Frederick Alexander Charles Liebert was killed in action on this day in 1914
Frederick Alexander Charles Liebert was born on 9 March 1882 in Bruges in Belgium. His parents were John Frederick Liebert and Lena Elise Henriette Liebert née Sprugt De Bay.
He was educated in Bruges and then at Beaumont College, in Old Windsor, Berkshire
On leaving college, he received a commission as 2nd Lieutenant in the 3rd Dragoon Guards.
His father died in 1887, followed by his mother in 1895.
In his late teens, he worked in the fruit growing industry on Guernsey.
On 21 July 1905, he married Frances Elizabeth Chichester in Pinhoe, Exeter in Devon and retired from the Dragoon Guards. They lived at The Elms, Charlton Musgrove in Wincanton, where they employed 4 servants.
On 20 December 1905, he joined the North Somerset Yeomanry (T.F.) as a Lieutenant.
He was Assistant Secretary to the Blackmore Vale Hounds and also Secretary to the Wincanton Races. As well as hunting, he was a keen golfer and cricketer.
On 5 August 1914, he was promoted to Captain and volunteered for overseas service.
On 2 November 1914, he went to France where the regiment came under orders of the 6th Cavalry Brigade in 3rd Cavalry Division.
He was killed on 17 November, in the first action that the regiment took part in, during the First Battle of Ypres.
He led B Squadron in defending a series of trenches under tremendous German shellfire. At noon, on the 17th, the Germans attacked and got to within 15 yards of his trenches but were repelled with very heavy losses. Frederick died during the charge. An account by one of his troopers, 18 year old Trooper Fudge, tells how Capt. Liebert was turning around to direct up reinforcements when shrapnel from a shell struck him in the head.
Letters from his Colonel and brother officers testify to his "valuable services as an officer, his high sense of duty combined with much cheerfulness in difficulties, and also to the great respect and affection his squadron had for him".
He is buried in Ypres Town Cemetery.
There is also a memorial to him in St Stephen's church in Charlton Musgrove.
By 1917, Frances had remarried, to a man called Allfrey.
Captain Frederick Alexander Charles Liebert, North Somerset Yeomanry