Wilde, Company Sergeant Major Frederick

Service highlights

  • Service number: 7991
  • Rank at death: Company Sergeant Major
  • Born: about 1886, probably in Leeds
  • Parents: Thomas and Mary Anne Wilde
  • Pre war service: member of the part time Royal Garrison Artillery Volunteers
  • Regular army: joined the York and Lancaster Regiment at Leeds, 15 October 1904
  • Work: sewage worker & a constable with the Leeds Police Force in 1911
  • Came to Canada: immigrated and settled with family on Water Street South in St. Marys
  • Recalled: 4 August 1914
  • Unit: York and Lancaster Regimental Depot at Pontefract
  • Posted overseas: joined 2nd Battalion of his regiment, serving in Belgium with the British 6th Division from 27 October 1914
  • Promotion:, Warrant Officer Class II, Company Sergeant Major, responsible for discipline and managing an infantry company of about 225 men
  • Missing in action: 21 March 1918.
  • Family: survived by his wife, Margaret Ellen, and at least one child, Edwin, born 1911. Margaret returned to England sometime after April 1915 to be closer to her husband
  • Commemorated: Arras Memorial to the missing & the St. Marys cenotaph

A Life and Service Remembered

Frederick Wilde’s life was shaped by service long before the First World War. He joined the British Army in 1904 and spent years in uniform, then moved into civilian work in Leeds. By 1911 he was first a sewage worker and then a police constable. Those jobs point to a steady sort of responsibility, the kind built around showing up, doing difficult work, and being relied on.

Sometime after that he immigrated to Canada and settled in St. Marys with his family on Water Street South. When war broke out in August 1914, the pull of his earlier service was immediate. He was recalled and soon was on his way back across the Atlantic. The book notes that the departure of the St. Marys reservists drew little attention, which feels almost hard to imagine now, given what it meant for the families left behind.

Back in England he reported to his regimental depot at Pontefract, was examined, kitted out, and then joined the 2nd Battalion. From late October 1914 he served in Belgium with the British 6th Division. His battalion was fortunate in a grim way. It missed some of the war’s most infamous disasters, including the gas attacks at Second Ypres in April 1915 and the first day of the Somme in July 1916, but that did not mean his service was quiet. Over time he proved himself, earned steady promotion, and became Company Sergeant Major, the senior non commissioned leader responsible for discipline and the day to day management of an infantry company of about 225 men.

In March 1918, the German spring offensive tore open the British lines. On 21 March, the 2nd Battalion were holding a section of the front when the assault began. The advance was fast and overwhelming. In the confusion of fog, gas, and massed attacks, Frederick Wilde was reported missing. No trace of his body was ever found. He is commemorated by name on the Arras Memorial to the missing.

He was survived by his wife, Margaret Ellen, and by at least one child, Edwin. The book notes that Margaret left St. Marys to return to England sometime after April 1915, likely so she could be closer to her husband. It is an understated detail, but it carries the weight of what families did to stay connected across a war that kept moving people farther apart.

Major battles and operations

  • Returned to the United Kingdom as a recalled reservist, August 1914
  • Service in Belgium with the British 6th Division from 27 October 1914
  • Battalion service during major Western Front periods including the years leading into 1917 and the Battle of Cambrai period, where the unit distinguished itself
  • Promoted through the ranks to Company Sergeant Major, Warrant Officer Class II
  • German Spring Offensive, 21 March 1918
    • Reported missing in action during the breakthrough and retreat
    • No known grave, commemorated on the Arras Memorial

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