Name
Alfred Henry Bass
1891
Conflict
First World War
Date of Death / Age
17/02/1917
Rank, Service Number & Service Details
Private
26792
Northamptonshire Regiment
6th Bn.
Awards: Service Medals/Honour Awards
British War and Victory medals
Cemetery/Memorial: Name/Reference/Country
REGINA TRENCH CEMETERY, GRANDCOURT
Sp. Mem. A. 5.
France
Headstone Inscription
THEIR GLORY SHALL NOT BE BLOTTED OUT
UK & Other Memorials
Hemel Hempstead Town Memorial
John Dickinson & Co Memorial, Apsley Mills, Apsley
Pre War
Alfred Henry Bass was born in 1891 in Hemel Hempstead, the eldest child of Henry and Sarah Bass and one of 8 children, one of whom died in infancy,
On the 1891 Census the family were living at 15 Horsecroft Road, Boxmoor, Hemel Hempstead where his father was working as a checker in the envelope factory (John Dickinson & Co), and his mother was a laundress.
Alfred started school at Boxmoor in 1897 and left in 1904 to work as an Errand Boy for a local grover.
By 1911 the family had moved to 59a Cotterells, Hemel Hempstead at which time Alfred was working as a Mill Hand in the Flour Mill.
He married Minnie Elizabeth Dear on 1 November 1915 in Hemel Hempstead a month before he enlisted. She was a local girl who lived in London Road, Boxmoor, although she had been born in Putney, London. They had a son, Sydney Alfred Bass on 29 April 1916.
Alfred had been a bandsman with the Salvation Army and played the tenor horn. he gave his address on enlistment as Lincoln House, Apsley, nr Hemel Hempstead and his occupation as Mill Hand.
Minnie later remarried to Henry W Fountain and lived at 112 Cotterells, Hemel Hempstead.
Wartime Service
Alfred attested in Hemel Hemel Hempstead on 11 December 1915 under the Derby Scheme (which deferred his enlistment) and he was eventually called up on 10 April 1916.
He was initially placed with the 4th Battalion, East Anglian Brigade, Royal Field Artillery, later transferring to the 3rd (Reserve) Battalion, Northamptonshire Regiment. After training at Gillingham, Kent he was sent to France on 29 September 1916 and posted to the 2nd Battalion, Northamptonshire Regiment, but soon after transferred to the 6th Battalion.
He saw action at Transloy, Ancre Heights and the Battle of Ancre during the Battle of the Somme, but was killed in action near Miraumont, north of Thiepval, during an attack on 17th February 1917, which, although successful in its objectives, resulted in many casualties. He was one of 111 men from the 6th Battalion who are believed to have died on that day.
The service record states that he was initially buried a mile east of Grandcourt. Although no official details are listed on the CWGC website for the location of Alfred Bass's body, it is known that many bodies were concentrated from other cemeteries at the end of the war. His body is one which was not identified and his name is commemorated in the Memorial Plot as his body is believed to have been buried in the Regina Trench Cemetery.
Additional Information
His widow received a pension of 18s 9d a week for herself and her son.
The Salvation Army held a memorial service for Alfred, who played the tenor horn in the local band. (see detailed newspaper report on Hemel Heroes website).
Their son, Sydney was later to die in WW2 as a Naval Gunner on HMS Sparrowhawk in July 1940.
Acknowledgments
Brenda Palmer
Jonty Wild, www.hemelheroes.com, dacorumheritage.org.uk, hemelatwar.org.
