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Alfred Henry STEVENS, 12th Battalion, Kings Royal Rifle Corps
1893- 4th September 1916

Born in 1894 in Foots Cray, Alfred was the son of George and Annie. Before enlisting in the Army,
Alfred was employed as a paper machine hand. By 1911 the family had grown to nine children, with
ages ranging from 19 years to just 9 months. They all had to manage the best they could in their tiny
home in Suffolk Cottages, Foots Cray. Like many young men from large families, Alfred joined the
Army which gave him the opportunity of adventure well as the added bonus of become a hero. On
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enlisting, Alfred was assigned to the 12 (Service) Battalion, Kings’ Rifle Corps, which was raised at
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Winchester on 21 September 1914 as part of Kitchener’s second New Army.

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The 12 (Service) Battalion, the King’s Rifle Corps, after initially training close to home, moved to
Bisley, then to Blackdown in November 1914 and in February 1915 to billets in Hindhead, Somerset.
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They were moved to Larkhill on 10 April 1915 for final training after which they proceeded to France
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on 22 July 1915, landing at Boulogne with the division concentrating in the St. Omer area.

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Sadly Rifleman Alfred Stevens was killed in action on 4 September 1916, just one of the thousands
and thousands of casualties during the many notorious Somme battles.

In Memoriam: Alfred Stevens has no known grave but is remembered on the Thiepval Memorial,
Somme, France.

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Pvt. Harry George THORPE, 8 Battalion, Rifle Brigade
1899- 4th April 1918

Young Harry George Thorpe was the eldest son of Henry Thorpe (bricklayer) and his wife, Susan, who
married in 1895. The family home was in Pretoria Cottages where he grew up with his two brothers
and a sister. Harry enlisted at the Bexleyheath recruiting office and was assigned to the Rifle Brigade.

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The 8 Battalion, Rifle Brigade, was an “entrenching” battalion, which consisted of temporary units
formed in the British Army during the war. Allocated at corps level, they were used as pools of men
from which drafts of replacements could be drawn by conventional infantry battalions. In March and
April 1918, the Allied fifth Army was driven back by overwhelming numbers across the former Somme
battlefields. Rifleman Thorpe was only 19-years-old when he died and could not have been in the Army
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very long, probably little more than a year. He was killed on 4 April, but it is not possible to identify
which Regiment he was serving with at the time.

In Memoriam: Along with thousands of other young men, Harry Thorpe has no known grave and is
remembered on the Pozieres Memorial in the Somme, France. There are over 600 names from the
Rifle Brigade.