Name
Fred Alford
1878
Conflict
First World War
Date of Death / Age
05/10/1917
33
Rank, Service Number & Service Details
Private
203163
Bedfordshire Regiment
1st/5th Bn.
Awards: Service Medals/Honour Awards
British War and Victory medals
Cemetery/Memorial: Name/Reference/Country
DEIR EL BELAH WAR CEMETERY
D.46.
Israel and Palestine (including Gaza)
Headstone Inscription
PEACE PERFECT PEACE
UK & Other Memorials
Memorial Plaque, St Lawrence Church, Bovingdon, Memorial Plaque, Memorial Hall, Bovingdon
Pre War
Fred Alford was born in 1878 in West Wellow, Hampshire, the son of Robert William and Elizabeth Alford who had been married in 1875. He was their only child and his baptism is recorded at East and West Wellow on 1 December 1878.
On the 1881 Census he was living with his parents at West Wellow, where his father was working as a Gardener. His father was working as a gardener to the vicar of Wellow in 1891 and the family were said to be living at The Vicarage, East Wellow, Hampshire. They remained in East Wellow on the 1901 Census, living at Glebe Cottage, next to the Vicarage, however his mother had died in 1900, aged 57 and Fred was living with his widowed father and working as a Gardener (Domestic) the same as his father.
His father remarried to Alice Green in 1902, however, he died in 1904 aged 54 and on the 1911 Census Fred was listed as living at 6 Ash Villas, Broadland Road, Portswood, Hampshire, with his stepmother Alice, and was working as a Gardener (Domestic).
Fred and his stepmother later lived at Lych Gate Cottage, Bovingdon, Boxmoor, where he was living at the time of his enlistment.
Wartime Service
Fred enlisted at Watford and joined the 5th Battalion, Bedfordshire Regiment, initially under reg. no. 9158. After basic training he was sent to Palestine, probably in 1916, and would have fought in the 1st and 2nd Battles of Gaza in early 1917. He died on 5 October 1917 from wounds received in action during a raid on Umbrella Hill and Fishers Wood on the outskirts of Gaza City.
He was aged 33 years and is buried at Deir El Belah War Cemetery, Israel
Additional Information
His stepmother, Mrs A Alford, Lych Gate Cottage, Bovingdon, Near Boxmoor, Herts., ordered his headstone inscription: "PEACE PERFECT PEACE". His stepmother Alice received a war gratuity of £3 and pay owing of £2 12s 8d. She was also awarded a gratuity of £32 10s in lieu of a pension. She died in 1921.
Acknowledgments
Brenda Palmer
Malcolm Lennox, Dick West, www.dacorumheritage.org.uk
