Name
Albert Joseph Slough
12 January 1892
Conflict
First World War
Date of Death / Age
31/05/1916
Rank, Service Number & Service Details
Sick Berth Attendant
M/4231
Royal Navy
H.M.S. "Queen Mary."
Awards: Service Medals/Honour Awards
British War and Victory medals
Cemetery/Memorial: Name/Reference/Country
PORTSMOUTH NAVAL MEMORIAL
20
United Kingdom
Headstone Inscription
N/A
UK & Other Memorials
St John the Evangelist Church Memorial, Boxmoor, Hemel Hempstead Town Memorial
Pre War
Albert Joseph Slough was born on 12 January 1892 in Boxmoor, Hemel Hempstead, Herts, the son of Henry Issac and Emily Slough, and one of 14 children, although two died in infancy.
The family had lived in St Albans, with his older siblings being born there, but they moved to Boxmoor when his father started a new job at John Dickinson & Co Ltd in 1885. On the 1901 Census the family were living at 42 London Road, Two Waters, Hemel Hempstead, where his father was working as a Paper Machine Fitter.
His 11 year old brother Richard died in 1901 and his mother died in 1906. Albert had started work as a Clerk and to supplement his income he enlisted with the Territorial Force and joined the 2nd Hertfordshire Battery, Royal Field Artillery on 21 April 1909.
On the 1911 Census he was living with his sister and brother-in-law, Julia and William Green, at 9 Wendover Road, Harlesden, London. and working as a packer in a photographic materials factory. He was employed at Eastman Kodak at their factory in nearby Harrow. He then decided to join the Royal Navy on 27 March 1912 for a period of 12 years and served as a sick berth attendant at the Haslar and Portland Hospitals.
On pension records his father was living at 42 London Road, Hemel Hempstead, Herts but later lived at 37 Bridge Street, Hemel Hempstead before his death in 1919. His sister Julia E (Green) was given as his next of kin.
Wartime Service
He was already in the Royal Navy at the outbreak of war, working at the Portland Hospital as a Sick Berth Attendant, but on 28 April 1916 he was transferred to HMS Queen Mary.
He was killed in action on 31 May 1916 on the HMS Queen Mary at the Battle of Jutland, when she was hit twice by the German battlecruiser Derfflinger and sunk. 57 officers and 1209 men were killed, with 2 officers and 5 men wounded. One officer and 1 man were subsequently rescued by German destroyers.
Albert was 24 years old when he died and his name is commemorated on the Portsmouth Naval Memorial, Hampshire.
Additional Information
His father received a pension of 10 shillings a week in respect of his two sons, Albert and Andrew. Brother to Andrew Slough who served with the Welsh Fusiliers and was killed in action on 12 July 1916 and brother to Robert J Slough who served with the 6th Labour Company, Devonshire Regiment and was killed in action on 15 April 1918. All three brothers are named on the Boxmoor Church memorial and Hemel Hempstead Town Memorial. His brother Edward served with the Queen Victoria Rifles and survived the war.
Acknowledgments
Brenda Palmer
Jonty Wild, www.dacorumheritage.org.uk., www.hemelheroes.com.
