Corporal Maurice French

Maurice French was born in Kibworth Harcourt on 20th April 1890, the son of William French and Elizabeth (nee Bromley).

He joined the Royal Marine Light Infantry at Chatham on 21st May 1907, and trained as a machine gunner and Lewis gunner. He served aboard a large number of ships; HMS Dwarf, HMS Implacable, HMS Black Prince, HMS London, HMS King Edward VII, HMS Dominion, HMS Britannia, HMS Dreadnought. He was promoted to Corporal on 2nd June 1917, and served aboard HMS Lord Nelson, HMS Empress of India, and HMS Crescent.

Whilst serving aboard HMS King Edward VII (3rd January 1914 to 16th January 1916), the ship was hit by a mine laid down by the German Cruiser SMS Mowe, at Cape Wrath.

Maurice took part in the Raid on Zeebrugge, on 23rd April 1918. The raid was to neutralise the ports of Zeebrugge and Ostend, both used by the German navy as bases for U-boats. The raid was expected to have heavy casualties, so volunteers had to be young, single, and fit. There were 500 British casualties, 200 of which were fatalities.

He was invalided out of the RMLI on 8th December 1920, and was awarded the 1914-15 Star, the Victory Medal, the British War Medal, and 2 Good Conduct Medals.

He died on 21st August 1921, aged 31 years, from valvular heart disease.

Although he did not fulfil the criteria applied by the CWGC, local residents obviously felt that he should appear on the War Memorial. A close inspection of the War Memorial reveals that his name is of a slightly different engraving from the main body of engraving, indicating that his name was added at a later date. This also applies to Quartermaster Sergeant Sydney Ward Quincey.

Maurice French c1905