Alan Frost: Wednesday 17th October 1917
Alan joined 28th Battalion Artists Rifles. He became a 2nd Lieutenant on 17 October 1914 and transferred to the Machine Gun Corp, where he was attached to 259 Company. He was later promoted to Captain, and it is suspected he may have been a “territorial” before the outbreak of war like his brother.
He was killed in East Africa at the battle of Nyangao/Mahiwa. This battle was the company’s only significant action, where they lost 7 men killed and 4 wounded as well as Captain Frost. He is buried in Dar es Salaam War Cemetery, where he appears to be the only one of his regiment. His father was granted probate for £337/1/9 and his address was 122 Nightingale Lane.
The Dar es Salaam War Cemetery was created in 1968 when the 660 First World War graves at Dar Es Salaam (Ocean Road) Cemetery had to be moved to facilitate the construction of a new road. As the burials in the former African Christian, Non-Christian and Mohammedan plots had not been marked individually, they were reburied in collective graves, each marked by a screen wall memorial. During the early 1970s, a further 1,000 graves were brought into this site from cemeteries all over Tanzania, where maintenance could no longer be assured. Dar es Salaam War Cemetery now contains 1,764 Commonwealth burials of the First World War.
Alan’s parents were Ralph, a Managing Director of J Miles & Co Ltd (Artistic & General Printers 68-70 Wardor St.) & Westminster City Councillor, and Sarah who had died in 1895 but was originally from Manchester. Alan had a younger sister, Alison, and a younger brother, Kenneth.
Ralph re-married, Edith 20 years his junior, in 1906 and they had a son Max three years later. In 1911 the family were living at 11 Mayford Road. In 1911 Alan was listed as having the same trade as his father, and so may have been destined to take over the business.
There is less information on Alan, than on Kenneth, as an entry on the Roll of Honour of the Great War was not purchased for Alan as it was for Kenneth. It is assumed the entry for Kenneth was organised by comrades rather than the family. Alan and Kenneth are both commemorated on the SMM memorial. Their father was living at 13 Wandle Road at that time.