Albert Bennett - Private - Royal Army Medical Corps – 38th Motor Ambulance Corps
Albert Bennett was born in Swansea in 1895, the son of Richard and Mary Bennett.
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| 1901 Census |
At the time of the 1901 Census, the Bennett family were living at 6 Field Street, Swansea. Albert’s father, Richard, aged 43, was recorded as a widower, indicating that his wife, Mary, had died before the census was taken.
Richard was employed as a crane driver at the steelworks, an occupation that required considerable skill and responsibility in handling heavy materials and equipment. His birthplace was recorded in the census as Point, near Devon, although later records give a different location.
Five children were living with their father. The eldest, William, aged 19, had followed Richard into the steel industry and was also employed as a crane driver. Beatrice was 17 years old, Sarah Jane was 13, Trevor was nine, and Albert, the youngest, was just six years old.
The loss of their mother while the children were still young would have brought considerable difficulties to the household. Richard faced the responsibility of supporting his family while continuing his demanding employment at the steelworks.
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| 1911 Census |
Ten years later, the 1911 Census recorded the Bennett family still living at 6 Field Street, Swansea.
Richard, now recorded as aged 57, continued to work as a crane driver at the steelworks. On this occasion, his birthplace was given as Penpoll, Cornwall, rather than the location recorded in 1901.
Four of his children remained at home. William Thomas, aged 29, was also employed as a crane driver, continuing the family’s connection with the steel industry. Sarah Jane was 23 years old, while Trevor, aged 19, was working as a clerk.
Albert, now aged 16, was employed as an office boy, suggesting that he had begun his working life in a clerical or administrative environment rather than following his father and elder brother into manual work at the steelworks.
Growing up in Swansea, Albert would have been familiar with the industrial character of the town. The steelworks, docks, copperworks and associated industries provided employment for thousands of local families, and the Bennett household was closely connected with this working environment.
Although Albert had lost his mother during childhood, he had grown up surrounded by his father and older brothers and sisters, remaining at the family home in Field Street into his teenage years.
Following the outbreak of the First World War in August 1914, Albert entered military service, joining the Royal Army Medical Corps (RAMC).
He served as a Private with the 38th Motor Ambulance Corps, as recorded in the surviving information concerning his military service.
The Royal Army Medical Corps played a vital role throughout the First World War, providing medical care and organising the evacuation of sick and wounded soldiers from the battlefield to dressing stations, casualty clearing stations and hospitals.
The introduction of motor ambulances greatly improved the transportation of casualties, replacing or supplementing the horse-drawn ambulances that had previously been widely used.
Motor ambulance personnel worked under extremely difficult conditions, often travelling along damaged roads and through areas exposed to enemy artillery fire. Their duties involved transporting wounded and seriously ill soldiers to medical facilities where they could receive further treatment.
Although members of the Royal Army Medical Corps were not primarily employed as fighting troops, their work was essential to the survival and recovery of countless servicemen.
During the First World War, British forces also served in the Mediterranean and the Balkans, particularly in the Salonika campaign.
The Salonika campaign began in October 1915, when Allied troops were sent to the Greek port of Salonika, now Thessaloniki, to support operations in the Balkans.
British and Allied forces subsequently established positions along the Macedonian Front, where they faced not only the dangers of military operations but also severe difficulties caused by the climate, terrain and disease.
Malaria, dysentery and other illnesses were widespread among troops serving in the region, and medical services were placed under considerable pressure.
The Royal Army Medical Corps was therefore of particular importance in Salonika, where large numbers of soldiers required treatment for sickness as well as wounds received in action.
By September 1918, Allied forces were preparing for the final stages of the campaign in Macedonia. A major offensive began in the middle of the month and contributed to the collapse of Bulgarian resistance, leading to Bulgaria's withdrawal from the war at the end of September.
It was during this period that Albert died while serving overseas.
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| Army Registers of Soldiers’ Effects |
The record establishes that he died in hospital, although the precise cause of his death has not been confirmed from the information available. It would therefore be inappropriate to assume whether he died from illness, wounds or another medical condition.
Albert was approximately 23 years old when he died, less than two months before the Armistice brought the fighting on the Western Front to an end.
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| Albert Bennett Mikra British Cemetery, Kalamaria, Greece credit - findagrave |
The cemetery contains the graves of British and Commonwealth servicemen who died while serving in the Salonika campaign, including many who succumbed to illness or died while receiving medical treatment.
For Albert’s father, Richard, and his brothers and sisters back in Swansea, his death brought another painful loss to a family that had already experienced the death of his mother during his childhood.
Albert had grown up at 6 Field Street, where his father and elder brother worked in the steel industry. Before entering military service, he had begun his own working life as an office boy, with the prospect of a future career ahead of him.
Instead, like so many young men of his generation, his life was interrupted by the war, taking him far from his family and home in Swansea to the distant battlefields and military hospitals of Greece.
His service with the Royal Army Medical Corps also serves as a reminder that the First World War claimed the lives of men engaged in medical and support duties, as well as those serving in the front-line infantry.
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