Durham Light Infantry, 1/8th Battalion, Service no. 6320
Died of wounds 23rd February 1917, aged 21
Story
Alfred was born in 1896, and started out life in Battersea, London. With no obvious next of kin, he was brought up in Clifton, Brighouse by Frank and Mary Walton, where he worked as a hurrier at the Low Moor Clifton Colliery, before he moved to Kippax working at Ledston Luck Colliery. He initially joined the army in Halifax with the West Yorkshire Regiment on 27th June 1916, and was transferred to the Durham Light Infantry on 24th November 1916. This Battalion suffered heavily in fighting south of Le Sars, and at the Butte de Warlencourt on 5 November. This last attack took place in heavy mud and the rain, with the 1/8th Battalion easy targets for German Machine guns, as they struggled through the mud at walking-pace. The remaining men of the 1/8th got close to Butte Trench, where they were then hit by British artillery and Stokes mortar fire and in total lost almost 150 men killed or wounded. Alfred was brought back to Southampton Hospital, where he died of his wounds.
The Army owed Alfred’s next of kin £4 19s 12d, but had no record of his relatives, so put out an advertisement. His possessions were eventually claimed by Esther Wood, of Dartmouth Arms, Flockton Moor, which was still a public house up until 2007, but it is unclear what relation, if any, she was of Alfred’s.
Kippax Roll of Honour 