Name
Albert Spurr
1886
Conflict
First World War
Date of Death / Age
09/10/1917
Rank, Service Number & Service Details
Private
17924
Bedfordshire Regiment
1st Bn.
Awards: Service Medals/Honour Awards
1914 /15 Star, British War and Victory medals
Cemetery/Memorial: Name/Reference/Country
TYNE COT MEMORIAL
Panel 48 to 50 and 162A.
Belgium
Headstone Inscription
N/A
UK & Other Memorials
Hemel Hempstead Town Memorial, St Mary's Church Memorial, Hemel Hempstead
Pre War
Albert Spurr was born in Hemel Hempstead in 1886 the son of George and Sarah Ann Spurr, and one of nine children. although three died in infancy. He was baptised at St Paul's Church, Hemel Hempstead on 27 August 1886.
On the 1891 Census the family were living at 11 Cherry Bounce, Hemel Hempstead. where his father was working as a Farm Labourer. They remained at Cherry Bounce in 1901 but had moved to No. 16. His father was then a general labourer.
At the time of the 1911 Census, although remaining in Cherry Bounce, the family had moved again to No. 9 at which time his father was working as a Farm Labourer and Albert was working as a Mill Hand at the paper factory. He gave his occupation on enlistment as a 'packer'.
He married Rose Elizabeth Bradshaw at St Paul's Church, Hemel Hempstead on 10 February 1915. His younger brother John was his best man. Rose originally came from Berkhamsted but was in domestic service in Hemel Hempstead. her address on pension records was given as 62 High Street. Hemel Hempstead.
His parents had moved to 86 High Street, Hemel Hempstead by the end of the war.
Wartime Service
At the outbreak of war he enlisted in Watford and joined the Bedfordshire Regiment, being sent for training at Felixstowe. In early February 1915 he was granted home leave to get married and soon after was posted to the 2nd Battalion. He was sent to France on 9 June 1915 and joined his Battalion four days later as part of a draft of 100 men and quickly saw action at Givenchy.
He was in trenches for the next few months before fighting in the Battle of Loos in September. He was wounded around this time and was evacuated to England for treatment and recovery. It is not known exactly how long he spent at home before returning to the Front, but he was then posted to the 1st Battalion, Bedfordshire Regiment and was with them fighting in the Third Battle of Ypres.
He was killed in action on 9 October 1917, aged 31 at the Battle of Poelcapelle when the Battalion were engaged in a futile attack on heavily entrenched German positions. Bad weather lead to atrocious ground conditions which made any movement difficult and slow, making the soldiers easy targets for German guns.
Albert has no known grave and his name is commemorated on the Tyne Cot Memorial. He is one of 204 men named on the memorial who died on the same day, 14 of whom are from the 1st Bn, Bedfordshire Regiment.
Additional Information
His widow received a war gratuity of £14 and pay owing of £5 6s 10d. She also received a pension of 13s 9d a week. Rose did not remarry and she died in Hemel Hempstead in 1969 aged 86. Brother to George who served with the Royal Fusiliers & Labour Corps and died on 2 November 1917 and John who served with the Middlesex Regiment and was injured when he fell from a lorry in Norwich, and died shortly after from pulmonary tuberculosis on 17 June 1918.
Acknowledgments
Brenda Palmer
Jonty Wild, www.dacorumheritage.org.uk., ww.hemelheroes.com.
