Jean Conners, a great-niece of Albert Acton, provided the following information and the photos of Albert Action, adding, “along with so many others it was such a sad loss of such a young life. My Mum used to tell me that Albert’s family were a nice family and she could even remember attending her Grandmother Susan’s funeral”.

The facts as known at present

According to a later Schools Admission Register[1] Albert Edward Acton was born on the 13^th March 1898 to Thomas and Susan Acton (nee Fisher).  Albert was the youngest of their seven children.  He was indeed the “baby of the family” as his eldest brother Thomas had been born 23 years earlier, in 1875, Emily, William[2], Alice, Florence, Constance followed and then Albert himself.[3]

The 1901 Census shows the family to be living at 5 Westwood Road, Silvertown.  By the time that Albert was admitted to West Silvertown School, in Boxley Road, the family’s address was given as 21 Westwood Road.  The family was living in rented accommodation at a time when it would have been very easy to move, if a property became vacant that suited their needs more appropriately.  The Register also states that Albert left the school on 13^th March 1912, at the age of 14.

The 1911 Census showed that just Albert his sister Constance and their parents were living at number 21 by this time, where they occupied just three rooms.  It is known that his brothers and sisters all survived to adulthood, some already having married by 1911.

Unfortunately to date it is not known what Albert’s employment was between this time and his enlistment into the Army at Woolwich[4] .  Albert in his new uniform left a lasting impression on my late Mother as, although she could have only been about four years old at the time, she remembers seeing him and his friend in their uniforms “of which Uncle Jack was so proud.”

Albert served in the Royal Field Artillery, 58 Division Ammunition Column.

As shown on your website Albert died of his wounds on 14^th September 1917, aged just 19, and is buried in Plot 8 Row B, Grave 12, of Dozinghem Military Cemetery, Westvleteren, Belgium.  What is so poignant is that according to the National Probate Calendar, Albert, along with many other servicemen were encouraged to make a will.  The extract from the Calendar is attached.  (The Susan referred to is Albert’s Mother)

What is also unbearably sad is that Albert’s Father Thomas had been killed on the 19^th January of that same year in the “Silvertown Explosion” at the Brunner Mond & Co. Chemical Factory.  Although Albert’s Mother, Susan, did not die until 1923 family stories tell of her never being the same after the death of her husband and youngest son and that she died “of a broken heart.”[5]