TOPIC:

Alfred Emsley was the archetypal British Tommy. He served for a total of 12 years with the East Lancashire Regiment which took him to both India and South Africa and then, having "served his time" still wanted to do his bit in WWI.

Alfred Henry Emsley

Private, East Lancashire Regiment – Indian Campaign 1895 & Anglo Boer War

- India General Service Medal with clasp Relief of Chitral 1895 to 3115 Pte. A. Emsley, 1st. Bn., E. Lanc. Regt.
- Queens South Africa Medal with clasps Cape Colony, Orange Free State & Johannesburg to 3115 Pte. A.Emsley, E. Lanc. Regt.

Alfred Emsley was born in Leeds, Yorkshire in January 1871 the son of James Edward Emsley and his wife Elizabeth. Our first glimpse of him comes courtesy of the 1881 England census when a 9 year old Alfred was resident at 14 Grimsby Street, Leeds together with his 47 year old widowed mother and younger siblings Edward (7) and Walter (2). That Mrs Emsley had these children reasonably late in life can be surmised by their young ages in relation to her own.

Life for the family without the male breadwinner couldn’t have been easy and it was small wonder then that Alfred sought the first opportunity he got to enlist for service in the army. This would provide him with a regular income and food on the table which was probably in short supply at home. On the 12th January 1891 he completed the Attestation Forms for 7 years with the Colours and 5 years with the Reserve at Barnsley and after a medical examination found him Fit for the Army, was assigned no. 3115 and the rank of Private with the East Lancashire Regiment.

Describing himself as a Boatman by occupation Emsley was 20 years old and claimed to have undergone Militia training with the 3rd Battalion, East Lancs. Regiment. Physically he was short even for the period coming in at 5 feet 3 ½ inches with a fresh complexion, grey eyes and brown hair. Emsley was to spend 273 days on home soil before shipping out to India with his regiment on 2 October 1891. In total he was based in the East Indies for 6 years and 67 days; until 28 February 1896 in India and until 17 December 1897 in Burma before the regiment received orders to return to England which they did at the end of 1897. Whilst in India they were called upon to form part of the relief party to rescue the besieged Chitral garrison high up in the mountains of what is now Pakistan. By all accounts the East Lancs played a relatively minor role in the conflict as part of the Lines of Communication Battalions.

Emsley had been promoted to Lance Corporal on 27 July 1895 followed by elevation to full Corporal’s rank on 30 March 1898 but this went horribly wrong on 1 January 1899 whilst stationed at home when he was placed in confinement and tried and sentenced by a Regional Court Martial to be reduced to the ranks. The nature of his offence is not documented on his papers. A few months later in the very same year, on 7 August 1899, he wed Mary Elizabeth Gill a 21 year old spinster from 8 All Saints Place in Leeds. Just prior to this, in March 1899, Emsley had been transferred to the A Reserve at his own request as a direct outcome of his reduction to the ranks.

This period of military inactivity was to be short-lived; the Boers in far away South Africa had other ideas and, in October 1899 declared war on Britain. Emsley, so recently retired, was recalled to Army Service on 18 December 1899 and sailed with the 1st battalion to South Africa aboard the Bavarian on about the 18th January 1900 arriving at the Cape about the 3rd February. Along with the 2nd Cheshire, 2nd South Wales Borderers, and 2nd North Staffordshire, they formed the 15th Brigade under Major General A G Wavell, and part of the VIIth Division under Lieutenant General Tucker.

The battalion was said to have done well at Karee Siding on 29th March 1900. They lost that day 5 men killed and 14 wounded. At the crossing of the Zand River on 10th May they also did their portion of the task well.

In 1901 the battalion furnished the infantry of columns which operated in the Southern Transvaal and in the Orange River Colony under Brigadier General G Hamilton, Colonel Grey, Colonel Garratt, and others, and necessarily did a lot of very hard marching and had a good many little fights.
In 1902 they assisted in holding a line of blockhouses near Vrede during the driving operations. The war over on 31 May 1902 it wasn’t until 9 August of that year that they headed home where Emsley took his final discharge on 11 January 1903 having accumulated total service of 12 years. For his efforts he was awarded the Queens Medal with clasps Cape Colony, Orange Free State and Johannesburg having been part of the outfit that occupied that city. He was also awarded the Kings South Africa medal.

Now out of uniform Emsley became a general labourer in the employ of a Timber Merchant which is the capacity in which we find him in the 1911 England census. Now 39 and living at 43 Bickesdike Street, Leeds he was joined in the house by his growing family – 11 year old Elizabeth, 8 year old Walter, 5 year old James William, 3 year old Lily and 1 year old Ada.

The Great War which erupted on the international stage in August 1914 interrupted this scene of domestic bliss and Emsley, seemingly never one to shirk his responsibilities, attested for One Year’s Service with the Reserve (Special Reservists) on 5 September 1914. Already 42 years and 210 days old he was still a Labourer and had grown very little in stature since his first medical examination coming in now at 5 feet 4 inches in height. Weighing a hefty 166 pounds he now sported a scar on his left shoulder and, having being passed as Fit for the Army Reserve, was awarded no. 9634 and assigned to the 3rd Battalion, West Yorkshire Regiment.

Appointed as a Lance Corporal on joining up he was to remain in that rank until being discharged “no longer physically fit for war service (Emphysema of Lungs, Disease of myocardium)” on 22 June 1916 after 1 year and 272 days service. He wasn’t eligible for any medals having never left England but was awarded a Silver Wound Badge (for Bronchitis) which was applied for on 16 July 1917 through the office of J O’ Grady esquire, the Member of Parliament for York in the House of Commons.

Emsley was by now a very sick man and it wasn’t too long before he met his Maker. This unhappy event happened in September 1920 and its effects became immediately apparent with the completion of Widow’s Form 2 – First Award Widow – in which his dependants were listed for Pension purposes. The commencement of payments was to be 4 August 1920.

At the age of 51 his life was at an end.

Thanks Rory......

Fantastic story of a not so common man......

Mike