3rd Battalion, Gloucestershire Regiment
Albert Edward Halford was born at Longford, near Gloucester in 1882.
On 27 September 1902 Albert married Gertrude Mason Watkins at Twigworth and the couple had
seven children, three boys and four girls.
He attested for military service on 23 January 1915, when living at Manor Farm Cottages, Longford, Gloucester. He was workings as a carter (or wagon driver) on a farm at the time. He was posted, as a Private (number 18954) to the 3rd (Reserve) Battalion of the Gloucestershire Regiment, for basic training.
On 18 May 1915, he was posted to the 2nd Battalion and embarked from Southampton on that day to join his unit, serving with the BEF, as part of 82nd Brigade, 27 Division. He was almost certainly part of a draft of 135 men, who arrived on 21 May, to replace losses incurred during heavy fighting at Sanctuary Wood, during 8 to12 May.
On 30 May 1915 the 2nd Glosters took over trenches in the Armentieres sector and it was here that Albert’s medical problems began. In July he suffered bronchial problems and from 2 August to 9 September was in No 11 General Hospital at Boulogne, suffering from myalgia. On the 21st he was again admitted to hospital, this time at Wimereux and two days later he was evacuated to England.
During his time in hospital at Boulogne he had been diagnosed with rheumatic fever, brought about by conditions in the trenches and upon arrival in England was sent to a hospital in Cambridge, where he stayed for six months.
He returned to France on 17 March 1916 but his rheumatic condition had worsened and on 9 May of that year he was sent back to England and a hospital in Birmingham.
A medical board convened on 28 September 1916 noted that Albert now had difficulty walking, due to rheumatic limbs and had to use sticks. The damp and cold conditions of the trenches and general hardships of service life were seen as the principal cause. He was discharged as ‘quite unfit for further service’ and received a Silver War Badge to indicate his discharge due to illness.
Albert Edward Halford died at home on 16 May 1919, aged 37, cause unknown but most probably related to his rheumatic condition. His widow was to die in tragic circumstances in April 1945, after being struck down by a lorry at the junction of Kingsholm Road and Denmark Road in Gloucester.
Private Halford is buried in the churchyard of St Matthew’s, Twigworth, where a standard CWGC headstone marks his grave.
Graham Adams
(for the Gloucestershire War Grave Project)