Name
Alfred Wallis (MM)
Conflict
First World War
Date of Death / Age
Rank, Service Number & Service Details
King's Royal Rifles
9th Bn.
Awards: Service Medals/Honour Awards
Military Medal
Cemetery/Memorial: Name/Reference/Country
Headstone Inscription
Not Researched
UK & Other Memorials
Biography
My Grandfather, Alfred Wallis, was born on 30 Jun 1891 to Daniel and Mary Ann Wallis of Ware. The family lived at Ware Park Mill and Alfred's first job was at the house at Ware Park. From there he moved to London in 1908 where he became a footman before moving to Portsmouth where he worked in a similar capacity for the Admiral of the Fleet, Sir Assheton Curzon-Howe.
He joined the 9th Battalion King's Royal Rifles as a signalman and after spells in Aldershot and Petworth he went to France in May 1915. He was awarded the Military Medal (gazetted 18 June 1917). I have not been able to establish what he did to earn the MM but my Dad says that he was told that Grandad had gone into no man's land to repair telegraph wires whilst bullets flew overhead from both the German and British lines. Grandad was always a joker and he told Dad that he won the medal for mending the farmer's chicken wire.
He kept a diary and we have it covering half of 1915 and half of 1917. His entry of 5 May 1917 says that he was told of the award of the MM that day.
Whilst working at Ware Park (prior to 1908) Alf met Daisy Chandler who was working there as a kitchen maid. They married in 1920 and had three children, Alan (my Dad, born 1921), Eric (born 1927) and Phyllis (born 1929). Eric died in 1929.
After the War Alf worked at Allen and Hanbury's in Ware until his retirement in 1959. He died on 23 February 1975.
Additional Information
Alfred's diaries for 1915 and 1916 appear in the Archive Digital Publications section of this website
Acknowledgments
Chris Wallis
