Virtual
War Memorial
Australia

Frederick Charles Youden was born in Glasgow, Scotland on 26th January, 1882, the eldest of 4 sons born to John and Mary Jane Youden. At the age of 25 years, he married Annie Elizabeth Jessie Griffiths on
29th September, 1907 in Scotland. A son, Frederick William Griffiths Youden was born in 1910 and died in England in 1989. Fred had been a Captain in the 4th King’s Shropshire Regiment for 5 years.

Fred arrived in Australia at the age of 28 years in 1910. Fred was a Musician and Music Teacher. He became the organist of Christ Church Bundaberg. Fred was one of the first Bundaberg lads to enlist in 1914.

At the age of 32, Fred joined the 15th Battalion, C Company as a Private on the 9th November, 1914. Fred had been promoted to a Second Lieutenant of his Battalion by the time he embarked on the HMAT A40 Ceramic from Melbourne, Victoria on 22nd December, 1914 bound for Egypt along with Dr John Luther and five other Bundaberg lads from Christ Church; namely William Cole, George Proctor, Ralph Reid, Denis Taylor, and Frederick Wicks.

After further training in Egypt, Second-Lieutenant Frederick Youden was part of the first landing at Gallipoli on 25th April 1915. This is a copy of the letter he wrote home six weeks later on 3rd June, 1915. It was published in the local Bundaberg newspaper.

Bundaberg Daily News
July 20 1915

The following letter from Mr F.C. Youden has reached us, and that gentleman’s many Bundaberg friends will be pleased to learn that he has made a speedy recovery from the wound he received during the landing operations at the Dardenelles, and that he was able, within a few weeks to return to the fighting line.

Gallipoli, June 3rd, 1915.

At last I’ve got time to write and tell you a little of what has happened since I left Egypt. Well, you will have read in the papers all about our landing here and how we’ve held the line ever since. I won’t go back over that. The first four days were too awful to think about, and we saw more fighting night and day in that first week than most people see in a lifetime. Our battalion has for the last five weeks been holding what is now known as “Quinn’s Post” - named after Major Quinn of my Company, who was killed in an attack a few days ago. We are now having a rest which we hope will last for 10 days, as we are in a very comfortable bivouac in a little valley free from shrapnel, bullets and bombs. So we are reorganizing, filling up with reinforcements etc.. I got my commission during the first week and am now in charge of Nos. 11 and 12 platoons of the company. We are very close to the Turks at “Quinns”; in some places only a few yards separate us and they make things very lively for us I can tell you. They’ve made repeated attacks but we’ve always beaten them back and they’ve lost every time.

The 15th Battalion soldiers have made a name for themselves and yesterday General Godfrey came up and addressed us and told us all sorts of nice things and presented some D.S.O.s and D.C.M.s (Distinguished Service Orders and Distinguised Conduct Medals) which our fellows have been awarded.

About a fortnight ago we made a charge on a portion of the Turkish trenches. There were three assaulting parties and it fell to my lot to lead the centre party. We got to their trenches all right and I was blazing away with the rest, when I felt a bang on my head as though someone had wiped me with a red hot paper. Later on I found that a bullet had ploughed a little groove on the top of my head, so I went down to the clearing Hospital. After Dr. Luther had patched me up at the First Aid Station I got aboard a Hospital ship where I had a big feed first of all, a bath afterwards and went off to Alexandria for a trip, had a few days there in Egypt and am now back to duty as fit as ever with only a small scar to show. I’ve been very lucky indeed. I’ve had men killed all around me, alongside and everywhere near me except for a little scratch I’ve escaped so far. Dr Luther is wonderful. He gets right up in the firing line when the fun is on and will be in the thick of everything instead of staying in the rear. He’s earned about 6 V.C.s and 10 D.S.O.s and talks to Generals exactly as he talks to privates. The men will do anything for him.

