Family Search: Lance Corporal William Wallace Frew was born on 19 April 1883, in Rear of Leeds and Lansdowne Township, Leeds and Grenville, Ontario, Canada. He registered for military service in 1914. In 1914, at the age of 31, his occupation is listed as plumber. He died on 30 September 1915, in Ieper, West Flanders, Belgium, at the age of 32, and was buried in Ieper, West Flanders, Belgium.
This soldier is recorded as the first soldier to be killed due to enemy action.
He may have been born in Scotland.
London Advertiser. October 13, 1915. Page 3.
Source: War Diary – (Excerpt from the War Diary) …A quiet day. At about 4 PM #53227 Private W.W, Frew, while filling sandbags in support was shot by a stray bullet which plowed through the base of his skull, killing him instantly.
“Killed in Action”
Whilst in charge of a working party and directing his men from a traverse of the Support Trenches, in the vicinity of Kemmel, he was hit in the neck by a stray bullet and rendered unconscious. His wounds were attended to, but he succumbed in about half an hour without regaining consciousness.
Newspaper Clipping – Clipping from the Toronto Star for 15 October 1915. Sourced from CVWM.
Former Toronto Man Killed Special to the Star
London, Ont., Oct. 15. – Word was received to-day that Lance-Corporal W. Frew of Lansdowne, formerly of Stanley Barracks, Toronto, have been killed in action in France. He was a member of the King Edward Coronation Contingent and sergeant-major of the 56th Lisgar Rifles for some years.
The beginning of World War 1 aroused strong feelings of patriotism as young men in the community volunteered to serve in the Armed Forces. Among them was W.W. Frew, who had spent four year in the village as a tinsmith. he became the first Wheatley [Ontario] to give his life and his name appears at the top of the list on the local Cenotaph.
History of the 18th Battalion CEF, "The Fighting Eighteenth" 
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