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Albert Edward Townsend
Albert Edward Townsend was born in Leigh (near Cricklade), Wiltshire, in 1884, to George Townsend, a farm labourer, and Mary Ann née Richens. The household included not only Albert and his many siblings, but also extended family too. By 1901 they were living in Frampton where George was a cattleman; Albert, however, was then a stable boy for the railways in Staffordshire. In 1911 he was working in a Wolverhampton iron foundry. Albert must have joined the Army before the war : Britain was only in a formal state of war from midnight on 4 August 1914, but he arrived in France on 19 August as a gunner with the 28th Brigade Royal Field Artillery, and almost certainly took part in the Battle of Mons, the first to involve the British. As part of the 5th Division they would have been involved in many of the major battles afterwards, from the 'Race to the Sea', to Ypres, and the Somme. In 1917 the Division fought in the Arras offensive until the end of June, and was recorded as at rest from 30 July. It is not known where or when Albert Edward Townsend suffered the wounds that caused his death on 3 August, but as he was at a military hospital in Rouen, a considerable distance from the front line, it must have been at least some days beforehand. He was interred at the CWGC St Sever Cemetery Extension in Rouen. Albert was posthumously awarded the 1914 Star, British War Medal and Victory Medal. his ultimate sacrifice being commemorated in Frampton on the war memorial and the plaque in the village hall. |
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