Name
Albert Edward Hobbs
1889
Conflict
First World War
Date of Death / Age
30/08/1918
30
Rank, Service Number & Service Details
Lance Corporal
18743
The Queen's (Royal West Surrey Regiment)
1st Bn.
Awards: Service Medals/Honour Awards
British War and Victory medals
Cemetery/Memorial: Name/Reference/Country
TERLINCTHUN BRITISH CEMETERY, WIMILLE
II. F. 39.
France
Headstone Inscription
IN LOVING MEMORY OF A DEAR HUSBAND AND FATHER
UK & Other Memorials
Kimpton Village Memorial, St Peter & St Paul Church, Kimpton
Pre War
Albert Edward Hobbs was born in Kimpton in 1899, the son of Herbert and Emily Hobbs and one of three children. He was baptised at Kimpton on 3 November 1889.
On the 1891 Census the family were living at Kimpton Green where his father was working as an agricultural labourer. They remained in Kimpton in 1901 at which time Albert was working as a farm labourer and the family had been joined by his sister Florence born in 1893.
He married Gertrude Hill on 8 April 1912 at Kimpton and they had a son Leslie Albert on 11 September 1912.
His mother died in 1915.
Wartime Service
Albert enlisted in St Albans on 8 December 1915 and posted to the Army Reserve, not being mobilised until 22 June 1915 when he was posted to the 5th Battalion, Royal Fusiliers. After training he was sent to France on 5 October 1916 and transferred to the 11th Battalion, Royal West Kent Regiment on 14 October 1916 joining them in the field a week later.
He suffered from tonsillitis in the field the following month and was attached to the 2nd Field Company of the Royal Engineers for a short period at the end of December, returning to his Battalion on 15 January 1917.
He was appointed as Lance Corporal on 12 June 1917, initially unpaid but then confirmed on 22 June 1917. He suffered a severe gunshot wound to the leg on 18 June 1917 and was repatriated to England on 22 June 1917. When he returned to France he was initially demoted to Private but then re-appointed as paid Lance Corporal in the Field on 8 April 1918. His service record suggests he was with the Italian Expeditionary Force from 12 January 1918 until his death.
He died on 30 August 1918 at the 13th General Hospital, Boulogne, from wounds received in action on 26 August 1918 and is buried in Terlincthun British Cemetery, Wimille, France.
Additional Information
His widow, Mrs Gertrude Hobbs, West End, Kimpton, Nr. Welwyn, Herts., ordered his headstone inscription: "IN LOVING MEMORY OF A DEAR HUSBAND AND FATHER", she also received a war gratuity of £9 10s and pay owing of £10 19s. She also received a pension of £1 0s 5d a week for herself and her son.
Brother to Ernest Bertram Gatward who was in the Army Reserve when he died on 10 November 1918 and is buried in Kimpton churchyard.
Acknowledgments
Brenda Palmer
Adrian Pitts,
