Albert THORNBURY

KW/36, Able Seaman. b. 1896, Morley d. Tue. 29th June 1915 (aged 19).

Albert lived at 14 Edgar Street, Clayton. Albert was one of 12 children, his Father Robert and mother Eunice are shown as living at 17 Beaconsfield Road on 1911 census and shows Albert working as a Bobbin Pegger in a worsted mill. The family moved to Clayton from Morley.

The only Clayton man to serve in the Royal Naval Division, Albert belonged to a unit known as the Drake Battalion. This group was formed in late 1914, and by looking at Albert’s service number it is possible to tell that he was one of the first to enlist. The battalion spent several months training in England before being dispatched on their first mission: to storm the beaches of Gallipoli.

The Gallipoli campaign was intended as an attempt by the British and French to force Turkey out of the war, as well as opening up a vital secure supply route to Russia through the Dardanelles and the Black Sea. A secondary objective was an attempt to break the stalemate of the Western Front, but in effect the Gallipoli campaign did neither. After eight months and tens of thousands of casualties the Allies pulled out of the Gallipoli Peninsula, having been virtually in the same position that they started in.

Drake Battalion landed in Galipoli on the 26th April 1915 as one of the first waves of troops on the Peninsula. The Lancashire Fusiliers and several other small contingents of British units landed at Helles along with the Drake Battalion, in addition ANZAC forces were landing at several other locations. The first attack took place on the 28th April, but fatigue owing to the severe heat of the Turkish climate brought the advance to a grinding halt several kilometres short of their intended objective. It was the first in a long series of failed offensives.

On 4th June Drake Battalion suffered huge casualties when they once again tried to surge forwards, again to little avail. However, undeterred by this, the Allied Generals once again mounted an attack lasting for a full seven days from the 28th June to 5th July at a place called Gully Ravine. This was effectively one of the biggest ‘victories’ of the Gallipoli campaign with nearly one kilometre (!!!) of ground being taken, as well as the Turks suffering many casualties. It was on the second day of this offensive that Albert was killed. He was probably the only man from Clayton to die in the field having never stepped foot on French or Belgian soil.

During the Gallipoli campaign, which lasted a total of 259 days, 250,000 Allied soldiers were killed giving a total just short of thousand men dying per day.

The National Archives hold a record card for Albert reference ADM 339/2/4674

This states that Albert Enlisted in K.O.Y.L.I on 3rd September 1914 transferring to Royal Navy Voluntary Reserve on 8th September 1914 as Able Seaman. He was a slight young man, 5′ 5″ with light coloured hair, a fresh complexion and blue eyes. His occupation at enlistment was that of a grocer.

The record shows he was killed in action on 29th June 1915 and it appears that in the September he was buried by 155 Brigade HQ, and reinterred in White House Cemetery Cape Helles and finally re-interred in 1923, as smaller cemeteries were combined, at Redoubt Cemetery, Cape Helles, Gallipoli, Turkey.