Sgt. COUCHMAN F.W. G/13673 6th Btn, The Buffs (East Kent Regiment)

SGT. G/13673 FREDERICK WILLIAM COUCHMAN. 6th Battalion, The Buffs, East Kent Regiment

Couchman F.W. Dod: 03/10/1917. Age 32. Son of: George and Ellen Couchman of Horsmonden, Kent and husband of Eva G Couchman of Glebe House, Burwash E Sussex. Occ: Domestic Chauffeur. Unit text: 6th Battalion, The Buffs, East Kent Regiment. Cemetery: WINDMILL BRITISH CEMETERY, MONCHY-LE-PREUX.

Frederick was born in 1887, the son of George and Ellen Couchman, nee King, at Tompsetts Farm, Lamberhurst Rd., Horsmonden, Kent.

For well over 100 years Frederick’s family was a long line of agricultural workers at Tompsetts Farm along the Lamberhurst road in Horsmonden.

He joined the local volunteers and enlisted into the Buffs on 22nd September 1914.

By the time he married Eva Harvey at St Margaret’s in Horsmonden 22nd April 1916 he had been promoted to Sergeant.

Sgt Couchman was sent to the Front and was sadly killed in action on the 3rd October 1917. At the time of his death his elder brother was a POW and his two younger brothers were also serving.

Frederick will have many relatives; nieces and nephews and their descendants including the Barham family of Gibbet Lane in Horsmonden. The Barham family were the children of Sgt. Couchman’s sister, Dorothy Ada who married Albert Barham in 1930.

Cpl Albert Maynard, 1st Battalion, The Buffs who also fell in WW1 and commemorated on Horsmonden’s War Memorial, was the Barham children’s Great Uncle.