Frederic Victor BYRCH (1887-1915)

Frederic Victor Byrch (1887-1915), known as Fred, was the son of a prominent Evesham solicitor who was friendly with the Sladden family.  When the Byrch family emigrated to New Zealand at the beginning of the 20th century, the two families kept in contact.  May Sladden stayed for a few days with the Byrches on a visit to New Zealand in 1906 and wrote about it in her diary.

Fred Byrch was born at Evesham in 1887, the sixth of ten children of Albert William Byrch, a solicitor, and his wife, Constance (née Bremmer).  He grew up at The Elms, Bengeworth.

In 1902, Fred emigrated with his family to the South Island of New Zealand.  They lived firstly at a sheep station at Mount Brown near Amberley, which was where May visited them in February 1906.  Soon after the Byrches moved to a sheep station at Motunau near Canterbury.

On the outbreak of the First World War, Fred enlisted; he was a Trooper in the Canterbury Mounted Rifles and went overseas with the New Zealand Expeditionary Force.  He was wounded at Gallipoli and died a short time later on 9th August 1915.  Fred is commemorated on Lone Pine Memorial, Gallipoli.