Railway Troops Depot, Royal Engineers
Alfred Alexander Lane was born in Gloucester in the final quarter of 1875. His second name ‘Alexander’ sometimes appears as ‘Alexandra’ in records — confusing for a researcher!
His parents, Francis Abraham and Harriet (née Powell), who died quite early in his life (1892 and 1880, respectively).
His military service dated back to enlistment in 1893, when he appears to have joined the Royal Scots (The Lothian) Regiment. He served in India for eight years five months, from 1893-1902 and then six months in South Africa during the latter year. He participated in the South African or Boer War and was awarded the Queen’s South Africa Medal. He left the Army, at the end of a twelve year engagement, on 16 June 1904, with a ‘good character’ endorsement.
On 3 August 1903, at the age of 27, he married Alice Hedger Smith (aged 23) at All Saints Church, Gloucester. The couple went on to have five children, although only two were surviving by the time of the 1911 Census: Sidney Francis Alexander (born 24 August 1905) and Mildred Dorothy (born 4 August 1907). In 1911 the family was living at 187 Barton Street, Gloucester and Alfred was employed as a labourer with the Gloucester Railway & Carriage Company.
On 10 April 1914 Alfred was almost certainly conscripted for military service, being just within the 18 to 41 age group applicable at the time He joined the 30th (Railway) Labour Battalion of the Royal Engineers: no doubt his background as an employee of the Gloucester Railway & Carriage Company has something to do with his posting.
He served in the UK until 16 May 1916, after which he was posted to the British Expeditionary Force (BEF) in France. His stay there was short, as he returned to the UK on 2 August 1916 and was posted to the Command Depot at Sleaford.
It is not known if his return from France was prompted by declining health. However, a medical board convened in April 1917 considered him to be ‘dull, slow and stupid and mentally impaired … and dirty in habits’. He was diagnosed with dementia, brought about by the long term damage inflicted on his brain brought about by contracting syphilis in India. It was decided to discharge him from the Army as ‘not physically fit for war service’ and he was granted a weekly pension of 27 shillings and six pence (£1.38), as his condition was deemed aggravated by his general military service. An additional nine shillings and two pence (46p) was granted as an allowance for his two children.
He returned to live at 43 Millbrook Street, Gloucester but died on 14 November 1919, aged 44 in the Gloucester County & Civic Lunatic Asylum, evidence that his mental condition had got progressively worse. Probate records indicate that he left £96 16 shillings and 10 pence (£96.84).
Papers relating to Alfred’s service with the Royal Engineers indicate that, upon conscription, Alfred was a widower. I can find no trace of his wife’s death in UK records, for the period 1911 (the last Census) and 1916, when Alfred joined the Army. However, a search on Ancestry reveals that a Alice Hedger Lane, born in 1880, died on 7 January 1913 at Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada. Given her unusual (middle) name, the year of birth and the fact that she died within the above five year period, this is almost certainly Alfred’s wife. How or why she ended up in Canada is not known.
Alfred Lane was buried in Gloucester Old Cemetery, where a standard CWGC headstone now marks his grave.
Researched by Graham Adams 5 August 2019