Frederic Sackville West

Known within the family as 'Sack' he was born in London in 1886. After leaving school he worked as an apprentice at Vulcan Foundry - the locomotive builders. Later he went to South Africa and became chief mechanic at an engineering works.

At the outbreak of Word War I he signed up as a gunner but once the war in South Africa had ended he was transferred to France and promoted to Lieutenant in the Royal Field Artillery.

While in France he met his wife, Genevieve, and they were married once the war ended. He continued to live in France working as chief of drawing at a Calais-based chain works.

Following the occupation of France in 1938 he was interned by the German forces and sent to northern German and spent the rest of the war in a civilian camp protected by the American Red Cross.

He and Genevieve had one son, John Lionel, who never married. Genevieve died in 1957 and Sack and Lionel continued to live together as '2 old bachelors'. He died in Herault in 1979.