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Alfred Williamson was born in Ossett on 20th April 1884 the fourth child and younger son of six children born to Robert Henry Williamson (1856-1891) and Ann Emma Firth (1857-1916) who married early in 1878. Alfred was baptised at South Ossett Christ Church on 25th January 1885.
Sadly Alfred’s father, Robert Henry, died in early 1891 aged 35 years leaving Ann Emma a widow with six children aged between twelve and one year. Alfred was just seven years old. In 1891 the devastated family, widowed Ann Emma and her six children were living with Ann Emma’s parents and their other daughter at 25, Victoria Street, Ossett. The dwelling had three rooms and ten grieving adults and children.
As a widow with six children Ann Emma did what she must and in early 1899 she married Middlestown born David Bairstow and the couple had their first child, Wilfred, in 1900. In 1901 some sense of normality had returned to the family who were living in a four roomed dwelling at Victoria Street with David Bairstow, Ann Emma, three of her six children including 16 years old Alfred who was working as a hurrier in a coal pit. The household was complete with young Wilfred. A coal miner was also lodging there providing some rent income to the family.
In spring 1906 Alfred married Stella Bradley Lindsay and by 1911 the couple were living at 34 Manor Road, Ossett with their two children, Martha Ann (born Horbury 14 October 1907) and Amy (born Ossett 5 November 1909 ). Alfred was now 26 years old and a coal miner. Another child, Frederick was born on 11 February 1915.
Alfred Williamson at war
On 4th August 1914 Great Britain declared war on Germany following its invasion of Belgium. Alfred’s employment could probably have seen him safer at home where coal miners were needed as much as soldiers to support the war effort. So it was that Alfred volunteered for service. Alfred’s army service record had been destroyed in WWII but it is known that he enlisted at Wakefield joining the Royal Horse Artillery and Royal Field Artillery as a bombardier. It is also known that he embarked for France on 30th December 1915 and that he served with the Royal Field Artillery (RFA) 123 Brigade in the 37th Divisional Artillery.
The 123rd (CXXIII) brigade was comprised of A, B, C and D Batteries RFA and the Brigade Ammunition Column. The Batteries were all armed with four 18-pounder field guns and the Brigade remained with 37th Division throughout the rest of the war.
The 37th Division began to form in March 1915 and the following month the Division concentrated at Cholderton on Salisbury Plain and on 25 th June the units were inspected by King George V( who would later visit Ossett) at Sidbury Hill. On 22nd July 1915 the Division began to cross the English Channel and by 2nd August 1915 all units were concentrated near Tilques in Northern France.
Alfred’s remit was unusual since it was to include work with an Anti-Aircraft (A.A.) Battery responsible to the Royal Field Artillery. The Great War was the first in which heavier-than-air aircraft played an important role providing reconnaissance for assisting the artillery, tactical and strategic bombing. Shooting down enemy aircraft (or at least frightening them off) naturally followed as an important aspect of defence. Firing at a moving airborne target is most difficult, but the basics of weaponry, gunnery and command all developed fast during the war.
Men like Bombardier Alfred Williamson, Anti-Aircraft Battery, Royal Field Artillery would have been trained to operate these weapons. The 13-pounder fired a shrapnel shell with a time fuse and could fire to 19,000 feet. The intention was to raise one Section for each of the Divisions that were going to France. In the event, this was not fully achieved until 1916 when by July, 70 of the total 113 Anti-Aircraft guns in the field were of the 13-pounder type. Night bombing of the camps and roads behind the lines became a feature of the Somme campaign.
Lorry mounted 13-pounder anti-aircraft gun of No.11 Anti-Aircraft Section, Royal Garrison Artillery, ready for action, 1915. Courtesy IWM.
