Frederick Youens

Born on 14 August 1893 in High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire, he was educated at the local grammar school and, in 1912, went to teach at Rochester. In 1914, he enlisted as a Private in the Royal Army Medical Corps and transferred, in 1915, to the 7 East Surrey Regiment. He was badly wounded in the arm in 1915, whilst tending wounded under fire, and was sent home. After a year recovering, he was granted a commission and joined 13 DLI in February 1917, as a Second Lieutenant. He was awarded the Victoria Cross for his bravery in the trenches at Klein Zillebeke, near Ypres, on 7 July 1917. He died two days later, aged 23 years, from wounds received during the action and was buried at the Railway Dugouts Cemetery in Belgium. Mrs Youens was presented with her son's posthumous Victoria Cross by King George V at Buckingham Palace on 29 August 1917.

See "Beyond Praise. The Durham Light Infantrymen who were awarded the Victoria Cross" by Stephen D Shannon, 1998, ISBN 1 897585 44 6. This has a foreword by Richard Annand VC.