Alfred Arthur HARRISON

36904, Private. b. 1876, Bradford d. Thu. 13th December 1917 (aged 41).

Alfred was the son of George and Ann Harrison. Alfred and Annie are shown on 1901 census, as living at 25 Young Street with Victor aged 5 months. Alfred is working as a Van Man at a laundry.

The 1911 census shows Alfred, Annie and Victor, now a 10 year old living at 71 Lidget Place in Lidget Green with Alfred shown still working as a Van Man at the laundry.

Alfred was called up from his job at the Bradford and District Steam Laundry where he had worked since 1900 into the 1st Battalion, Northumberland Fusiliers in 1916.

He was sent to a training unit before being sent to France and served there throughout 1917, mainly around the Arras region where fierce and sporadic fighting occurred throughout that year. It was eventually given the title of the Battle of Arras, but was more a seemingly never-ending series of small skirmishes and it was during one of these that Alfred was (presumably) killed: he was given the dreaded status of ‘Missing in Action’.

His wife Annie were left waiting for news as to her husband’s eventual fate. This came in early September 1918 when the army officially informed her that Alfred was ‘Missing, presumed dead’. Aged 41, Alfred was one of the oldest Claytonians to die in the war.

The CWGC entry for Alfred states that he was the husband of Annie Harrison of 1 Aberdeen Terrace in Clayton.

He is commemorated on the ARRAS MEMORIAL.