Was 5230 Private G. M. Fry, of the 7th Dragoon Guards, and awarded the QSA, the same man as Guy Mortimer Fry, also known as George Morton Fry, who was to make several court appearances from the early 1900s to at least 1912?
BARRACKS VISITOR
Captain George Morton Fry, late 7th Dragoon Guards, and Ewart Duncas Thomas, his attendant, both of the Crescent, Barnes, were charged at Westminster Police-court yesterday as suspected persons, being at Chelsea Barracks for an unlawful purpose.
Evidence was given that on Sunday afternoon the two accused men were driven up to Chelsea Barracks in a taxi-cab. Captain Fry went to the officers' mess, leaving Thomas waiting for him in the barrack square. The captain called for drinks and cigars, and said that he was a bosom friend of General Lord Methuen and other officers. A police-sergeant was called, and complaint was made that defendants had been loitering about the officers' quarters, and could not give any satisfactory account of themselves.
A gentleman who attended court said Captain Fry was about to be sent to a home for the drink cure; the captain had been to such homes before, and was quite irresponsible at times.
Both the accused were then discharged.
Evening Express, Tuesday 28th January 1908
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RUINED BY DRINK.
CHEQUERED CAREER OF A TALENTED MAN.
The story of a man's varied career ruined by drink was told at the Old Bailey on Wednesday, when George Morton Fry (37) pleaded guilty to three indictments charging him with obtaining goods by means of worthless cheques at Barnes.
It was stated that actually the prisoner had been involved in the issue of between thirty and forty such cheques.
After serving in the Army he went to Canada and served in the North-west Mounted Police. He was a member of the Geological Society, and could speak several languages.
In 1896 he went to South Africa as a mining engineer on the Rand. When the war broke out he joined Kitchener's force and obtained a commission.
After the war he got an appointment in Nigeria, and was attacked with malaria. He came home with his whole system lowered, took to drink, and under the influence of drink passed a worthless cheque on his old bank.
Subsequently the accused acted in Russia and Siberia as an engineer, and in 1907, when his wife and four children were stricken down with diptheria, he again took to drink.
The prisoner, who had been twice previously convicted, was sentenced to twelve months' hard labour.
Weekly Mail, Saturday 2nd May 1908
FRY, George Morton (37, no occupation), pleaded guilty of obtaining by false pretences from Ralph Joseph Chapman the sum of £1, with intent to defraud; on March 9, 1908, obtaining from Albert Walter Gamage the sum of £4 12s. 4d., with intent to defraud; on March 10, 1908, obtaining from the said Albert Walter Gamage one hat, with intent to defraud; on January 8, 1908, obtaining by false pretences from Arthur Albert Stephens the sum of £5 10s. 5d., the moneys of Messrs. Ainslie Bros., with intent to defraud. The statement of counsel disclosed an extensive system of cheque frauds. Prisoner was stated to be the son of a gentleman who had occupied a very high position. In 1889 he joined a dragoon regiment as lieutenant, but resigned in the following year through debts incurred by betting. Subsequently he served with credit in the Canadian Mounted Police and was superintendent of police in Northern Nigeria. He was also stated to be a member of the Geological Society and a man of considerable attainments, who had been employed in connection with various mining propositions in Russia and Siberia. Sentence, Twelve months' hard labour.
www.oldbaileyonline.org/browse.jsp?name=19080428
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More on G. M. Fry's life up to 1912.
blog.geolsoc.org.uk/2013/12/12/door-12-p...eadful-fellows-no-2/
