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7574 1st Battalion, Suffolk Regiment
Arthur French was born in Sudbury in 1888, the son of Walter and Lavinia French. His father was a labourer and the family lived at Mount Place, North Street before later moving to Gregory Street.
Arthur was employed as a maltster prior to enlisting as a regular soldier. He was following in the family footsteps as his father served 21 years as a regular with the Royal Berkshire Regiment and his elder brother Walter enlisted with Suffolk Regiment in 1903.
In 1911 Arthur was stationed at Mustapha Pasha Barracks, Alexandra in Egypt. When war was declared he was stationed in Khartoum in the Sudan, he first served in France on 16 January 1915 when the battalion which formed part of 84th Brigade, 28th Division landed at Le Havre.
He saw action in Belgium including the Second Battle of Ypres where the first gas attacks were launched by the Germans on 22 April 1915. On 4 May a tactical withdrawal was made to the Frezenberg Ridge. 400 casualties had depleted the battalion strength and the men were on the point of exhaustion. Arthur served alongside other Sudbury men who would also lose their lives in early 1915 including Joseph Allen, Sidney Binks, William Brown, Arthur Crick, Arthur Golding, Harry Lorkings and Bert Malyon.
He was killed in action aged 26 on 8 May 1915. There is no known grave and he is remembered on the Menin Gate Memorial, Ypres, Belgium. Arthur was awarded the 1914-15 Star, British War Medal and Victory Medal.
A Cross of Remembrance was laid at the Menin Gate in April 2006, April 2009 and October 2012.
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