Albert Edward Roberts

Memorial: Warmley - Memorial Gardens - Stanley Road

Regiment: Gloucestershire Regiment

Medals: 1914–15 Star, British War Medal, Silver War Badge, Victory Medal

Rank and number: Private 20584

Parents: John and Martha Ella Roberts

Marital status: Single

Home address: Siston Common, Warmley, Bristol

Pre-war occupation: Steel and Iron Moulder

Date of birth: 16/07/1886

Place of birth: Siston, Bristol

Date of death: 12/04/1916

Buried/Commemorated at: No known burial site but commemorated at Basra Memorial, Iraq

Age: 29

Further information:

Albert was born in Siston and baptised in Warmley. He was the son of a Railway signalman and a middle child of eight children. Albert had five brothers and two sisters, and one of his sisters, Emily Jane, died when she was 5 years old. In 1901, Albert was working as an assistant steel moulder and ten years later he was lodging in Monmouthshire and working in the same trade.

Albert served with "B" Company, 7th Battalion, Gloucestershire Regiment, his battalion sailed to the island of Lemnos in June 1915 as part of the 13th (Western) Division and fought in the Battle of Chunuk Bair on 8th August, during which it suffered over 820 casualties, including all of its officers, warrant officers and senior non-commissioned officers. It was brought back up to strength, moved to Egypt in January 1916 and transferred to Mesopotamia in March. In the middle of April, the battalion fought in an unsuccessful attempt to lift the siege of Kut, during which action Albert was killed, reportedly by drowning. The siege of Kut lasted from 7th December 1915 – 29th April 1916. Albert’s body was never found and the Basra Memorial, where he is remembered, commemorates more than 40,500 members of the Commonwealth forces who died in the operations in Mesopotamia from the Autumn of 1914 to the end of August 1921 and whose graves are not known. Albert never married and he left his estate to his younger brother Francis.

By kind permission, this information is based on the following source(s):

This information has been provided by Sarah Hands, Volunteer Researcher for the South Gloucestershire War Memorials Web Site.
By kind permission, this information is based on the following source(s):
https://www.cwgc.org/
https://www.ancestry.co.uk/
https://www.findmypast.co.uk/
https://www.forces-war-records.co.uk/