Royal Army Service Corps
Albert Ernest Loveridge was born in Gloucester in 1886. According to the Commonwealth War Graves Commission (CWGC) ‘Debt of Honour’ register his parents were George William who was a chemist and Harriet Helen Loveridge, however, it has not proved possible to discover any more details of the family.
Albert married Mabel Annie Walton at All Saints’ Church, Gloucester on 31 May 1909 and she is listed as his next of kin in all of his Army service related papers. The entry in the marriage register indicates that Albert’s father was deceased at the time of the marriage. There is also another indicator that his parents may have died early in his life, as he 1891 Census return shows him, aged five, as a ‘boarder’ with a family called Redall in Hucclecote.
At the time of the 1911 Census Albert and Mabel lived in Gloucester at 6 Stanley Cottages, Barton Street. Albert’s occupation was shown as a Baker.
Their first child, Helen Daisy, was born on 3 April 1911 and a son, William Edgar, followed on 19 August 1912. A second daughter, Doris Ethel May, arrived on 9 April 1914 and a further son named Frederick G on 16 September 1917.
Very unusually Army Service and Pension records have survived for Albert, which provide details of his military career. He attested for military service, for the duration of the war, at Gloucester on 18 January 1915.
He stated his age to be 29 years and five months, his occupation as a Baker, with no previous military service and that he was married and living at 13 Dainty Street, Gloucester.
He indicated a preference for the Supply Section of the Army Service Corps (ASC). Supporting his attestation as a letter from Priday, Metford & Co Ltd, City Flour Mills, Gloucester, confirming that he had been employed by them at Victoria Street Bakery, since February 1914.
He was initially posted to the ASC at Aldershot and as made up from Private to Acting Corporal on 13 March 1915. On 24 July 1915 he embarked from Southampton for France, landing at Le Havre on the following day, where he was assigned to 18th Field Bakery.
There was one Field Bakery assigned to each Infantry Division and it consisted of 92 men under the command of one officer. A Field Bakery could produce sufficient bread to feed 20,000 men. They were located well away from the front lines, at places such as Rouen, Abbeville, St Omer and
Hazebrook.
On 10 September 1915 Albert reverted to the rank of Private, at his own request (reason unknown). He was granted ‘special leave’ to return home for the period 7 to 13 February 1916. Possibly this was to visit his eldest daughter, Daisy, who was seriously ill with pulmonary tuberculosis. She died from this and related broncho-pneumonia at the Royal Infirmary, Gloucester on 6 April 1916.
Albert never returned to his unit in France. On the final day of his leave, 13 February, he was admitted to the Red Cross Hospital, Gloucester complaining of giddiness, headaches, pain in the back and palpitations.
He was placed on the strength of the ASC headquarters and examined by an Army medical board. They deemed him as ‘being no longer physically fit for military service’ and he was discharged from the Army on 28 July 1916. He was considered to be of ‘good character’, awarded a Silver War Badge (to denote discharge from military service) and a pension of five shillings (25p) per week, his condition being seen as having been aggravated by military service.
In total his Army career had lasted one year and 193 days. His medical condition was reviewed six monthly up until his death, aged 33, at home at 13 Dainty Street, on 18 February 1919. The exact cause of death is not known but probably related to an underlying cardiac condition.
He was buried in Gloucester Old Cemetery in a private plot. Over the years the stonework and inscription deteriorated and the CWGC one of their standard headstones on the grave. He is also commemorated on Gloucester War memorial where, erroneously, he is shown as ‘A R Loveridge’.
Following his death Mabel was awarded a widow’s pension of 25 shillings and 5 pence (now £1.27) per week to cover herself and the two surviving children present at the time of his discharge. She never remarried and died in Gloucester in 1961.
Researched by Graham Adams 9 August 2019