Albert Kenneth Bassford

Rank 
Corporal
Regiment 
Royal Field Artillery
Date of death 
23 August 1914
Age of death 
27
Address 
23 Green Lane Gardens
Ilford
RED
Postcode unknown
Address source 
1901 Census
Cemetery / Memorial 
Belgium
Biography 

Albert Kenneth Bassford was born in Lucknow, India in 1887. He was the fourth of seven children born to William Hern Bassford and Emma McDougall.

The Bassford family moved back to England sometime before 1891 and they were recorded as living in Tottenham during the 1891 census. By the 1901 census, the Bassfords had moved to 23 Green Lane, Ilford.

Albert married Sarah Elizabeth Howard in 1909 when he was 22. He joined the Royal Field Artillery and by 1911 was living in military barracks with several other men, including his younger brother Harold.

At the outbreak of war, Albert was already a Corporal and was one of the first men sent to the front line. He was killed on 23rd August 1914; only nineteen days after Britain declared war on Germany. His grave is in Estinnes-au-Mont Communal Cemetery, Belgium.

Albert’s brother, Harold, was later killed on 10th November 1918, just a day before the Armistice came into effect.

Research by Redbridge Museum

Sources:

Commonwealth War Graves Commission

Ancestry.com