Name
Alan Ernest Searle
Conflict
First World War
Date of Death / Age
01/07/1916
22
Rank, Service Number & Service Details
Corporal
300331
London Regiment *1
1st/5th (City of London) Bn.
Awards: Service Medals/Honour Awards
1914 /15 Star, British War and Victory medals
Cemetery/Memorial: Name/Reference/Country
THIEPVAL MEMORIAL
Pier and Face 9 D
France
Headstone Inscription
Not Researched
UK & Other Memorials
Hunsdon War Memorial, Memorial Plaque St Dunstan’s Church, Hunsdon
Pre War
Born in1894, in South Ockendon, Essex, the 1911 census shows he was living with his parents Ernest and Mary Ann in the Hunsdon Bakery, Hunsdon, along with his brother Horace. His father was the baker and a confectioner whilst Alan was a bank clerk.
Wartime Service
Enlisted in London and joined 5th Battalion London Regiment (London Rifle Brigade). The battalion sailed to France on 17/11/1914 and during 1915 they fought at the 2nd Battle of Ypres at St Julien and then in 1916 they were moved to the Somme salient.
On July 1st 1916 the London Rifles were engaged in the diversionary attack on Gommecourt. They managed to advance to the third German defence line despite heavy machine gun and artillery fire but were eventually virtually surrounded and forced to retreat. They suffered over 500 casualties from the battalion. The following day a German Medical Officer came towards the British lines and an armistice was agreed to allow wounded men to be recovered from the battlefield, however some men were still lying out in the field as much as six days later. Alan’s body was never recovered
Additional Information
*1 More correctly London
Regiment (London Rifle Brigade).
Acknowledgments
Terry & Glenis Collins
