Name
Albert Kempster
Conflict
First World War
Date of Death / Age
07/09/1917
24
Rank, Service Number & Service Details
23185
Bedfordshire Regiment
Awards: Service Medals/Honour Awards
British War and Victory medals
Cemetery/Memorial: Name/Reference/Country
UK & Other Memorials
Croxley Green Village Memorial, Croxley Green
Rickmansworth Urban District Memorial
Pre War
Albert Kempster was born on 3rd June 1893 and baptised in Rickmansworth on 8th October 1893. His parents were George and Anne Kempster, both from Rickmansworth.
In 1901, when Albert was 6, they lived in Chorleywood Road where George was the cemetery superintendent. Albert had nine siblings. In 1911 George had died and Annie and six children were living at 70 Norfolk Road, Rickmansworth. Albert, 17, was an engineering labourer. Albert’s daughter Nellie Elizabeth was born 19th January 1914 and he married Nellie Bignell later that year.
When he enlisted in November 1914 his trade was recorded as an engine driver and the address given on his pension record is 69 Norfolk Road, Rickmansworth. Albert died, aged 24, on 7th September 1917 as a result of an accident. He died from dislocation of the spine. He was thrown from his bicycle in consequence of a collision with a person walking down Scots Hill, Rickmansworth. The inquest was held in Watford on 8th September 1917. At the time he was living at 69 Norfolk Road and working as a paper cutter, presumably at Croxley Mills.
In 1920 Albert’s widow, Nellie, married Charles Chapman. Charles was born in Croxley Green and lived at 155 New Road in 1918. Albert and Nellie’s daughter Nellie Kempster was living at 30 Gonville Avenue in 1939.
Wartime Service
The Croxley Green and Rickmansworth memorials list A. Kempster and the All Saints’ church records show Alfred Kempster. No records from the Commonwealth War Graves or Soldiers Died in the Great War for A. Kempster have been identified with links to Croxley Green or Rickmansworth. There is an Albert Kempster from Harefield, Private 2438 Royal Fusiliers, who died 18th October 1915 but he has no local connection.
The most likely person is Albert Kempster, Private 23185 Bedfordshire Regiment. Albert enlisted in the Bedfordshires on 15th November 1915 and went to France on 19th May 1916. His pension record is overwritten with 8 next to Bedfordshire so it seems he was in the 8th battalion.
Albert was admitted to Southwark Military Hospital on 10th July 1916 with a strain of the right hip and remained there until 21st September. He was discharged from the army on 8th November 1916 at Warley. The medical board on 18th October 1916 found he was no longer physically fit because of tubercular disease of the right hip. Albert had told the board that the problem stemmed from an accident in April 1915 when he was thrown off his trailer, falling on his right hip. As a result he was subject to constant pain and walked with a limp. The pain got worse during his two months in the trenches. The medical board reckoned the problem would improve after six months and granted him a pension and a child allowance for that period. Albert was checked by an invalid board on 1st March 1917 and the pension and child allowance were extended to November 1917. Albert died as a result of an accident on Scots Hill Rickmansworth on 7th September 1917.
He was awarded the Silver War Badge when discharged, for the services rendered.
Additional Information
Not found in the CWGC records
Acknowledgments
Brian Thomson, Mike Collins
