2nd Lieutenant Frank Cairns Arkless Fenwick, November 1899 - July 1969.

2nd Lieutenant F.C.A. Fenwick, South Staffordshire Regiment 1919.

Frank Cairns Arkless Fenwick was born in Whitley near Tynemouth and was the son of Joseph Fenwick, a coal trader on the quayside, and Lily Cairns, the daughter of a Newcastle corn and grain merchant. He attended school in Durham and joined the Officer Training Corps.

In May 1918 he was called up for service in the Northumberland Fusiliers, as a private and discharged on 3rd February 1919. On 4th February 1919 he received a commision in the South Staffordshire Regiment. Exactly one year later he was decommisioned and became an Articled Clerk with Watson, Burton, Booth & Robinson Solicitors in Newcastle. In 1926 he was a Special Constable during the General Strike and passed his final exam with the Law Society and became an Assistant Solicitor with Messrs Maughan & Hall and then became a partner in Lundi Shortt and Fenwicke (no relation), 15 Grey Street, Newcastle.

During the late 1930s he started to retrain as a Docter of Medicine at Durham University, however this was never completed due to the outbreak of the second world war. He volunteered for service in the Home Guard and was a 2nd Lieutenant in the 5th Battalion Northumberland Fusiliers Home Guard. After the war he was a Lieutenant in the Northumberland Territorial Army and Air Force Association.

He lived with his sister in Darras Hall until his death in 1969.

Information and photograph kindly supplied by Mr A Steenberg

If you have any information on Frank Cairns Arkless Fenwick or anyone who served in the Northumberland Home Guard, Newcastle Battalions please contact ph@ccoynblhomeguard.co.uk