Albert Boarder

Family and Home ^{1, 2, 3, 4}

Albert Edward Boarder was born in Hudnall, the youngest of the four children of Edwin Boarder and Sarah née Pearson.

His oldest sister Lizzie, born in 1879, died of consumption aggravated by measles when she was nine years old; she was buried in Little Gaddesden churchyard on 17th February 1889. His sister Annie was born in 1880 and his brother William in 1884.

In the 1891 Census, the family lived at 1 Hudnall. Annie, 10 and William, 6, were Scholars; Albert was an infant aged 2 months.

Education ³

On 9th April 1895, Albert entered Little Gaddesden School as a 4 year old Infant. He left school with a Certificate of Attendance on 8th July 1904 when he was almost 13½ years old.

Employment ⁴

In the 1911 Census, Albert, a 20 year old Farm Labourer, lived at home at 1 Hudnall with his parents.

Military Service

We have no details of Albert’s service in the 3rd Bn. Bedfordshire Regiment, which is known only from the Roll of Honour. It was a ‘Reserve’ battalion which served around Harwich and Felixstowe, providing home defence and training men for front line units. If Albert remained in that Battalion, he will have no medal record. He may have transferred to another unit (there was an Albert Edward Boarder in the Royal Welch Fusiliers) but we cannot prove that man was ‘our’ Albert.

Men who have answered their country’s call in defence of a “Scrap of Paper”

Albert Boarder is named on the Roll of Honour, which hangs in St Peter & St Paul’s Church, Little Gaddesden and lists 119 men from Little Gaddesden, Ringshall and Hudnall who served in the 1914 – 1918 War. His entry records him serving in the 3rd Bn. Bedfordshire Regiment. He is similarly shown on the Centenary Revision of the Roll.

Rolls of Honour photos: Jane Dickson, Michael Carver

Return Home and Marriage ^{3, 4, 5, 6}

In Autumn 1919, Albert is shown on the Electoral Register at 1 Hudnall with his parents. He returned to work as a Farm Labourer, employed by George Stanbridge at Church Farm, Little Gaddesden. Albert lived with his parents until the 3rd Quarter of 1922, when he married Leonora Bessie Waterton.

From 1923 to 1926 their address was 38 Ashridge Park, now part of Cherry Tree Cottage, Alderton Drive. However, from 1927 to 1930, Electoral Registers again record Albert at 1 Hudnall with his parents. His mother died in 1929 and his father in 1932; they are both buried in Little Gaddesden churchyard.

The Second World War ^{7, 9, 10}

The 1939 Register shows Albert, a Garden Labourer, living with Thomas (Sid) and Lucy Batchelor at 3 Council Cottages, now Chapel Close, Hudnall Lane. He was divorced, which may explain his move back to 1 Hudnall in 1927. In 1939 his former wife Leonora was a hospital patient at Cholsey near Wallingford.

In May 1940, Albert volunteered for the Home Guard, first known as the Local Defence Volunteers; he is named on P.C. Parker’s hand-written list as an original member of No. 3 Section, based at the Golf Club.

Other First World War veterans who were members of the No 5, Little Gaddesden, Platoon of B Company, 7^th Hertfordshire Battalion, Home Guard included: Walter Bunn, Donald Goodman, Horace Halsey, Joe Hing, Harry Hucklesby, Sidney (Jubal) Jones, John Mayling, Arthur Maunders, William Newman (father of Billy Newman), Edwin Purton, Reginald Purton, Frank Rogers and Edward Saunders.

The Platoon also contained young men, most of whom were subsequently called up for military service. Among these were George Halsey, son of Horace Halsey; Leonard Hing son of Lewis Hing; Raymond Hing, son of Joe Hing; Fred Hucklesby, son of Harry Hucklesby; Fred Liberty, son of George Liberty; John Oakins son of Steve Oakins; Gordon and Maurice Purton sons of Reginald Purton and Arthur Whitman son of James Whitman and named after his uncle Arthur Whitman.

The Platoon’s first Commander was Major James Neville Gray, K.C., D.S.O., father of Duncan Gray and in 1941, the Battalion’s Adjutant and Quartermaster was William O’Kelly.

Death ⁸

Albert later moved to 61 High Street, Berkhamsted. However, he died, aged 69, in St Paul’s Hospital, Hemel Hempstead on 19th February 1960. The cause of his death was carcinoma of the stomach and chronic rheumatoid arthritis. Leonora was then living in Woolwich; her death was registered in Greenwich in 1978.

References

1. https://www.findmypast.co.uk England & Wales births 1837-2006 Transcriptions

2. Little Gaddesden School Log Books 1887 – 1906

3. Little Gaddesden Burial Register 1813 – 1980

4. https://www.findmypast.co.uk 1891 – 1921 England, Wales & Scotland Census Transcriptions

5. https://www.findmypast.co.uk Electoral Registers 1832 – 1932

6. https://www.findmypast.co.uk England & Wales marriages 1837-2005 Transcriptions

7. https://www.ancestry.co.uk The 1939 Register

8. https://www.findmypast.co.uk England & Wales Deaths 1837-2007 and copy of the Death Certificate

9. Police Constable Parker’s list of Little Gaddesden’s Local Defence Volunteers, compiled in May 1940

10. Brock, Capt. Alan St H (ed), (1945?) 7th Hertfordshire Battalion Home Guard. A History of the Battalion 1940-4