Albert Edward Needham
- Family History
- Military History
- Extra Information
- Photographs
Albert was born in Sturton le Steeple in 1892 he was the son of George an agricultural labourer and Harriet Needham, of Sturton-le-Steeple, they had a very large family of 14 children of which only 11 survived . In the 1901 census the family are living at Vicarage Lane,Sturton Albert is 9 years of age and a scholar. By the 1911 census George and Harriett are still living in Sturton but by this time are only living with 3 of their childen the others including Albert appear not to live at home. We are unable to trace Albert on the 1911 census.
His service record does not appear to have survived, however the documents Soldiers died in the Great War states that he was born in Sturton and enlisted in Goole . His medal cards show that he first entered a theatre of war in France on the 11th September 1915 and was entitled to 3 medals the 1915 star, the victory medal and the British medal. Albert was one of the many thousand of brave young men who went 'over the top' on the first day of the Battle of the Somme on 1st July 1916 and was one of the many who fell on that fateful day.His body was never identified and so his name is commemorated on the Thiepval memorial, Somme. He had a younger brother Hubert who also served during the Great war but died on 18th October 1918.
Pte A E Needham The Retford Times 13/10/1916 Pte A E Needham has been missing since the opening of the great struggle on the Somme. At first he was officially reported as wounded and as having been sent to the Western Hospita, Newport, but it turned out later that a mistake had been made, for the wounded man was Pte A Needham of another regiment. Pte A E Needham enlisted in the K.O.Y.L.I. in September 1914 and afterwards was transferred to the machine gun section with a new number. Recently a letter received from another brother, who is also at the front, stated that he was killed but no official notice to that effect has been received and his parents still cling to the hope that more definite news may yet reach them. Pte Needham went to the front in September 1915 and has seen much hard service, but until the July “push” had escaped without a scratch, although on one occasion a bullet went through his cap.
