The Keefe Family


Village memories: Queen's Head, Little Marlow (picture from SWOP website)	No picture available

RIFLEMAN 304047 1ST/5TH LONDON REGIMENT (LONDON RIFLE BRIGADE) FORMERLY 5399 CITY OF LONDON REGIMENT.
DIED 09 OCTOBER 1916 AGED 21YRS.
REMEMBERED WITH HONOUR THIEPVAL MEMORIAL,FRANCE
GRAVE REF: PIER & FACE 9D.

Albert Victor Keefe was born in June 1895 in Kingston in Surrey. His parents were Daniel & Martha nee Foster. In 1901 the family were living in the Fulham area in London. Albert’s father is a railway guard and he has a twin brother Maurice. They are 6 yrs old.
In 1911 the family are living at 8, Haydn Park Road, Fulham N. Hammersmith. Daniel is now a station master and Albert is listed as being employed at a G.P.O factory as a “carrier maker”. Albert is now 16yrs old and the family now includes two more children, Eveline aged 5yrs and Reginald Edwin aged 4yrs. The parents record having had 9 children of whom only 4 are still living.
On the 1911 census Albert’s grandparents William & Sarah Foster are “running” the Queen’s Head public house in Little Marlow, Buckinghamshire. These caring grandparents are buried in Little Marlow Cemetery and there is an inscription on their grave to the memory of Albert who was “missing” on the Somme in 1916. Albert’s parents are both buried in Hammersmith Borough Cemetery, Mortlake, London SW14 in section D Plot 8 128. Daniel was buried on 3 Jul 1936 and Martha 0n 1 Jan 1952.
Albert enlisted at Hammersmith and his regiment took part in many Battles in France and Flanders during WW1. On the 10th February 1916 the 1st /5th London Regiment was transferred to 169 Brigade in 56th (London) Division. It is likely that Albert died during the Battle of the Transloy ridges which took place between 1st – 18 October 1916. This was part of the 1st Battle of the Somme. There were atrocious weather conditions during this time when the battlefields became a quagmire due to the continual rain and therefore the advancement was very slow and the men were tired and the morale was low. Heavy casualties were sustained.
The Thiepval Memorial honours the 72,000 men who have no known grave...the “missing”.
90% remembered here died between July and November 1916.

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