721170, Lance Corporal, Alfred Harry KING
Aged 22
Killed in Action on Wednesday 31st October 1917
KING, Alfred Harry
721170, Lance Corporal, Alfred Harry KING
Aged 22
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Born in Newmarket in Q4-1894 [Newmarket 3b:503] to Frederick Harry and Sarah Elizabeth KING (née WILLIAMS) of 10 Stamford Street,
Newmarket. 1901 census...None have been found in this census. 1911 census... Alfred [17] was an errand boy, living at 4 Rosa Cottages, Lisburn Road, Newmarket with his father Frederick Henry KING [39] a turf correspondent born in Birmingham, and his mother Sarah Elizabeth [38] born in Willenhall, Staffs. Three children had been born but two had died. SDGW have him as living in Old Kent Road, having enlisted in Kennington |
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On the 31st October 1917,in what is now known as the Third Battle of Gaza, as part of a diversionary tactic to fool the Turkish Army into believing that a
full frontal attack on Gaza was imminent, 40,000 troops and heavy artillery bombarded the garrison. The overall plan was the capture of Jerusalem, but first
the Allied Forces must capture the water supply at Beersheba. The two previous battles for Gaza had failed, partly due, to the shortage of water. The intention
was to draw the Turkish Forces away from the lightly defended Beersheba, into a defence of Gaza (where the previous battles had been centred). This proved to
be successful, when an Australian Light Horse unit breached the Turkish defences and secured the town’s wells. 17 men if his battalion died on that day, all are buried in Beersheba Cemetery |
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