L/Cp 32193 David Allister (MM)

• Age: 20
• From: Liverpool
• Regiment: 8 E LANCS REGT
• Died on Saturday 22nd September 1917
• Commemorated at: Tyne Cot Memorial
  Panel Ref: P77-79 163A

David Allister was born in 1896 in Toxteth Park Liverpool the son of David Allister and his wife Edith Mary (nee Basion). His father was born in Liverpool, and his mother in Canterbury, Kent.  They married in 1896 and had nine children. David had brothers Thomas Henry, Charles Wardle, and George, and younger sisters Edith Doris, Florence Ethel, Maud Evelyn, Esther May, and Amelia. His younger sister Edith Doris was born in 1899 but sadly died in 1900. 

The Census of 1901 finds the family living at 1 Moville Street.

His father David is aged 29 and is a hairdresser working at home on his own account. His wife Edith Mary is aged 24 and has no occupation listed. They have three children, David aged 4, born 1897, Thomas aged 3, born 1898 and their new born sister Florencewas born in 1901.

The 1911 Census shows the family of 9 are now living at 10 Briarwood Road, Aigburth.

His father, 39, is a hairdresser/employer, his mother is aged 34 and has no occupation listed.  David, 14, Thomas, 13, Florence, 10, Maud, 8, and Charles, 5, are all at school. Hester is 2 years old and Amelia 7 months.  Another son, George, was born in 1914.

David and Thomas are mentioned in the book, “Great War Railwaymen: Britain’s Railway Company Workers at War”.  Both worked at the Garston Dock railway station before enlisting, David as a labeller and Thomas as a messenger.

Thomas was admitted to the Garston branch of the National Union of Railwaymen in October 1916, age 19, grade “Telephone attend.”  A Union record for David had not been found. 

At the time of enlisting he was living at 16 Lugard Road, Aigburth.

He enlisted in Liverpool originally joining the 17th Battalion of the King's Liverpool Regiment as Private 22919. The amount of War Gratuity suggests that he enlisted around August 1915

At some point he transferred to 8th Bn of the East Lancashire Regiment reaching the rank of Lance Corporal. His service number was then 32193.

David was killed in action on 22nd September 1917, aged 20.

He was initially declared Missing and his death later presumed for official purposes as having occurred on 22nd September 1917.

His body was not recovered or was subsequently lost as he is commemorated on the Tyne Cot Memorial.

Those United Kingdom and New Zealand servicemen who died after August 16th 1917 are named on the Tyne Cot Memorial, a site which marks the furthest point reached by Commonwealth forces in Belgium until nearly the end of the war.

The Tyne Cot Memorial now bears the names of almost 35,000 officers and men whose graves are not known. The memorial, designed by Sir Herbert Baker with sculpture by Joseph Armitage and F.V. Blundstone, was unveiled by Sir Gilbert Dyett on 20 June 1927.

The memorial forms the north-eastern boundary of Tyne Cot Cemetery, which was established around a captured German blockhouse or pill-box used as an advanced dressing station.

This came just seven weeks after the family suffered the loss of his brother Thomas. He was also a Pal, serving as Private No 202908 in the 18th Battalion of The King's Liverpool Regiment, when he was killed in action during the opening stages of the Battle of Passchendaele on 31st July 1917. He has no known grave and is commemorated on the Menin Gate Memorial at Ypres, Belgium.

ALLISTER, David.  (M.M.) 

David's Military Medal was not shown  at Tyne Cot  but was gazetted 18th July 1917 on page 7275 of London Gazette (no citation) but, following representations to CWGC, the inscription was added at Tyne Cot in 1999. In reporting his death the parish magazine stated that his Military Medal had been won for holding a trench single-handed with a Lewis gun.  He had attended St Anne’s School.  

His mother Edith received his Army pay and a War Gratuity of £10, and was awarded a combined pension for both sons of 15/- from May 1918.  She was then living at 45 Lark Lane, Sefton Park, and later moved to 28 Berber Street.

His father died suddenly in 1924, aged 54, lodging at 22 Seddon Street, Garston.

In 1939 his mother, 63, is at 28 Belper Street, Gaston, with son George, 25.  She died in 1964 at the age of 87.

David and Thomas are both commemorated in -

St. Anne’s Parish Church

Liverpool’s Hall of Remembrance, Panel 16 Left (both K.L.R.) 

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

Grateful thanks are extended to Dick Daglish (RIP) for the details contained in the biography.