Person

Albert Barham was born on 15 August 1890. He was the fifth of six children of Suffolk-born couple Albert Barham and his wife, Mary Ann Jay, who had married in Murton in 1876. The 1891 census shows the family consisting of father Albert, a coal miner, mother Mary Ann, along with sons George, Henry and Albert living in Murton Colliery. Ten years later, father Albert was head underground horse keeper at the pit. They had moved to New Herrington and living at home with their parents were daughter Ellen, Henry, Albert and the youngest boy, Charles Edward.

Albert married local girl Ada Dilkes in the spring of 1908 and by the 1911 census they were living in Shotton Colliery with two-year-old Florence. Albert was working as a miner in 1911. Their second daughter, Mabel Ellen, was born two months after the census was taken. Estranged from his wife, on 19 July 1913 Albert arrived in New York, USA having sailed from Liverpool, Lancashire on board the SS Celtic. Just over two years later, on 19 November 1915, he crossed the border into Canada to enlist in the Canadian Expeditionary Force (CEF) in London, Ontario.

Albert became private 124438 of the machine gun section of the 70th Battalion. He returned to England with them on the SS Lapland, arriving on 5 May 1916. He was initially posted to Shorncliffe Camp on the Kent coast. By the middle of June 1916 he was on the Scottish lines in France with the 58th Battalion, 9th Infantry Brigade, 3rd Canadian Division.

In August 1916 Albert was treated for shell shock after fighting in the trenches near Zillebeke, Flanders, Belgium. Having recovered from that, he was then treated for myalgia and neurasthenia and did not rejoin the 58th until mid November 1916. At the end of January 1917 he was hospitalised with trench foot. He was discharged six weeks later and attached to the 3rd Entrenching Battalion until he rejoined the 58th on 8 July 1917 at Chateau de la Haie, France. Eight days later he went absent without leave (AWOL) from the fighting in the Zoave Valley. Albert handed himself in three days later in Villiers du Bois and was held in confinement pending a court martial.

The court martial started on 12 September 1917 and in his defence Albert stated “I got this letter on the 16th July, the day the battalion were moving, I didn’t know what to do, I just wandered off. I knew they were going up to the line that night”. The letter was from his estranged wife Ada, whom he had no contact with since he left England in 1913 following her unfaithfulness. It warned that if he did not contact her and send some money she would have him arrested. Asked if he had anything else to say Albert’s response was “I would like to go back to the Battalion again. I am very sorry for what I have done and would like a chance to make good”.

Private 124438 was convicted of being absent without leave and was sentenced to two years’ hard labour. Eight days later, due to his long service in France and his previously exemplary conduct, Brigadier General F.W. Hill remitted 18 months of his sentence and directed that he should not be held in prison. With the remainder of his sentence suspended in mid-October 1917, Albert returned to his unit and, the following April, his commanding officer reported that his service since suspension of sentence was entirely satisfactory.

The remainder of Albert’s sentence was remitted on 9 April 1918. In June of that year Albert was sent on a course at the Canadian Corps Training School, followed by two weeks leave in the UK. Back on the front line on 1 October 1918, private 124438 was shot in the right arm at Tilloy, Pas-de-Calais, France. After treatment at Camiers he was invalided to England and admitted to Colchester General Hospital, Essex and then the Canadian Red Cross Hospital at Bexhill, East Sussex.

Albert was posted to the 9th Reserve Battalion at Witley Camp, Surrey on discharge from hospital in November 1918. By the turn of the year he was at Kimnell Park, North Wales awaiting return to Canada and he was there during the riots over the speed of repatriation on 4 and 5 March 1919. Back in Canada he was demobilised from the CEF on 27 March 1919 in London, Ontario. Four weeks later, on 24 April 1919, Albert crossed the border to the USA giving his next of kin as his father and making for Johnston City, Illinois.

Whether or not Albert ever contacted Ada is unknown but the 1920 US census shows a divorced Albert lodging with the Davis family in Johnston and working as a coal miner. By 1930 he was renting a house by himself in Herrin, Williamson, Illinois and still working at the mine. Ten years later, Albert had remarried to French-born Georgette Barrack and had a 22-year-old step-son named Rene. He had moved to Peoria, Illinois and found work at the local Caterpillar Tractor factory. In April 1942 he registered for the US Army draft. There is no record of the death of Albert Barham, but the 1960 city directory lists Georgette as a widow.

Civil Parish: East Murton

Birth date: 15 August 1890

Death date: 1960

Armed force/civilian: Army

Residence: 40 Alfred Street, Murton Colliery (1891 census)
3 Herrington Street, New Herrington (1901 census)
4 South View, Shotton Colliery (1911 census)
209 Lincoln Avenue, Peoria, Illinois, USA (1940 city directory)
2604 Springfield Jill, East Peoria, Illinois, USA (1942 US WW2 draft registration cards
336 Lydia Street, Peoria, Illinois, USA (1950 city directory)
502 South Lydia Street, Peoria, Illinois, USA (1958 city directory)

Religion: Wesleyan

Employment: Miner (1911 census)
Machinist (1940 city directory)
Factory worker (1955 city directory)

Family: Parents: Albert Barham, Mary Ann Barham nee Jay
Siblings: George Barham, Ellen Barham, Frederick Barham (died in infancy), Henry Barham, Albert Charles Edward Barham
Spouse: 1) Ada Barham nee Dilkes 2) Georgette Barham nee Barrack
Children: 1) Florence Barham b 1909, Mabel Ellen Barham b1911 2) Rene Barrack (stepson)

Military service:

124438
Private
70th Battalion, Canadian Expeditionary Force
58th Battalion, Canadian Expeditionary Force

Medal(s): Victory Medal
British War Medal

Gender: Male

Contributed by Jayell, Durham