Ernest Albert Widdows, known as Albert, was born on Thursday, 16th December 1880 in Shoreditch, London and baptised in St. Peter’s London Docks Church, Wapping, on Tuesday, 10th November 1885. He was the second son of Charles William Widdows and Martha Farley. He had an older brother Jonathan Charles and three younger siblings; Ellen Annie, Agnes Laura and Henry Phillip. His father Charles died in Edmonton, North London in 1899. Albert grew up in Shoreditch in London, where his father Charles worked as a ‘Warehouseman’ and his maternal Grandfather and Uncle, Thomas and Henry Farley, were ‘Cab Drivers’. Both Thomas and Henry lived with the Widdows family.

By 1901, Albert was living in Wansted in Essex, at 3 Lake Cottages on the Snaresbrook Road beside Epping Forest. He was working as a ‘Tea Packer’ for a grocery business, however, he left the grocery trade shortly afterwards and found work as a ‘Gardener’. It was this work that led him to meet Annie Gertrude Reed when they were both employed at Sion House, Harrow Weald. This was a large property on Church Street, Stanmore owned by the Ambler family, which had substantial gardens and was only a stone’s throw from All Saints Church. It was there that Albert and Annie married on Thursday, 26th January 1905, with Annie’s brother Alfred acting as Best Man.

The young couple had their first child in 1907, a daughter, Doris Eleanor who was followed two years late by a son, Henry Ernest. By the time of the 1911 census, they were living in 3 Gardener’s Cottages, Swains Lane in Highgate and it seems that Albert was employed as a Gardener in Highgate Cemetery. Their third and last child was born in 1912, a second daughter named Ida Nellie. Albert moved to Berkhamsted and in 1915 was living with his family at 76 Shrublands Avenue in the town. He had presumably come to the area to work and the following year he and Annie brought the children to Boxmoor, where they lived at 121 Horsecroft Road.

Albert was called up under the Military Service Act in 1916 and he went to Watford, where he attested in June 1916 and enlisted with the Royal Fusiliers (City of London) Regiment. The Royal Fusiliers raised no fewer than forty-seven battalions for service in the Great War. That made it the fifth largest after the London Regiment, Northumberland Fusiliers, Middlesex Regiment and King’s (Liverpool Regiment). 

Albert was sent to Dover for basic training before being posted to the 9th (Service) Battalion one of Kitchener’s new armies (K1). His training at Dover included specialist instruction in using a Lewis Gun. The Lewis gunner was part of a two man team, both fully trained at Lewis Gun school. Apart from firing and being able to load and clear stoppages, they also had to be skilled in indirect fire, line of sight, positioning, moving up with the gun, fire support during an assault and basic maintenance in the field. A skill at arms badge was issued to all fully trained Lewis gunners to identify them in the field. It is not known when Albert went overseas, but it is likely to have been at the beginning of 1917. In the first few months of that year, the 9th Royal Fusiliers spent time training and on working parties until April, when the Arras Offensive began.

Albert went into action at the First Battle of the Scarpe which was quickly followed by the Battle of Arleux. The Second Battle of the Scarpe took place in early May. Between the mid-May and mid-October, the Battalion was engaged in holding positions east of Monchy le Preux. In the trenches on the 21st October, the Battalion War Diaries recorded the following: “Oct. 21 5pm Quiet morning. At 5pm the enemy carried out an organised shoot with Shrapnel, H.E., and T.M.s mainly along the Support Line. C.T.s and CAMBRAI road. Our artillery replied and about 60 of the enemy left the front line and were caught by our fire. All quiet by 6.15pm. Our Casualties – 2 O.R. Killed, 8 O.R. Wounded” . This brief entry describes how Albert met his end as one of the "2 O.R. Killed".

He died on Sunday, 21st October 1917.

Albert is Remembered with Honour in Monchy British Cemetery, Monchy-Le-Preux, Pas de Calais, France, where he is interred in Grave I. O. 13. .

He was 36 years old when he died.

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