Name
Albert Osborn(*1)
1895
Conflict
First World War
Date of Death / Age
03/05/1917
22
Rank, Service Number & Service Details
Private
26375
Bedfordshire Regiment
7th Bn.
Awards: Service Medals/Honour Awards
British War and Victory medals
Cemetery/Memorial: Name/Reference/Country
ARRAS MEMORIAL
Bay 5
France
Headstone Inscription
N/A
UK & Other Memorials
St Katherine’s Church Memorial, Ickleford, St Mary's Church Roll of Honour (Book), Hitchin(*1)
Pre War
Albert Osborn was born in Ickleford, Herts in 1895, the son and only child of Albert Thomas and Elizabeth Osborn (nee Crawley) who married in Ickleford on 29 October 1888.
Sadly his mother died 1895 (perhaps in childbirth) and his father remarried in 1897 to Emily Selina Swinburn.
In 1901 the family were living at Upper Green, Ickleford. Present Albert’s father, also Albert (41) and working as a railway plate layer, and his stepmother Emily (31). Albert (junior) was 6.
In 1911 they were still living in Ickleford, and little had change other that Albert (junior) was now 16 and working as a Grocers Errand Boy, and his grandfather William Osborn (80) was also living with them. The census recorded that Albert and Emily had been married for 13 years with no other children.
Albert’s service records that he enlisted on 1 September 1914 in Hitchin when he was 19 years and 7 months old, living in Ickleford and working as a joiner becoming Private 14171 in the Bedfordshire Regiment. He was described as 5’ 9” tall, 120 lbs with a 34” chest when fully expanded, light brown hair, blue eyes and a fair complexion and was medically examined in Hertford on September 7th. Albert was recorded as his father and Emily his mother living at Upper Green, Ickleford.
Wartime Service
Albert was posted to the 4th Battalion the day after his enlistment then the 10th Battalion on 31 October 1914 and discharged 17 July 1915 without serving abroad. A medical report was written on 25 May 1915, it recorded that was suffering from a chronic inflammation of the middle ear, with associated discharge and head pain. In fact it was an ailment from which he had suffered from about 1898. Despite treatment from the previous January there had been no improvement. It was decided that he was unfit for duty, and he was discharged as permanently unfit.
This does not explain how he came to serve in France, presumably his condition improved to a point that enabled him to enlist or to be conscripted and sometime later he was a Private in the 7th Battalion, Bedfordshire Regiment and served in France from 1916, fighting in The Battles of the Somme.
He was killed in action on the first day of the Battle of Arras on 3 May 1917. An attack was supposed to start at dawn which was at 3.45 but it was not light enough until 4.15 am. As the men advanced they lost direction as visibility was poor, and they could scarcely see other. There was an intense enemy barrage and heavy machine gun fire, the wire could not be forced and by the evening the whole lot fell back to the original front line.
Albert was one of those missing on 3 May 1917 and later presumed killed in action sometime later. His family made enquiries for news on 20 July 1917, presumably in the hope that he was a POW.
He has no known grave, and his name is commemorated on the Arras Memorial, France. He is one of 61 soldiers from the 7th Battalion, Bedfordshire Regiment named on the Memorial who died on 3 May 1917.
The Soldiers Died In The Great War (SDITGW) database records that he was born in Ickleford and was living in there when he enlisted in Bedford.
Albert has an entry in the National Roll of the Great War – these were normally placed by family members using what they knew and are not always 100% correct – it does not explain his reenlistment. It also suggests that he fought in the battles of The Somme, Bullecourt and Delville Wood. These are often listed, and further research is required to confirm his involvement.
Additional Information
His father received a war gratuity of £4 10s and pay owing of £7 8s 11d.
His pension cards record Emily Selina Osborn as his stepmother and his next of kin, living at Upper Green, Ickleford, near, Hitchin. She/He was awarded a pension of 6s 6d a week from 13 May 1919. After her death in 1939 the details were changed to his father Albert Thomas.
*1 An ‘A Osborne’ appears on the St Mary's Church Roll of Honour (Book), Hitchin. This was produced for 2014. The name does not appear on any other Hitchin memorial. The surname is Osborn is spelt with an 'e' on some military records. Also caution need to be exercised to avoid confusion with an H (Harry) Osborne who shares the same service number but served in the 14th Worcestershire Regiment.
We have checked the CWGC, SDITGW and WFA Pension records for possible men using all variables of the surname and only two men were found with local connection; Albert Osborn (the subject of this biography), who has a definite connection to a location near Hitchin and Captain Alec Ferguson Osborne who was schooled in Hertfordshire at Haileybury College. The latter was discounted because, apart from his schooling, his association is with Derbyshire. We therefore believe that the St Mary's Church Roll of Honour (Book) refers to Albert Osborn(e) – i.e. this biography. Although we have not found a direct connection to Hitchin, some records may give ‘Ickleford, Hitchin’.
We would welcome any information at all which might clarify the inclusion of this name in the St Mary's Roll of Honour or the existence of any another man or woman of this name with any connection to Hitchin.
Acknowledgments
Brenda Palmer
Brenda Palmer, www.bedfordregiment.org.uk, Jonty Wild
