ladies’ man and in March 1917 he met Flora Young, who was to become his girlfriend, and he was to write to her every day on his return to France in April. Albert returned during a period known as ‘Bloody April’ when the British suffered far greater casualties than the Germans. Albert’s aggressive flying style of attacking the enemy from below was becoming increasingly dangerous with a greater number of aircraft in the air. 7th May 1917 was Albert’s fatal day. He took off in the evening in poor weather with 10 others to engage the enemy yet again. What happened next is a matter of conjecture. Some claim the was shot down by Lothar von Richthofen (brother of Manfred) who also crashed but survived. Eye witness accounts
challenge this and suggest Albert got disorien- tated in the clouds and his plane inverted which would cause the engine to lose power, sealing his fate. That there were no bullets in Albert’s body or combat damage to his plane would seem to support this theory.
Captain Albert Ball, VC, DSO and two bars, MC, Legion d’Honneur and Russian Order of St George – some list of decorations, and to think he was only 20 years old when he died. He is buried in the German Annoeullin cemetery in northern France. There is a memorial to him in the grounds of Nottingham Castle and his father commissioned the Albert Ball Memorial homes in nearby Lenton which are still reserved for the use of service people.
Gareth Tarr
SUSPICIOUS ALIENS AT BROOKLANDS – SURREY IN THE GREATWAR
A
liens in the woods, Addlestone cycle shops and Canadian dance bands may not seem to have much in common, but all featured in Imogen Middleton’s talk in September on Surrey in the Great War. Imogen is part of the Surrey in the Great War Project which is running for the duration of the centenary of the conflict. Its aim, as she explained, is to look at how the war affected the people of Surrey, whether they were actually on the front or back at home. Many stories have been gathered from local residents whose relations were involved, including photo- graphs, souvenirs and some home movies. Take a look at the
www.surreyinthegreatwar.org.uk website where you’ll find details of the project and many of those stories.
Imogen concentrated on Brooklands and the local area for her talk to Brooklands Trust Members, including tales such as those aliens in the woods. According to a newspaper report, Pte Robertson of the Royal West Surrey regiment was on guard duty by the aircraft sheds when he chal- lenged an ‘alien’ (the term used for possible spies or enemies) who did not respond, he fired at him and the shot was returned, injuring Robertson. On the way to hospital a suspicious alien was seen entering woodland but he was not found. Pte Henry Stanley of Addlestone was a true
romantic and carved a heart-shaped stone from the cliff of Cape Hellis in Turkey to send to his love, Elsie. Surrey soldiers fought at many locations, including the Western Front and Gallipoli, but Henry returned home safely and set
12 Imogen Middleton (Cliff Bolton).
up a bicycle shop in Addlestone, Garland & Stanley. The project discovered the only known photograph of Henry as all original pictures were stolen from the family in the 1950s. A grand- daughter of George Garland got in contact and produced a photograph of both of them outside the shop as a result of seeing the story about Henry.
In June 1914, a huge Red Cross Field Day was held at Brooklands, at least two months prior to war being declared, which was attended by the Russian Queen Alexandra and Empress Marie Feodorovna, amongst local dignitaries including
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