b. 12/03/1888 Walworth, Surrey. d. 25/04/1915 Gallipoli, Turkey.
Frank Edward Stubbs (1888-1915) was a Londoner, being born in Walworth, near to the Kennington Oval, on 12th March 1888. Little more is known about Frank’s parents or his childhood, though he did enlist as a boy soldier in London and served with the Lancashire Fusiliers when they were stationed in India.
Frank E Stubbs VC
On the outbreak of the Great War, he was postd with his Battalion to the Dardanelles, where he would participate in the W Beach landings on 25th April 1915. On the 25th April, 1915, headquarters and three companies of the 1st Battalion, Lancashire Fusiliers, in effecting a landing on the Gallipoli Peninsula to the West of Cape Helles, were met by very deadly fire from hidden machine guns, which caused a great number of casualties. The survivors, however, rushed up to and cut the wire entanglements, notwithstanding the terrific fire from the enemy, and after overcoming supreme difficulties, the cliffs were gained and the position maintained.
Stubbs was the only one of the six men awarded the VC for W Beach who was killed in action that day on Hill 114. Sadly, his body was not recovered and his name is commemorated on the Helles Memorial, Gallipoli. Stubbs was one of the three men who were selected by the Regiment under Rule 13 to be awarded the VC, alongside John Elisha Grimshaw and Cuthbert Bromley. His medal alongside those for Grimshaw and Bromley were gazetted nearly two years later on 15th March 1917. His mother was presented with his VC by King George V at Buckingham Palace on 2nd May 1917. Frank was not married at the time of his death.
After the death of his parents, his medals went into the possession of his sister, who also remained unmarried. When she became elderly, she decided to sell the medals to the Lancashire Fusiliers Museum in Bury for £300. In addition to his VC, they received the 1914-15 Star, British War Medal 1914-20 and Victory Medal 1914-19.
LOCATION OF MEDAL: FUSILIER MUSEUM, BURY, LANCASHIRE.
BURIAL PLACE: NO KNOWN GRAVE – ON HELLES MEMORIAL. PANEL 58-72.
Acknowledgement:
John Patterson – Image of the Stubbs VC Medal Group at the Lancashire Fusiliers Museum, Bury.