Name
Alfred Hall
1886
Conflict
First World War
Date of Death / Age
24/03/1918
Rank, Service Number & Service Details
Private
43119
Northamptonshire Regiment
6th Bn.
Awards: Service Medals/Honour Awards
British War and Victory medals
Cemetery/Memorial: Name/Reference/Country
POZIERES MEMORIAL
Panel 54 to 56.
France
Headstone Inscription
N/A
UK & Other Memorials
Hemel Hempstead Town Memorial,
John Dickinson & Co Memorial, Apsley Mills, Apsley
Pre War
Alfred Hall was born in Hemel Hempstead in 1886, the son of William and Eliza Ann (Annie) Hall, and one of 12 children. He was baptised on 29 August 1886 at St Paul's Church, Hemel Hempstead. The church was on Queen Street and on both the 1891 and 1901 Censuses the family were living in Queen Street where his father was working as a bricklayer's labourer. Alfred left school in 1899 and at the age of 14 was working at John Dickinson & Co at Apsley Mills as a Card Remover on the 1901 Census.
By 1911 the family had moved to 141 Marlowes, Hemel Hempstead, and Alfred was working as an Iron Striker in a Foundry (Boxmoor Iron Works).
He met Florence Mote from Wisbech, Cambridgeshire when she came Apsley to work as a Millhand at the factory of John Dickinson & Co. He had returned to work there prior to enlistment and they married on 19 February 1916 at the Registry Office, Hemel Hempstead.
His widow gave her address as 18 Weymouth Street, Apsley End, Hemel Hempstead, on pension records, later moving to 28a Mill Street, Hemel Hempstead.
His parents later lived at 2 Frogmore Crescent, Apsley End, Hemel Hempstead.
Wartime Service
He had enlisted into the Territorial Force in May 1913, joining the 1st Battalion, Hertfordshire Regiment, as a way of supplementing his wages. He was initially passed as fit for military service but a year later was discharged as "being medically unfit for further military service", However, he was eventually called up in 1916.
He attested in Watford, Herts in March 1916 and initially served with the 7th Battalion, Bedfordshire Regiment (Reg No 26804), later transferring to the Northamptonshire Regiment.
He fought in the Battle of St Quentin in March 1918 but was killed in action on 24 March 1918, age 31, during the German counter attack and intensive artillery barrage. He has no known grave but his name is commemorated on the Pozieres Memorial, Somme, France.
Additional Information
Brother to William Hall who served with the Hertfordshire Regiment and died in 1915 and who is also named on the Hemel Hempstead Memorial. Brothers Henry, George and Frederick also served but survived the war.
His widow received a war gratuity of £8 10s and pay owing of £5 4s 2d. She remarried in 1920 to Edward Stannard and had two daughters.
Acknowledgments
Brenda Palmer
Jonty Wild, www.hemelheroes.com., www.hemeatwar.org., www.dacorumheritage.org.uk.,
