Lieutenant, 2nd Battalion Tank Corps.
Died of wounds 8th April 1918, age 20.
Buried at Gent City Cemetery, Belgium.
Former member of the University Officer Training Corps.
Frances (referred to as Francis in the University Roll of Service) was born on 21st December 1897 at Oldham to Frank, a commercial traveller, and Mary Sinkinson. He was educated at Worksop Colleage, also known as St. Cuthberts.
He enlisted as a private in May 1916 assigned to the King’s Own. The University Roll of Service states that he was a member of the University Officer Training Corps from May 1916 to February 1917, but he is not believed to have studied here. He applied for a commission in December 1916 with a preference for the Motor Machine Gun Corps which later became the Tank Corps. In February 1917 he was living in Heaton Moor and joined the No. 2 Cadet Battalion in Pirbright. By this time his family had moved to Lytham. His commission came in late July 1917 and in January 1918 he went to France. March 1917 saw him assigned to the 2nd Battalion Tank Corps. Deployed near the village of Beugny during the German attacks in the Spring of 1918 his tank was hit and he lost his foot. He was taken prisoner, treated at a German field hospital and died of pneumonia in a military hospital in Ghent in April 1917.