Pte A.E.Groves.

The Life of Albert Edwin Groves.

(14/9/1899 – 3/2/1952)

 

He was born 14/9/1899.

1901  census, son age 1.

1911  census, son age 11 and at school.

27/1/16 conscription introduced for all over 18.

With the introduction of conscription and the ever increasing death toll, the method of recruitment and training changed.  Instead of joining a local unit, men joined the army, were trained and then allocated to the units which needed them most.

25/8/1917 His attestation Date [ie 17 yrs and 11 months – see section below].

Surrey Recruitment Registers 1908-1933 Transcription

First Name      Albert Edwin

Last Name       Groves

Age     18 Years 4 Months

Birth Place      Lewisham

Year    1917

Occupation      Cartridge Maker

Unit Or Regiment       Bedfordshire Regiment (3rd Batn)

Regiment         Bedfordshire Regiment (3rd Batn)

Soldier Number           51511

Attestation Place         Lewisham

Attestation Date         25 August 1917

Service            -

Height 5ft 9.75in.

Complexion     -

Hair Colour    

Chest Expansion Inches          4

Distinctive Marks       

Chest Size Inches        36

Eye Colour     

Weight in Pounds       126

Remarks          25 Lethbridge Road Lewisham

Notes   Conscripted men. Recruitment register: No.1 Book. Recruitment numbers 50001-52025.

Reference        2496 / 27

Series   Conscripted men, 2nd November 1917 to 20th February 1918

Page Number  153

Category         Armed forces & conflict

Record collection        Regimental & service records

Collections from         United Kingdom

14/1/1918 he was age 18 and 4 months and was called up [conscripted].

The only photograph we have shows him in the uniform of the Bedfordshire Regiment, his medal card states he was a Private in the Machine Gun Corps [his number was 156003] when he went to the front.

Albert was sent home on compassionate leave as his mother and both brothers had all died quite close to each other.  On his return his uniform was so lousy that his father James, look him out into the yard, sent all the girls in doors, stripped him off, threw buckets of water over him and then burned his uniform.

My mother remembers him talking about Ypres, calling it ‘wipers’. 

After he was called up he went to a Training Battalion [of the Bedfordshire Regiment] and from there volunteered for and was transferred into the M.G.C. around late April / early May 1918.

Bedfordshire Regiment:

3rd (Reserve) Battalion

August 1914 : in Bedford. A training unit, it remained in UK throughout the war. Moved within a few days of declaration of war to Felixstowe for duty with the Harwich Garrison.

He was discharged to Army Reserve, Class Z, on 25th February 1919.

Class Z Reserve was authorised by an Army Order of 3 December 1918. There were fears that Germany would not accept the terms of any peace treaty, and therefore the British Government decided it would be wise to be able to quickly recall trained men in the eventuality of the resumption of hostilities. Soldiers who were being demobilised, particularly those who had agreed to serve "for the duration", were at first posted to Class Z. They returned to civilian life but with an obligation to return if called upon. The Z Reserve was abolished on 31 March 1920.

Later in life he was a painter and worked on the railway. 

He introduces his friend from work, George Earl Willson, to his sister Winifred Hannah Groves, they marry in late 1927.  Their children are Marj, Peter and Shirley.

1928 [age 29] he appears on the voters list at 44 Mount Street.

In 1935 [age 36] he fell from a signal he was painting and was in St Bartholomew’s Hospital for 12 days recovering from head injuries.  He suffered occasional ‘attacks’ as a result of this, for the rest of his life.

1939 WWII age 40.  Fire watcher - civil defence/ARP.  He took my Mum one night to see the London docks burning during the blitz.

Fire Guards (initially called the Fire Watchers Order in September 1940, then the Fire Watcher Service in January 1941 and then reformed as the Fire Guard in August 1941) were responsible for a designated area/building and required to monitor the fall of incendiary bombs and pass on news of any fires that had broken out to the NFS. They could deal with an individual magnesium electron incendiary bomb by dousing them in buckets of sand, water or by smothering.

When used by Fire Guards and Street Fire Party personnel the Zuckerman helmets were marked accordingly with FG or SFP. Bands around the helmet (often in black) would denote seniority within the Fire Guard service.

His medal roll page.

His medal index card.

Groves family tree.