Born in Derbyshire of a mining background he was destined to work in the family mining interests. After completing school and attending Malvern Officer Training College he had prepared to enter the mining business training up under his father, Mark Fryar at Denby and with his uncle at the Messrs Barber, Walker and Company Limited.
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| Mark from a 5th Bttn photo |
In May 1911 he joined the 1/5th Battalion of the Sherwood Foresters (Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire Regiments). This territorial regiment was mobilised for war service on 5/8/14 when Mark was 23. Less than 4 months after landing at Ypres he was wounded at Dickebuse. He returned to the Front.
Mark's story is recorded in "A Lack of Offensive Spirit" The 46th (North Midland) Division" by Alan MacDonald p392-4. He was captured at Gommecourt in 1916. Initially, he was missing in action after the horrific events of the Somme on the 1st of July 1916-one of the bloodiest battles in history.
On the night of the battle ....Owing to smoke he and his Captain were separated from the rest of the Battalion. Captain Lewes was hit three times and while Fryar and his men took other action to secure their safety they needed to lay low until cover of darkness or reinforcements appeared. The Germans kept bombing them until 11am and sent an English speaking soldier to say he would take them prisoners. They were out of ammunition and by 12.30 they were being shelled by their own forces. He talked with the injured Lewes and they decided to give in asking the Germans to help them with their wounded. They would not and just looked on. They carried the semi- conscious Captain out but he died the next morning. Then...
Initially his mother, Louisa received word saying “ I'm afraid I can give you very little hope.”
A month later she received a telegram saying he was a prisoner of war at Gutorsloh, Germany. Mark’s Prisoner of War transfer cards are marked with red circles indicating multiple escape attempts. He moved between Custria (Fort Zorndorf) and Schwarmstedt camps (30 days in the cells for escaping) then to Schweidnitz where after several months he escaped with 23 others and a partner named Bush. The upshot of this was that he got 78 kilometers away but was caught taking a train.
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| A Red Cross Transfer record- the red circle indicates he is prone to escape |
The prisoners involved in the Schweidnitz tunnel escape were taken to Holzminden POW camp. A few months later he was court-martialed by the Germans for escaping by the tunnel and for forging passports used in the escape. (He served 47 days in the cells for escaping)
Like many of his fellow captives Mark was eligible for internment in Holland. Having been captured in 1916 he was entitled to be interned after two years captive to a neutral country like Holland. Here they would be bound to conform to laws and regulations for the rest of the war by their personal honour and good behaviour “on parole”.
Authorities were becoming aware of “barbed wire disease”, a new medical phenomenon of war. About 10% of prisoners made a concerted effort to escape, and about three times that attempted breakouts.
Military staff POWs felt a deep disillusionment, enhanced by the solitary confinement for punishment, overcrowding and harsh living conditions. They were going stir crazy. It was considered that men captured for more than two years would be suffering from barbed wire disease and should be offered internment in a neutral country. Many of his fellow prisoners refused this eligibility because one, it meant they had to sit out the war and two, they did not get to escape to fight another day. Many wanted to return to their unit to fight or fly again.
Even though the officers were able to enjoy orchestras, workshops, sports, and theatre, the physical response to being behind barbed wire for prolonged stretches of time would send the prisoners stir-crazy. Solitary confinement that was issued after the prison break would further deepen their disillusionment. The Hague Convention states that prisoners must be treated humanely. Officers were not put to work. They were to be treated with the same board, lodging, and clothing as the troops who captured them.
German officers often violated these conventions. The Commandant at Holzminden, Niemeyer, for example, was well known for the way prisoners were harshly treated. The men survived because of Red Cross parcels even though 1 in 5 were lost in transit! Letters home show that Mark asked for his mother to send him a parcel from Fortnum and Mason. I wonder if it ever arrived.
He became a Captain during his incarceration and would take his role seriously writing reports when necessary .
Mark believed that the delay in going to Holland was caused by the Germans dragging out the court-martial for their part in the Schweidnitz escape. This delayed his and others' transition to Holland and he believed it was in breach of the Hague Convention Agreement. And he let the management know via a letter to the Dutch Ambassador requesting that the British Government investigate the delay. Family believed he was depressed by this delay as letters back home revealed during 1918. We now know this was probably part of the psychological distress that Prisoners of War suffered. It is also known that internees suffered the same effect.
Part of the military code was that you were expected to escape whether English, NZ, Aussie or Canadian. Since the other big escape from Holzminden the Germans were more harsh. Another of Fryar’s report from the Officer’s Camp at Holzminden was about the random shooting of two Aussies, Lt Alexander Wallace Couston 10th Battalion AIF and 2nd Lt Cyril Boyd Fenton RFC in Oct 1918. https://schweidnitzpowcampwwi.blogspot.com/2021/04/another-escape-remembered-anzac-day-2021.html As I said before, I liked his leadership. It seemed he created quite a stir. He’s not writing his report to condemn the men but as a condemnation of the behaviour of the Germans during the men’s escape.
He was eventually interned in late October 1918. Mark went to Holland with fellow escapees Asquith, Burrow, Bush, Moorhead, Patton and Murphy. Most were repatriated on the 26th of November 1918 after the Armistice was reached.
Officer's statements were obtained upon repatriation. These explain the circumstances of their capture and recapture. Many of Mark's, part of Mark's capture statement describes his capture while serving with the 5th Sherwood Foresters.
His experience of war made it difficult to return to normal life and his father's colliery business. In 1915 his uncle had died and this put more pressure on Mark to assist in the business. All the blasting and confined spaces involved triggered what we now know to be PTSD. Local rumors were around and perhaps some misunderstood as to why and how he was captured, escaped, recaptured and treated after the tunnel escape.
Perhaps a little misunderstanding as to why he was court-martialled by the Germans and not the English, may have persisted in his local village and family. In April 1919 he had received word that his statements regarding his capture by the enemy had been investigated and it was considered no blame at all on him in the matter.
After the war he could not settle and returning to the colliery meant claustrophobia. Anxiety caused by the constant blasting in the mine unsettled him. He was given time to recover by his father but in the British way after 12 months he was expected to pull himself together and get back to work. This caused friction with his family assisted by persistent rumors about his capture and court martial.
Post-war mental illness was probably exacerbated by his lack of work and idleness. Rumours persisted and he was known to drink too much. Some incidences occurred unbecoming of the gentleman he was.
In 1924, he was acquitted of breaking into a garage at Stubbington and stealing five motor tyres and two tins of petrol. He denied he was the person seen leaving the garage at midnight, and that the evidence was circumstantial.
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| Acquittal- Gloucester Citizen 8/10/1924 |
In 1926 he was charged with being in the Wesleyan Church after dark for unlawful purposes having forced the door. The judge satisfied that it was a drunken episode and in exchange for damages and expenses Mark was accordingly discharged.
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| More trouble - Mansfield Reporter 18/6/1926 |
At age 39 in 1931, he died- a bachelor. He had been living between Long Bennington and Denby and after a visit to the pub was involved in a car accident while on a cycle. He died of head and internal injuries
He was buried with military honours.
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| Notes from a talk given by Jill Sparrow to a local group |
Such a shame that, in hindsight Mark was probably suffering undiagnosed trauma. We now understand more about these war neuroses, probably initially caused by shell shock from his part in the Somme battle and exacerbated by barbed wire disease. Studies show that mortality rates of POWs in the 1920s and 30s were five times that of other veterans. An added cost of war.
Remembrance Day 2025
Lest we Forget
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| Mark's grave in Denby with his sister Molly |
