An Exceptionally Rare & Historically Important Casualty Trio.
2nd Battalion The South Wales Borderers,
A FIRST DAY OF THE BATTLE OF THE SOMME "Casualty"
1st JULY 1916,

To:
9628. Pte F. McFARREN. 2nd SOUTH WALES BORDERERS.

Fought at SEIGE of TSING-TAU (China), 23rd September 1914
Fought at GALLIPOLI. (Turkey) 25th April 1915

KILLED-IN-ACTION,
1st DAY of the BATTLE of THE SOMME.
1st JULY 1916.

[BIOGRAPHY]
Frederick McFarren was born in Paddington, London in 1888. At the age of 18 and at the time of his original enlistment into the 3rd East Surrey Militia in March 1906 he and his elder brother Frank were resident at, 1 Durham Terrace, Knightshill, West Norwood. London. Sadly, his mother Winifred is shown as being resident in Hanwell Asylum.

At the outset of WW1, Frederick was unusually sent into Theatre 5H (Asiatic) which in his case was to TSING-TAU, China, where in September 1914 he took part in the Siege of this German Pacific Imperial stronghold. At the end of the siege he was then sent to Turkey where he fought in the Gallipoli campaign. He and his unit then being shipped to France in time to take part in The Big Push......The Battle of The Somme.

[2nd BATTALION SOUTH WALES BORDERERS]

At the outbreak in August 1914 the battalion was in Tientsin, China.
23 September 1914 : landed at Lao Shan Bay for operations against the German territory of Tsingtao.

4 December 1914 : embarked at Hong Kong, five weeks later landing at Plymouth on 12 January 1915.

12 January 1915 : came under orders of 87th Brigade, 29th Division. and moved to Rugby, Staffordshire.

17 March 1915 : embarked at Avonmouth for operations at Gallipoli. Five weeks later landed at Cape Helles on 25 April 1915.

11 January 1916 : moved to Egypt and went on to France, arriving in Marseilles 15 March 1916.

[1st JULY 1916 .......FIRST DAY, BATTLE OF THE SOMME]
On 1st July 1916, the 2nd Battalion South Wales Borderers were positioned at Beaumont Hamel and were the leading battalion in the 29th Division's assault against the German held stronghold of Y Ravine.

At 07:20am, ten minutes before Zero Hour, a massive mine of 40,000 lbs of ammonal was exploded under Hawthorne Ridge. When the ejected debris settled, at 07:30, the attack began. The men of the 2nd SWB experienced immediate carnage which was delivered by four efficiently positioned German machine guns and within just a few minutes the battalion practically ceased to exist as a coherent fighting unit.

A few men are known to have reached the enemy lines but these soldiers failed to answer roll call the following morning. The 2nd Battalion South Wales Borderers had started the day 832 strong and had sustained 69% casualties; 129 being killed in action, with another 446 wounded, missing or taken prisoner.

A small number of the men, probably only about 25, who faced and fell to the German guns that day at Beaumont Hamel, were, like Fred McFarren, also veterans of the earlier Tsing-Tau and Gallipoli campaigns.

[THE SIEGE OF TSING-TAU, September 1914]
Whilst the greater part of the British army was fighting the early battles of The Great War in France, other units of the army were fighting the Germans in their East African colony of Tanganyika and in South African German colony that's now Namibia.

But what is mostly forgotten is that on 23rd September 1914 the 2nd South Wales Borderers were fighting in the German colony of Tsing Tao, China which was commanded by Admiral Graf Spe.

Prior to the Great War there were four European controlled enclaves along the Chinese coast. In the South was Macao under the Portuguese and the British possession of Hong Kong. Further up the coast was another British colony called Wei-hai-wei. This was later given back to the Chinese in 1934. Further up the coast was the HQ of the German Pacific Empire at Tsing Tao.

With the support of our then Japanese Allies it was planned for the 2nd South Wales Borderers to march north from Hong Kong and attack Tsing Tao. The joint Welsh and Japanese siege of Tsing Tao was to last two months. At this early time the German defenders who were under the command of Admiral Graf Spe had one aircraft under their command. This enabled them to keep a close eye on the attacking forces. This is thought to have been the first use of air power for military use in battle.

By Christmas 1914 the Germans had been pushed out, and Graf Spe had sailed off to the German controlled Pacific Islands in retreat. His name appeared again in WW2 when the German battle ship of the same name fought and was scuttled at the Battle of the River Plate.

After the victory of Tsing Tao the South Wales Borderers moved on to Gallipoli leaving the Japanese in control of Tsing-Tau. This move turned out to be the start of the Japanese China war.

By 1942 the Japanese were in occupation of most of China and went on to defeat the British in Malaya and Burma.

Like so many thousands of men killed on the Somme, Fred's body was never recovered and he is commemorated with eternal honour on the Theipval Monument to the missing.

This is perhaps the rarest example of a 1st July 1916 casualty that you could ever wish for. We've certainly never encountered any other similar group. If you are a serious collector of medals to the Welsh regiments and have sought a 1st July casualty group, then based on this and the recipient's super rare battle combination this is a "must have" item.







The medals are EF+ with mint original ribbons and come with extensive paperwork.

A Stunning and Totally Exceptional Group.

£1750 with part-exchanges welcome.