Private Albert Adams was born in Rochester on 18 September 1876. Albert first served in the Royal Engineers, enlisting on 26 February 1917, and transferring to the 6th Battalion East Yorkshire Regiment on 9 September, with his service number being 40416.
At the time of the 1881 Census, Albert’s family lived at 20 Morden Street, Rochester. William Adams, Albert’s father, was then working as a steward. Alice Adams, Albert’s mother, had no occupation listed. In the 1881 Census, Albert had two older brothers, William T. and Frederick (then 9 and 6 to Albert’s 4) and two younger sisters, Louisa and Alice M. By the time of the 1891 Census, William was listed as a mariner, and he had married again after the death of Albert’s mother in 1888. Alice was buried in St Margaret’s Churchyard. Around this time, Albert was a scholar at Troy Town School in Rochester. By 1891, he had acquired a step-mother, Caroline, two half-sisters – Nellie and Frances – and a step-brother, Henry White, who was the same age as Albert’s sister, Alice. At this point, the family lived at 13 Rose Street. Albert and Frederick were working as telegraph messengers, whilst William T. had apparently left home and was living in in Snodland, working as a carpenter. William Adams was now listed as a mariner.
At the time of the 1901 Census, newly-weds Albert and Ada Caroline Adams were living at 35 Rochester Avenue, where they were the sole occupants of the property. Albert was a shipbuilder’s clerk, and Ada’s occupation was not given. By the time of the 1911 Census, the couple were living in Fisher Street, Sandwich, with their son. Albert worked as a licensed victualler, supported by Ada in this work. Their son, Albert Sidney (or Edney) Adams, was 2 and had been born in Sandwich on 24 December 1908. De Ruvigny’s Roll of Honour states that, before his death, Albert was the licensee of the Globe and Laurel pub in Gillingham, at 105 Britton Street. As Albert is listed in De Ruvigny’s Roll, he was presumably a reservist before the war.
Albert died on 2 October 1917, in action on the Poelcappelle Road, and is commemorated at the Tyne Cot Memorial, in West-Vlaanderen, Belgium. Albert was married to Ada Caroline Adams (nee Lower), and at the time of his death, she was living at 126 Britton Street, Gillingham. Albert’s father, William, had by this point moved to Erith. Albert’s page on Every Man Remembered can be found here.
Sources:
Census 1881: Class: RG11; Piece: 886; Folio: 33; Page: 44; GSU roll: 1341210
Ancestry.com and The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. 1881 England Census [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2004.
1881 British Isles Census Index provided by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
Census 1891: Class: RG12; Piece: 657; Folio: 85; Page: 80; GSU roll: 6095767
Ancestry.com. 1891 England Census [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2005.
Original data: Census Returns of England and Wales, 1891. Kew, Surrey, England: The National Archives of the UK (TNA): Public Record Office (PRO), 1891.
Census 1901: Class: RG13; Piece: 724; Folio: 48; Page: 12
Ancestry.com. 1901 England Census [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2005.
Original data: Census Returns of England and Wales, 1901. Kew, Surrey, England: The National Archives, 1901.
Census 1911: Class: RG14; Piece: 4551; Schedule Number: 64
Ancestry.com. 1911 England Census [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2011.
Original data: Census Returns of England and Wales, 1911. Kew, Surrey, England: The National Archives of the UK (TNA), 1911.
Ancestry.com. UK, De Ruvigny’s Roll of Honour, 1914-1919 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2014.
Original data: De Ruvigny’s Roll of Honour 1914-24. CD-ROM. United Kingdom: Navy & Military Press Ltd.
William T. Adams:
Census 1891: Class: RG12; Piece: 669; Folio: 112; Page: 39; GSU roll: 6095779
Ancestry.com. 1891 England Census [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2005.Original data: Census Returns of England and Wales, 1891. Kew, Surrey, England: The National Archives of the UK (TNA): Public Record Office (PRO), 1891.
Alice Adams:
FreeBMD. England & Wales, Civil Registration Death Index, 1837-1915 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2006. Original data: General Register Office. England and Wales Civil Registration Indexes. London, England: General Register Office.
Ancestry.com. England, Select Deaths and Burials, 1538-1991 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2014. Original data: England Deaths and Burials, 1538-1991. Salt Lake City, Utah: FamilySearch, 2013.