Lance Corporal Albert Edward Knight
| Date of Birth | c. 1888 |
|---|---|
| Age at Death | 30 |
| Date of Death | 2 August 1918 |
| Service Number | G/11792 |
| Military Service | 1st Battalion East Kent Regiment |
| Merton Address | 56 High Street, Colliers Wood |
| Local Memorial | Mitcham War Memorial |
Additional Information
Albert was born in Mitcham around April 1888, to Alfred Edward and Julia Knight. His father worked as a packer in a varnish factory, and later became a paint and enamel maker.
Albert was the youngest of three children, with a much older sibling who had already moved out by the time of the 1901 census, and a sister, Edith, who was only three years older, and worked as a packer in a laundry. The family lived in a four room house at 6 Spring Garden, Mitcham. Albert had a job as a printer’s messenger when he was only 12, and later became an enamel maker, like his father.
His wife, Ethel Rose Baker, who he married on the 2 November, 1913 at Tooting Parish Church, was the daughter of a painter, so perhaps that’s how they met.
Albert enlisted in Kingston on the 22 May, 1916. At the time, he was living with his family at 56 High Street, Colliers Wood, and working as a labourer. He was 5’9” and 138 pounds, with a scar under his jaw. He had a daughter, Winifred May, at the time, who was born on the 19 May, 1914; sadly, he never met his son, Albert Edward, who was born on the 30 October, 1918 (presumably conceived when Albert was home on leave), a few months after Albert (Sr)’s death.
He was mobilized on the 12 August, 1916, and made lance corporal on the 13 May, 1918. He was killed in action, in August of that year, in Flanders.