Reeves, Harold Albert Bertram (aka Reeves, Albert)

Summary

Father: John Charles REEVES
Mother: Edith Esther PHILPOT

Birth: c 1897, Brighton
Birth Source: FreeBMD and Census

Death: 1916, France
Death Source: CWGC.org

Spouse1:

Narrative

Harold Albert Bertram Reeves is the fourth of eleven known children of John Charles REEVES and his wife Edith Esther (nee PHILPOT). See Research Note 1 below. His birth was registered during the first quarter of 1897 in the Brighton Registration District.

At the time of the 1901 census he appears in his parents household as Harold A Reeves. He was the second youngest of five siblings in the house on Lewes Street in Brighton. It is noted that he was 4 years old and that he as born in Brighton, Sussex.

On the 1911 census our subject appears as Albert Reeves in his parents home which was then on West Street in Burgess Hill, Sussex. His father indicates that Albert is now 14 years old and that he was born in Brighton, Sussex. There is no occupation noted for him. He is one of ten children in his parent's home.

It is likely Harold enlisted in the Royal Sussex Regiment in May 1915. (See Research Note 2 below).

It is believed that Harold's death is that recorded on the Commonwealth War Graves Commission's website as simply A B Reeves.  He was serving as Private SD/2386 in the 12th Battalion of the Royal Sussex Regiment and died in July 1916. He is buried in the Longuenesse (St. Omer) Souvenir Cemetery which is in the southern outskirts of the town of St Omer in the Pas de Calais département of France (FR-62).   The CWGC website has no additional notes for this individual.

The death of Private SD/2386 of the Sussex Regiment is included in the GRO Index to War Deaths 1914-1921. Army (other Ranks) page 3012 as Albert B. Reeves, year 1916, vol I.73, page 123.

The "UK, Army Registers of Soldiers' Effects, 1901-1929" entry for Private SD/2386 Albert Bert Reeves shows him serving with the 12th Battalion, Royal Sussex Regiment. It shows his sole legatee as his mother, Edith Esther. This would strongly suggest he was unmarried. It notes two payments to her; the first in January 1917 and the second in September 1919.

There is also a record in Soldiers Died in the Great War for Private SD/2386 Albert Bert Reeves. It gives his place of birth as Brighton and notes he died of wounds.

His death along with that of his younger brother George Reeves is recorded on the Brighton War Memorial in Old Steine Gardens, Brighton. There are two other individuals sharing the surname Reeves commemorated there; Ernest Reeves and William Harold Reeves.

Research Notes

(1) On the 1911 census, it is noted that Harold's mother Edith has had thirteen children of whom eleven were still surviving at that time.

(2) The likely date of Harold's enlistment in the Royal Sussex Regiment is based on information found at http://armyservicenumbers.blogspot.co.uk/2009/05/royal-sussex-regiment-12th-2nd-south.html. It shows that soldier SD/2379 joined on 6 May 1915 and SD/2421 on 10 June 1915.

(3) Additional information about the Royal Sussex Regiment during WW1 can be found at The Long, Long Trail http://www.1914-1918.net/sussex.htm

(4) For additional background on the locally raised South Downs Battalions of the Royal Sussex Regiment see http://royalsussex-southdowns.co.uk/index.php

Sources

Birth:        FreeBMD 1897, March quarter, Brighton Registration District
Baptism:  
Marriage:
Death:      GRO Index to War Deaths 1914-1921 Army (Other Ranks) page 3012
                 CWGC http://www.cwgc.org/find-war-dead/casualty/22600/REEVES,%20A%20B

1901 Census: RG13, Piece 0923, Folio 95 face, Page 31
1911 Census: RG14, Piece 5024, Reg.Dist. 076 (Cuckfield), Sub Dist. 2 (Hurstpierpoint), Enum.Dist. 5, Schedule 68

Brighton War Memorial http://www.roll-of-honour.com/Sussex/Brighton.html

From Soldiers Died in the Great War, 1914-1918 at FindMyPast

First name(s) 		ALBERT BERT
Last name 		REEVES
Service number 		SD/2386
Rank 			PRIVATE
Regiment 		Royal Sussex Regiment
Battalion 		12th Battalion.
Birth place 		BRIGHTON
Residence 		-
Enlistment place 	BRIGHTON
Death year 		1916
Death day 		3
Death month 		7
Cause of death 		Died of wounds
Death place 		British Expeditionary Force
Theatre of war 		Western European Theatre