Alfred Law

ALFRED LAW

 Private 42360, 13th Battalion York and Lancaster Regiment (Barnsley Pals)

Died 12th April 1918 aged 19

No Known Grave Commemorated Ploegsteert Memorial, Belgium

Son of James and Elizabeth Law

Lived 27, Kaye Street, Heckmondwike

Alfred was born in 1898 in Birstall, he was the son of James Law and Elizabeth Ann (formerly Moore).  James and Elizabeth had three children but only Alfred survived to adulthood.  Alfred’s father worked for a building contractor and many members of his family were Stone Masons.  Alfred’s parents both died in November 1913 and Alfred then lived with an aunt in Kaye Street.  He enlisted in the Training Reserve Battalion in March 1916 but wasn’t called up until May 1917.  He was posted to France three days later.  In the autumn of 1917 he was transferred to the York and Lancaster Regiment but died six months later, his body was never recovered.

The Ploegsteert Memorial commemorates more than 11,000 servicemen of the United Kingdom and South African forces who died in this sector during the First World War and who have no known grave.   Most of those commemorated on the memorial did not die in major offensives, they were killed in the course of the day-to-day trench warfare or in small scale set engagements, usually carried out in support of the major attacks taking place elsewhere.  The cemetery grounds were assigned to the United Kingdom in perpetuity by King Albert I of Belgium in recognition of the sacrifices made by the British Empire in the defence and liberation of Belgium during the war.{PL-081}

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