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Name

Albert White

 Birth: 1889, High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire

 Death: 16 June 1915, Ypres, Belgium   Tree

 Rank: Private, Wiltshire Regiment, 1st Battalion

 Service no. 19613

 Formerly service no. 14980 Oxfordshire & Buckinghamshire Light Infantry

 Medals: Victory Medal, British War Medal, Star Medal














Memorial: Ypres (Menin Gate) Memorial, Panel 53

 

The following is an extract from the war diaries of the Wiltshire Regiment 1st Battalion on the day Albert died:

15th June 1915

Location Belgium, Menin Rd
Marched to assembly trenches on MENIN Road west of HOOGE; arrived in position about 11.45p.m.

16th June 1915

Location Belgium, Menin Road
2.50am Our artillery commenced bombardment on German trenches situated between ROULERS railway and Southern end of Y Wood.
4.15am Artillery lengthened range and 9th Brigade assaulted first line of German trenches.
4.20am The 9th Brigade had carried the 1st line of German trenches and 1 platoon of C Company assaulted trench at South end of Y Wood which was taken without difficulty. A bombing party started to work up the enemies (sic) trench in the direction of HOOGE and made rapid progress. The remainder of C Coy & D Coy followed up.
The leading men (5a.m.) reached a point some 100yds from HOOGE village; meanwhile a Communication Trench was dug from CULVERT under MENIN Road to Southern end of Y Wood and endeavours made to join up two pieces of German trench running E towards HOOGE. Until 6a.m. the situation remained unchanged.
6a.m. More progress towards HOOGE was made - a point within 50 yards of the village being reached in the German trench. Between 6a.m. and 9a.m. the situation remained unchanged. Work of barricading and reversing the parapets was continued.
9a.m. The Germans advanced down two Communication Trenchs from the North and under cover of a heavy fire started bombing heavily. We replied with grenades, this exchange lasted about 1½ hours.
10.30a.m. Our supply of grenades became exhausted and the Germans succeeded in driving us slowly back down the trench. In retiring we suffered heavy casualties during this period of the action.
11a.m. We evacuated the eastern portion of the German trench . We retired in the open and lost a considerable number of men in doing so. A counter charge was organised about this time to check the enemy's advance, but without success, as the officer and many men were shot down and the remainder made no progress.
3p.m. Germans commenced a heavy bombardment of Y Wood and the trenches which had been captured in the morning. Our guns replied by shelling the Germans about BELLEWARDE Lake, presumably to break up any attempt at counter attack. The situation remained unchanged in our trenches.
6.30p.m. Germans started a very heavy bombardment of Y Wood which lasted about 1 hour.
8p.m. Germans fired a considerable number of gas shells in the neighbourhood of the MENIN Road but these only caused temporary inconvenience.
11p.m. SUFFOLKS started digging trench parallel to Communication trench from corner of Y Wood to culvert. The trench running eastwards from the corner of Y Wood was abandoned and blocked over a distance of 30yds.

17th June 1915

Location Belgium, Menen Road
12.30a.m. Relieved by the Suffolks.
1.30a.m. The whole Battalion had left and marched to billets between YPRES and VLAMERTINGE.

Casualties during the action -

Capt E G HARVEY, killed.
2nd Lieut A B P McCLENAGHAN, killed.
Capt N D STEWART, wounded.
2nd Lieuts F S GREGORY, G D GORDON-HAKE [or Make], C S GRAY, R J A PALMER, [all] wounded.
Capt A E STICKINGS wounded and prisoner.
2nd Lieut J V H BARKER-MILLS wounded.
Other ranks, killed 20, missing believed killed 3, Wounded 103, wounded and prisoner 3, Missing 54, Slightly wounded 6

The following copy of a letter sent to Albert's widow Ada, appeared in the South Bucks Free Press on 30th July 1915:

This gave Ada what transpired to be false hope that he may have been taken as a POW. Ada must have written to the Red Cross to see if Albert was alive as a POW. The following ICRC records show that they followed up several Albert Whites. The reference numbers on the ICRC documents indicate that none are for an Albert White from High Wycombe in the Wiltshire Regiment 1st Battalion, hence why he was declared missing presumed dead.

 

Albert's death was also referred to in the South Bucks Press one year later (28th July 1916) when his brother Owen William White was also killed in action:

Medal Roll Index Card and Soldier's Effects Register:

 

Sources: Commonwealth War Graves Commission, Ancestry, Norma Suddard, Menin Gate Photos by Keith Allworth

 

  Page last updated

  02 July 2015