Frederick Charles Manton was born at Ridlington on 20 January 1894 and died in the Battle of Aubers Ridge, one of 560 casualties from his battalion. He was the son of George Manton and his wife of Hillside Farm in Main Street. Fred was a keen cricketer and sang in the village choral society and the church choir. At the start of the First World War he was working at Berrywood Asylum at Duston, Northamptonshire. He enlisted into the army on 1 September 1914 and was posted to the Ist Battalion Northamptonshire Regiment, going out to the Western Front on 27 January 1915. Aubers Ridge was fought to support a French attack north of Arras and take advantage of the diversion of German troops to the Eastern Front. It turned out to be a costly disaster. The Northamptonshires took part in a mass attack against German positions on 9 May 1915. The battalion war diary records: "At 5am the bombardment of the enemy bunkers and fortified positions began with 15 inch and 9.2 inch howitzers. This continued until 5.30am. Companies advanced within close range of enemy trenches but before we could get within them we were mowed down. It was impossible to take the position and the assault  failed. The battalion was now lying in between the two trench systems unable to advance or retire... Throughout the day the men lay out absolutely exposed to the machine guns and the shell fire from the German lines... When darkness came the survivors crawled back to the trenches having being laid out for 14 and a half hours." Fred was one of those killed. He was aged just 21. He has no known grave and is remembered on Panel 29 of Le Touret Memorial, and on Ridlington's war memorial.