Corporal 21732 Alec Nelson Joyce

 

In 1891 his mother and all seven children are living at 2 Keown’s Lane, Peel.  His father is not listed in the household.  Alex is listed as ‘Alice N.’, age 1.

 

By 1901 his parents have moved to Liverpool, living at 104 Alt Street, Toxteth Park. Joseph, 51, a miller, and Mary, 49, have their four sons at home:  Frank, 21, is a confectioner, Thomas, 18, is a joiner’s mate,  Walter, 13, and Alex, 11, are at school.  Daughters Lydia, Emily, and Jessie remained in the Isle of Man.

 

In 1911 they are still at 104 Alt Street. His father is a miller, Thomas, 28, is a cable (joiner?) for a telephone company, sister Jessie, 25, is at home, Walter, 23, and Alex, 20, are hairdressers.  

 

Alec Nelson Joyce enlisted in Liverpool on 24th November 1914 as Private 21732, joining the 19th (Pals) Battalion of The King’s Liverpool Regiment, giving his age as 24 years and 184 days, and his occupation as hair dresser.  He is described as being 5’ 7 and three quarter inches tall, weighing 134 lbs, with hazel eyes, brown hair, and a scar on his left eye. He gives his religion as C of E and, as his next of kin, his father Joseph, at 104 Alt Street, Princes Park. 

Formed on 07^th September 1914 the 19^th Battalion trained locally at Sefton Park and remained living at home or in rented accommodation until November 1914. They then moved to the hutted accommodation at Lord Derby’s estate at Knowsley Hall. On 30th April 1915 the 19th Battalion alongside the other three Pals battalions left Liverpool via Prescot Station for further training at Belton Park, Grantham. They remained here until September 1915 when they reached Larkhill Camp on Salisbury Plain.

His service record survives and shows -
 

16/9/1915 Appointed unpaid Lance Corporal
 

15/10/1915 Appointed paid Lance Corporal 

 

Alex shipped to France with his battalion on 07th November 1915.

In the new year the Pals battalions take up position in the south of the Somme line near Carnoy. 

 

04/3/1916 To Casualty Clearing Station with influenza

14/3/1916 Rejoined unit

(1/7/1916 Battle of the Somme begins)

07/8/1916 Appointed acting Corporal

01/9/1916 to Field Ambulance/ C.R.S., I.C.T. legs

11/9/1916 Rejoined unit

02/12/1916 Granted leave to U.K.

17/12/1916 Returned from leave

09/4/1917 Wounded

09/4/1917 Reverts to L/Cpl Paid on ceasing to perform duties of Corporal

10/4/1917 To C.C.S., shell shock, admitted to hospital

29/4/1917 Rejoined unit in the field

29/4/1917 Appointed Acting Corporal, paid

15/5/1917 Confirmed in rank at Willencourt, France

29/7/1917 To Field Ambulance, sick/sprained right ankle

31/7/1917 Admitted to hospital, Etaples

07/8/1917 Promoted to Corporal

11/8/1917 Evacuated to U.K. on Hospital Ship ‘Stad Antwerpen’

11/8/1917 Evington Military Hospital, Leicester, 25 days in hospital, discharged 5/9/1917

15/9/1917 Posted to Prescot Command 

26/9/1917 Posted to 3rd (Garrison) Bn at Victoria Barracks, Cork, Ireland

February 1918 Requested transfer to King’s Africa Rifles as Instructor

June 1918 Posted to Infantry Base Depot

13/6/1918 Embarked at Folkestone for Boulogne

20/6/1918 Posted to 2/6th Bn K.L.R. (Liverpool Rifles)

 

Alec was killed in action on 01st September 1918 during the Hundred Days Offensive, the Allied push that eventually ended the war. He was 28 years old.  

He now rests at Queant Road Cemetery, Buissy, France.

 

Buissy was reached by the Third Army on 2 September 1918, after the storming of the Drocourt-Queant line, and it was evacuated by the Germans on the following day. Queant Cemetery was made by the 2nd and 57th Casualty Clearing Stations in October and November 1918. It then consisted of 71 graves (now Plot I, Rows A and B), but was greatly enlarged after the Armistice when 2200 graves were brought in from the battlefields of 1917-1918 between Arras and Bapaume, and from other smaller burial grounds in the area. 

 

1,441 of the burials are unidentified, but there are special memorials to 56 casualties known or believed to be buried among them. Other special memorials commemorate 26 casualties buried in German cemeteries in the neighbourhood, whose graves could not be found on concentration. The cemetery was designed by Sir Edwin Lutyens.

 

Alec is commemorated on the following memorials -