Robert Tempest Fozzard
Date of birth: 1897
Date of death: 06.07.1916
Area: Knottingley
Regiment: Northumberland Fusiliers
Family information: Son of Thomas Powell Fozzard and Mary Elizabeth Fozzard nee Rhodes
Rank: Private
Service number: 18978
War Service
There are no service records surviving for Robert, but we know he served with 9th Battalion Northumberland Fusiliers. This Battalion was formed in September 1914 as part of Kitchener’s K2. They eventually went to France in July 1915. Robert was not awarded the 1914-1915 Star so it seems his service with the Battalion began sometime in 1916.
9th Battalion Northumberland Fusiliers were part of the 52nd Brigade of the 17th (Northern) Division. In Spring of 1916 they were holding the Front Line in the southern part of the Ypres Salient. It is likely Robert was there. Next they moved to the Somme area to be part of the July Offensive.
On 1st July the 52nd Brigade were held in reserve in the area around Fricourt. On 4th July they moved into position for action to take Quadrangle Trench and Shelter Alley. The assault was made on 5thJuly and there were 79 casualties. On 6th July they held the position, repelling counter attacks and coming under intense shelling. There were 42 casualties, one of which was Robert.
Robert has no known grave and is remembered on the Thiepval Memorial. His name is with others from the Northumberland Fusiliers who have no known grave and died in the Somme area.
His mother, brothers and sisters remembered him on the Roll of Honour in the Pontefract and Castleford Express.
Family Life
Robert Tempest Fozzard was born in 1897 in Knottingley. He was the second youngest child of the sixteen born to Thomas Powell Fozzard and his wife Mary Elizabeth nee Rhodes. Robert had seven sisters and eight brothers. Three of the children died.
His parents were both from Knottingley and had family roots in the town. Thomas Powell was a farmer and lived in the England Lane area. Mary Elizabeth’s father was a joiner and there were wheelwrights going back at least two generations. They also lived in the England Lane area.
Thomas Powell died in 1899 when Robert was a young child. Mary Elizabeth had a young family to care for. They were now living in Woodall’s Buildings and later moved to Foundry Lane.
When Robert left school he began work at the Glassworks and worked as a glass blower.
Robert Tempest Fozzard
His name on the Thiepval Memorial
