Albert Edward PRIESTLEY

2nd Lieutenant. b. 1890, Clayton d. Thu. 3rd May 1917 (aged 27).

One of the few men in the Great War who successfully made the transition from enlisted men to officer, Albert joined up on late 1914 as a Private in the Royal Army Medical Corps where he served for over a year gradually working his way up the ranks. On 20th November 1915 he was commissioned as a 2nd Lieutenant, having satisfactorily completed his training over the previous couple of months.

When he was returned to the front it was decided, as was the custom of the time, that he would be transferred to a different unit in the army. It was deemed to be unallowable for new officers to serve with their old enlisted comrades. For this reason, he was posted to the 4th Duke of Wellington’s Regiment, a body of men mainly from Brighouse and Halifax, and so was at least now in command of a group of West Yorkshire men.

Like three other men from Clayton, Albert was killed trying to lead his first command into attack during the Battle of Oppy Wood on 3rd May 1917.

There are no details available about Albert’s family other than his place of residence of 142, Dirkhill Road, Great Horton, Bradford.

The CWGC records show Albert Edward PRIESTLY, a different surname spelling. No service number is listed in this record. Albert Edward Priestly is commemorated on the Arras Memorial.