Albert Benjamin Meek
A Private with the 13th Battalion, Albert died on 15th of March 1917 at the age of 32.
Albert was born at Norwich on 9 April 1884, a son of James Goddard and Susan Meek. He was baptised at Thorpe Hamlet on 7 May 1884. In 1891 his family lived at Cavalry Street, Norwich. By 1901 they were living at Eden Street, Lowestoft, and Albert’s father was a manager at Lowestoft Gas Works, and Albert worked as a hairdresser. Later his parents lived at 1 Gas Hill, Norwich. By 1911 Albert, and his brother Frederick, were living at 89 Whapload Road, and Albert was a hairdresser.
Albert enlisted in the Army at Lowestoft. He joined the Royal Sussex Regiment, service number SD/5645. Albert served with the 13th (Service) Battalion (3rd South Down). He may have enlisted as early as 1914, but certainly did not serve overseas before 1916.
Albert was wounded in early 1917 (possibly at the Battalion Headquarters, near Ypres, on January 30).
He was evacuated to England and posted to the strength of the Depot. Albert died of wounds at a Military Hospital, in Dover, on 15 March. His death was registered in the Dover district. He was buried at Earlham Cemetery, Norwich, on 22 March 1917.
For reasons unknown, the Commonwealth War Graves Commission recorded his name on the Menin Gate Memorial at Ypres. Technically this distinction should have been reserved for those who were missing on the Somme battlefields and there is no explanation why this error has occurred.
His online CWGC entry can be found here: https://www.cwgc.org/find-records/find-war-dead/casualty-details/906547
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Albert Meek
89
Whapload Road
Lowestoft
United Kingdom
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