ARNCLIFFE, Alfred (served as Alfred Henry KING)
No. 721170, Lance Corporal, Alfred Henry KING
Aged 22
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Born in Newmarket in Q4-1894 [Newmarket 3b:503] to Frederick Harry and Sarah KING (née WILLIAMS) of Lower Station Road, (now All
Saints Road), Newmarket and some time of 10 Stamford Street, Newmarket. 1901 census...The family changed their name to ARNCLIFFE and were at Lower Station Road (now All Saints Road) Newmarket. Alfred Harry [6] was with his father, Harry ARNCLIFFE [29],a turf correspondent, born Birmingham; his mother Sarah Elizabeth [28], born Willenhall, Staffs and aunt Fannie Louisa WILLIAMS [18], born Willenhall. 1911 census...Name changed back to KING, at 4 Rosa Cottages, Lisburn Road, Newmarket, were Alfred Harry [16], errand boy, and his parents. The Newmarket Journal Nov/Dec 1917 reported Alfred as a racing correspondent, living in Old Kent Road, London. He enlisted in Kennington, London. He is on the War Memorial as ARNCLIFFE but served as KING. He actually use his birth name when serving and his mother was Sarah C.KING on the pension card, living at 48 Warner Road,Old Kent Road, SE but later moving to Melton Villa, (Green Road?) Newmarket. |
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The 24th Royal Fusiliers were also known as the 2nd Sportsman's Battalion.
By October 1917, General Allenby's force had been entrenched in front of a strong Turkish position along the Gaza-Beersheba road for some months, but they were now ready to launch an attack with Beersheba as its first objective. On 31 October, the attack was carried out by the XXth Corps (10th, 53rd, 60th and 74th Divisions) on the west, and the Desert Mounted Corps on the east. THE ATTACK OF THE XX CORPS.. It was a cold, still night, precursor of a hot and breathless day. Over the troops' left shoulders the bombardment of Gaza, more than twenty miles away, was rumbling, and the horizon flickered with gun-flashes till breaking day concealed them. From the Turkish trenches in front there came not a sound. Then, at 5.55 a.m., the XX Corps' own artillery set about its work. The ground, after the scorching heat of summer, was dry as powder and bare of vegetation; there was no breath of wind; so that after an hour's bombardment the Turkish defences were screened in a dense cloud of dust. At 7 the bombardment was stopped for threequarters of an hour to permit the murk to clear a little and the observers to locate their targets. Visibility did not much improve during the pause, but from what could be seen of the wire it was by no means all cut. Br/General Da Costa decided that further delay would prove more costly in the long run than an immediate assault, and got Major-General Shea's permission to carry it out after a final intense bombardment of ten minutes , beginning at 8.20. At this hour the 2/22nd London advanced against Point 1069 itself and the 2/24th against the works just north of it. The wirecutting parties cut the necessary gaps while the barrage was still upon the Turkish trenches 30 yards ahead, and within a few minutes the works were captured with 90 prisoners, the brigade having so far suffered about one hundred casualties. That evening the 4th Australian Light Horse Brigade charged over the Turkish trenches into the town. The London Regiment lost 45 men that day, all are buried in Beersheeba War Cemetery. |
© Avishai Teicher
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