L/7627 Pte Alfred Edmund Pilbeam, 2nd Bn, Royal Sussex Regt

As of today, 232 British military personnel have died in Afghanistan since operations began in 2001. On this one day - 14th November - during the First World War, the number of British army deaths was as follows:

1914 - 220 deaths
1915 - 133 deaths
1916 - 989 deaths
1917 - 281 deaths
1918 - 167 deaths

Staggering. Truly staggering. One day out of 365.

L/7627 Private Alfred Edmund Pilbeam of the 2nd Battalion, The Royal Sussex Regiment was mourned by his family when he was killed in action at Ypres on the 14th November 1914. His entry in De Ruvigny's Roll of Honour notes that he was married, and the Commonwealth War Graves Commission adds that he was 29 years old, the son of Alfred Edmund and Lydia Pilbeam, of 32 Newhaven Street, Brighton, and the husband of Christina Pilbeam of 8 Eastport Lane, Southover, Lewes. He had married Christina in 1907 and it would seem reasonable that the couple had children, although I don't know this for sure.

Alfred arrived overseas on the 7th October 1914. Judging by his army number he had joined the Royal Sussex Regiment around October 1903 and was therefore almost certainly a recalled reservist. The address on his medal index card gives 25 Franklin Street, Lewes Road, Brighton and was presumably where his widow was living when the clasp to his 1914 Star was dispatched in 1920.

Soldiers Died in The Great War states that Alfred was born in St Peter's, Sussex and enlisted in Brighton. His name does not appear on the Lewes War Memorial but may appear elsewhere.

Like so many WW1 soldiers, Alfred has no known grave and is commemorated on the Menin Gate at Ypres.

At the going down of the sun, and in the morning, WE WILL REMEMBER THEM.

Sources:

Ancestry.co.uk (MIC)
Army Ancestry
Army Service Numbers 1881-1918
Commonwealth War Graves Commission
De Ruvigny's Roll of Honour
Soldiers Died in The Great War