The third child of eight, Private Alfred Samuel Ford was born in Ireland in 1885. He was the second son of Alice and George Ford.
He grew up in Co. Donegal, Ireland at the Ball Hill Coastguard and Aranmore Coastguard stations where his father was posted.
Returning to England with his family he gained employment in Newhaven as a
seaman perfoming dredging work
for the LHSC Railway.
With the start of the World War he enlisted with the
13th Battalion of the Royal Sussex Regiment. The SD “South Downs” prefix at the beginning of his regimental number SD3101 indicates he
was one of the original enlistments to the Battalions formed by Lt Col Claude
Lowther MP enlisting December/January 1914/5. Men from all over Sussex
joined the “Lowthers Lambs” up to mid 1915. Samuel's Battalian began training at Cooden
Camp near Bexhill. The Battalion crossed
to France from Witley camp from 5/6 March 1916 and served in the Fleurbaix and Festubert sectors before
taking over the trenches fighting the Germans at Richebourg.
On 25/3/1916 he wrote to his brother Sid who was living
in Sydney, Australia of his arrival in France.
”It is not very grand here what with the weather and one thing and another, still we must keep smiling”
Private Alfred Samuel Ford was awarded the Military
Medal on 13th June 1916 just
days before his death.
13
June 1916
Awards
for Gallant Conduct
the
Brigadier General commanding has much pleasure in announcing to all ranks of
the brigade the following awards for Gallant conduct: --
Number
3101 Private Alfred Samuel Ford
13th
Battalion Royal Sussex Regiment
Military
Medal
The following is a description of the action for which
this award was made as taken from a dispatch written by his Lieutenant Colonel.
 |
| The copy of the letter of recommendation for the Military Medal |
very few seconds keeping on
the...... collapse.
Between them they got Private
Meylam to the top of the parapet, when Privates Ford and Belcombe got down
inside our trench and the three of them lowered the wounded man onto a
machine-gun emplacement on the safe side of the parapet. At this moment the
machine-gun opened again on our parapet and Private Taylor who was still on the
enemy side of the parapet realising that if he jumped over he might hurt the
wounded man rolled down to the bottom of the parapet and waited until the
machine guns ceased fire when he got over the parapet and helped to dress
Meylan's wounds.
I consider the act of these
three men to be one of great courage and I are accordingly bring their names to
notice.
Signed FGW Briffen Lt-Col
Commanding 13th Battalion
Sussex Regiment
 |
| This medal surfaced through some family history investigations. One of his great nephews in Australia holds the letter of recommendation and another in England unearthed the medal and claeaned it up believing it to belong to someone else. |
On 30th June 1916 Alfred was killed in action in northern France aged 32. The battle was known as the Battle at the Boar's Head at Richebough.
"The South Downs units lost 360 killed and more than 1,100 wounded in this fruitless action"
Here is an account from the
Regiment’s diary on the date Alfred lost his life.. War Diary
30 June: Report
on Operations.
1. The Battalion assembled at 1:30pm on the
morning of 30 June in readiness for the assault with all 4 Platoons of each
Company in the front line.
2. The preliminary bombardment on the morning of the attack opened at 2:50am and at 3.05am the leading wave of the battalion scaled the parapet, the remainder following at 50 yards interval. At the same time the flank attack under Lieutenants Whitley and Ellis gained a footing in the enemy trench. The passage across no man's land was accomplished with few casualties except in the left companies, which came under very heavy machine-gun fire. The two right companies succeeded in reaching the objective but the two left companies only succeeded in penetrating the enemy's wire in one or two places. Just at this moment as smoke cloud, which was originally designed to mask our advance, drifted right across the front and made it impossible to see more than a few yards ahead. This resulted in all direction being lost and the attack devolving into small bodies of men not knowing which way to go. Some groups succeeded in entering the support line, engaging the enemy with bombs and bayonets and organising the initial stages of a defence. Other parties swung off to the right and entered the trench where the flanking party was operating, causing a great deal of congestion. On the left the smoke and darkness made the job of penetrating the enemy wire so difficult that few if any succeeded in reaching the enemy trench. Some parties of the right company succeeded in reaching the enemy support line when they were subjected to an intense bombardment with HE and whizzbangs. Captain Hughes, who was wounded, seeing that his company was in danger of being cut off, gave the order for the evacuation of the enemy trenches and the remainder of the attacking force returned to our trenches. The enemy who was evidently thoroughly prepared now concentrated his energies on the front line and for the space of about two and a half hours our front and support lines were subjected to an intense bombardment with a bit heavy and light shells causing a large... [The diary disappears here and does not start again until after the attack].
2. The preliminary bombardment on the morning of the attack opened at 2:50am and at 3.05am the leading wave of the battalion scaled the parapet, the remainder following at 50 yards interval. At the same time the flank attack under Lieutenants Whitley and Ellis gained a footing in the enemy trench. The passage across no man's land was accomplished with few casualties except in the left companies, which came under very heavy machine-gun fire. The two right companies succeeded in reaching the objective but the two left companies only succeeded in penetrating the enemy's wire in one or two places. Just at this moment as smoke cloud, which was originally designed to mask our advance, drifted right across the front and made it impossible to see more than a few yards ahead. This resulted in all direction being lost and the attack devolving into small bodies of men not knowing which way to go. Some groups succeeded in entering the support line, engaging the enemy with bombs and bayonets and organising the initial stages of a defence. Other parties swung off to the right and entered the trench where the flanking party was operating, causing a great deal of congestion. On the left the smoke and darkness made the job of penetrating the enemy wire so difficult that few if any succeeded in reaching the enemy trench. Some parties of the right company succeeded in reaching the enemy support line when they were subjected to an intense bombardment with HE and whizzbangs. Captain Hughes, who was wounded, seeing that his company was in danger of being cut off, gave the order for the evacuation of the enemy trenches and the remainder of the attacking force returned to our trenches. The enemy who was evidently thoroughly prepared now concentrated his energies on the front line and for the space of about two and a half hours our front and support lines were subjected to an intense bombardment with a bit heavy and light shells causing a large... [The diary disappears here and does not start again until after the attack].
The Sussex' attack is not mentioned in the
British Official History of the war, no doubt being more concerned with the
very much greater events taking place on the Somme on 1 July 1916. The South
Downs units lost 360 killed and more than 1,100 wounded in this fruitless
action, the intention of which was to distract the enemy from the Somme, pin
down his reserves and improve the local tactical situation.
His body was never found.
At Dud Corner Cemetery in Pas de Calais, France there
is a memorial to commemorate men killed in action at the Battle of Boar's
Head (panel 69-73.)
Because of the local nature of the recruitment the
heavy casualties and wounded on 30th
June 1916 at the Battle of Boar’s Head Richebourg
were particularly hard felt by Sussex families. One website quotes it as “the day Sussex died”.
After the War, Newhaven residents built
a Memorial to their fallen heros…….
Thought of the Day:
Family history connections through Ancestry and Genes Reunited Trees have resulted in the remembrance of Samuel and the recovery of the provenance of his medal and the recommendation. Samuel died childless and unmarried. His brother Sid in Australia kept his letters and his sister Beatrice in England became custodian of the medals. 100 years later against all odds they are being cared for and preserved rather than on the scrap heap.
Family history connections through Ancestry and Genes Reunited Trees have resulted in the remembrance of Samuel and the recovery of the provenance of his medal and the recommendation. Samuel died childless and unmarried. His brother Sid in Australia kept his letters and his sister Beatrice in England became custodian of the medals. 100 years later against all odds they are being cared for and preserved rather than on the scrap heap.
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