Alfred Given was born in Ipswich on 14th February 1893. His parents were John and Emma (née Webb). In 1911, the family was living on Bishop’s Hill in Ipswich and, like his father and elder brother, Alfred was working as a boot repairer. He started work at St Audry’s Hospital as an attendant in August 1913.

Alfred enlisted on 4th August 1915 with another attendant at St Audry’s, Francis Hill, both of whom were posted to France on 2nd September 1915. They boarded the SS South Western Miller at Southampton and, with the rest of the 72nd Field Ambulance, landed in Le Havre the following day.

On 24th September, only twenty-two days after their arrival in France, the 72nd Field Ambulance, and their parent 24th Division, had reached Bethune. Tired, after several days of route marching, they were about to be involved in their first action – one that was to become the Battle of Loos. At 09:00 the following morning, they were given their orders: the division was expected to be involved in a continuation of the fighting that had begun the previous day. In the ensuing upheaval to get the men in the right place, all the stretcher bearers, including Alfred, were ordered to follow and keep in touch with the infantry as they marched to the front line at Vermelles. 

An hour after they had left, orders were received that one of the division’s three stretcher bearer sub divisions was to be temporarily attached to another division. Attempts were made to find the stretcher bearers but to no avail. The following morning, Major W C Nimmo, the commander of the 72nd Field Ambulance, was informed they had been found at Vermelles. He recorded the events in the 72nd Field Ambulance war diary:

“08:00 am. Received message from Lt Eberts that he and the bearers were in Vermelles. I proceeded with the orderly who had brought the note to Vermelles and found the 2 bearer sub divisions with 3 ambulance wagons, the 3 Officers with the other sub division had gone out towards the trenches. They returned about 10 minutes after I got there, apparently they had proceeded a short way along Hulluch Road, which was under heavy shrapnel fire, losing Staff Sergeant Dunn and 7 men wounded. They had been taken to the 27th Field Ambulance Dressing Station in the Brewery.”

The records available do not say how badly Alfred had been wounded or if he returned to the 72nd Field Ambulance. We do, however, know that when the war was over, Alfred resumed work at St Audry’s on 25th April 1919 but resigned two weeks later.

In June 1919, he married Mildred Clarke in Ipswich and they had one child, a daughter. By 1939, Alfred was a widower living in Whitby Road, Ipswich. He was working as a boot and shoe repairer. For his war service, Alfred received the 1914-15 Star and the British War and Victory Medals. He died in 1962.