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Rifleman Frank Parry Kay (1893–1918)
Rifleman Frank Parry Kay was one of thousands of soldiers who were billeted at Perham Down in Wiltshire.

He was born on 4th October 1893 in Halifax Road, Blatchinworth, which is now known as Littleborough in Greater Manchester, the son and only child of William Kay, a cotton beamer, and Ada Kay n&eacute;e Harrison, who had been a weaver. By the time of the 1911 census, they were living in Wellington Road, Littleborough, and Frank, 17 years old, was working as a clerk for a cotton manufacturer.

Frank was 20 years old at the start of the First World War, and joined the 16th Battalion of the King's Royal Rifle Corps as a Private, regiment number C/1032.

The 16th (Church Lads' Brigade) Battalion had been formed in Denham, Buckinghamshire on 19th September 1914. They moved from Denham to Rayleigh, Essex, back to Denham, and then to Clipstone Camp, Nottinghamshire, where they joined the 100th Brigade, 33rd Division. In August 1915 they moved from Clipstone Camp to Perham Down.

On the back of the photograph of him, Frank wrote, &quot;With best wishes Frank 16th Kings Royal Rifles Perham Down October 29th 1915&quot;.

The pen and ink cartoon by Frank was dated 5th November 1915. It is glued into an autograph album that belonged to his fianc&eacute;e's younger sister.

The 16th Battalion of the King's Royal Rifle Corps landed at Le Havre in France in November 1915 for service on the Western Front. Frank's medal card indicates that he arrived in France on 16th November 1915.

The 16th Battalion were in action in the Battle of the Somme in 1916, and the Battle of Arras, the actions on the Hindenburg Line, the operations on the Flanders coast, and the Third Battle of Ypres in 1917.

Frank Parry Kay was killed in action on 12th March 1918 at the age of 24, and is commemorated on the Tyne Cot Memorial to the Missing, near Passendale in West Flanders, Belgium. He was posthumously awarded the Victory Medal, the British War Medal and the 1914-15 Star, for his service in the First World War.

Frank's father had died of natural causes one week earlier, on 5th March 1918, at the age of 56. Frank had been engaged to be married to Adelaide Hellewell (6 May 1894–6 April 1954). She was 23 years old when he died. She never married, but visited his mother every week, until his mother died in 1942 at the age of 78.