Pte. W. Alderson

FIRST NAMES: Walter

UNIT: 4th Yorkshire Regiment

NUMBER: 2118

STATUS: Killed in Action

DATE OF DEATH: 17th July 1916

CEMETERY OR MEMORIAL: Kemmel Chateau Military Cemetery, Belgium

AGE: 31

Walter Alderson was born in Darlington, though at the outbreak of War he was living in and enlisted in Northallerton. He was married and his wife's name was Ellen and they had one child. Before the War he worked at the Pattison's Linen Mill and he was a member of the Brompton Chess Club.

He joined the territorials immediately after the outbreak of War, and sailed to France with the 4th Yorkshires in April 1915.

He was killed, aged 31, while the 4th Yorkshires were occupying the front-line trenches near Kemmel (Trenches G1 to J3). Walter was the only casualty on an otherwise quiet day and the Battalion was relieved on 19th July and moved back to Kemmel Chateau in the rear. In a letter to his family from a Major Charlton it was said he was "shot through the neck and died almost immediately".