Albert Henry Trower
1898-1916
Albert Henry Trower was born in the autumn of 1898 and baptised
on Christmas Day at St Barnabas Church in Sutton. Albert was the eldest of
three sons born to Henry Trower and Sarah Addis. Henry and Sarah were married at
the end of 1897 in the Epsom area. Their second son, Henry Foster was born in
1901 and also baptised at St Barnabas Sutton as was their third son, Ernest
Edward, born in 1905.
On all these records and the 1901 and 1911 census the family
were living at 14 Queen’s Road, Sutton and Albert’s father Henry was listed as
a painter and decorator. In 1914 the family moved to 10 Victoria Road, Sutton
which is where they were living when Albert died.
Albert joined the 7th Battalion of the West
Surrey Regiment. It is not known exactly when he volunteered but he was
certainly under age. Men were not allowed to join up until they were 18 and
were not permitted to fight overseas until they were 19. However this rule was
commonly flouted and as long as the man looked old enough, the age he gave was
accepted.
The 7th (Service) Battalion was formed at
Guildford in September 1914 and was made up of volunteers who came forward as a
result of General Kitchener’s appeal in August 1914 for 100,000 men to
volunteer. They joined the 55th Brigade of the 18th Division and by May 1915
were training on Salisbury Plain. In July 1915 the battalion was mobilised for
war and went to France.
After arrival in Boulogne they were taken immediately to the
Western Front where they manned the front line, in rotation with other
regiments, for the next nine months.
By April 1916 the battalion were at the village of Suzanne
on the River Somme. Nothing was happening at the end of April apart from the
routine exchange of fire. The Battle of Verdun was raging further to the south-west
but this part of the line was quiet. At this time the officer who habitually
wrote the war diary was on leave and his replacement did not go into great
detail. The war diary records work ongoing to maintain trenches and mentions
the accidental drowning of a soldier in the river while working on a water
pipe. It is unclear how Albert died but his death is recorded on April 29th
and he is buried at the cemetery at Carisy-Gailly along with another man from
the West Surreys killed on the same day. He was aged 17 years and 7 months.
Albert’s parents lived in Sutton until their deaths and both
of his brothers married but had no children. He does not appear on any war
memorial in the area.
In Memory of
Private A H Trower
1919, 7th Bn., The Queen's (Royal West Surrey Regiment) who died on 29
April 1916 Age 17
Son of Henry Albert and Sarah Kate Trower, of 10, Victoria Rd., Sutton,
Surrey.
Remembered with Honour
Cerisy-Gailly Military Cemetery
Acknowledgments
Commonwealth War Graves Commission
www.longlongtrail.co.uk
No comments:
Post a Comment