10th Battalion, Gloucestershire Regiment
Albert Edward Cornock was born at Wotton-underEdge in the second quarter of 1878. He was the son of John and Hannah Cornock. On 2 August 1903 he married Bessie Carter at St Mary’s Church and the couple went on to have eight children, all girls except the youngest, Albert Edward, born in 1915.
The 1911 census shows Albert and family living at Potters Pond, The Saw Mill Yard, Wotton-under- Edge and Albert’s occupation as ‘general labourer’.
Albert enlisted in the Army on 13 November 1914 and was given the service number of 15531 and posted to the 10th Battalion of the Gloucestershire Regiment. He stated his occupation to be a labourer. His address was Silver Street, Synwell, Wotton-under-Edge.
He went to France with the battalion on 9 August 1915 and served there until 1 January 1917: his principal role being that of stretcher bearer. On 5 December 1916 he was diagnosed as having tuberculosis in his left lung and this resulted in his repatriation, where he initially spent time in Wharncliffe Hospital, Sheffield.
He was discharged for the Army on 8 February 1917, as being physically unfit for war service. He applied for and was granted an Army pension, his condition considered to be not due to but aggravated by military service. He did receive a Silver War Badge.
For the next two years Albert suffered from poor health. On 5 November 1918 his eldest child, Lucy, died at the age of 15. His final days were spent at Cranham Sanatorium, Gloucestershire, where he died of tuberculosis on 9 April 1919, age 40. He was buried in St Mary’s Churchyard at Wotton-under-Edge and a standard CWGC headstone now marks his grave. His family chose the inscription ‘Greater love hath no man’.
Researched by Graham Adams (from original research by Bill Griffiths) 15 January 2012