Wilfred Reader Fry and Tom Fry

Wilfred Reader Fry and his brother Tom Fry are the sons of Joseph John Fry and his wife Mary Ann Reader.  Joseph’s brother George Fry was the father of Charles George Fry the founder of C G Fry builders, and unlike their first cousin Charles, Wilfred and Tom sadly didn’t survive the war. The Fry family has had a long association with Broadwindsor ever since Charles George Fry’s Aunt Sarah Fry married John Osmond of Broadwindsor in 1839 at Litton Cheney and returned with him to live at Newnham Farm. Sarah and John Osmond didn’t have any children so many of their nephews and Nieces from Litton, children of Sarah’s brother Joseph  Fry (including George father of Charles George Fry) came to help the couple with the farm from when they were a young age.   Eventually George Fry’s brother Joseph John Fry married local girl Mary Ann Reader and started farming at Swillets, where Wilfred and Tom Fry were born.  After the death of Sarah and eventually John Osmond in 1891 at Newnham, Joseph John Fry moved with his large family to Newnham until they moved to Eastham Dairy, Crewkerne.

Sergeant Harry Frampton

Harry was born at Burstock Grange Farm in 1920. He had two brothers and two sisters and worked on his family farm until the age of 18 where he signed up for the 43rd Wessex Division at the outbreak of World War II. Being a farmer he didn’t need to join up as he held key worker status but all his friends had and so he began his training. He got engaged to Sylvia Bridal whose family had the George Hotel in Broadwindsor Square and the plan was that after the war they would marry and run the Hotel together. On 25 June 1944 he and 16,000 other 43rd Wessex division soldiers landed on the beaches of Northern France and headed to Caen to begin operation Jupiter. This was to capture a hill known as Hill 112 overlooking the planes of Normandy and German General Rommel said, “The forces that controls Hill 112 would control Lower Normandy”. They faced fierce resistance from German 9th,10th and 12th SS Panza divisions and the division suffered 7000 casualties of the 16,000 that set foot in France. On 15 July 1944 Harry was killed by a German sniper in the French village of Etterville when he popped his head over a wall. He is buried less than 3km from there in St Manvieu War Cemetery near his great friend Maurice Loosmore. He was 24 years old. A memorial service for him was held in Burstock Church some months later in November with the mourners packing out the Church. The Frampton family continue to visit his grave in France and they never forget his bravery and service to our country.