Tyne Cot Memorial
Albert W Barker. Died 17 August 1917
Lance Corporal Albert Edward Barker was born in Swallowfield and enlisted in Wokingham into the 1/4th Royal Berkshire Regiment. He was the son of Mrs E Barker of 9 Queen’s Terrace, Rose Street. He died in Belgium on 17th August 1917 and although his grave is unknown his name is commemorated on Tyne Cot Memorial. He was 21 years old .
The link http://www.purley.eu/H142P/P283-Int4.pdf is a detailed account of the battalion’s fighting at Passchendaele where Albert was killed.
Sadly, there were a lot of Barker families in the area and we are as yet, unable to find out anything else about him.
By John Chapman: “Albert Edward Barker ia also commemorated on the All Saints WM and the H Coy Muster list at the town hall, also the H Coy Memorial at Brock Barracks in Reading. He served with the 2nd/4th Royal Berks and at the Battle of Fromelles in July 1916 he rescued Sgt Harvey Bennet and dragged him into a shell hole (See Berks Chronicle 4/8/18). I could not find him on the CWGC list until I switched the initials around and found him as Edward Albert. Strangely I also have an A E Banker R Berks 200382 who was killed 16/8/17 – reported in the Berkshire Chronicle 22/2/18 page 3”