1/24th Battalion The London Regiment
Albert Henry Hale was born in 1875 near Ruardean in the Forest of Dean. He was the son of Isaac and Elizabeth Hale. Isaac Hale was a stationary engine driver in one of the local collieries but was later landlord of the Malt Shovel Inn in the village for many years.
Albert Henry did not follow his father into the coal mines or the licensed trade but spent all his adult life in the drapery trade in London, working his way up from assistant to floor walker.
At the age of 40 years and 6 months he attested on 11 December 1915, as Private 5711 in the 3/24th Battalion The London Regiment, and was initially placed on the Army Reserve. His service record shows that he was transferred, on 2 June 1916, to 1/24th Battalion and sailed from Southampton on 2 August 1916 with a draft of reinforcements, joining his unit in the field the next day. He was subsequently renumbered as Private 722581. He would have been with his battalion during the Battle of Flers Courcelette in September 1916.
He was killed in action during the Third Battle of Ypres on 26 August 1917, aged 42 years, and was buried at Buttes New British Cemetery, Polygon Wood, Ypres. He was Isaac and Elizabeth’s last surviving son.