Name
Alec (poss Alex) William Sims
Conflict
First World War
Date of Death / Age
27/06/1917
19
Rank, Service Number & Service Details
Private
113570
Royal Army Medical Corps
Awards: Service Medals/Honour Awards
Not Yet Researched
Cemetery/Memorial: Name/Reference/Country
ISLINGTON CEMETERY AND CREMATORIUM
R. 3. 2400.
United Kingdom
Headstone Inscription
Not Researched
UK & Other Memorials
Not on the Bushey memorials
Pre War
Born in Barnsbury in Islington in 1898, Alec William Sims was the son of Ernest George Sims and his wife Annie Elizabeth (nee Lee). His parents were married in the third quarter of 1893 in the registration district of Islington.
At the 1901 Census, the family was living at 31 Albion Grove in Islington. Ernest and Annie are 35 and 31 years old respectively and Ernest has his own business as a watch manufacturer. Alec is three years old and has three siblings, Elsie, Ernest and Kathleen who are 6, 4 and 4 months old. Also present is Annie’s sister, Emma Lee, who is aged 30 and working as a Lady Commercial Clerk. [Note: The Ancestry dataset records the family surname as Simo and Alec as Alee].
At the 1911 Census, Alec was 13 years old and the family had moved to 56 Highbury Grove, Highbury in Islington. Ernest was still in business as a watch manufacturer and the record shows that he and Annie had five children, one of whom had died in childhood. Kathleen had died and Alec now had a younger brother, Kenneth, who was eight years old. Elsie was still living with the family and she and Emma were working as shorthand typists. Ernest, Alec and Kenneth were all at school.
Wartime Service
Alec’s service record shows he was deemed to have been enlisted on 2 March 1916 and was called up on 18 April 1917 in Blackpool, serving as Private 113570 with the Royal Army Medical Corps. He gave his address as Badgers Hill, Stopsley in Luton, his age as 19 years 3 months and his occupation as a Poultry Farmer. His medical examination gave his height as 6ft 1inch, a chest girth of 36 inches with an expansion of 1½ inches. He gave his father, George Ernest Sims, as his next of kin with an address of The Croft, Great North Road in Highgate.
Alec served ‘at home’ and was posted to the 19th Company on 30 May 1917 and “Became non-effective by death” on 27 June 1917. His death was registered in the district of Ormskirk, Lancashire and he was buried at Islington Cemetery. He is commemorated on the village memorial in Stopsley.
After the war, his parents moved to Harts Farm and the 1939 England and Wales Register for Cheshunt Urban District included entries for Ernest, Annie, Ernest (Jnr.) and Kenneth, living at Harts Farm. It listed their occupations as retired watch manufacturer for Ernest, Poultry Farmer (own business) for Ernest (Jnr.) and Estate Agents Managing Clerk for Kenneth.
Additional Information
Dianne Payne - www.busheyworldwarone.org.uk, Jonty Wild
Acknowledgments
Andrew Palmer
Dianne Payne - www.busheyworldwarone.org.uk, Jonty Wild