Keith Murray is Orderly Room Sergeant now and is a game little kid. He’s all right. I’ve seen my brother three or four times. He’s in the 2nd Battalion and was over here yesterday. He expects to get his Commission tomorrow. Must stop now. Oh, I nearly forgot to thank you for the cigarettes. They were most welcome and you’ve no idea how much they were appreciated. I’d like to stroll into the Royal and have dinner there. Bully beef and hard biscuits get a bit monotonous after a few days. Signed F.C. Youden.

Two months later, Second-Lieutenant Frederick Charles Youden was killed in action at Quinns on 8th August on the first day of the August Offensive where continued fighting took place over the whole of Gallipoli. His Battalion was fighting at Sari Bair.

The story of Frederick Youden’s fate as told by Private H. Ludbey and recorded in ‘History of the 15th Battelion 1914-1915’ by T.P. Chataway is below,

“Private Ludbey was sent on a message to Youden who had a mixture of C and D Company men with him, two of these men being Sergeant Rose and Private Charles Armstrong. Youden was wounded and Ludbey was bandaging his hand when suddenly a party of Turks appeared in the gully. A shot was fired by the Turk officer at Youden and he fell to the ground. Then a volley was fired into the remaining men of whom Ludbey alone survived, though he was seriously wounded in several places. Armstrong and Rose with a few men who were behind Youden smelt a rat at the first shot and streaked for cover and effected their escape.”

Unfortunately, Fred has no known grave so his name is recorded as one of the 4,988 soldiers on the Lone Pine Memorial to the Missing on Panel 43. It is here at the Lone Pine Memorial and Cemetery where the Australian Remembrance Service is held each Anzac Day.

Second-Lieutenant Frederick Youden is also remembered at the Australian War Memorial on Panel 78,
the Bundaberg War Memorial on the Western Panel, Column A, Line 26
and the Christ Church Roll of Honour on Column 2, Line 2 immediately under Dr Guy Luther, the well respected Bundaberg Doctor.

Frederick’s three brothers also served at Gallipoli in WWI. Hence, all four sons of John and Mary Youden of Scotland answered the call. All four also had commissions which is a very rare feat. Two served with the Australian Forces and two served with the British Forces.

Major Herbert Alexander Youden served with the 2nd Battalion AIF, embarking from Sydney on 18th October 1914. He was also an original Anzac, landing at Gallipoli on the first day. He was wounded on 8th August, the day his older brother Fred was killed and was evacuated to Egypt to recover. The Major rose through the ranks to become a Lieutenant Colonel in March 1918 in France. He was Mentioned
in Despatches two times, and was awarded the DSO (Distinguished Service Order) and the three WWI medals. He returned to Australia in 1918. Lieutenant Colonel Herbert Youden enlisted in 1942 to serve in the Australian Military Forces during WWII. He died in Sydney on 13 July 1972 aged 87 years and is buried in the Gore Hill Cemetery, St Leonard’s, North Sydney.

Major W.A. Youden of the 17th Highland Infantry, Scotland served through the Boer War and led one of the landing parties which lost heavily in the preliminary encounter with the “Terrible Turks”. He had been an officer in his Battalion for over 20 years and held the long service medal and the Territorial Decoration. He was a stockbroker by profession, and was well known in financial circles in Glasgow.

Youngest brother, Captain Sidney Edwin Youden served with the 1st Battalion of the Durham Light Infantry in Egypt, Gallipoli, Palestine and France. He was killed on 27th August 1918 aged 27 years and his name is commemorated on the Vis-En-Artrois Memorial in France on Panel 9 for those with no known grave.

The grave of their parents in the New Kilpatrick Cemetery in Bearsden, East Dunbartonshire, Scotland shows the suffering of Mary and John Youden in losing two of their four children in World War I. The inscription on their headstone reads:

In Loving Memory of
Mary Jane Hanson
Wife of John Youden
Died 7th August 1925
aged 75 years
The above John Youden
Died 11 March 1931
in his 81st year
And of two of their sons
Who lie in unknown graves