Captain Frederick Rutherford Skillen
Frederick Rutherford Skillen was born on 13 August 1893 at 34 Beverley Street, Belfast, the first of four children of linen factory manager Joseph Skillen and his wife Mary Graham Morrow Skillen (née Rutherford). At the time of the 1911 Census he was living at 3 Gladstone Terrace, Ballymena, with his parents and two surviving siblings, and working as a shipping clerk.
After serving at the Belfast University Officer Training Corps, Skillen enlisted in the North Irish Horse at Belfast on 1 October 1914 (No.1232). However he did not spend long with the regiment. On 1 December 1914 he was discharged following his appointed as a 2nd lieutenant in the 12th (Service) Battalion, King's (Liverpool Regiment).
On 22 July 1915 Skillen embarked for France with his battalion. A report in the Ballymena Observer of 31 December 1915 noted:
Second-Lieutenant F. R. Skillen, who was transport officer for the King's Own Liverpool Regiment, was home from the front during the Christmas week-end. Mr. Skillen, who is the eldest son of Mr. Joseph Skillen, Claremont, Ballymena, joined the army in the autumn of 1914 as a trooper in the North Irish Horse, and in December was granted a commission, and proceeded for training to England with the King's Own Liverpool Regiment, with whom he went to the front in July 1915. He was looking fit, and had the best wishes of his many friends in Ballymena on his departure on Tuesday last.
On 15 May 1916 he was promoted to lieutenant, and on 1 August the following year, acting captain.
On 16 August 1917 the battalion took part in the Battle of Langemarck, part of Third Ypres. Attacking on the eastern side of the Steenbeek, their casualties for the day were 4 officers killed and 7 wounded, with 41 other ranks killed, 230 wounded and 34 missing. Skillen was one of the wounded officers, having received a gun shot wound to the arm. However it appears that the wound was not serious and he was soon back at duty.
On 19 September Skillen was promoted to the rank of captain. He was mentioned Field-Marshal Haig's despatch of 7 April 1918 for his role in the fighting at Cambrai in November 1917. A second mention came in Haig's despatch of 16 March 1919, which concerned his role in the fighting during the German offensive in March 1918 - he had been recommended for a Military Cross.
In February 1919 Skillen was posted to the 4th Battalion, King's (Liverpool Regiment), and soon after was attached to No.175 Prisoner of War Company.
Skillen faced a court martial at Calais on 11 November 1919, charged with 'drunkenness and acting to the prejudice of good order and military discipline'. He was acquitted. A week later he fell ill and was evacuated to England. Four months later a medical board at Hemel Hempstead found him fit for general service. He relinquished his commission a few days later.
In 1921 Skillen was employed as a health insurance officer in the Ministry of Health. Two years later he enlisted in the ranks as a gunner in 208 Battery, Royal Field Artillery, 52nd East Lancashire Brigade – a Territorial unit. This meant relinquishing the title 'Captain' for the period in which he served in the ranks. In 1928 he qualified as a Clerk in the Northern Ireland Civil Service. On 3 December 1938 he was once again given captain's title "after completion of a period of service in the ranks of the Territorial Army."
At the begining of World War 2 he rejoined as a lieutenant in the 6th (30th) (Home Defence) Battalion Royal Ulster Rifles. (service number 98359).
Skillen died on 23 February 1954 in the City Hospital, Lisburn Road, Belfast.
The Northern Whig, 14 October 1939
The Tatler and Bystander, 28 January 1942. Skillen is in the middle row, third from the right.
Captain Skillen's name is included on the Presbyterian Church in Ireland's Roll of Honour: 1914-1919 under the West Church Congregation, Ballymena, and the Lisburn First Congregation.
Skillen's brother William Graham Rutherford Skillen served during the war as a gunner in the Royal Garrison Artillery (No.287287), after briefly serving in the North Irish Horse, according to family recollections.
William Graham Rutherford Skillen
First image kindly made available by Des Blackadder, from his site Ballymena and the Great War. Image of William Graham Skillen, and some of the information above, kindly provided by his son, Graham Skillen.
This page last updated 30 July 2024.