Francis Phillip JESSOP
Year of Birth: 1893
Place of Birth: Buenos Aries, Argentina
Date of Enlistment: Unknown
Date and Place of Embarkation: Unknown
Ship: Unknown
Rank: Corporal
Unit(s): 1st King Edward’s Horse Regiment
Regimental Number: 1449
Died: 9 April 1918
According to the 1911 England Census Francis Phillip Jessop was born in Buenos Aries, Argentina about 1893. His parents were William Raymond Jessop deceased and Katherine Mead (formerly Jessop). His siblings were William Jessop aged19, John aged 17, Patrick age 14 and Eileen Jessop age 9.
At the time of the 1911 Census he was living with his family at 21 Shirley Road, Acton, Middlesex, England. His mother had remarried following the death of his father in 1903.
He arrived in Sydney, New South Wales on the “Orsova” from London on 13 September 1912, age 20, 3rd Class Waiter, place of birth shown as Bahia Blanco, Buenos Aries, Argentina. Bahía Blanca is a port city in the southwest of Argentina’s Buenos Aires province.
In the 1913 Queensland Electoral Roll his address was Hambledon Mill, Cairns and his occupation was “fugelman”.
In the Cairns Post 2 April 1914 under “Mt Mulligan District Notes” Francis P. Jessop is reported playing cricket for the “Mulligan Wallabies”
On 15 June 1914, he appeared on a list of passengers on the “Kanowna” which departed Cairns for Melbourne. It appears with the outbreak of the war in Europe he was heading back to England.
He enlisted in the 1st King Edward’s Horse Regiment, (The King’s Overseas Dominion Regiment), service no. 1449 with the rank of Corporal.
He died on the 9th April 1918 and is buried at Cabaret-Rouge British Cemetery, Souchez, France. He was identified as the son of Katherine Mead (formerly Jessop) of 28 Burlington Road, Chiswick, London and the late William Raymond Jessop.
Situated between two war cemeteries, one French and the other German, Cabaret-Rouge British Cemetery lies south of the town of Souchez in France. The cemetery contains more than 7,650 burials of servicemen of the British Empire in the First World War.
Cabaret Rouge was a small café, its brick building with red tiles was distinctive in the village where most of the houses were thatched. It stood less than a mile south of Souchez and was destroyed by heavy shelling in May 1915.
In the British Army World War 1 Medal Roll Index Cards on Ancestry.com, his next of kin, his mother Mrs K. Mead’s address was c/o Edmonton Post Office, via Cairns, North Queensland, Australia.
Online Resources
National Library of Australia: Trove Digitised Newspapers
Commonwealth War Graves Commission
If you have a photograph or further information about this soldier you would like to share and add to his biography, please contact the Society at projects@cdfhs.org or leave a comment below. Thank you!