1st Battalion, Gloucestershire Regiment
Slimbridge War Memorial
Alfred Maurice Savage Underwood was born in Eastington to John Underwood and Rosetta Wherrett on 17 December 1883. He was the eldest of five children. Rosetta died as a result of his birth and he was brought up by his father and step-mother Lydia Kezia Wherrett, Rosetta’s younger sister. The 1901 Census records his occupation as ‘working on a saw bench’.
It is not known when Alfred joined the army but he was sent to South Africa with the Gloucestershire Regiment in March 1903, a year after the Boer War ended. He learnt to ride a horse and joined the Mounted Infantry. On 16 May 1904 he left South Africa to return to England but on the 22nd he was diagnosed with typhoid. On arriving back in England on 7 June he was transferred to Netley Military Hospital in Southampton where he remained until 6 September.
In September 1909 he married Mary Louisa Hinder and in February 1910 a son, Frederick Albert, was born. Dorothy Gwendoline followed in October 1911. In civilian life he was putting his military skills to use and the 1911 census records his occupation as ‘Groom Domestic’ and by now he was living at 12 Parsonage Street, Dursley.
The 1st Gloucesters went into action on 26 August 1914. Unfortunately Alfred was an early casualty with his death recorded as 23 October, shortly after the start of the First Battle of Ypres. He was 30 years of age. Alfred has no known grave but his name is recorded on the Menin Gate Memorial. He is commemorated on both the Slimbridge and Eastington War Memorials.
(Taken from Slimbridge Remembers produced by the Slimbridge Local History Society)