John Stuart Frost

John known as Jack to his friends and family was born in 1887 at Houghton Regis and was the son of John Thomas a Baptist minister and his wife Annie (Mary) Frost (née Stone) they had two further children , Annie Marian b1885 and Ida Muriel b1892. Tragedy struck the family in 1898 , when at only 11 years of age Jack's mother dies in Southwell in 1898 aged 34 years leaving his father to bring up a young family. In the 1901 census , the family are living at Moor Lane, Southwell , John shown as 40 years and a widow , is a Baptist minister and is living with two of his children, John Stuart 13 years , and Ida M 9 yrs, also at the address is Alice M Frost , who is 29 yrs of age and a sister of John Thomas , who has presumably moved in to help raise the children. By 1911 census the family have moved on and are now living at 40 Bonsall Street, Long Eaton, Derbyshire, John Thomas now 51 yrs a widow and Baptist minister is living with two of his children John Stuart 23 yrs single and a bank clerk and ida Muriel 19 years. On 14th March 1916 , his father John Thomas dies in Willesdon , Middlesex only weeks before Johns death at sea. His probate was proven with a will on 19th June 1916 at London , it shows John Stuart Frost of 13 Springwell Ave, Harlesdon, Middlesex, assistant paymaster R.N.R. HMS Russell died 27th April 1916 at sea. His effects of £481 2 shillings and 2pence were left ot his sister Annie Marian Forst, spinster.

John joined the Nottingham and Notts Bank (Southwell branch) as soon as he left the Magnus School at Newark, aged 15, in 1903. Five years later, he was transferred to the Bank’s headquarters in Thurland Street, Nottingham He was a Member Nottingham Rowing Club

Royal Naval Reserve. Served in HMS "Russell". Frost sent a letter to the secretary of the Nottingham Rowing Club in October 1915, just before HMS Russell was sent to the Dardanelles, eventually taking part in the evacuation in January 1916. On 27 April 1916, while steaming east of Malta the ship hit a mine and sank with the loss of over 100 of the ship's company. Commemorated on Chatham Naval Memorial. He is further commemorated on a memorial at the Erewash Borough Council Offices in Long Eaton,Derbyshire

Article published 1st May 1916 in the Nottingham Evening Post :- “WENT DOWN WITH THE RUSSELL. “A FORMER NOTTINGHAM BANK CLERK. “Included in the list of those lost in the sinking of H.M.S. Russell is the name of Assistant-Paymaster John S. Frost, R.N.R., formerly a member of the Nottingham and Notts. Banking Co., in Thurland-street. “The deceased, who was 28 years of age, was well-known in Southwell, Newark, and Nottingham. He was the only son of the late Rev. J. T. Frost, a Baptist minister who was at Southwell for a long period, and died only a few weeks ago at Long Eaton, where he had lived for the last two or three years. The deceased was educated at the Magnus Grammar School at Newark, and entered the Southwell branch of the Nottingham and Notts. Bank in 1903. Five years later he was transferred to headquarters, and he joined the Navy in September of last year. During his residence in Nottingham he was very popular with his colleagues. A keen oarsman he was for several years an active member of the Nottingham Rowing Club.” Above article is courtesy of Jim Grundy and his facebook pages Small Town Great War Hucknall 1914-1918. The following is an extract from the Magnus School, Newark , diary of the 'Great War' Wednesday 27 April 1916: Vicar’s son John Stuart Frost joined the Nottingham and Notts Bank (Southwell branch) as soon as he left the Magnus, aged 15, in 1903. Five years later, he was transferred to the Bank’s headquarters in Thurland Street, Nottingham, and looked forward to a quiet career in finance while pursuing his sporting interests of rowing in the summer and hockey in the winter. But patriotism out-weighed personal ambitions and he was commissioned in the Royal Naval Reserve on 3 September 1915. Today – only a few weeks after he heard of the death of his father, the Reverend J T Frost, who had served the Baptist Church in Southwell for many years – Jack, as he was inevitably called, was serving as Assistant Paymaster on the battleship HMS Russell when it struck a mine in the Mediterranean and sank off Malta. Jack is remembered on the Chatham Naval Memorial, the Magnus War Memorial and the Rowers’ War Memorial, Trent Bridge, Nottingham. NRC archive (Nottinghamshire Archives), letter dated 19 October 1915, to secretary, Nottingham Rowing Club from J Stuart Frost, Asst Paymaster RNR, HMS Russell c/o GPO: 'I enclose a photograph of myself which as a member of the Nottingham Rowing Club I thought might be of interest and incidentally as evidence that I am doing my quota in this horrible struggle. I cannot give you any particulars of my whereabouts beyond the above address, and look forward to the time when I may again take part in the club races.' Yours faithfully, J Stuart Frost, Asst Paymaster RNR