36488 BOMBARDIER ALBERT VICTOR GRICE
ROYAL GARRISON ARTILLERY
KILLED IN ACTION
2ND MAY 1918
AGE 26 YEARS
Albert was the elder of another pair of brothers to lose their lives during the Great War, born in the local village of Blyford in the first quarter of 1891, the son of John a farm labourer, his mother is believed to have been John’s first wife Elizabeth (née Smith) who had passed away in 1898, leaving John to bring up Albert and his younger brother Edward. In 1910 their father, now aged fifty-four, remarried Violet (née Kebble) some fifteen years his junior, who, with her young daughter Neva, moved into the family home, a small cottage next to the Post Office in the nearby village of Holton. At the time of the 1911 Census Albert remained at home while employed as a flagman with a steam traction engine. This work, although no doubt considered an important role at that time, possibly did not excite him, so when a recruiting drive for men to enlist into the Regular Army had been held in Halesworth in late 1911, Albert stepped forward becoming 36488, a Gunner in the Royal Garrison Artillery at the age of twenty years. This branch of the Royal Regiment of Artillery which Albert had volunteered to join, had been first formed in 1899 as a separate organisation within the regiment, their task being that of manning the larger and less mobile heavy calibre weapons as opposed to the lighter horse-drawn regiments of the Royal Horse and Royal Field Artillery. From the time of their formation the R.G.A. had a number of batteries equipped with steam traction engines to haul their heavy weapons. It could well have been Albert’s previous experience of working with such engines that made him suitable for his military role.
After completing his recruit training at the Royal Artillery Depot in Woolwich situated to the south east of London, Albert received his posting to join the 59th Siege Battery, R.G.A. who, at that time, were based in the Punjab region of India, where they were armed with four six-inch 25cwt howitzers. It appears that Albert settled well to a soldier’s life on the sub-continent where, apart from military duties, he also became the secretary to the Soldiers Christian Association within his battery. On the declaration of war in August 1914 the 59th Battery were stationed near the town of Rurki when, after a short period, they were warned to prepare for a move back to England to serve as part of the Indian Corps, who were then to join the British Expeditionary Force on the Western Front. On the 17th November 1914, the battery arrived in the port city of Bombay where, after boarding the S.S. Kenilworth Castle, they sailed two days later, bound for Devonport. Arriving on the 23rd December, all ranks were then granted five days home leave. On their return they were re-equipped with new guns as well as a number of reinforcements that would then bring the battery up to its full war-fighting strength. Beginning on the 15th January 1915 59th (S) Battery began crossing to France with the final elements disembarking at Le Havre during the night of the 4th-5th March. Little did Albert know at that time, that as he was setting foot on French soil, his younger brother Edward was dying of wounds he had received a few days previously while serving with the 2nd Suffolks. From the dockside the men of the battery, with their equipment, then boarded a train bound for the northern French city of Estaires when, after arriving, they relocated to the village of Pont du Hem where after they went through the drills of sighting and registering of possible targets for their guns. A short time later, at 2.30pm they were in action laying down a barrage on the Germans rear area. The following day, 10th March 1915, was to be the first day in what would later become known as the battle of Neuve Chapelle, where the British forces mounted a full-scale offensive along a twelve-mile front. During the three days of the battle 59th Battery fired many hundreds of rounds of ammunition in support of the infantry. It was also then that they suffered their first fatal casualty of the war due to counter artillery fire by the German heavy guns.
This, their first battle, was just the beginning of what would eventually become almost three and a half years of being in action. During this time the battery’s war diary shows that they supported the front-line infantry in many of the battles that would go down in the annals of the British Army’s history of the Great War, such as the battle of Loos in September 1915, the Somme in July 1916 and that fought at Messines in May 1917. During all of these battles and many more smaller actions they considered themselves extremely fortunate compared to their infantry comrades in terms of casualties suffered in both killed and wounded. Between 10th March 1915 and 2nd May 1918, the day of Albert’s death, they had one Officer and sixteen Other Ranks killed in action, with a further eighty-nine soldiers wounded and eight men suffering from what was known at that time as shell shock (in today’s language Post Traumatic Stress Disorder). On the day of his demise his battery was in positions to the rear of the village of Hannescamps in the region of the Pas-de-Calais where they had been in action all of that and the previous day, having fired in excess of eight hundred rounds of six-inch ammunition. The Halesworth Times newspaper of 14th May 1918, in reporting Albert’s death, quoted parts of a letter that had been sent by his Section Officer to his father John who was now residing at No.12 Station Road, Halesworth. In it he describes how, after a hard couple of days of being in constant action, Albert and members of his gun crew had returned to a billet at the rear to rest when it was struck by a heavy German shell, with six of the crew, including his son, being killed instantly and a further ten men suffering from wounds. He went on to say how he had held Albert in very high regard both in his military duties and character, being a good man who lived up to his position within the Battery, adding that the Commanding Officer joined with the other Officers of the 59th (S) Battery in sending their heartfelt sympathy. If any further proof was necessary of how well he was thought of by his comrades his loss was also reported in the unit’s war diary, an unusual occurrence for an Other Rank.
After his death Albert was laid to rest in the Bienvillers Military Cemetery, France where today he is remembered with a further two thousand and forty-six other British burials from both World Wars.
Having been listed in Albert’s military will, his father John eventually received all outstanding monies and gratuity for his son’s loss, a total of £36.14s.9d (£36.74p), with the final payment being made in September 1919.
John would also have been able to claim Albert’s medal entitlement of the 1915 Star medal trio with his named memorial plaque and scroll.
The 1915 Star is now in a private collection while the location of the other items is unknown.
A Royal Garrison Artillery Card
Sent home at Christmas 1917