Pte 50652 Alfred Barnes

• Age: 21
• From: Blackpool, Lancs
• Regiment: The King's (Liverpool Regiment) 17th Btn
• D.O.W Saturday 1st June 1918
• Commemorated at: Wimereux Cc
  Panel Ref: XI.G.3.A

Alfred Arnold was born in  Kirkham (Kendal District) in the March quarter of 1897,  the son of Alfred Barnes and his wife Sarah (nee Turner). He was baptised on 03rd July 1898 also in Kirkham.

He had an older brother, John Thompson born in the September quarter of 1896. Both births were registered in the name of Turner. His parents married in 1899 after the births of sons John and Alfred 

The 1901 Census shows the family living at 3 Little Layton, Blackpool. His father, Alfred, aged 36, born in 1866 in Walton on Thames, Surrey is a railway carter, whilst his wife, Sarah, is aged 29 with no occupation listed, and was born in Lower Gornal, Staffordshire. At the time of the Census they have three children, John Turner aged 4, and Emma aged 1, were both born in Blackpool and Alfred A. Turner aged 2, born 1899 in Kirkham.

The 1911 Census shows the family are living at 15 Osbourne Street, Blackpool. His father, Alfred, is now aged 47 is still employed as carter on the railway and his mother Sarah is aged 39 she has no occupation listed. They have been married for fifteen years and have seven children. Their children are all living at the parental address, John aged 14, is an errand boy for an off-licence, Alfred aged 12 and Emma aged 11 are both at school, Eleanor aged 6, born 1905, George Herbert aged 4, born 1907, Doris aged 2, born 1909 and Harold born 1911. The Census records now show their children were all born in Blackpool. Alfred is shown as 12 years old and born in 1899, however the Census asks for an approximate year of birth and are not as reliable as other sources.  

Another son, Harry, was born in April 1915. He served in the Grenadier Guards in Africa and Italy in the Second World War, and was awarded the Military Medal  (London Gazette March 1945).

Alfred enlisted in Lancaster and was serving in the 17^th Battalion, The King’s Liverpool Regiment as Private No 50652 when he died of wounds on the 01st June 1918 aged 21. 

He now rests at Wimereux Communal Cemetery, France.

Wimereux was the headquarters of the Queen Mary's Army Auxilliary Corps during the First World War and in 1919 it became the General Headquarters of the British Army. From October 1914 onwards, Boulogne and Wimereux formed an important hospital centre and until June 1918, the medical units at Wimereux used the communal cemetery for burials, the south-eastern half having been set aside for Commonwealth graves, although a few burial were also made among the civilian graves. By June 1918, this half of the cemetery was filled, and subsequent burials from the hospitals at Wimereux were made in the new military cemetery at Terlincthun. During the Second World War, British Rear Headquarters moved from Boulogne to Wimereux for a few days in May 1940, prior to the evacuation of the British Expeditionary Force from Dunkirk. Thereafter, Wimereux was in German hands and the German Naval Headquarters were situated on the northern side of the town. After D-Day, as Allied forces moved northwards, the town was shelled from Cap Griz-Nez, and was re-taken by the Canadian 1st Army on 22 September 1944. Wimereux Communal Cemetery contains 2,847, Commonwealth burials of the First World War, two of them unidentified. Buried among them is Lt.-Col. John McCrae, author of the poem "In Flanders Fields." There are also five French and a plot of 170 German war graves. The cemetery also contains 14 Second World War burials, six of them unidentified. The Commonwealth section was designed by Charles Holden.

Soldiers Effects to father Alfred and mother Sarah, Pension to Sarah, 15 Osbourne Street, Blackpool

Alfred is commemorated on the Blackpool War Memorial.

His father died in Blackpool in the June quarter of 1938, aged 72.

His mother died in Blackpool in the March quarter of 1945 aged 72.  

We currently have no further information on Alfred Barnes, If you have or know someone who may be able to add to the history of this soldier, please contact us.