Buchholdt, Frederick Augustus

No.12342 – Private Frederick Augustus Mathieson Buchholdt (Served as F.A.M. Wilson) – 12^th Battalion King’s Liverpool Regiment

Frederick Augustus Mathieson Buchholdt was born in Carlton Victoria to Frederick and Ruth Ann Buchholdt. The family was of Danish extraction and Frederick was the only son to his parents. Fred grew up in Victoria but in the early 1900’s the family moved to Western Australia and took up residence in Fremantle. In 1905 Fred’s parents divorced and in 1906 his father married Elizabeth Callaghan and they went to live in Broome in Northwest WA. Unfortunately, a year later in 1907 Frederick Buchholdt (snr) died in Broome.

His mother also got remarried at an Alfred Oyston in Fremantle in 1908 and they took up residence at 58 Queen Street Fremantle. Young Fred lived with his mother in Fremantle but at this stage it is not known what his occupation was or when he went to England. But as his house in Queen Street was labelled “Aberdeen” perhaps there was also some Scottish in the family line.

Instead of enlisting in the AIF; Fred joined up with the British Forces and he was given the regimental no.12342. Perhaps because of his Germanic sounding surname, he altered this on his enlistment to Frederick Augustus Wilson. Upon enlisting in Britain Frederick was assigned to the 12^th Battalion of the King’s Liverpool Regiment. This unit formed at Seaforth in September 1914 as part of Kitchener’s recruitment drive and it was attached to the 20^th Division.

The Regiment remained in England for the next several months training in preparation for being sent to France. In January 1915 it was assigned to the 61^st Brigade of the 20^th Division but it didn’t arrive in France until the 27^th July 1915 when they landed at Boulogne. Frederick served with his battalion on the Western Front through 1915-1918 at places such as the Somme, Arras, Ypres and Cambrai. He was wounded three times in those years which necessitated stays in the hospital and he was also gassed once but remained on duty.

In 1918 Fred took part in the hectic defence of March/April 1918 when the Germans broke through the lines of the Third and Fifth British Armies and he also took part in the advance of August 1918 when the Australia, British, Canadian, New Zealand and French forces set the Germans on a headlong retreat. Despite the German withdrawal they put up a stout defence and on the 20^th August 1918 Fred was killed in action near Souchez in France.

The 12^th Battalion King’s Liverpool Regiment’s war diary stated that;

11th/12th – 21st August 1918
Souchez
Battalion relieved the 11th K.R.R.C. in Centre Sub-Sector with Coys distributed as follows: “B” Coy front line at M.23.a.8.2. “C” Coy in Support. A & D Coys in Reserve M.29.c.65.60. 4 O.Rs wounded by hostile shelling during relief. 11th to 21st Front fairly quiet.  Enemy Gas Shells causing 4 O.Rs casualties.”

So it appears that Frederick was killed in action by a gas shell if the war diary is accurate. He was buried at Sucrecie Military Cemetery near Souchez France