There are two Albert Cartwrights on the Hanmer Memorial. This one was known as Bertie.
Albert (Bertie) Cartwright was born in 1898. He was recorded in the census of 1901 living with his family at Whitwell Lane, Isycoed. Head of the household was Edward aged 30. He was a Farm Waggoner. His wife Elizabeth was 36. Their listed children were Edward 10, Robert 8, John 5, Albert 3, Frank 10 months. 50 year old Sarah Elliot – Edward’s sister was also in the household.
The next census of 1911 records the family at Drury Lane Tybroughton, Hanmer. Edward was 40 and his wife of 21 years , Elizabeth was 47. She had given birth to 8 children all of whom were living. All the children were listed on the census form originally but the four eldest had been crossed out. Edward 20, Robert 18 and John 16 were crossed out and a note beside their names said “Mistake. Three living out”. The fourth child – Albert was 13 and was at school but his name was also crossed out. It is possible that his name should not have been deleted. It has not proved possible yet to locate him anywhere else on the census. The remaining children in the household were Frank 11, Ethel 7, Ernest 5 and William 2.
Albert’s Army Service records have survived and are accessible on www.ancestry.co.uk They give us some details about his military history. He signed up on the 22nd May 1916, when he completed the Attestation process at Whitchurch. The form gives his address as ‘The Farm’ Tybroughton, Whitchurch. He was 18 years and 7 months old and was a ‘Cowman’. He gave his father’s name as his next of kin. He was allocated at that time to the Army Reserve.
On the 8th November 1916 he attended a medical examination at Wrexham. The medical report tells us he was then 19 years and 1 month old. He was 5 feet 4 inches tall and weighed 126 lbs. His physical development and vision were good. He was appointed to the 3rd Battalion of the Welsh regiment on the 12th June 1917 and was Private 60305. He was posted on the 13th June 1917. He served initially at home in Britain.
He was posted as part of the Egyptian Expeditionary Force in October 1917 and embarked from Devonport on the 22nd. He disembarked in Alexandria on the 8th November 1917 and was posted to his battalion 3 days later. He was killed in action on the 11th November 1917 in Palestine. He had served for 1 year and 186 days ‘at home’ and 64 days in the Egyptian Expeditionary Force.
The Army Service Records includes correspondence from the War Office to his regiment about sending any personal effects and medals to Albert’s father as next of Kin. There is also a receipt signed by Albert’s father, for a commemorative scroll. There is a letter from Albert himself to the Medical Recruiting Board and their reply arranging the medical examination referred to earlier. There is a form which lists Albert’s living relatives in 1919 but it is very difficult to decipher because it has faded so much.
There is an index card for Albert in The Flintshire Roll of Honour at The County Record Office in Hawarden. This says he was in the 4th Battalion of the Welsh Regiment and it confirms the other regimental details as above. The card was signed by a J Huxley in 1919.
Three of Albert’s brothers, Edward, Robert and John all served in the war and survived. They are pictured below.
Bertie has no known grave but is remembered on the Jerusalem memorial Panels 30 to 32, on the Hanmer War Memorial and amazingly, in a remote bus shelter on the Whitchurch Road in Tybroughton along with the other Albert Cartwright.
