FREDERICK HUNT
1901-1977
SIGNALMAN & PORTER AT UCKFIELD
The son of an Eastbourne dustman born in 1901, Frederick was working as a barman at the King’s
Arms Hotel on Seaside, Eastbourne in 1921 before getting a job at Uckfield railway station. He
married Dorothy Gladys Ashman in 1926 but being a very keen rugby right half for Uckfield, he
played two matches on his wedding day, one in the morning and another after the Register Office
ceremony! The Club gave the happy couple a biscuit barrel as a wedding present, and colleagues at
the railway station gave a tea service. They had two children and lived their married life on Vernon
Road, Uckfield.
An incident occurred at Uckfield railway crossing in 1934, where an impatient motorcyclist was
killed colliding with crossing gates as they were closed in anticipation of an oncoming train. Porter
Frederick, hearing the screeching and crash “dashed down and dragged the deceased and his motor
cycle clear of the line” ensuring the safety of the imminent train.
Joining the Royal Engineers to participate in World War II, he served in France, where he was
involved in ‘Little Dunkirk,’ the evacuation of over 21,000 troops from the fortified town of St
Malo in 1944. Afterwards he was sent to North Africa where he had the misfortune to lose a leg, but
returned to Uckfield where, with the assitance of an artificial leg, he was able to resume work, now
as a signalman.
He retired in 1967 and died aged 76
