A Good Sudan and Boer war trio, 2nd battalion Rifle Brigade, Wounded at Wagon Hill and then Wounded and P.O.W. at Le Cateau 26th August 1914.

Description A Good Sudan and Boer war trio, 2nd battalion Rifle Brigade, Wounded at Wagon Hill and then Wounded and P.O.W. at Le Cateau 26th August 1914. Queens Sudan, 4053 A/Cpl  A. Bates. 2/R. Bde.; Queens South Africa, clasp, Defence of Ladysmith, 4053 Cpl A. Bates Rifle Brigade.; Khedives Sudan, clasp, Khartoum, 4053 A/Cpl A. Bates 2/R. Bde. (Last engraved naming) Mounted on card for display. Albert James Bates was born on the 20th November 1875 in Wargrave, a village in Berkshire, is primarily on the River Thames, on the border with southern Oxfordshire.  He was the son of William James Bates (born 1837), a police constable, and Fanny Bates (nee Woolford) (1842 – 1882).  He was the third of their five children, When the 1881 Census was taken, the family were resident at the Police Station in Tilehurst, Berkshire, then a village on the outskirts of Reading. William was not to stay with the Police and at the time of the 1901 Census he was living at 28, School Terrace in Reading and working as a biscuit factory labourer as was his son Albert.  Doubtless Albert and William were working at the Huntley & Plamers factory which was, by 1898, the place of employment for just over 5,000 men and women who worked in a complex of factory buildings covering 24 acres on both banks of the River Kennet and was the largest biscuit factory in the world. On the 5th March 1894 Albert enlisted in the Militia, joining the 4th Battalion of the Oxfordshire Light Infantry, his attestation papers confirming that Huntley & Palmers were indeed his employer.  Albert was not, however, to spend a great deal of time with the Militia and on the 8th January 1895 he purchased his discharge for the sum of £1. This was not to be the end of Albert’s military career and little more than 9 months later, on the 17th October 1895, he enlisted in the Rifle Brigade to serve 7 years with the colours and 5 with the reserve. On the 24th February 1896, Albert was posted to the 2nd Battalion.  On the 30th October 1896 he was posted to Singapore where he was to serve until the 2nd February 1898.  On the 30th November 1896 Albert had been was transferred to the 1st Battalion and on the 17th October 1897, after 2 years’ service, he was granted his first Good Conduct Pay. The 31st January 1898 had seen Albert posted back to the 2nd Battalion.  At the end of his service in Singapore, Albert had been posted to Malta and while serving there, on the 23rd June 1898, he was promoted to Acting Corporal.  On the 11th July 1898 the Battalion was posted to Egypt where it served in the Nile expedition  and took part in the Battle of Omdurman. Albert’s service was to secure him the Queen’s Sudan Medal and the Khedive’s Sudan Medal with the clasp for Khartoum which reflected his service at the Battle of Omdurman. On the 20th September 1898, after only a little over 2 months in Egypt and the Sudan, the 2nd Rifle Brigade sailed to take part in the occupation of the island of Crete. While stationed in Crete Albert had, on the 8th July 1899, passed the class of instruction for promotion to Corporal and he received that promotion. The demands of the Boer War resulted in the Rifle Brigade’s tenure in Crete being short and the 2nd Battalion sailed from Crete on the Jelunga on 2nd October 1899, reaching Durban on the 26th. The casualty roll for the Natal Field Force lists Albert as amongst the wounded of the 2nd Rifle Brigade on the 6thJanuary and the medal roll, which also confirms Albert’s entitlement to the Queen’s South Africa Medal with the clasp Relief of Ladysmith, states that he was invalided: he was to play no further part in the campaign.  Albert sailed for England on the 20th June 1900 and he was to serve on the home station for the best part of 4 years. On the 9th September 1902, Albert obtained the Hythe Musketry Certificate and, on the 10th March 1904, he passed the classes of instruction for promotion to sergeant.  He was formally promoted to that rank on the 12th April 1904, the day that he commenced his next period of overseas service, a posting which took him back to Malta. While in Malta, on the 6th September 1905, Albert married Maria Jane Halliday, and on the 12th July the following year, their first child, a daughter whom they called Dorothy May.  The posting to Malta lasted until the 24th October 1906 and while there, on the 21st September 1904, Albert re-engaged in order to serve for a period of 21 years.  Returning home, Albert continued to serve and on the 28th June 1911 he was promoted to Colour Sergeant and then on the 1st October 1913 he was advanced to Company Sergeant Major.  On the 1st April 1914, Albert was awarded the Long Service & Good Conduct Medal. The 1st Rifle Brigade entrained on the 24th August 1914, travelling via Rouen and Amiens to Le Cateau, detraining on the 25th and marching to Briastre.  It took up an entrenched line running from the Briastre-Solesmes road to almost Fontaine-au-Tartre though withdrew at 8.20 pm, marching through Beauvois to bivouacs just north-west of Fontaine-au-Pire.  Arriving at 2.00 a.m., “C” Company was detailed to take up outpost positions at Cattenieres.  Enemy cavalry patrols were engaged and driven off the men then coming under shell fire before German troops were seen to be advancing.  The Rifle Brigade withdrew via Haucourt to the ridge between Fontaine-au-Pire and Ligny where it took up defensive positions in a sunken road.  The position was held under heavy fire, Major Rickman being mortally wounded during the afternoon, the Germans at one point coming within 100 yards of the Riflemen. Albert was amongst the men of the 1st Rifle Brigade to be wounded at Le Cateau and he was taken prisoner by the Germans the day after on the 27th.  From the surviving POW records it appears that Albert had been wounded in the head. On the 6th February 1918, Albert arrived in Holland having been released from captivity in Germany to an internment camp in Holland.  While being held in Holland, on the 6th July Albert elected to draw his pension while remaining with the colours. On the 12th October 1918 Albert arrived in England having been released from internment in Holland and was able to return to his family who, according to his POW records was resident at 24, Shakespeare Road in Portsmouth.  On the 5thFebruary 1919, after 23 years and 112 days service Albert finally took his discharge from the Army.  He took a position of a Writer, an administrator, at HM Gunwharf in Portsmouth.  The Gunwharf, which was built in 1662, was a facility which enabled ships’ guns, tested by the Army’s Board of Ordnance, to be fitted into the warships built within Portsmouth’s Royal Dockyard. Albert’s health was not good and on the 27th October 1919, at the age of 43, he died at home from a gastric ulcer.  He was buried in Portsmouth (Milton) Cemetery under a headstone provided by the Imperial War Graves Commission. Condition – GVF NOTE: Sorry we cannot accept payment by PayPal for this item, We can accept payment by Credit / Debit Card, Bank Transfer or Cheque.