Blackmore. Remembrance 100. Twenty-one days. Twenty-one names. (8) Alfred John Wheal

Alfred John Wheal

War Memorial: Place and inscription Blackmore War Memorial: Dr A.J. Wheal. Church window: Alfred Wheal. Ongar & District War Memorial Hospital Roll of Honour (Blackmore) entered as A Wheal [ERO A10815].

Rank: Private

Regiment: Northumberland Fusiliers. 22nd (Tyneside Scottish) Battalion. Service No. 47250 [CWGC] Formerly no 174351, Royal Engineers [SDGW]

Service Details: Enlisted: Ongar [WFA] Medal card: Victory/British D/1/105 B42 p. 9957.    K in A [Ancestry.com]

Personal and family information: Alfred John Wheal birth registered Ongar Q3 1885. [Free BMD] Blackmore’s Baptism Register records an Alfred John Wheal baptised on 13th December 1885 (with the Vicar adding “born 19/8/85”).  His parents were Charles, a labourer, and Sarah, of Swallows Cross, Blackmore. [ERO D/P 266/1/11] The name appears in the ‘Sunday School Admission Register’ as Alfred John Wheal with “age” recorded as “18/8/86”.  [ERO D/P 266/28] 1901 Census: Blackmore. Alfred Wheal b. ca 1886, with parents Charles b. 1837 and Sarah b. 1852. In the 1911 Census (then aged 24) Alfred Wheal is living as a boarder at Collins Farm, Hutton at the home of George & Elizabeth Philpott. The Head of the Household was a “horsemen on farm”.  Alfred Wheal’s employment is described as “Carman for roads contractors”. His siblings are recorded on Blackmore’s War Memorial is survivors: Arthur Charles Wheal, born Doddinghurst, 1881, served as a Stoker in the Royal Navy. Albert Edward Wheal, born Blackmore, 1887, was a Private in the Machine Gun Corps.

Date of Death: 5th June 1917

Age: 31

Where died: Killed in France in “No Man’s Land”.[CWGC / WFA]

Place of Burial or Commemoration: Commemorated: Arras Memorial, France. Bay 2 & 3. [CWGC]

List of Sources: Ancestry.com, Commonwealth War Graves Commission, Essex Record Office, Find My Past.com / Soldiers who Died in the Great War, Western Front Association