Alfred would have been one of the Section which consisted of 43 men in total: 2 officers, two gun detachments of 12 men each (of which 1 in each was a Driver of the ASC), 2 telephonists, 1 linesman, 4 height finders, 4 Wilson-Dalby Detector Operators, 2 Height and Fuze Indicator men, 1 Order Board Setter, 1 Lookout man (Air sentry), 1 orderly and 1 cook. By the last quarter of 1916, there were in all 183 Sections consisting of 367 guns in England. In France, there were 74 Sections, made up of 147 guns. There were also 3 Sections in Egypt, 6 in Salonika and 1 in Mesopotamia.
The preparations for the Battle of Cambrai in November 1917 required for the first time, an air defence plan as an integral part of the overall scheme of attack. 7 AA Batteries were allotted to the front that was to be assaulted, and their covering fire swept up to 3500 yards ahead of the British line; Two gun sections were made ready to follow up the advance.
There were debates about the effectiveness of AA sections since the guns used were not designed for the purpose and were late in development suggesting they were more of a deterrent than an effective weapon. The complexities of deflection firing, weather conditions, target fixing, variable gun condition made for difficult operation. Training was all too brief, and methods experimental. Most of the gun Sections arrived in the field of battle without having fired a live shot. One source says that for example, in the busy week ending 27 April 1918, a total of 10 enemy aircraft were shot down and another 5 damaged, of a total of 2039 engaged.
That aside the 37th Divisional Artillery had a great deal more influence on assisting the infantry and it remained on the Western Front for the remainder of the war. It played no part on 1 July 1916 during the first day on the Somme but did participate in the Battle of the Ancre, the final stage of the Battle of the Somme in November 1916. In 1917 the division played a role in the first three phases of the Battle of Arras (9th April-16th May 1917), capturing the village of Monchy-le-Preux during the First Battle of the Scarpe(April 1917). A monument to the division stands at Monchy. 37th Division moved to Belgium and fought in the Third Battle of Ypres, taking part in the battles of the Menin Road, Polygon Wood, Broodseinde, Poelcapelle and the beginning of Passchendaele.
The third battle of Ypres began on 31 July 1917. Alfred Williamson, Royal Field Artillery would have taken part in that beginning and it was here that he lost his life when he was killed in action on 19 August 1917.He was 33 years of age and is remembered at Bard Cottage Cemetery (IV.D.14) His wife, Stella Williamson (nee Bradley Lindsay) of 13, Elba Cottages, Spring End, Horbury requested these words on his CWGC Headstone HE GAVE HIS LIFE THAT THOSE HE LOVED MIGHT LIVE.
For much of the First World War, the village of Boesinghe (now Boezinge) directly faced the German line across the Yser canal. Bard Cottage was a house a little set back from the line, close to a bridge called Bard’s Causeway, and the cemetery was made nearby in a sheltered position under a high bank. Burials were made between June 1915 and October 1918 and they reflect the presence of the 49th (West Riding), the 38th (Welsh) and other infantry divisions in the northern sectors of the Ypres Salient, as well as the advance of artillery to the area in the autumn of 1917.
Alfred’s widow, Stella, married Hector Lamb in summer 1918 and in 1921 the couple were living with Stella’s three children by her first marriage, an 11 months old child, aka Stella, from her marriage to Hector and an eight year old child, Florence, born to Hector from an earlier relationship.
Alfred Williamson was posthumously awarded the British, Victory and the 1914-15 Star service medals and is remembered on the Wakefield Roll of Honour.
He will also be remembered by his name at the Ossett War Memorial alongside his brothers and sisters in arms. The Ossett Fallen.
Bombardier Alfred Williamson’s full biography can be seen on Ossett Heritage https://ossettheritage.co.uk/ the only website to accurately include the biographies of Ossett’s 447 Fallen men and women in WWI & WWII.
SOURCE
Research by The Ossett Fallen Team 2023. Biography by Alan Howe 13th December 2022.
Commonwealth War Graves Commission
https://www.cwgc.org/find-records/find-war-dead/casualty-details/441162/alfred-williamson/
