Rifleman Albert Henry Ayling
| Date of Birth | 8th June 1894 |
|---|---|
| Age at Death | 21 |
| Date of Death | 8 August 1915 |
| Service Number | S/7355 |
| Military Service | 7th Battalion Rifle Brigade |
| Merton Address | |
| Local Memorial | Mitcham War Memorial |
Additional Information
Born in Mitcham on 8th June 1895, Albert Henry Ayling was the son of Anthony and Clara Ayling. In 1901 he was living at 44 Leonard Road, Mitcham with his parents, sisters Mary Jane (8) and Rose Violet (4) and brother John (2). His father was a bricklayer’s labourer. By 1911 the family were still living in Leonard Road, which was on the border between Mitcham and Streatham. Albert was now working as a greengrocer’s assistant and he had another brother, Edward. By January 1914 he was working for UK Railway as a carriage cleaner at New Cross station.
Albert enlisted as a private into the 7th Battalion Rifle Brigade(C Coy). The 7th battalion was formed on 21.08.1914 at Winchester as part of Kitchener’s First New Army (K1). On 20.05.1915 it mobilised for war and landed at Boulogne. For the next few weeks it engaged in various actions on the Western front including the German gas attack at Hooge on 30th July 1915.
According to an entry by Neil Forbes on the BBC remembrance wall dated 8 November 2008 Albert “ received a gunshot wound to the head on about 4th August 1915 and was dangerously ill at the Liverpool Merchants Hospital, Etaples" before passing away there on 8th August 1915 aged 21 years. His wife Louisa Ayling gave birth to a son in Betchworth, Surrey, England on the very day that Bert died. The baby was named Albert Henry Ayling after his father.”
Albert is buried in the cemetery at Etaples in France (Plot II Row A Grave 39A). He is remembered on the Mitcham War Memorial.