Son of Frederick and Eliza Ramplin.

Address: Parents address; 33 New Cut, Hadleigh, Suffolk.

Frederick Ramplin was born in Hadleigh in 1879. He was the son of Frederick and Eliza Ramplin who lived at 33 New Cut, Hadleigh. By 1901, Frederick’s parents and his four younger brothers; Charles (20), George (18), Arthur (13) and Richard (10), were all still living in the family home on New Cut. Frederick at this stage had enlisted into the Suffolk Regiment and saw active service during the Second Boer War.

While serving in South Africa he was awarded the Queen’s South Africa Medal with the ‘Cape Colony’, ‘Orange Free State’ and ‘Transvaal’ clasps. He also received the King’s South Africa Medal with the ‘1901’ and ‘1902’ clasps.

In October 1902 he attested with the Royal Garrison Artillery and between 1905 and 1911 served in Gibraltar. He was with the RGA at the beginning of the Great War. During the later part of 1914 Frederick Ramplin served on the crown colony island of St Helena in the South Atlantic Ocean. In 1915 he was back in England and he married at Lexden, Essex and the same year had a son. The next two years he spent in India and Burma returning to England in December 1917 but was medically discharged from the service in March 1918 as being no longer physically fit, suffering from disease. His discharge papers give his character as “exemplary – a sober, steady and industrious man.” His condition deteriorated and he died in hospital in Melton in December 1918. After his death his body was returned to Hadleigh and buried in the town’s cemetery. Frederick Ramplin was awarded the British War Medal as a single campaign medal,