Name
Cuthbert Victor Way Albone
Conflict
First World War
Date of Death / Age
13/11/1916
20
Rank, Service Number & Service Details
Private
5949
Hertfordshire Regiment
4 Coy.
Awards: Service Medals/Honour Awards
British War and Victory medals
Cemetery/Memorial: Name/Reference/Country
THIEPVAL MEMORIAL
Pier and Face 12 C.
France
Headstone Inscription
N/A
UK & Other Memorials
4 Co' Hertfordshire Reg' Territorials’ Memorial, Hitchin, Stevenage Old Town Memorial, St Nicholas' Church Memorial, Stevenage Old Town, Holt Trinity Church Memorial Roll of Honour, Stevenage Old Town, Walkern Village Memorial, Hertfordshire Regimental Memorial, All Saints Church, Hertford
Pre War
Cuthbert was born in Biggleswade the son of George & Elizabeth Albone who later lived in the High Street, Walkern. Prior to the outbreak of the Great War he had worked in Stevenage as a Farm Labourer and emplyed by Miss Cotton Browne of Walkern Hall..
His home was in Walkern and he enlisted there.
Wartime Service
Cuthbert had only been in France for three weeks when he was killed in the Somme sector during the Battle of Ancre. He was a machine gunner
The 1st Herts were part of the 118th Brigade of the 39th Division in II Corps of the 5th Army at the time of his death and Cuthberts was in No, 4 Company. An assault was to be made on a German fortification known as the Schwaben Redoubt. The plan was an attempt by the British Fifth Army, under General Sir Hubert Gough, to reduce the Beaumont Hamel salient, which had hitherto resisted all assaults. The battalion to which Cuthbert belonged was given the objective of taking some enemy strong-points, which were about 200 yards in front of the redoubt, the so called Hansa Line of trenches.
The attack commenced at 5.45am when it was still dark and a heavy mist hung over the battlefield. The going was heavy and the area was honeycombed with shell-holes. The four companies of the battalion reached the first objective and this was soon taken, with many German soldiers being killed or captured. The No.4 Company, despite much confusion and many difficulties, managed to work up the Hansa Line and, supported by the other companies, succeeded in taking the entire line and some of Mill Trench, the final objective, by 7.20 am. Despite heavy shelling and some determined counter attacks the battalion managed to hold onto and consolidate their position but suffered many casualties in doing so. It is uncertain at what point Cuthbert Albone was killed but his body was never recovered and is lost on the battlefields of the Somme.
Additional Information
His elder brother, Gilbert, had been killed in the Somme sector a few months earlier and their names also appears on the Walkern village war memorial.
Acknowledgments
Jonty Wild
Paul Johnson, David C Baines, Jonty Wild
