Frederick William Pay was born in 1883 in Gunnersbury, Middlesex (now Greater London), the eldest of the five children of William Thomas Pay (1858-1912) and Sarah Ann Pay née Pearce (1859-1930). His birth was registered in the 4th quarter of 1883 in the Brentford Registration District, Middlesex (now Greater London). On 30 August 1885 he was baptised in Christ Church, Turnham Green, Chiswick, Middlesex, where in the baptismal register his family are shown as living at 10 Chertsey Road and that his father was a railway carrier.
His four siblings were: Alexander Pay (1889-1952); Charles Albert Pay (1892-1893); William Thomas Pay (1895-1962) and Herbert Victor Pay (1897-1917).
When the 1901 census was undertaken he was shown as aged 17 years, single and a driver working for Carter Paterson - a haulage company. He was living in three rooms within 4 Pyrmont Road, Chiswick, with his parents and his three surviving brothers: Alexander Pay; William Thomas Pay and Herbert Victor Pay. His father was described as a delivery agent.
In 1903 he enlisted as a Private in the Royal Fusiliers (City of London) Regiment, service number 10665 and in the 1911 census he was shown as a Private serving in the regiment's 2nd Battalion and stationed at Hugh Rose Barracks, Jubbulpore (now Jabalpur), India.
He married Amelia Ann Moore (c.1887-1963) in the 2nd quarter of 1912 in the Brentford Registration District and in April 1912 he was appointed as a postman in Paddington, London.
On the outbreak of World War One he was recalled to his regiment and entered France on 7 September 1914. He was serving in his regiment's 1st Battalion when he was killed in action, aged 32 years, on 12 January 1916 and was buried in Plot 1, Row D, Grave 12 in the Poperinghe New Military Cemetery, Deken de Bolaan 127, 8970 Poperinge, Belgium.
On 19 April 1916 his army effects totalling £2-19s-10d were sent to his widow who in the 1st quarter of 1917 married Arthur Alfred Saward in Chelmsford, Essex and on 23 August 1919 she was sent her first husband's £8-0s-0d war gratuity. He was posthumously awarded the 1914 Star with the '5th AUG - 22nd NOV 1914' Clasp, the British War Medal 1914-1918 and the Victory Medal.
He is shown as 'PYE, F. W.' on the Western Postal District war memorial in Mount Pleasant, London, WC1. He is also commemorated on the Commonwealth War Graves Commission's website, on the Imperial War Museum's Lives of the First Word War website, on the A Street Near You website, on the London WW1 Memorial website, on the Royal British Legion's Every One Remembered website and on page 290 of the Post Office Fellowship of Remembrance's Book of Remembrance 1914-1920.
Credit for this entry to: Andrew Behan.
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