Alfred was born in around May 1886 in the Wellington area of Shropshire. We don't know anything about his early life or family, except that he was a member of the Church of England.
By 1904 Alfred lived at 29 Bridgewater Street in Patricroft in Salford, Lancashire. He worked as a horse drawn cart driver at Bridgewater Collieries. Soon after his 18th birthday he joined the 6th Battalion of the Manchester Regiment. This was a unit of the Militia, so Alfred would have trained with them for a short period every year but kept his civilian home and job for the rest of the time.
He enlisted on the 10th May 1904 in Manchester and began his basic training. When Alfred enlisted he was 5 feet 4 1/4 inches tall and weighed 107 pounds. He had a 'fresh' complexion, grey eyes and black hair. He was given the service number 9988 by the 6th Battalion.
Alfred must have taken to Army life, because after just 6 weeks he transferred to the Regular Army on the 25th June. He joined the Manchester Regiment and was given the service number 31. We don't know much about his early service, but we believe he was first assigned to the 4th Battalion, based in Cork, Ireland. This unit moved to Aldershot in Hampshire in late October 1905, and was disbanded in late 1906.
Members of the 4th Battalion were sent to the 1st and 2nd Battalions, which were not being disbanded. We believe Alfred was sent to the 1st Battalion in India. He was certainly with them in Jullundur when the First World War broke out in August 1914. By this time he had been promoted to Corporal.
When the war began the 1st Battalion was quickly mobilised. It set sail for France on the 27th August and arrived on the 26th September. Alfred served in France and Belgium with the 1st Battalion until December 1915. He saw combat at Givenchy in December 1914, Neuve Chapelle in March 1915 and the 2nd Battle of Ypres in April. In December he sailed to Mesopotamia, now Iraq, to fight the Turks.
The 1st Battalion arrived in Basra on the 8th January 1916. They took part in attempts to relieve the British forces trapped in Kut al Amara. They were not successful and Kut was captured by the Turks on the 29th April. The rest of the year was fairly quiet and the British did not resume their advance until early 1917. Alfred was Mentioned in Despatches in the London Gazette of the 19th October 1916. We don't know what he did to earn this honour.
During fighting in February 1917 Alfred carried out an act of great bravery. He was awarded the Military Medal in the London Gazette of the 26th March 1917. There was no citation with this award, so we don't know what he did. During May he was awarded the Russian Cross of St George, 4th Class (number 807665). We don't know whether this was awarded for a particular act; often foreign governments would present a number of their medals to the British Army and allow the British to decide who would receive them.
By September 1917 Alfred was serving as Company Sergeant Major (CSM) in Number 1 Company. His job was to maintain standards and discipline amongst the soldiers in the Company. The Company Quartermaster Sergeant (CQMS), who Alfred would have worked closely with, was Alfred Burley. His medals are also in the Museum of the Manchester Regiment collection.
Alfred and the 1st Battalion spent the summer of 1917 in reserve near Baghdad, which had been captured that March. They returned to the front in early November to take part in the attack on Tikrit. During the capture of this city Alfred carried out another act of bravery. For this he was awarded the Distinguished Conduct Medal in the London Gazette of the 16th January 1919. This is his citation:
For marked gallantry and devotion to duty at Tekrit, on the 5th November 1917. He consolidated and reorganised a captured position under heavy fire with resolution and skill. Later he took a party out to collect much needed ammunition from casualties. His conduct throughout was magnificent.
The war in the Middle East ended in October 1918. By then Alfred and the 1st Battalion had advanced into what was then called Palestine and is now part of Israel.
The 1st Battalion returned to the UK during 1919. On the 18th October Alfred married Minnie Rowland Wainwright in the Parish Church, Patricroft. At this time both battalions of the Manchester Regiment were in Aldershot, Hampshire. Sadly, Minnie died on the 2nd June 1921, aged just 31.
Three months later Alfred left the Manchester Regiment. He had been transferred to the West India Regiment as a Company Sergeant Major. He sailed from Avonmouth aboard the SS Patuca on the 4th October. He was bound for Kingston, Jamaica.
Alfred served with the West India Regiment until mid 1923. He had the service number 7427. We don't know anything about where he was based during his time with them. The unit existed to garrison and protect British islands in the West Indies. These included the modern nations of Jamaica, Barbados and Trinidad and Tobago, as well as many other smaller islands. During his service in the West Indies Alfred was awarded the Long Service and Good Conduct Medal to recognise 18 years in the Army.
Alfred rejoined the 1st Battalion of the Manchester Regiment on the 5th June. At this time they were based on the Channel Islands of Guernsey and Alderney. On the 11th July 1924 Alfred was discharged from the Army 'at his own request'. His conduct had been 'Exemplary'. We don't know anything about Alfred's life between his discharge and the outbreak of the Second World War in September 1939.
Alfred was living in Guernsey when the war broke out. He had married a woman named Mary, although we don't know when. The island was occupied by the Germans on the 30th June 1940, after they had captured France. Alfred was one of a number of former members of the Manchester Regiment who had moved to Guernsey after they left the Army. Under German rules all ex-servicemen who had not grown up on the island were supposed to be taken to Germany and interned until the end of the war. This did not happen to Alfred. We don't know why, but it was probably because he worked at the White Rock port in the capital, St Peter Port, so he was needed to keep the port running smoothly.
The occupation of the Channel Islands lasted until the 9th May 1945, when the Germans surrendered. During the last year of the war in particular, food supplies on the islands had been running short, and the Germans and islanders alike had come close to starvation.
After the war Alfred and Mary continued to live in Guernsey. He was a member of the thriving Guernsey branch of the Manchester Regiment Old Comrade's Association (OCA). By the early 1950s they lived at La Porte in the Jerbourg area of the island. Alfred was known as 'Dibber' to his friends.
During mid 1952 Alfred caught tuberculosis. He was treated at the Sanatorium in Castel, Guernsey. On Tuesday the 3rd June he was visited by Bill Currie and Albert 'Tibby' Pearce. Both men had served with Alfred, and Bill now lived in Guernsey. Their medals are also in the Museum of the Manchester Regiment collection.
Alfred died on the 7th December 1952. He was 66 years old. He was buried 3 days later at the New Cemetery in St Martin's. His medals were donated to the Museum of the Manchester Regiment in April 1953.
From the Museum of the Manchester Regiment "Men behind the Medals".
His medals can be seen in the Museum.
regards
