Frederick John Henry Barrett was born on 6 July 1914, a son of Arthur Willie Barrett (1891-1980) and Florence Alice Barrett née Boland (1891-1916), his birth being registered in the 3rd quarter of 1914 in the Holborn registration district, London. He was baptised on 26 July 1914 in St Philip's Church, Clerkenwell, London, where the baptismal register shows the family address as 54 King's Cross Road, Clerkenwell and that his father was a baker.
Postal Service Appointment Books show that in March 1931 he was appointed as a Postman Messenger in the London Postal Service North Area and in July 1933 he was made a Postman in their London Western District Office. The 1939 England and Wales Register confirms that he was a postman and a member of the St John Ambulance Brigade still residing at 54 Kings Cross Road.
He married Gladys Agnes Houghton (b. 7 October 1913), a shorthand typist, in the 2nd quarter of 1940 in the Islington registration district, London and they were living at 6 Liberia Road, London, N5, when he joined the Royal Army Service Corps, service number T/205785. Promoted to the rank of Corporal, he was attached to their 262 Water Tank Company when he died, aged 30 years, on 2 September 1944. He was buried near where he fell and in May 1945 his body was exhumed and re-buried in Plot 8, Row B, Grave 2 in the Bayeux War Cemetery, 1945 Boulevard Fabian Ware, Bayeux, France.
Probate was granted on 27 February 1945 to Henry Albert Frost, a civil servant and his effects totalled £295-16s-2d. On 5 April 1945 his General Post Office gratuity of £189-11s-2d was sent to his next of kin. The G.P.O. records confirm that he had been a postman in their London Postal Area (West) division.
He is shown as 'BARRETT F.J.H.' on the Western Postal District war memorial in Mount Pleasant, London, WC1. He is also commemorated on the Commonwealth War Graves Commission's website, on page 20 in the Post Office Fellowship of Remembrance's Book of Remembrance 1939-1949 and in the Islington Book of Remembrance.
Credit for this entry to: Andrew Behan.
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