Frank Eykelbosch

Rank 
Corporal
Regiment 
Canadian Infantry
Date of death 
26 October 1917
Age of death 
20
Address 
31 Meath Road
Ilford
IG1 1JA
Address source 
1901 Census
Cemetery / Memorial 
Belgium
Biography 

Frank was born on 6th January 1897. He was the second of three sons of a mercantile clerk, Alfred Eykelbosch and his wife, Edith. The family home was in Meath Road, Ilford. Frank’s brothers were named Harold and Cyril. Harold had also attended Ilford County High School between 1908 and 1909 and he went on to study at Chelmsford Agricultural School.

He joined Ilford County High School from Cleveland Road Elementary School on 8th September 1908. He studied at the school until March 1910, at which time his family was, according to school records, emigrating to Australia.

However, when he enlisted, Frank was living in Portland, Oregan, USA and he joined B Company of the 43rd Battalion of the Canadian Infantry. The Summer 1916 edition of school magazine, Chronicles, noted that his older brother, Harold (also an old boy of the school) had been injured. His brother served in the 48th Battalion of the C.E.F. (Canadian Expeditionary Force). Frank’s service number was 153848 and he died on 26th October 1917, during the Third Battle of Ypres, aged 20. His name appears on the Menin Gate Memorial in Ypres.

Research by Andrew Emeny, History Teacher at ICHS

Sources:

Ancestry.com

ICHS school records and magazines

Commonwealth War Graves Commission

Note

Ilford County High School started life as the Park Higher Grade School in 1901 in Balfour Road, Ilford. It was renamed Ilford County High School (or initially County High School, Ilford) in the years after the school’s management was transferred from Ilford School Board to Essex Education Committee in 1904.