Name
Albert Read
3 February 1896
Conflict
First World War
Date of Death / Age
15/05/1917
Rank, Service Number & Service Details
Gunner
115663
Royal Garrison Artillery
258th Siege Bty.
Awards: Service Medals/Honour Awards
British War and Victory medals
Cemetery/Memorial: Name/Reference/Country
ST. SEVER CEMETERY EXTENSION, ROUEN
P. II. O. 13B.
France
Headstone Inscription
None
UK & Other Memorials
Hemel Hempstead Town Memorial,
GB Kent & Sons (Kent Brushes) Memorial, Apsley,
Marlowes Methodist Church, Marlowes
Pre War
Albert Read was born on 3 February 1896 in Hemel Hempstead, Herts the son of Thomas and Caroline Read, and baptised there at St Mary's Church on 22 March 1896. He was the eldest of of six children.
On the 1901 Census the family were living at 68 Bury Road, Hemel Hempstead, where his father was working as a Carman on his own account.
They continued to live at 68 Bury Road, Hemel Hempstead in 1911 and, having left school in 1909, Albert was working as a brush finisher (working at G B Kent & Sons, Apsley). His father was a lamplighter for the Borough Council, a job he did for more than 20 years.
Wartime Service
He enlisted at Fort Burgoyne, Dover on 23 August 1916 and served with the 258th Siege Battery, Royal Garrison Artillery, initially training in England from 23 August 1916 to 23 February 1917. He left for France on 24/27 February 1917 (dates vary in military records) but within a few weeks he was seriously wounded on 7th May and taken to hospital at Rouen with gunshot wounds in the shoulder and lung.
Despite medical attention he died of his wounds on 15 May 1917, age 21, at No. 1 Australian General Hospital, Rouen.
The local newspaper on 16 July 1917 printed an extract of a letter received by his parents from a sister at the hospital which said "He was wounded by a bullet penetrating the lung ..... and we could not save him." He asked the sister to "Write cheerfully, Sister, and send my love."
Additional Information
His mother received a war gratuity of £3 and pay owing of £4 6s 10d. She also received a pension of 5 shillings a week from 4 December 1917.
Acknowledgments
Brenda Palmer
Jonty Wild, www.mymethodisthistory.org, www.dacorumheritage.org.uk
