Albert Franklin was born in Hemel Hempstead in January 1897 and baptised a month later on Sunday, 21st February at St. Paul’s Church. He was the third child and second son of Frederick George James Franklin and Annie (Ann) Thorogood who had a large family of eight children together. Albert’s siblings were: Lily, George, Sidney, Edward, Leonard, Dorothy and Charles. His older brother George served with the Army Service Corps in East Africa during the war. He was discharged from the army in 1917 suffering from “malaria, delusions and temporary insanity”, but happily made a full recovery. Albert’s father Frederick worked as a ‘Brickmaker’ for many years and the family lived at 14 Austin’s Place just off the High Street where the children all grew up. Just before the War, Frederick and Annie moved the family to 1 New Buildings, Chapel Street just around the corner.

When Albert started work in 1910, it was as a ‘Printer’s Feeder’, possibly with Dickinsons in Apsley Mills, but he left to work as a ‘Gardener’ at Highfield House in Hemel Hempstead before he went to war. On the outbreak of war, Albert was not old enough to join the Colours, but six months after his eighteenth birthday in 1915 he enlisted, no doubt calculating that by the time he completed his basic training he would be nineteen and eligible for overseas service.

He attested at Hemel Hempstead in July and joined the Duke of Wellington’s (West Riding Regiment) and was immediately posted for basic training. A year after enlisting, Albert was sent to France and joined the 1/4th Battalion the Duke of Wellington’s near Contay on the 26th June 1916, as part of a draft of 250 men. As a teenager, Albert had been an early member of the Boy Scouts in Hemel Hempstead. It was this experience that meant he was detailed to the ‘Scout Section’ with ‘D’ Company under the command of Lieutenant P. G. Bales. This was a role which put Albert in real danger as he was often in advanced and exposed positions gathering intelligence. German snipers constantly watched out for ‘Scouts’ and many died as a result.

Only five days after arriving, Albert went into action when the battalion was in support at the start of the Battle of Albert, the opening action of the Somme Offensive. During the next few days the Duke of Wellington’s came under heavy enemy shelling as it provided “…carrying parties for ammunition and stretcher bearing”. Sixty-two men were casualties during these initial actions. During the next three months Albert fought in The Battles of Bazentin Ridge, Pozieres and finally, Flers-Courcelette in September.

In early 1917 the Duke of Wellington’s moved to Flanders and for the first part of the year were engaged in the abortive Operation Hush on the Flanders coast. By October Albert was with his unit in the vicinity of Ypres as the Duke of Wellington’s prepared to fight at Poelcapelle.

In extremely poor weather conditions, the Battalion gave support as the attack began and soon it was incurring significant casualties. The assault stalled and by the end of the second day there had been no progress due to extremely heavy enemy machine-gun and small arms fire. This along with the difficult weather conditions ultimately resulted in failure of the attack.

Albert was killed on the first day of this action, Tuesday, 9th October 1917.

The month following his death, Albert’s parents received two letters from officers in the Duke of Wellington’s, both of which were published in the Hemel Gazette.

Lieutenant Bales was responsible for the Battalion War Diaries and he would later write an excellent regimental history of the 1/4th Duke of Wellington’s.

Albert is Remembered with Honour on Tyne Cot Memorial, West Vlaanderen, Belgium, Panel 82 to 85 and 162A.

He was only 20 years old when he died.

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