Alfred William Blow as born in 1896 at Nocton Heath, Lincolnshire. He was the son of Robert Blow and Lydia Elizabeth Blow. Robert & Lydia Elizabeth (nee Stokes) moved about a little bit after their marriage. Between 1894 and 1905 they had produced 7 living children. Alfred was named after his grandfather, Alfred Stokes. As for his middle name of William, that's fairly common in the family tree - and his mother had a brother called William who died aged 11 weeks, then another brother named Willie. So he was most likely named after Willie, his uncle.
Some time between 1896 and 1898 they moved to Quadring Fen, which is where they were for the 1901 Census. In 1902 they were living in Beesley, Lincolnshire, then they moved again, some time between 1903-1906, to Northamptonshire.
By the time Alfred was 10 he'd certainly had many addresses! His father was a farm cattleman, so was probably working year-to-year on jobs gained from Hiring Fairs, which is how a lot of Agricultural Workers were hired.
Alfred was a Private in the 2nd Battalion of the Lincolnshire Regiment. His service number appears as two variations (I won't pretend to understand war records!) 4024 and 40211 are the numbers I've found from various websites. I think 40211 is the "proper number".Alfred died on 31 July 1917, aged just 21 and is commemorated at Ypres on the Menin Gate Memorial. Websites that mention Alfred include:
- The Nottinghamshire website gives his parents address at East Kirkby at that time: "He was the son of Robert and Lydia Elizabeth Blow of 77 Prospect Street East Kirkby Nottinghamshire." http://www.nottinghamshire.gov.uk/rollofhonour/People/Details/29106
- The Commonwealth War Graves Commission gives Alfred's age as 21 and his service number as 40211. http://www.cwgc.org/find-war-dead/ casualty/928248/
- The local Lincolnshire LincsToThePast website also gives Alfred a mention: Killed in Action. Service number 40211. "Notes: Plaque in St. Georges Memorial Church, Ypres; born 1896, Nocton". http://www.lincstothepast.com/ PersonDetails.aspx?objectid=1539700
While we're used to seeing War Memorials - it appears that Alfred is not commemorated on any local war memorials. I have tried to find his medal cards etc and his attestation papers, showing the addresses he might've been using, but he must be one of those soldiers whose papers were burnt. Poor Alfred.
There really is little evidence Alfred existed. I do hope his siblings' relatives search for him one day and have some photos. He deserves more/better and to be remembered more fittingly. Somebody out there will have Alfred's Death Penny :(
What is Alfred's relationship to me? That's a tough one .... so here we go:
Alfred is my Great-great-great-grandmother's, brother's, grandson. :)
Or, Alfred and I share the same great-great-great-great-grandparents.
There'll be a name for that. We are 2nd cousins 3 times removed.
At the time of his death his grandparents had died, so one might think that my part of the family never got to hear the news, but there were other cousins etc in the area too, so there's a small chance our branch did know. I'll have to sit and work out the likelihood of that one day! Certainly my great-great-grandmother's brothers were in the area too.
2nd Lincolnshire Battalion War Diary
Lincolnshire Archives have the war diary of the 2nd Battalion, Lincolnshire Regiment. But there are other sources out there for those motivated enough to want to read more. Whether somebody's mentioned in a diary will depend on a lot of factors, such as their ranking within the battalion and how many died that day. If, say, 100 were killed, then they'd not be named... but, if they were the only death in an otherwise fairly mundane day, then a full description might be furnished, so War Diaries are hit and miss affairs for details.
The War Diary of the 2nd Lincolnshire Regiment is also available to read at the National Archives in London (for free), or via a downloadable file online, for a cost of £3.45, the file is over 83MB in size. http://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/C7352498
Understanding the War, battalions, battles and movements is quite a major undertaking, it's not as simple as looking up a name in a search box. I am not currently up to the challenge of discovering Alfred's journey through the war to his final resting place.
A quick look indicates to me that Alfred might've died on the first day of the Battle of Pilckem Ridge, which the 2nd Battalion seem to have fought from 31 July to 2 August. If I am reading it correctly, the whole of D Company died, so he might've been one of those!
As ever: E&OE
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