I hope that this is Frederick James Bales, born 1875 in Ipswich. He was my grandmother's first husband. She was pregnant with their third child when he died, and she gave birth to a son, on 7th July 1915. The child was named St Julien John William, and I was always given to understand that his father's death was connected to the Battle of St Julien. The village of St Julien was taken by the Germans on 24th April, 1915 with the use of poison gas. The records of the Suffolk Regiment say that the 1st Battalion suffered its first gas attack on 24th April, 1915. The CWGC record states that William Bales of the Suffolk Regiment died on 24th April 1915. Coincidence? I choose to believe that Frederick James Bales and William Bales are one and the same man. May he rest in peace.

Sally Ryder