British War and Victory Medals
15-255 Pte A E Curphey W York R
With research here from online sources and two photos of Curphey on CD.
Albert Edward Curphey was born in Toxteth Park, Liverpool, on 20th July 1888, the son of John Thomas Curphey, from the Isle of Man. By 1881 John was living in Lancashire, and in 1885 he married Jemima Winfield in Liverpool. It appears she was always known by her second name of Laura. Their first child was Laura Ethel, born the following year, and then Albert Edward. He was followed by Frances Eveline, who lived for only two years, and was one of two children that they lost. Their third surviving chid was Gladys, and the family was now living with Laura’s widowed mother, at 60 Selborne Street, Toxteth, where they stayed. The 1891 the census showed John as a grocer, while ten years later he was a grocer’s assistant. The following year Albert’s name was entered in the register of Granby Street Council School, where he stayed at least until 1895 and probably longer. It is also likely that after leaving Granby Street he attended the Liverpool Institute School. There is no occupation given for him in 1901, when he was 12, but by 1911, when he was 22, he was a clerk for a cold storage company. This suggests a reasonable education, at least to the age of 13, and quite probably further. Another interesting entry on this census is that for Laura, Albert’s older sister’s occupation is given as ‘suffragette’.
In 1914 war was declared. Albert was just turned 26, and the only son in the family, so it is not surprising that his name appears on the list of volunteers, for 5th September 1914 joining the newly formed 15th Battalion (1st Leeds) West Yorkshire Regiment, they spent their first year training, at Colsterdale, then Ripon and finally Fovant. Albert was allocated to ‘D’ Company, 13 Platoon, where he became the Platoon Bomber. The Battalion’s first active service was being sent to Egypt to guard the Suez Canal from the Turks, who failed to attack it. At the beginning of March, they were all sent back again, but this time to France, where the real war was. They landed at Marseilles and made their way by train and on foot up to the Somme area, where they would be part of the proposed British/French attack planned for the summer. But even before they arrived the plan had started to go wrong, when the Germans attacked at Verdun.
As this attack gained momentum so the French participation in the joint venture began to diminish. By the time it was ready to begin the French would only be involved on the two wings, where, it should be said, they performed very well. The British were not so lucky. Despite a week-long bombardment that was supposed to destroy the German wire, demolish their trenches and demoralise their men, very little of this was achieved. At 0730hrs on 1st July 1916 the men of the Leeds Pals climbed out of their trenches to be met with a storm of rifle and machine gun fire which stopped most of them in their tracks. Their objective was the village of Serre, but although there was a rumour that a few men had reached it, the majority didn’t even get across no man’s land, and many didn’t make it out of their trenches. At the end of the day, when numbers could be counted, of the roughly 750 men who started, 209 were killed and another 24 died later of wounds. 24 officers went with them, 13 were killed and all of the rest were wounded, 2 later dying. One of the casualties was Albert. Along with many others his body was never recovered, and he is now a name on the Thiepval Memorial, one of over 72,000 engraved there.
After the war ended his family received his medals, the 1914/15 Star, British War Medal and Victory Medal. They were also sent his Memorial Plaque and Scroll. In addition, his name also appears on the Granby Street Old Boys Memorial, and that of the Liverpool Institute School. Finally, it was added to the gravestone of his grandmother, Fanny Winfield, who had died in 1904, along with those of his parents and sister Laura.
EF £375 SOLD
