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World War 1 One ww1 wwII greatwar great 1914 1918 first battalion regiment
Pte. George Albert Alexander Bentley
British Army 1st/5th Btn. Seaforth Highlanders
from:Burnage, Lancahire
(d.12th Oct 1918)
My great uncle Albert Bentley was born on 6th May 1896 the youngest of nine children & the only boy. He grew up in Burnage, at that time a country village near Manchester. His father Alexander was coachman to the Watts family of Burnage Hall, and his mother Elizabeth Bentley nee Toft had been a milliner. As a Boy Albert had been a member of his local Church boys brigade, a Christian youth organisation with military overtones. From all accounts (my grandmother & her sisters) he was a fine looking young man with a strong sense of duty-but great fun to be with, all his sisters adored him. By 1911 both his parents had passed away, so at fourteen he left school and took up an apprentice with a book binding firm
In January 1915 seventeen year old Albert and a school friend were walking home one evening when they were each given a white feather. The next day they both enlisted--conscription didn’t come into force until 27th January 1916 a whole year later. Albert joined the 1st/5th Battalion of the Seaforth Highlanders a territorial force fully mobilised and available for transfer overseas. At the time the Seaforth Highlanders had a Ghurkha regiment attached to them Albert admired the Ghurkhas & told his sisters that one Ghurkha was worth three of any other soldier! He must have made good friends among them as he came home on leave one day with a “Kukriâ€-the famous Ghurkha knife, that one of his Ghurkhas pals had given him. Like most Scottish regiments a tartan kilt (Mackenzie) was the ceremonial uniform, but in battle it was a kharki one. And like most Scottish regiments they were led into battle with bagpipes --the sound of which on the field must have been eerie!-- small wonder the Germans doubted them “devils in kilts†& “The ladies from hellâ€!!
On 18th April 1915, just before his 18th birthday, Albert entered the theatre of war During May 1915 his Battalion engaged in Battle of Festubert in the Artois region of France on the western front In 1916 as part of the 51st highland division they were at the Battle of the Ancre on the Somme. 9th April-16th May 1917 saw his regiment at the Battle of Arras in northern France, & then from 20th November-7th December that same year at the fierce battle at Cambrai, were tanks were used for the first time.
It was at Cambrai that Albert was wounded & it is recorded that whilst wounded in hospital he voluntarily gave his blood for Transfusion to help fellow soldiers in need. Blood transfusions were still in their infancy, although with citrate-glucose solution an army doctor had successfully started to store blood. Albert’s injury was such that the war was supposed to be over for him, but in 1918 came The Final Push He must have felt somehow that this time he wouldn’t return as he forbad his sisters to see him off at the station a ritual thus far they’d always done. On Armistice Day 11th November 1918 his sisters received the telegram that he was missing presumed killed. My grandmother remembered walking through the streets weeping whilst all around her people were celebrating the end of the war. With no further information our family presumed Albert had been blown up & that there was no graveside to visit & grieve. In the absence of a grave his sisters were comforted to find that his name was listed on a monument in Edinburgh castle to the fallen highland regiments, this was his gravestone. And there we thought Albert’s story had ended.
Then in 2013, quite by chance whilst looking for other war graves I came upon a cemetery in France that listed a George Albert Alexander Bentley of the Seaforth Highlanders. At first I thought it mere coincidence, however intrigued I contacted the cemetery in Nord France. I am eternally grateful to Pierre Vandervelden of Avesnes- le-sec Cemetery in France for supplying all the necessary information & for the photograph of Albert’s grave We now know that Albert was killed in action on 12th October 1918 probably during The Pursuit to the Selle & was buried at Avenes-le-sec Cemetery. After 96 years we’ve found Albert & have his grave to visit. I only wish my grandmother & his other grieving sisters had been given this information during their lifetime it would have brought them so much consolation.
Additional Information:
We weren't prepared however for how emotional we would feel finally finding Albert our long lost uncle & seeing all the white headstones of those other young men lost to the great war. We reflected on the fact that now we'd be old enough to be the grandmother of all these young men! I did manage through my tears to recite Kipling's poem to his son "My boy Jack",but I substituted my boy jack for "our boys" I felt somehow Kipling wouldn't mind. We also prayed & I collected a clod of the earth to take home & put on his sister Eva, our grandmother's grave, reunited at last. We plan for there to be a regular pilgrimage to Albert's grave as more family wish to visit. Albert & all those boys will never be forgotten.
Gillian Hudson
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