Alfred Brown
- Family History
- Military History
- Extra Information
- Photographs
Alfred was born in Retford in 1883 and was the son of Henry and Sarah Ann Brown, of Osborne Vaults, Carolgate Retford, Henry was a cooper and a shop keeper/fruiter ,and by the 1901 census the family are living at 1 Beardsalls Row, Retford with their three sons and three daughters, at this time Alfred is 18 years of age and a cooper like his father ; He married his wife Levina Lacey in 1904 at Retford and had a son Alfred the following year . In the 1911 census Alfred is living at 53 High Street, Ordsall, Retford he is 28 years of age and he works as a cooper he has been married to his wife Levina for 6 years and have a son Alfred who is 5 years of age. His parents meanwhile are at the Osborne Hotel, Retford his father Henry being the licensee. Following his death Levina re married and became Mrs Levina Beech, of 31, Jubilee Terrace, Brecks Rd., Ordsall, Retford, Notts.
Alfred enlisted in Retford and served with the 1/6th battalion Sherwood Foresters (Notts & Derbys Regiment) he was killed in action on 26th August 1917 when a shell burst in the trench where he was standing and he is buried at Sailly-Labourse Communal Cemetery extension, Pas-de-Calais, France.
Sgt Alfred Brown Retford Times 14 Sept 1917 A well known and highly esteemed member of the Retford Territorial Company was killed in action last month in the person of Sergt Alfred Brown, 31, Diamond Jubilee Terrace, Ordsall who had only been in France nine weeks. He was 35 years of age. Sgt Brown was the fourth son of the late Sergt H Brown, Osborn Vaults, Retford who served a long period in the Retford Volunteer and Territorial Company. He joined the Volunteer Company in 1898 and in 1911 rose to the rank of Sergeant. He was mobilised at the outbreak of the war with the 8th Sherwood Foresters and trained recruits of the Regiment at Newark. He was musketry instructor at Belton Park, Grantham and was instructing snipers on Cannock Chase during the whole of 1916 when the school broke up. Then Sergt Brown went to train recruits at Saltfleet until going to France on June 26th last as instructor of sniping and was later transferred to another Regiment. He was recognised as a crack shot in Retford. In 1906 he won the gold Watch presented by Major Denman and had rendered nearly 20 years of useful service in the Volunteer movement. Great sympathy is felt for the widow who is left with three children. Captain K Hills Bond wrote as under to Mrs Brown:- “It is with the very deepest regret that I have to inform you of your husband’s death for I know of the grief that this letter will bring to you. I feel so helpless to do anything even to console you in your great sorrow. A letter, whatever I may say, always seems so cold and unfeeling and this task of all unpleasant ones, is the hardest I ever have to set myself to do to tell you the sad news and then try to offer you what poor consolation I can. I assure you that you have my heartfelt sympathy, for I know too the grief that comes with the loss of someone you held dear. Your husband had only been with us a short time but had in that time had shown his worth in and out of the trenches. He was killed quite instantaneously by a shell striking the side of the trench where he was standing and I am sure that he felt no pain at all”. Two other letters were written by chums in which they said that Sergt Brown was liked by all the men of his platoon and his company officers; that he was a hard and strenuous worker both in and out of the trenches; that he was willing and ready to do anything he was called upon to do and would be very much missed. The deceased was employed for about 10 years by Mr T J Barker of the Fairy Grove Nurseries, Retford who speaks in the highest terms of the character and integrity of the late Sergt Brown who was a straightforward and reliable workman’
