DM2/137952 PRIVATE ALBERT TAGARETH SADLER
42ND COMPANY ARMY SERVICE CORPS
ATTACHED TO
48TH BRIGADE ROYAL FIELD ARTILLERY
DIED OF INFLUENZA
17TH NOVEMBER 1918
AGE 29 YEARS
Albert was another of those Halesworth men who lost their lives after Armistice, when the last shot of war had been fired. He was born at Ipswich, the county town of Suffolk, during the latter months of 1889. His parents were Samuel, a domestic gardener, and Mary (née Rolfe). He first appeared on the National Census of 1891, living with his parents and four siblings in Richmond Road, Ipswich. Twenty years later, at the time of the 1911 census he remained living in Ipswich, while employed as a gardener, possibly working with his father. At sometime shortly after this, Albert must having been trained and qualified as a fitter/driver of motor vehicles. With this new trade he found work in Halesworth, while lodging with the Easter family at 25 Wissett Road. At some time he met and courted Florence, known as Flossie Clarke, a barmaid working for her uncle Frederick Cowles, the keeper of the Station Hotel in Halesworth.
At the outbreak of the Great War in August 1914 Albert remained living and working in the town. Like a number of other young men he had not been caught up in the general excitement shown by others who rushed to join the armed forces. However, on hearing the Government were in the process of beginning compulsory conscription at the start of 1916 and possibly not wishing to join the infantry, on 17th November 1915 he had presented himself at one of the recruiting offices in Ipswich, volunteering to become a military driver in the Army Service Corps. Fortunately, some of Albert’s service records remain, although fire and water damaged. From these we are able to ascertain that he enlisted to serve as DM2/137952, a Driver in the Army Service Corps. Just five days later, on 22nd November he reported to the No.1 Reserve Motor Transport Depot situated at Grove Park in south-east London to begin his training, initially being taught the basics of being a soldier, before then going on to learn the finer points of being classified as a competent Military Driver. After completing his training and passing the necessary tests on 22nd February 1916, exactly three months to the day after he had first reported at the A.S.C. Depot, he joined a draft of soldiers who travelled to the port of Southampton to join with the men of the 56th Siege Battery, Royal Garrison Artillery, who were then in the process of crossing to France. Albert and his fellow drivers, now known as the 264th Company A.S.C., would now be tasked with keeping the Battery’s heavy guns supplied with ammunition and stores.
It appears that, over the next year or so, Albert settled well to serving in the Army Service Corps. A record of the 56th Siege Battery shows they were regularly in action firing in support of attacks as well as defensive fire. After each of these occasions it would have been the men of the 264th Company who would have travelled, mostly to railheads, to replace the stock of shells previously fired. In June 1917 Albert had been awarded his first good conduct badge, which came with a small increase in pay. As the months passed by Albert, who had kept in touch with his Halesworth sweetheart Flossie, must have been eager for some home leave as they had now decided to get married. His turn came when he was granted leave from 10th to 20th September 1917. On hearing this, Flossie must have been busy organising their forthcoming wedding. On 12th September by special licence they were married at Saint Mary’s Church, Halesworth with the occasion reported in the Halesworth Times newspaper of 18th September. On his return to France Albert’s first duty would have been to get his next of kin details altered from his father to his new wife, so that she could become the beneficiary in the event of his death. On his return to France he re-joined his chums in 264th Company but some six months later he was transferred to the 42nd Divisional Motor Transport Company. As the war gradually came to an end on 11th November 1918 there is little doubt that Albert, with many thousands of his comrades, were ready to return home to pick up the threads of their lives again. Sadly, as one world disaster came to an end, another had begun to spread across the globe, in the form of a pandemic commonly known as the Spanish Flu. Just five days after the announcement of the armistice, Albert was taken ill suffering, from the virus. He was immediately admitted into the 22nd Casualty Clearing Station of the Royal Army Medical Corps where he sadly passed away on 17th November 1918, the cause of his death being diagnosed as influenza. After his passing Albert was laid to rest in the Cambrai East Military cemetery, France, where he lies today with four hundred and seventy-five of his countrymen, all under the care of the Commonwealth War Graves Commission.
On hearing of her loss Flossie must have been devastated. After their wedding day they would have enjoyed just a few days of married life before Albert had to return to France. On 3rd December 1918 she announced her husband’s death in the Halesworth Times. On 7th July 1919 Flossie was awarded a war widow’s pension of 13s.9d (69p) per week, followed later by a total gratuity sum of £24.4s.4d (£24.22p) for the life of her husband. She would also have been entitled to claim Albert’s medal awards of the British War and Victory medal pair and also his named bronze memorial plaque and scroll.
The location of these is not known.
During WW1 cards such as this would have been
proudly displayed in the front windows of
loved one’s homes