Name
Albert Harold Head
Conflict
First World War
Date of Death / Age
Rank, Service Number & Service Details
Private
Labour Corps
1st Bn.
Awards: Service Medals/Honour Awards
Cemetery/Memorial: Name/Reference/Country
Headstone Inscription
Not Researched
UK & Other Memorials
Pirton School Memorial
Biography
Albert appears on the School War Memorial, confirming that he attended the school. Parish and census records suggest only one man of this name who could have served and they show that Albert was born on September 15th 1891 to David and Elizabeth Head. Baptism and census records list eleven children, but by 1911 four had died. At this time, only nine can be identified with certainty, and they are William (b 1878, possibly died 1910), Frederick (b 1881), Fanny (b 1884), Alfred (b 1887), Arthur (b 1889, d 1889, aged three months), Albert Harold (b 1891), Charles (b 1893), Alice Kate (b 1896) and Arthur Sidney (b 1897). It is possible that another of the children who died was Frank (b c1882, d 1893, aged eleven). At least two brothers, Alfred and Charles, also served and survived.
His service records list him as Harold Albert, a reversal of his Christian names. He married Emily Baines on October 29th 1910 and, by the time war came, they had two children: Kathleen Emily (b 1911) and Rhoda Lilian (b 1913). They lived in Rose Cottage, Pirton and Albert was employed as a roadman. He enlisted, or more likely was called up, and joined the Bedfordshire Regiment on October 14th 1916, aged twenty-six. He remained on home service until June 5th 1917, when his Battalion left for France. He transferred to the Labour Corps on May 7th 1917 and was allocated to the 1st Battalion, Labour Corps on May 12th. This usually indicates that the man was no longer considered fit for front line duty, usually through illness, injury or as the result of wounds received, but does not mean that he was out of danger, as the Labour Corps often worked in locations exposed to shelling and snipers. Indeed his records show that he was severely wounded on September 21st 1917. He remained in France until December 29th 1917, when he returned to England. This was possibly due to further illness or injury. Whatever the reason, following treatment in a London Hospital, as Private 201412, 1st Labour Corps, he was discharged as no longer fit for war service due to bronchitis, on June 19th 1918.
Records show that, when awarded his war service medals, he and his family were still living in Rose Cottage.
Acknowledgments
Text from the book ‘The Pride of Pirton’ by Jonty Wild, Tony French & Chris Ryan used with author's permission.
