Military History

Albert is listed as dying on 27 Nov 1915. The Stratford Herald reported that Albert died of exposure when caught in a blizzard at Gallipoli. This is supported by the following passage taken from "The Heroic Story of the 9th Battalion Royal Warwickshire Regiment at Gallipoli".

The 9th Royal Warwickshire was withdrawn to reserve, on August 10, 1915 and it was temporarily commanded by Sergt.-Major Collicott. [sergeant-Major Butler was in charge at the dump]. On August 12 Major W. B. Gover of the Cheshires took over the command. A number of the missing men rejoined, some drafts arrived from Lemnos and England with fresh officers, and the strength of the battalion gradually increased. The rest of August was uneventful except for occasional service in the front trenches. On August 31 came a move to reserve trenches at Salt Lake near Suvla Bay. On September 19 the battalion, now over 500 strong, went up to trenches near Chocolate Hill, and for the next three months occupied the same piece of ground without the possibility of rest or change. There was little to break the monotony till, on November 26 [1915], there came a terrible storm of rain. The narrow trenches, often cut in rock or hard clay, were flooded; the saps up the steep slopes become cascades; and the gullies which had furnished paths from the beach returned to their natural character as water-courses. No fires could be lighted or food cooked; then when all were drenched to the skin, the wind shifted to the north and brought a piercing frost. After the frost came a blizzard of snow, and in the storm and bitter cold sentries were found frozen at their posts.

Fortunately for themselves half the Royal Warwickshire were in the reserve trenches, where some movement was possible. Even there dug-outs were flooded and their contents swept away, whilst the parapets were washed clean into the trenches. The officers did what they could, making the men march up and down and rousing those who had fallen asleep in sheer exhaustion. Cases of frost-bite were of course frequent, and nearly two-thirds of the battalion were sick. When the storm abated it took ten days to restore the ruined trenches, whilst the men sheltered in holes and hedges by day and had to dig in mud and water all night. It was fortunate that the Turks suffered no less, so that these days were practically an armistice.