Name
Albert Franklin
1897
Conflict
First World War
Date of Death / Age
09/10/1917
20
Rank, Service Number & Service Details
Private
203461
Duke of Wellington's (West Riding Regiment)
H.Q. Coy. 1st/4th Bn.
Awards: Service Medals/Honour Awards
British War and Victory medals
Cemetery/Memorial: Name/Reference/Country
TYNE COT MEMORIAL
Panel 82 to 85 and 162A.
Belgium
Headstone Inscription
N/A
UK & Other Memorials
Hemel Hempstead Town Memorial, St Mary's Church Memorial, Hemel Hempstead
Pre War
Albert Franklin was born in Hemel Hempstead, Herts in 1897, the son of Frederick and Annie Franklin, and baptised at St Paul's, Hemel Hempstead on 21 February 1897. He was one of eight children.
On the 1901 Census the family were living at Austins Place, Hemel Hempstead, where his father was working as a Brickmaker. They remained at Austins Place on the 1911 Census, living at No. 14, and Albert was working as a Printer's Feeder, probably at John Dickinson & Co in Apsley, but on enlistment he had left to work as a gardener at Highfield House, Hemel Hempstead. He was a member of the newly formed Hemel Hempstead Scouts as a teenager.
Not long before the war his parents moved to 1 New Buildings, Chapel Street, Hemel Hempstead, close to their previous residence at Austin's Place.
Wartime Service
Albert was too young to enlist at the outbreak of war but enlisted in Hertford in July 1915, soon after his eighteenth birthday, and joined the Duke of Wellington's (West Riding Regiment). After basic training he was posted to the 1/4th Battalion and sent to France, joining the Battalion on 26 June 1916 as part of a draft of 250 men.
Five days after arriving, the Battalion were action at the start of the Battle of Albert, part of the Somme Offensive, and came under heavy shelling, resulting in 62 casualties. There followed the Battles of Bazentin Ridge, Pozieres and Flers-Courcelette in September.
In early 1917, the Battalion moved to Flanders and by October were located near Ypres in preparation for action at Poelcapelle. Despite poor weather conditions the attack began on 9 October. Little progress was made because of fierce enemy resistance and the ground having deteriorated because of continual rain, turning some areas into swamps, which led to many wounded being stranded on the battlefield.
Albert was killed in action by machine gun fire on 9 October 1917, aged 20. Despite the letter from his commanding officer, reproduced in the local newspaper at the time, which assured his parents that "he was taken behind the lines and laid to rest by some of his comrades", he has no known grave, and his name is commemorated on the Tyne Cot Memorial, Belgium.
Additional Information
His mother received a war gratuity of £10 and pay owing of £10 12s 6d. . Older brother George served with the Army Service Corps in East Africa during the war but was discharged in 1917 suffering from 'malaria, delusions and temporary insanity' but later made a full recovery.
Acknowledgments
Brenda Palmer
Jonty Wild, www.dacorumheritage.org.uk, www,hemelatwar.org., www.hemelheroes.com.
