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Albert was born in Beverley on 28 Jun 1889 and baptised on 5 Mar 1890 at St Nicholas' church in the town. He was killed in action in France on 28 Sep 1914 and was amongst the earliest of Beverley's wartime casualties.
Albert was one of eleven children born to Robert Haldenby and his wife Elizabeth (nee Foster). Robert was originally from Brantingham but was well known in Beverley since he had spent 26 years in the Beverley Police Force, reaching the ranks of sergeant and inspector. The family had lived on Trinity Grove but upon Robert's retirement they moved into Hull. Not very much is known of Albert's early life but in 1906 he joined the regular army, becoming a private in the 2nd Battalion of the Coldstream Guards. He joined the Reserve after seven years’ service and was recalled to the colours upon the outbreak of war in Aug 1914. He married in the early summer of 1913, Violet Harriet Harvey, born in Warwick in 1888, daughter of a labourer. She had been working in London as a waitress for many years. The couple moved back to Hull and lived at 1 Brooklyn Avenue, Perth St, after Albert joined the Reserve. Violet was pregnant when Albert left for war and sadly their son, Albert died shortly after birth in Dec 1914. His widow migrated to Canada in 1916 and married widower Emile Grosse in Toronto in 1917.
Albert arrived in France on 26 Aug 1914. The 2nd Coldstream Guards were amongst the first British troops to arrive in France. Albert was killed in action at Chavonne in the Aisne region of France, to the NW of Paris on 28 September 1914. It was on the Aisne that British troops were told to entrench to protect themselves from German artillery and machine guns and from 27 September 1914 trench mortars and hand and rifle grenades. The British action curtailed the German advance but began the process of stalemate and trench warfare on the Western Front. Albert is buried at the Vailly British Cemetery on the Aisne. He was awarded the 1914 Star as well as the War and Victory Medals. An uncorroborated report in the Hull Daily Mail of 23 Oct 1914 stated that he had been recommended for a VC: he and two others had ventured out in a mist to assist comrades, and when the mist suddenly lifted, had come under heavy fire. Albert is not remembered on the Hengate Memorial nor the East Riding Memorial in Beverley Minster. His brother, L-Corp. Arthur Robert Haldenby, born in Beverley in 1887, was also a regular in the Coldstream Guards and was seriously wounded in action in the autumn of 1914 and discharged from the army on 13 Jan 1915.
Includes photograph, information taken from census, military records, Commonwealth War Graves, newspapers |