Pte. Alfred Hale – father and son

During this month of remembrance I will be telling the stories of those buried in Radnor Street Cemetery who died as a result of their military service.

The Commonwealth War Graves headstone on grave plot C3653 commemorates two military heroes who served in not only the Great War but in the South African campaign as well.

Alfred Hale born in c1869 in Enford, Wiltshire was about 17 years old when he enlisted with the Wiltshire Regiment in 1886. Having served for 7 years he was transferred to the Reservist List. In 1894 he married Mary Jane Paradise at the church of St. Mary the Virgin, Devizes. He was recalled to serve in 1898 and again in 1900. (A son born that same year was named Frederick William Mafeking). He was discharged and added to the Reservist List in 1902. Having received the Queen’s South African Medal with clasps he might have expected that this was the end of his military career. However, in September 1914 he was recalled to serve yet again, by then he was 44 years old.

Perhaps Mary Jane was used to being a soldier’s wife. Perhaps she never expected her husband would return from that terrible war in South Africa. But the outbreak of the Great War in 1914 must have brought a whole new level of worry when her eldest son Alfred enlisted and her husband was recalled.

3655 Pte Alfred Hale was discharged unfit to serve on September 25, 1916. He had cataracts in both eyes. His medical records state that his condition was not the result of and not aggravated by his military service and that an operation was advised. Alfred returned to his home at 163 Beatrice Street, Gorse Hill. He died at the London Hospital on November 7, 1919 aged 49. He was buried in grave plot C3653 on November 13, 1919.

200214 Pte Alfred Hale, aged 24 was serving in Israel and Palestine when he died from pneumonia on February 21, 1919. He was buried in Ramleh War Cemetery. He left £30 11s 11d to his mother, which included a War Gratuity of £26 10s.

Father and son are both remembered on a CWG headstone. The inscription reads:

3655 Private A. Hale

Wiltshire Regiment

7th November 1919 Aged 49

Also in memory of his son

200214 Pte A. Hale

Wiltshire Regiment

21.2.1919

Sharing the grave with Alfred is Mary Jane, his wife, who died in 1958 aged 85 years old. The inscription reads ‘Rest After Weariness.’ Buried with them is their son Frederick William Mafeking who died in 1953 and George Saloway, their daughter’s husband, who died in 1954.

Tell them of Us by Mark Sutton