GRANDFATHER ALBERT EDWARD HEDGES, 1878-1936...

 Albert Edward Hedges: 1878-1936

BRILLIANT IMAGE OF GRANDAD, FAR RIGHT, MAY 1916...
THANKS TO MY COUSIN John Hedges FOR SENDING ME A PHOTOCOPY OF THE PICTURE, WHICH I WAS ABLE TO ADJUST TO BLACK & WHITE... 

Introduction:

ALBERT, WHEN HE JOINED THE ARMY...

Grandad Hedges was born on 17th July 1878 in the north of India, at Roorkee, which was built on the banks of the Ganges Canal, constructed under the watchful eye of British officer Colonel Proby T. Cautley, during the East India Company’s rule.

THE GANGES CANAL, ROORKEE...

The son of a soldier, John Hedges, who was a gunpowder maker, Albert was a likely candidate for the army I guess and so it was that he joined up as a drummer boy. His mother was Elizabeth Jane Hedges, formerly Jandron, born in Jersey in 1841 or 1842.

ROORKEE...

Albert’s early months were lived in India but his father left the army, being declared unfit at the age of 38, resulting in the family returning to England in 1879. However, the young Albert clearly wanted a military career and was attested at Chatham on 22nd August 1894, joining the Royal Warwickshire Regiment.  He had been working as a trunk maker…

ALBERT THE DRUMMER...

In 1881 the census reveals that John Hedges was living at 4 Barracks Yard, St Mary’s, Warwick, with wife Elizabeth, daughter Elizabeth, 9; Ada, 6; Julia, 5 and of course Albert, 3, all born in India.

Before Albert’s attestation, his home was at 4 Court 5 Great Brook Street, where his parents John and Elizabeth lived with their children. Living there in 1891 were Elizabeth, 19; Julia, 15, a domestic servant; my Grandad to be, who was an errand boy/porter and 13 years of age; Ada, 10 (conceived in India, born at Budbrooke, Warwick); Lily, 8; Maud, 6 and a domestic servant called Elizabeth Watts, 17, born in Birmingham.  

GRANDAD, NAN & SON ALBERT (CLAL)...

A Military Life:

THE DRUMMER REACHES R.S.M., CENTRE OF IMAGE, SEATED...

Albert was only 4 feet 8 + a quarter of an inch tall and 73 pounds in weight, with a fresh complexion, grey eyes and brown hair when he joined up. He had tattoos of a dot and a flag on his left forearm and a dot on the back of his left hand, plus a mark on the back of his ring finger. Small scars were evident on the left side of his chest and at the back of his left elbow.

In November 1895 Private Hedges, a Drummer was given the army number 4328 and the Regiment was posted to Malta that year, then in January 1897 they moved on to Alexandria. On 15th December in 1898, he was amongst 856 soldiers, part of a Brigade from the 2nd Battalion who faced the Dervishes in Sudan at the Battle of Omdurman.

OMDURMAN...

A bullet went through his drum on one occasion around this time and my mum remembers it being kept in the loft of their house but then it was sadly left behind in Alderson Road, Ward End, presumably.

Via Alexandria the Regiment moved onto Bombay and in 1899 Grandad was promoted to Lance Corporal and was posted to South Africa to take part in the Second Boer War, getting injured at Leewkop on 22nd April 1900. His group was responsible too for guarding prisoners on Bermuda. He reached the rank of Corporal on 4th June 1902, before being posted back to the Warwick depot on 4th October, where he was appointed Lance Sergeant.

On 5th October 1904, he reverted to Corporal and re-engaged for the Royal Warwickshires at The Curragh, on 22nd August 1905, ‘for such term as shall complete 21 years service’.

On July 1st 1906 he was appointed Lance Sergeant again, before negotiating a tour of duty was on 12th January 1910 with the 3rd Battalion. On October 11th that year he was promoted to Sergeant. From November 1902, his group moved from Plymouth, to Portland, to Bordon Camp and Lichfield.

On 20th November with the 5th Battalion, the staff were posted for a tour of duty, extended until September 29th 1912. Promoted first to Company Sergeant, he was then appointed acting Sergeant Major on May 29th 1915. It appears that he had been involved with the 2nd Territorial Battalion which trained at Coventry and Salisbury Plain, from October 1914.

With the 182nd Brigade and the 61st Division, at the end of May 1916, Grandad was involved in training at Bethune, France, then continued working under the terms of the Military Service Act. On 29th May 1916 he was promoted to Warrant Officer Class II, then Class I. Trench warfare was seen at Fauquissart, near Armentieres.

GRANDAD WAS KNOWN TO BE NEAR HERE...

From April 1917, his group moved from Monchy-Lagache to Marteville, near St Quentin. There was involvement in the third battle of Ypres, in August and September that year following bad weather and the group was in trenches beyond Wieltje Farm. An attack on Hill 35 was unsuccessful and the group eventually withdrew but Grandad was finally sent home on 22nd September and he was discharged from the army on 18th February 1918, after 23 years of service.

The image below, from May 1916 shows him seated behind a lounging officer and described as Regimental Sergeant Major Hedges, surrounded by the 2/5th Battalion members of the Sergeants’ Mess…

He was mentioned in Despatches as ‘deserving of special mention’ on 14th December 1917.

Grandad’s medals were as follows:

THE QUEEN’S SUDAN MEDAL, 1898;

THE QUEEN’S SOUTH AFRICA MEDAL;

THE BRITISH EMPIRE WAR MEDAL;

THE ALLIED VICTORY MEDAL;

THE LONG SERVICE/GOOD CONDUCT MEDAL;

THE KHEDIVE’S SUDAN MEDAL.

These medals were gifted to the Royal Warwickshire Regimental Museum…

Other information:

Albert’s education from the army was described as first having gained a 3rd class certificate, attained on 29th March 1895, then a 2nd class certificate on 24th June in the same year. He also successfully qualified at the School of Musketry, Hythe, on 18th November 1911. 

Albert married my Nan on Christmas Day, 1904, as described in the article about her but I wonder whether Nan was ‘in service’ at his home in 145 Great Brook Street at the time, for her address was given as the same as his on the marriage certificate. Strangely, the other couple married on the same day in a double-wedding, namely Albert’s sister Ada and her bridegroom William Bygeare, were both living at that address too.

WITH MOST OF THE FAMILY, JUST JOHN EDWARD (EDDIE) MISSING...
NO CHANGE THERE...

When one considers the football skills of sons John (Eddie), Fred (Bun), Albert (Clal) and Samuel (Claude), plus the athletic prowess of daughters Ivy, Ghreta and my mum, Marjorie, it was no surprise to find this image of Grandad seated in the front row of an army soccer team, football at his feet and most likely the skipper… 

Grandad passed away in 1936, likely from stomach cancer, according to my cousin Derek Eastwood…

A WRY SMILE?

The above has been difficult to piece together from poorly written original documents with a variety of conflicting spellings and ambiguous information but I have done the best I can…

WITH SON FRED (BUN)...

I have included the most likely places Grandad visited but I pity his epic voyage back to England when just a few months old, with an ill father, his other siblings and a stressed mother…

More about that when I feature Albert’s father John Hedges, my great-grandfather…

Thanks go again to my ex-teaching colleague Jan Pick for her input, without which I would have been floundering…

BRILLIANT IMAGE OF MAN & DOG, BUT IT'S CLEAR THAT ALBERT IS THE MORE LIKELY SNARLER...