Source: Michael Doyle Their Name Liveth For Evermore: The Great War Roll of Honour for Leicestershire and Rutland.
He was the son of John Brown a carpenter and joiner, born 1834 in Ousby, Cumberland and his wife Isabella Brown (nee Braithwaite, married in the 4th quarter of 1856 in the Penrith, Cumberland district), born 1835 in Ousby, Cumberland. Frederick James was born on the 19th August 1878 in Empingham, Rutland, his siblings were Joseph B., a carpenter and joiner, born 1862, John, a carpenter and joiner, born 1865 and Wilkinson, a general domestic servant born 1868, the latter three siblings were all born in Ousby, Cumberland, Walter, a schoolboy, born 1871 in Aberangell, Monmouthshire, Wales, Frank, a schoolboy, born 1873 and Robert Ernest, a schoolboy, born 1877, the latter two siblings were both born in Empingham, Rutland, in April 1881 the family home was at Empingham, Rutland. In April 1891 Frederick was a schoolboy and was residing in the family home at Main Street, Empingham, Rutland, together with his father, a carpenter, his mother and siblings, John, a carpenter, Frank and Robert, a carpenter. In April 1911 Frederick was serving as a Private with the Royal Marine Light Infantry and was stationed at the Royal Marine Barracks, Forton, Alverstoke, Gosport, Hants. At the age of fifteen he was an apprentice in the bakery and grocery trade at Coalville, Leicestershire. After a year he ran away and enlisted in the Royal Marines. At the outbreak of war he was serving aboard HMS Good Hope, and the following letter written by him on the 11th October 1914 was received by Mr J. Brown of Newtown Linford, Leicestershire a fortnight after the sinking of that ship on the 1st November, together with HMS Monmouth and Glasgow by the German squadron off the coast of Chile. “We are having pretty rough times of it down here, and the suspense of watching and waiting are far worse than the actual fighting. At present we are at the Falkland Islands, taking in coal and provisions, after which we go somewhere in the Pacific to intercept a German squadron making for the South East Coast of South America, so I expect we will bring them to battle somewhere round Cape Horn before long, and the sooner the better as it is bitter cold here. We have not had any mails or news of how things are proceeding since we left England on the 2nd August. . . . If I manage to squeeze through this next turn out I will tell you about it in the next few lines I drop.” The background relating to the circumstances in which Frederick lost his life are as follows; HMS Good Hope rendezvoused with the rest of the squadron at Vallenar Roads in the remote Chonos Archipelago of Chile on 27th October to re-coal. They departed two days later, just as HMS Canopus arrived, Cradock ordering the battleship to follow as soon as possible. He sent the light cruiser HMS Glasgow to scout ahead and to enter Coronel, Chile to pick up any messages from the Admiralty and acquire intelligence regarding German activities. The cruiser began to pick up German radio signals from the light cruiser SMS Leipzig on the afternoon of 29th October, and delayed entering Coronel for two days with Cradock’s permission to avoid being trapped by the fast German ships. A German supply ship was already there and radioed Spee that Glasgow had entered the harbour around twilight. The cruiser departed on the morning of 1st November, but Spee had already made plans to catch her when informed of her presence the previous evening. HMS Glasgow departed Coronel at 9.15 am after having picked up the squadron's mail and rendezvoused with the rest of the squadron four hours later. Cradock ordered his ships to form line abreast with a distance of 15 nautical miles (17 miles) between ships to maximize visibility at 1.50 pm, and steered north at a speed of 10 knots (12 mph). At 4.17 pm SMS Leipzig spotted Glasgow, the easternmost British ship, to its west and she spotted SMS Leipzig’s funnel smoke three minutes later. At 5.10 pm Cradock ordered his ships to head for HMS Glasgow, the closest ship to the Germans. Once gathered together, he formed them into line astern, with HMS Good Hope in the lead, steering southeasterly at 16 knots (18 mph) at 6.18 pm. As the sixteen 8.3 inch guns aboard the armoured cruisers Scharnhorst and Gneisenau were only matched by the two 9.2 inch guns on his flagship, he needed to close the range to bring his more numerous 6 inch guns to bear. The Force 7 winds and high seas, however, prevented the use of half of those guns as they were too close to the water. He also wanted to use the setting sun to his advantage so that its light would blind the German gunners. Spee was well aware of the British advantages and refused to allow Cradock to close the range. His ships were faster than the British, slowed by the 16 knot maximum speed of the armed merchant cruiser Otranto, and he opened up the range to 18,000 yards until conditions changed to suit him. The sun set at 6.50 pm, which silhouetted the British ships against the light sky while the German ships became indistinguishable from the shoreline behind them. Spee immediately turned to close and signaled his ships to open fire at 7.04 pm when the range closed to 12,300 yards. Spee’s flagship, Scharnhorst, engaged HMS Good Hope while Gneisenau fired at HMS Monmouth. Cradock’s flagship was hit on the Scharnhorst’s third salvo, when shells knocked out her forward 9.2 inch turret and set her forecastle on fire. Cradock, knowing his only chance was to close the range, continued to do so despite the battering that Spee’s ships inflicted. By 7.23 pm the range was almost half of that when the battle began and the British ships bore onwards. Spee tried to open the range, fearing a torpedo attack, but the British were only 5,500 yards away at 7.35 pm. Seven minutes later, HMS Good Hope charged directly at the German ships, although they dodged out of her way. Spee ordered his armoured cruisers to concentrate their fire on the British flagship and drifted to a halt with her topsides all aflame. At 7.50 pm her forward magazine exploded, severing the bow from the rest of the ship, and she later sank in the darkness. Spee estimated that his flagship had made 35 hits on HMS Good Hope, suffering only two hits in return that did no significant damage and failed even to wound one crewman. HMS Good Hope was sunk with all hands, a total of 919 officers and enlisted men. Four of the midshipmen aboard the ship were the first casualties of the newly formed Royal Canadian Navy.