| Description | Work completed by volunteer includes the following information:
Albert was born in Beverley the 1 Feb 1886 and baptised at Beverley Minster the 23 Mar 1886, one of five children born to tanner’s labourer, Thomas Lewis (1861-1924) and his wife Catherine (1862-1931). Both came from farming backgrounds but by the 1890s had moved into Beverley, living at Providence Row, Wilbert Lane; Beckside, and then at 19 Cherry Tree Lane.
Albert worked at the Hodgson’s tannery as an assistant boilerman (“boiler attendant”). On 21 Jun 1913 he married Ethel Hornsey at Beverley Register Office. Ethel was born in the Skirlaugh area in 1890, the daughter of an agricultural machine maker. She was living in Hornsea before her marriage. Their son Fred was born in Beverley in 1917. They lived at 21 Trinity Lane.
Albert joined the army on 21 Jan 1917, he was with the 1st/5th East Yorkshire Regiment (Cyclists) and was posted to France on 30 Jul 1917. He was wounded and taken off front line duties, he joined the 737th Area Employment Company of the Labour Corps whose role was to support the frontline soldiers, involved in sanitation and bathing work, cooking, laundry, tailoring, stores, and salvage. He remained with them for the duration of the war. In 1918 he contracted influenza, admitted to the 42nd Casualty Clearing Station, he died on 25 Nov 1918, aged 32, two weeks after the end of the fighting. He is buried at Douai British Cemetery, France.
He was awarded the War and Victory Medals and is Commemorated on the Hengate Memorial and on the Hodgson’s Roll of Honour.
Albert’s widow was awarded a pension and moved to the Goodmanham area, near Market Weighton. On 5 Jan 1919, Fred died aged 2. Catherine remarried in 1926, to Harold Ake, and moved to the Old Ellerby area, where she died in 1973.
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