Pte 48450 Albert Charles Kirk

Albert Charles was born in Toxteth Park, Liverpool on 28th February 1885, the eldest son of Samuel Kirk and his wife Ann Jane (née Black).  His parents, both from Toxteth, married in 1882 and had seven children.  Albert had younger siblings Alfred, Margaret, Arthur, Lilian, Nora, and Frederick. 

 

In 1891 the family, with four children, is living at 18 Leonora Street, Toxteth Park.  His father is a coal merchant, Albert is 6.

 

They are at the same address in 1901. His father, 48, is a coal dealer, working on his own account, his mother is 45, Albert is 16, working as an office boy, Alfred, 13, is a milk boy, Margaret is 11, Arthur 10, Lillian 8, Nora 5, and Frederick 2. 

His father died in 1903.

 

Albert is found on crew lists in 1903, age 18, address 18 Leonora Street, as assistant 2nd class cabin steward on board the “Lake Erie” (Canadian Pacific), and in 1906 and 1907 as a waiter on the “Saxonia” and “Carmania” (Cunard). 

He is away at sea for the 1911 Census, while his widowed mother Ann Jane, 54, is living at 16 Roxburgh Avenue, Aigburth, Liverpool, with Arthur 20, Nora 15 and Frederick 12. Arthur is a ship steward with Lamport & Holt.  She states that one of the seven children has died.

 

In the summer of 1911 Albert married  Lilian Martha Wilson at West Derby Register Office.  Their daughter Mabel was born on 17th January 1912.  Lilian died, aged 27, in early February 1912 apparently from complications in childbirth. She was buried in a public grave in Toxteth Park Cemetery on 14th February.  

Albert is found as an assistant steward on the “Empress of Britain” (Canadian Pacific),his address given as 27 Rosslyn Street, Liverpool, which sailed from Liverpool on 23rd February 1912.  His daughter was baptised as Mabel Lilian at St. Michael in the Hamlet Church, Toxteth, after the death of her mother, on 25th February 1912, parents Albert and Lilian, address 27 Rosslyn Street, father’s occupation steward.  His mother took care of Mabel after her mother died.

 

Albert married again to Edith Emily Kermode on 05th April 1915 at St. Silas Church, Toxteth Park, both were aged 30, his occupation steward, and address 7 Kimmel Street.  Their son Harold Albert was born on 30th August 1917.  It is probable that Albert never saw his son. 

 

As his service record has not survived, the details are not known. However, the medal roll shows that Albert enlisted as Private 48450, joining the 20th (Pals) Battalion of The King’s Liverpool Regiment.  Based on the amount of the War Gratuity, he enlisted in about November 1916.  He subsequently served in the 1/9th K.L.R. before finally being transferred to the 12th Battalion of K.L.R., in all probability after being wounded.

 

Albert’s name appeared in the list of Wounded published in the Liverpool Daily Post on 18th September 1917.  He apparently recovered, and by the end of November 1917 the 12th battalion was in the front line at St. Waast, northeast of Cambrai near the Belgian border. 

The Battalion War Diary for 02nd December 1917 records:

 

Albert died of wounds on 02nd December 1917. 

 

SDGW records his death in France or Flanders, but Soldiers’ Effects lists Germany.  

 

A search of International Red Cross POW records reveals an enquiry made by his next of kin, his wife Mrs. Edith Kirk, 24 Menzies Street, Liverpool.  ICRC records show date of birth 28/2/84 [sic], and show him in D Company as well as H Company.  An entry states, “Reported killed in France on 2/12/1917 but his platoon sergt declares that he last saw him surrounded by Germans”.  German records show Albert died on 03rd  December 1917 of a “shot wound in chest” at a field hospital in Quiévy and was buried in the graveyard there, in grave 15.  Quiévy Communal Cemetery Extension, 15 km east of Cambrai, was originally created by the Germans and continued by Commonwealth forces after the capture of the village in October 1918. 

The extension contains 89 Commonwealth and 102 German graves. Albert’s is the only King's Liverpool Regiment grave in the cemetery.

 

His widow Edith, living at 24 Menzies Street, Dingle, Liverpool, received Albert’s effects, including a War Gratuity of £5, and a pension of £1-5s-5d for herself and two children. She later lived at 36 Barclay Street, Liverpool.

 

Albert was initially listed as missing, and news of his fate did not reach his family for several months. 

Edith placed an In Memoriam notice in the Liverpool Post & Mercury on 17th April 1918:

       

His mother died in 1924, aged 67, living at 27 Rosslyn Street.

 

His daughter Mabel married in 1938 and in 1939 was living at 8 The Elms, Peel Street, Liverpool, with her husband, in-laws, and son Kenneth. She died in 1995.

 

Albert is commemorated on the following Memorials:

St. Michael’s in the Hamlet with St. Andrews Church, Liverpool 

Hall of Remembrance, Liverpool Town Hall, Panel 67.