MY WAR DEAD
Albert Henry Anstead was born in Fulham, London, towards the end of 1892, being the second son of Charles William Anstead, a house painter, and his wife who was born Jessie Curtis. He was baptied at St John the Evangelist church, Hammersmith, on 19th February 1893. Before the war, Albert worked at the United University Club in Pall Mall, London, being employed there as a waiter at the time of the 1911 census, as was his brother Charles.
Albert's service record shows that he enlisted on 8th September 1914, and was posted to the 10th Battalion of the Rifle Brigade at Winchester on the following day. He received rapid promotion, being appointed acting Corporal on 10th October, Corporal on 15th November and Sergeant in February 1915. He was sent to Boulogne, France, to join the British Expeditionary Force on 21/22 July 1915, received a gunshot wound to the abdomen on 27th March 1916 and died on the following day at 10 Casualty Clearing Station, aged just 23. He is buried at the Lijssenthoek Military Cemetery in Belgium, a few miles from the Ypres battlefields.
Albert was not married and was survived by his parents and his only sibling, brother Charles, who also served in the war and became a sergeant in the Kings' Royal Rifle Corps. Albert was posthumously awarded the British War Medal, Victory Medal and 1914-15 Star. He left an informal 'Soldier's Will', dated 26th July 1915, in which he bequeathed the whole of his property and effects to "mother".
Albert Henry Anstead was my 4th cousin, twice removed.