Name
Albert Osborn(e)
1895
Conflict
First World War
Date of Death / Age
03/05/1917
22
Rank, Service Number & Service Details
Private
26375
Bedfordshire Regiment
7th Bn.
Awards: Service Medals/Honour Awards
British War and Victory medals
Cemetery/Memorial: Name/Reference/Country
ARRAS MEMORIAL
Bay 5
France
Headstone Inscription
N/A
UK & Other Memorials
St Katherine’s Church Memorial, Ickleford,
St Mary's Church Roll of Honour (Book), Hitchin(*1)
Pre War
Albert Osborn was born in Ickleford, Herts in 1895, the son and only child of Albert and Elizabeth Osborn (nee Crawley).
Sadly his mother died 1895 (perhaps in childbirth) and his father remarried in 1897 to Emily Swinburn. On the 1901 Census the family were living at Upper Green, Ickleford where his father was working as a Railway Platelayer. They remained at the same address in 1911 at which time Albert was working as a Grocers Errand Boy. On enlistment he gave his occupation as Joiner.
Wartime Service
Albert enlisted in Hitchin on 1 September 1914 initially joining the 4th Battalion, Bedfordshire Regiment and was later transferred to the 19th Battalion. However, he was discharged on 17 July 1915 as permanently unfit because of infection and discharge from the ear and perforated eardrum. He was also suffering from vertigo and pain in the head.
Sometime later he must have re-enlisted and was accepted as a Private in the 7th Battalion, Bedfordshire Regiment and served in France from 1916, fighting in The Battles of the Somme.
He was killed in action on the first day of the Battle of Arras on 3 May 1917. An attack was supposed to start at dawn which was at 3.45 but it was not light enough until 4.15 am. As the men advanced they lost direction as visibility was poor and they could scarcely see other. There was an intense enemy barrage and heavy machine gun fire, the wire could not be forced and by the evening the whole lot fell back to the original front line.
Albert was one of those missing, presumed killed in action. He has no known grave and his name is commemorated on the Arras Memorial, France. He is one of 61 soldiers from the 7th Battalion, Bedfordshire Regiment named on the Memorial who died on 3 May 1917.
Additional Information
His father received a war gratuity of £4 10s and pay owing of £7 8s 11d. Pension records exist but give no indication of amount of pension awarded.
The surname is Osborn is spelt with an 'e' on some military records.
*1 An ‘A Osborne’ appears on the St Mary's Church Roll of Honour (Book), Hitchin. This was produced for 2014. The name does not appear on any other Hitchin memorial.
We have checked the CWGC, SDITGW and WFA Pension records for possible men using all variables of the surname and only two men were found with local connection; Albert Osborn (the subject of this biography), who has a definite connection to a location near Hitchin and Captain Alec Ferguson Osborne who was schooled in Hertfordshire at Haileybury College. The latter was discounted because, apart from his schooling, his association is with Derbyshire. We therefore believe that the St Mary's Church Roll of Honour (Book) refers to Albert Osborn(e) – i.e. this biography. Although we have not found a direct connection to Hitchin, some records may give ‘Ickleford, Hitchin’.
We would welcome any information at all which might clarify the inclusion of this name in the St Mary's Roll of Honour or the existence of any another man or woman of this name with any connection to Hitchin.
Acknowledgments
Brenda Palmer
Brenda Palmer, www.bedfordregiment.org.uk, Jonty Wild
