Queen's South Africa Medal with Clasps "Transvaal" and "South Africa 1902".
3631 Pte. R. Frost, Lincolnshire Regiment.
Thomas Edward Frost, a shipwright, and Betsy Crisp were married in Grimsby in 1873. Two years later, on 21st April 1875, they baptised their son, Robert Christopher Frost, in the parish church of St Andrew, Great Grimsby. By the time of the 1891 Census, the family were living at 1 Back Foundry Lane, Grimsby, and Robert is recorded as a 15 year old labourer.
On 17th July 1893, Robert enlisted in the Lincolnshire Regiment, agreeing to serve 7 years with the Colours and 5 years in the Reserve. He had already served some time in the 3rd Lincolnshire Militia and must have decided that life in the army would be better than working as a general labourer. His Attestation Papers describe him as 18 years and 4 months old, with a fair fresh complexion, brown hair and blue hazel eyes. His religion was Church of England. His father, Thomas, is noted as his next of kin although by 1901 he would be an inmate of the county asylum at Bracebridge, near Lincoln.
On 21st August 1893, Robert transferred from the Depot to the 1st Battalion. His first spell of foreign service came in 1895 when the 1st Battalion was sent to Malta for two years. It was here, in July 1895, that Robert was awarded his 1st Good Conduct Pay. On 3rd February 1897, the Lincolns left Malta for Egypt, where they would take part in the reconquest of the Sudan. Robert Frost took part in the Atbara Campaign and the Expedition to Khartoum in 1898. He would have been present at the Battle of Omdurman on 2nd September 1898. For his service in Egypt and the Sudan, he was awarded the Queen's Sudan Medal and the Khedive's Sudan Medal with clasps "The Atbara" and "Khartoum".
The 1st Battalion of the Lincolnshire Regiment left Egypt in October 1898 and sailed for India, where they were stationed in Bangalore. Robert Frost was awarded his 2nd Good Conduct Pay here and in February 1902 was transferred to the 2nd Battalion and sent to join them in South Africa. He would serve 202 days in South Africa during the final stages of the Boer War, thus earning entitlement to the Queen's South Africa Medal featured here.
Robert Frost returned to England in September 1902 and transferred to the Army Reserve in December. He was finally discharged from the Reserve on 16th July 1905, having served a total of 12 years. He married soon after this and the 1911 Census records him as working as a bricklayer and living at 26 Guildford Street, Grimsby, with his wife Mary Jane and 4 year old daughter Florence Jennie. In 1913, the couple had a son, Thomas Edward - named after his grandfather. Sadly, this boy came to a tragic end at the age of 13, when, on 29th August 1926, he accidentally hanged himself in his bedroom. Newspaper reports at the time reported the inquest's verdict of death from misadventure, concluding that the boy had been imitating a scene he had seen at the pictures. It is not known whether Robert Frost served again in the First World War. There was a Robert C. Frost who was awarded a British War Medal and Victory Medal for service in the Army Service Corps but it is uncertain whether this was the same man.
Robert Frost later worked as a boiler fitter and died at the age of 61 on 6th February 1937. Like his young son, he is buried in Scartho Road Cemetery, Grimsby. According to the 1939 Register, Mary Jane Frost and her daughter Florence were still living in 26 Guildford Street just before the Second World War.
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