Notes for: Frederick William Osborne

Colin Osborne wrote: My grand father FW Osborne would not talk about WW1 like most of his generation. My father told me that he was sure Frederick had joined up at the start of the war, possibly with the London Rifles but definitely a Rifle Brigade, then joined or his unit became the Kings Royal Rifles. He had a lot of trench art in his house, mostly decorated shell casings but these were all taken just after Fredericks death by someone unknown to us who used to pop round to do odd jobs for him. He was involved in the Home Guard or Civil defence during WW2 and told my Dad how he let the Italian prisoners carry his rifle sometimes. I really don’t know any more about this. Frederick worked for a while in the Power Labs at the University and again according to my Father, worked with Frank Whittle during jet engine tests. Apparently on one occasion a man was sucked into the engine but again I don’t know any more.
Isobel Ankers wrote: We have a small silver cup inscribed William Osborne 1913 which he was allegedly awarded for swimming in the River Cam