Albert Edward Crawley was born on Wednesday, 14th October 1896 in Apsley End, Hertfordshire and baptised at St Mary’s church in the village on Wednesday, 18th November in the same year. He was born to Henry Crawley and Ellen Best who had seven children, three of whom died young or in infancy. Albert had an older brother George and two sisters Ellen (Nellie) and Louisa; of the children who died only Henry is known.

Albert’s father Henry was a native of Hemel Hempstead but had worked for many years as a ‘Tanner’ in London before Albert’s birth. It was in Bermondsey that Henry met his second wife Ellen Best and the couple married at St Mary’s Church in Apsley End in 1884 before returning to London.

The family moved back to Hemel Hempstead around 1903 and Albert, aged six started at Apsley Boys school. In October 1904 a note was recorded in the School log as follows: “Oct. 5th Mr Collis the Inspector of the R.S.P.C.C.[sic] called at the school to see Albert Crawley this morning”. There is no way of knowing the reason for this visit, but it indicates some concern for young Albert’s well-being. The National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children (NSPCC) had been formed in 1889 and was granted royal patronage in 1895 by Queen Victoria (although it has never adopted ‘Royal’ in its title). Typically, any cases of cruelty to children reported to the police or raised by schools were handed to the NSPCC to be dealt with and this seems to be the case for Albert.

By 1911, fourteen-year-old Albert had left school and worked as a ‘Farm Hand’ whilst living with his family at 43 Marlowes in Hemel Hempstead. Two years later however, he had started work as a ‘Brush Maker’ with G.B. Kent & Sons in Apsley and whilst there he enlisted in Hemel Hempstead with the Territorial Force, joining the 1st battalion Hertfordshire Regiment.

His attestation papers raise some confusion regarding his age as Albert claimed to be 18 years and 2 months old in January 1913. He was in fact still only seventeen-years-old and nine months short of his eighteenth birthday. Nevertheless, he was accepted as a recruit and described on enlistment as being, 5ft 6¼ins tall, with ‘good’ vision and ‘fair’ physical development.

On the outbreak of war Albert was working at John Dickinson & Co. Limited at Nash Mills and as a serving Territorial he was called up and posted. The provisions of attestation with the Territorial Force at this time meant that a soldier did not have to serve outside the UK unless he volunteered to do so. Albert did not volunteer and was instead sent to a ‘Reserve’ battalion, probably the 4th/1st Hertfordshires. He remained on home defence duties until the 14th March 1916, when he was discharged from the Regiment under the provisions of the ‘Military Service Act’.

This was the act that introduced conscription to the forces for the first time. The Bill which became the Act was introduced by Prime Minister H. H. Asquith in January 1916 and came into force two months later on the 2nd March. The Act specified that men from 18 to 41 years old were liable to be called up for service in the army unless they were married, widowed with children, serving in the Royal Navy, a minister of religion, or working in one of a number of reserved occupations. A second Act in May 1916 extended liability for military service to married men, and a third Act in 1918 extended the upper age limit to 51 years of age.

Albert now joined the 17th Battalion Sherwood Foresters (Notts and Derby Regiment) and went to France in June or July 1916 where the Battalion was in support north of the Somme. He saw his first significant action in early September near Thiepval when the Battalion suffered heavy casualties, some 451 men killed, wounded or missing in one day.

Starting on the 1st October the Battalion fought as part of the 117th Brigade in the Battle of Ancre, which became the final British effort in the Battle of the Somme. The 17th Battalion relieved the 1/6 Cheshire Regiment in the Thiepval River section of trenches and over the next four days suffered constant heavy artillery barrage from the German positions. On the 20th , the Sherwood Foresters repelled an enemy attack on their forward positions before being relieved and falling back to a support position near the River Ancre. The war diary recorded the casualties in the actions as follows: "20th Oct 4 Officers wounded, 17 Other Ranks Killed, 41 Other Ranks Wounded"

Albert was one of the unfortunate men who died, and he was killed on Friday, 20th October 1916, only six days after his twentieth birthday.

Albert’s death was followed two months later by that of his mother Ellen under tragic circumstances. A detailed report in the Hemel Gazette at the end of December 1916 recounted the sad demise of Ellen who it seems simply lost the will to live, so great was her grief at the loss of her son. 

She had been ill and neglecting her own health through lack of proper nourishment when she received the news of Albert’s death. The shock coupled with her weakened constitution proved to be the final blow and only two days after learning of Albert’s fate, Ellen died at home in her sleep.

The official cause of Ellen’s death was recorded as: “syncope the result of emaciation and debility accelerated by the shock of the news of the death of her son at the front”. Many may think she died from a ‘broken heart’.

Official confirmation of Albert’s death appeared in the Hemel Gazette in January 1917.

He was commemorated on the John Dickinson & Co Limited War Memorial in Apsley (although his Regiment is recorded incorrectly) and on a memorial plaque in St Mary’s Church, Apsley End.

Albert is Remembered with Honour on the Thiepval Memorial, Somme, France, Pier and Face 10 C 10 D and 11 A.

He was only 20 years old when he died.

Albert was entitled to the British War Medal and the Allied Victory Medal.