Frank Sidney Levy was born in c.1887 in Canonbury, Islington, the second of the six children of Hyman Levy (born c.1856) and Clara Levy (born c.1863). His birth was registered in the 1st quarter of 1887 in the Islington registration district.
In the 1901 census he is shown as living at 23 St George's Road, Golders Green, with his parents and five siblings: Beatrice Levy (born c.1885), Dorothy Levy (1888-1968), Marjorie Annie Levy (1890-1971), George Newman Levy (born c.1893-died 1917) and Ruth Levy (b.1899), together with a domestic servant nurse. His father's occupation was described as a shopkeeper & boot-maker.
He does not appear on the 1911 census return that showed his parents and his five siblings were living at 28 Milton Road, Highgate, so it is probable that he had by then emigrated to Australia.
He was a Corporal in the 1st Australian Battalion, Imperial Camel Corps, and his regimental service number was 114. He died, aged 30 years, on 19 April 1917 and as he has no known grave he is commemorated on Panel 59 of the Jerusalem Memorial, Jerusalem British War Cemetery, Jerusalem, Israel. He is also commemorated in the Commonwealth War Graves Commission's (CWGC) website that confirms that his brother also died, aged 24 years, on 8 October 1917 whilst serving as a Private in the 11th Infantry Battalion, Australian Imperial Force, in Ypres, Belgium. Their parents were by then living at 76 Leadenhall Street, London.
Our Picture Source 'British Jews in the First World War' show his rank as that of Lance Corporal and this is also his rank on the Imperial Camel Corps memorial in the Victoria Embankment Gardens, London, WC2. We have listed him as a Corporal as shown on the CWGC memorial and website. However the Virtual War Memorial Australia website also lists him as a Lance Corporal. It also advises that he had been educated at Owens College in London, that his home town was Broome, Western Australia where he had been a pearl fisherman. He had enlisted on 15 February 1915 and was killed in action in Gaza, Palestine. The Broome Anzacs website also gives a résumé of this man's life.
Credit for this entry to: Andrew Behan.
