Alfred Howes
Memorial: South Gloucestershire war dead not on a local memorial
Regiment: Gloucestershire Regiment
Medals: 1914–15 Star, British War Medal, Next of Kin Memorial Plaque 1914 - 1921, Silver War Badge, Victory Medal
Rank and number: Private 34311
Parents: Alfred and Emily Howes
Home address: 13 Rodney Road, Kingswood, Bristol
Pre-war occupation: Bootmaker
Date of birth: 1892
Place of birth: St. George, Bristol
Date of death: 04/10/1917
Buried/Commemorated at: No known burial site. Commemorated on Tyne Cot Memorial West-Vlaanderen, Belgium. Not commemorated on a local memorial.
Age: 25
Further information:
Alfred was born in St. George in Bristol, the son of a stone breaker and a middle child of ten children with five sisters and four brothers. A younger brother, Wilfred, also died on active service but another brother, Ernest, who also saw active service survived the war.
Alfred's battalion (the 1st/5th, Glosters) mobilised for war and landed at Boulogne in March 1915 becoming part of the 144th Brigade of the 48th Division. They engaged in various actions on the Western Front including The Battle of Albert, The Battle of Bazentin Ridge, The Battle of the Ancre and The German Retreat to the Hindenburg Line. Alfred was killed in action at the end of the Battle of Poelcapelle whose outcome was inconclusive at a cost of 11,500 casualties. Alfred’s body was never found and the Tyne Cot Memorial where he is remembered, is one of four memorials to the missing in an area of Flanders known as the Ypres Salient, which stretched from Langemarck in the north to the northern edge in Ploegsteert Wood in the south.
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/