Name
(Bertie) Albert Edward Tyler
Conflict
First World War
Date of Death / Age
21/04/1915
18
Rank, Service Number & Service Details
Private
14344
Bedfordshire Regiment
1st Bn.
Awards: Service Medals/Honour Awards
1914 /15 Star, British War and Victory medals
Cemetery/Memorial: Name/Reference/Country
YPRES (MENIN GATE) MEMORIAL
Panel 31 and 33.
Belgium
Headstone Inscription
Not Researched
UK & Other Memorials
Christchurch Memorial, Little Heath, Potters Bar, Little Heath & Bentley Heath Memorial, Potters Bar, All Souls Chapel Book of Remembrance, Potters Bar, Hatfield Town Memorial, Hatfield In Memoriam Book, Not on the Lemsford memorial, Not on the North Mymms memorials
Pre War
Born in Lemsford, Hertfordshire in 1897, the son of Percy Samuel and Matilda Elizabeth Tyler
In the 1901 census Albert E. Tyler was 4 and living with his parents and three siblings in Lemsford. His father was working as a domestic gardener. By 1911 the family were now living at Warren Wood Lodge, Kentish Lane, Hatfield. Albert at 14 was working as a garden boy and his father is still a garden labourer.
Officially recorded as born in Hatfield and was living there when he enlisted in Hertford.
Wartime Service
Enlisted at Hertford becoming Private 14322, 1st Battalion, Bedfordshire Regiment. The service number 14344 suggests he enlisted in early September 1914 and probably landed in France, 24 March 1915.
He was killed in action during the Battle of Hill 60 (south of Ypres). The battalion war diary states:
“21 Apr 1915 – Reningelst. Bombardment & counter attacks continued during early morning & position critical at times. Casualties very heavy. Enemy’s machine guns partially enfiladed reverse of Hill 60, trench mortar bombarded it, & field guns were brought up to within about 30 yards & fired point blank at parapet, blowing it to pieces & mangling the defenders. Casualties of Bedfords 4 officers killed, 8 wounded. Other ranks over four hundred.”
The Bishops Hatfield Parish Magazine of October 1914, recorded: “List of Men Mobilised, Tyler, Albert, Woodside, 4th Bedfordshire Regiment.” then in 1915: “War items. It is with great sadness and some reluctance that Albert Tyler’s name is placed amongst the number of those who have given their lives for their country. His parents have finally renounced all hope as no news is attainable. Indeed there is but very little doubt that he fell in the first Hill 60 fight. All must feel deeply for his father and mother who so bravely kept up hope for many months, alas in vain.”
Awarded the 1915 Star, British War Medal &Victory Medal.
Additional Information
SDITGW suggests killed in action, but the medal card gives died of woumds
Hatfield Parish Council Souvenir Committee Ledger: Mr P. S. Tyler of Rose Cottages, Potters Bar received an “In Memoriam and roll of Honour Album”.
This man's link to North Mymms has not yet been confirmed by HAW research but does appear on a local list of the fallen.
Acknowledgments
Martin Cope, Mike Allen, Jonty Wild, Paul Johnson, Christine & Derek Martindale, Hatfield Local History Society (www.hatfieldhistory.uk)
