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Auction: 19052 - Orders, Decorations and Medals e-Auction
Lot: 151

Victory Medal 1914-19 (100082 Pte. W. T. Franks. 43-Can. Inf.), good very fine

William Theophilus Franks was born on 21 October 1888 at Blackheath, London. A locomotive fireman by trade, he enlisted for the Canadian Infantry at Edmonton on 30 June 1915 and sailed for England on 1 May 1916 aboard the S.S. Olympic. Taken on strength with the 49th Battalion in France on 8 June 1916, he suffered severe toothache in September 1916 and was later admitted to the casualty clearing station at Ault on 7 October 1916 suffering from dental problems - having already had his tonsils removed that March. Upon recovery he was briefly attached to the 7th Field Company, Canadian Engineers, before returning to his old regiment until February 1917 when he was readmitted to hospital, this time suffering from bronchitis.

Recovered once more, Franks returned to the fray and received a gunshot wound to the right thigh on 6 July 1917. Whilst in the support trenches, he was hit by a rifle bullet which fractured his femur and grazed the inside of his left thigh making a flesh wound - it was pulled out 'with fingers' at the first dressing station. The wound resulted in considerable deformity, his right leg being 2 inches shorter than the left. By December the wound had healed, his papers noting 'walks with a limp' and 'pain in leg all the time'. His knee could also flex at 'right angles'.

Invalided wounded, Franks was transferred to the Alberta Regimental Depot at Bramshott, Hampshire, on 15 August 1917, but was admitted to Grove Military Hospital, Tooting, still suffering from the fractured femur. Transferred to hospital in Epsom, he was convicted of being out of bounds and travelling by train in April 1918 and was awarded 7 days' field punishment No. 2. by the Officer Commanding. In June he went absent once again and forfeited 1 day's pay.

On 8 July 1918, Franks attempted to take his own life before a train at Liphook Railway Station. He died later that day at No. 12 Canadian General Hospital, Bramshott. An inquest at Aldershot on 2 August 1918 recorded a verdict of suicide. He left his possessions to his father. Aged 29, he is buried at Bramshott (St Mary the Virgin) Churchyard.

For further details of his service record, please see:

http://central.bac-lac.gc.ca/.item/?op=pdf&app=CEF&id=B3272-S036


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