THIS Sunday, (January 31) marks the 100th anniversary of the death of Redditch soldier Francis Johns Steward who died in the First World War.
Mr Steward was born in 1896 in the Alvechurch / Rowney Green area of the county and is believed to have been the son of George Steward, a bicycle enameller and Agnes Steward, a charwoman.
In 1901 the family moved to Britten Street in Redditch and by the time he was 14 Francis is recorded as working as a cycle polisher.
During the war he was a private with the Worcestershire Regiment 13th Battalion, a UK-based training battalion which replenished the ranks of those in action.
It isn’t known where Pte Steward fell, but different battalions of his regiment were in action at Gallipoli in Turkey and in northern France in January 1916.
He was just 19 years old when he was killed and at a request from his family he was buried in Plymouth Road Cemetery.
His name is not listed on any of the major memorials in the Borough of Redditch.
