L/Cpl 9765
Alfred George Aldridge
Royal Sussex
Regiment from 10th Oct 1911.
By Neil Aldridge
This
is the information that I have so far regarding my paternal grandfather.
Alfred
George Aldridge was born at 34 Egremont Place St Peters Brighton Sussex on the
9 May 1894.
According
to the 1901 Census the family were then living at 44 Crescent Cottages, St
Matthew, Brighton. Alfred’s father George gave his occupation as a bricklayers
labourer. There are six children listed at the property including Alfred who
was 6 years old. They moved to Brighton at sometime between 1891 and 1894.
At
the start of my research I had just two photographs Alfred in his Royal Sussex
regiment army uniform to go on.
Some
of his service records I obtained from the ‘Burnt Records’ at the National
Archives at Kew. It was very lucky that they survived as they have helped fill
in the gaps. He enlisted on the 10th
Oct 1911 when his age is said to be ‘apparent age 18 years’, he was in
fact 17 years and 5 months of age.
He
signed up for a period of 7 years. His occupation is given as a laundry porter.
His
medical records state that he was 5ft 8ins,blue eyes and brown hair. Scars were
present on the back of finger of right hand and there was a scar below his
right kneecap.
Family
tradition informs me that he had fallen out with his family at home and decided
to join the army. The rest of the family later (whilst he was in the army?)
left Brighton (why is as yet a mystery), eventually settling at Headcorn Kent.
They found agricultural work along the way.
He
appears to have served with the 3rd
Battalion The Royal Sussex Regiment.
In early 1912 he
was with the 2nd Battalion at Curragh Camp in Ireland. They returned to Inkermann
Barracks, Woking, in Jan 1912, remaining there until August 1914. Pte Aldridge
was one of the men from the 2nd Battalion The Royal Sussex Regiment who lined
the route from Buckingham Palace to Marlborough Yard on 12th May 1913, on the
occasion of the visit of the King of Denmark. The photo shows him to be
young,he would have been 19 at the time, compare this with the lance corporal
photo, of 1915 or perhaps even later?
In May 1914 the 2nd
Battalion took part in a mock battle at Woking[1]
before King George V and Mr Asquith the then Prime Minister.
I
have used a variety of sources to attempt an accurate record of my granddads
service in the Royal Sussex. He talked very little about what he did, however
my father had a few recollections which have helped, and they have, so far,
tied in with the official records.
My
dad says: he fell out with the family and joined as a boy of 15, this does not
tie in as the year and date on his army record would make him seventeen and a
half. He was a machine gunner using a Lewis gun. He went to France, including
Mons, Ypres, and the Somme, was wounded twice. Some shrapnel remained in his
arm and sometimes bothered him. He would be seen to move it around! He also
went to India and Mesopotamia, where he worked with pack mules,(this does not
appear to tie up with his still serving in the same Royal Sussex unit?)
When
in France, he was in a house once when the Germans could be heard saying that
they would kill the Tommies, he escaped with his mate along a ditch. This last
recollection has been recently verified as recounting an incident at Chemin de
Dames on the Aisne at Vendresse on 14th September 1914. The War
Diary of the 2nd Battalion. describes how the gunners took refuge in a sugar
beet factory and later a farmhouse cellar. The detachment remained hidden in a
cellar with their machine guns until the Germans, who were in the house above
them, had retired for the night!
The
service record of my granddad states that on the 20th Sep 1914 he was appointed unpaid Lance Corporal
‘in the field’. The 2nd Battalion was at that time located at Paissy
in France.
By October 1914 the
battalion was at Ypres, when granddad was wounded somewhere near to Polygon
Wood, on 30th October. The War Diary describes the fierce engagement
which became known as the First Battle of Ypres.
The following is extracted from A History of the Royal
Sussex Regiment, 1701-1953 by G. D. Martineau, and gives a good feel for what
was happening to the Battalion at this time (Webmaster)
“The 2nd Battalion……… ….had moved to Ypres in the latter part of
October.
“A most interesting town,” remarks Private Ernest Wickens,
gardener to Conan Doyle and called up as a reservist, “ with many grand
buildings - we greatly admired it . . . Following our night’s stay in the town,
we fell in quite easily in the morning and proceeded to the left of Ypres,
where we received reinforcements, the King’s Royal Rifles and the Northamptons
coming up.
These two regiments were soon in action, but we were not engaged, and
the same night returned to the town and billeted. The next day we marched about five miles into
a very big wood in the vicinity of Ypres, where we remained in the trenches for
about a fortnight. We got shelled out of them. The day we were compelled to
leave the Germans started pounding us at
seven in the morning, and they kept up the music until late in the
afternoon. We lost five or six men
before we could get out of the wool and take up a fresh position.
Shortly afterwards, word was received that the Prussian Guards had
succeeded in breaking through the British lines, and in consequence we were
thrown back about two mites.
In retiring, we, like other regiments, go it hot, and I had a most
miraculous escape. I did not know at
that time what had happened, but when we had breathing space, and I came to
examine my canteen and pack, I discovered that I had had five bullets through
the canteen and four through my pack. A chap next to me also had an
extraordinary escape, for a bullet went right through his hat without touching
him. That night we dug ourselves in and waited for the Germans, for we fully
expected a night attack. The following morning, our General sent word that we
were pretty well surrounded, and so we had ‘to yield further ground. We retired
until, coming up with reinforcements, we proceeded forward again. We could not,
however, regain our lost trenches. The order came that we were to charge the
Prussian Guards again that night in order to retake the lost trenches. We
formed up about half-past ten, and were told to walk through the wood. We
started the charge about 1.30, and, reaching the German lines, there was some
terrible fighting. The Germans cannot face the bayonet, and they got a great
deal of cold steel in that charge. We
practically wiped the Guards out, their casualties were between 700 and 800
killed and wounded, and we had to clear the road of the dead and lay the bodies
in the ditches by the roadside before our ammunition lorries and other
transport could move along. It was a terrible sight.”
His
Active Service form B.103 states that he returned to England on leave on
18/12/1914. The qualification on this form says that he was trained with the
machine gun.
He
married in 1923 a local girl in Headcorn, and had four children,
Sydney, who was to be killed in Normandy on the 10th July 1944, close to
Hill 112, in Operation Epson with Somerset Light Infantry ,Ronald,(my
Dad),Violet and Rose.
Alfred
George Aldridge died at home on 26th
May 1973, his wife had died three years before.
The
research continues and I have yet to discover when and why Alfred went to
Mesopotamia.