Alfred James Newman was born in around 1874 in Westbury, Wiltshire. One of six children, his parents were coke burner and agricultural labourer James Newman and his wife, Virtue.

Alfred followed his father into farm work, and would remain living with his parents until they were in their seventies. The 1911 census found the family living in Westbury Leigh, to the south of Westbury itself, James and Virtue as pensioners and Alfred as a general farm labourer. Also living with them was adopted child James Ellery, although it isn’t clear who had adopted him, and whether he had any other familial connection to them to the Newmans.

When war broke out, Alfred stepped up to play his part. Full details of his military service have been lost to time, but it is clear that he joined the Wiltshire Regiment, and was attached to the 4th Battalion. He was then transferred to the 22nd (Wessex and Welsh) Battalion of the Rifle Brigade. It is unclear whether he spent time overseas, but, by the spring of 1916, he had been promoted to the rank of Lance Corporal.

On Tuesday last week, Mr James Newman… received a telegram from the military authorities stating that his son, Lance-Corporal Alfred James Newman had died the same day in the 2nd Southern General Hospital at Bristol… He, having obtained leave, went to Bristol to pay a visit to some friends and evidently caught a chill. His death took place on Tuesday morning. He was conveyed to his home on Friday, and the funeral took place on Saturday afternoon.

[Wiltshire News: Friday 14th April 1916]

Alfred’s Pension Ledger Index Card suggests that, rather than a chill, he had, in fact, died following the rupture of an aortic aneurysm. He passed away on 4th April 1916, and was 47 years of age.

The body of Alfred James Newman was laid to rest in the peaceful setting of the Provident Baptist Chapelyard in Penknap, to the south west of Westbury.

---