Serjeant Frederick Gerald Schiff was an English marine of the Royal Navy who died during the First World War.
He was born on 31 March 1888, in Camberwell, London, the son of Abraham and Dutch-born Caroline Schiff (née Van Mentz). Schiff enlisted in the Royal Marine Light Infantry on 1 September 1905 and held the rank of corporal from 1910 until 1914, when he was successively promoted to lance serjeant and serjeant. He saw service aboard the Minotaur-class armoured cruiser HMS Shannon from February 1915 to December 1917.[1]
Schiff died on 16 March 1918, the result of being accidentally poisoned by carbon monoxide, while serving with "C" Company, of the 1st Royal Marine Battalion, Royal Naval Division on the Western Front. A court of inquiry determined that Schiff and two colleagues, Acting Serjeant Scudder and Private Stubbins, were responsible for their own deaths in a trench dug-out at Grand Ravine, Flesquires. They had, in contravention of orders, lit a stove while the anti-gas blankets were lowered and the stove outlet disconnected (neccessary to lower the blankets). A fourth marine, Private McLean, was found unconscious and recovered, being later tried by Field General Court Martial.[1]
He is buried in Rocquigny-Equancourt Road British Cemetery, Manancourt.
References[]
- Ancestry.co.uk.
- Schiff, Frederick Gerald, cwgc.org. Retrieved 31 July 2013.