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Son of Henry Valentine Trump and Mary Trump, of Rhymney, Monmouthshire. He had three siblings. Educated at Middle Rhymney School and became a surveyor for the Rhymney Iron Company. He also joined the Territorial Army, where he was promoted to Lieutenant. In 1895 he passed exams in Cardiff to become a qualified colliery manager. He managed the Rhymney Collieries before the Home Office appointed him Assistant Inspector of Mines for Wales. He was injured by an explosion while undertaking an inspection deep underground at Pentwyn Colliery, Machen, in 1906. The blast threw him forwards and triggered a large fall of coal, which buried him. He was quickly pulled clear and treated in hospital for burns before returning to Penarth, where he and his widowed mother were then living. Fred moved to South Africa in 1912 to take up a post as general manager of the Ferreira gold mine near Johannesburg, one of the largest gold producers in the world. In 1915 he returned to Britain to join the war effort, serving with the Monmouthshire Regiment. Before the end of the year he was promoted to Temporary Major. In August 1916 he was given command of a territorial battalion of the South Staffordshire Regiment and promoted to Lieutenant Colonel. According to a roll of honour which is now in Ivor Davies School 3-18, he was “killed while asleep in his dugout”. On Rhymney war memorial. ref. South African Roll of Honour 1914-1918 |
