Alfred Thomas Oliver
Father of Norma Margaret Oliver
Born:
25 Apr 1893 Bermondsey, Surrey, England
Married:
15 Dec 1929 St Clement with St Peter Church, East Dulwich, Surrey, England to Ellen Ruby Price Lane
Died:
31 Oct 1949 Epsom, Surrey, England. Age 56
Cause of death:
Heart attack
Timeline
Apr 1893
1893-1899
1899-1901
1903-1912
Sep 1908-Sep 1912
1913-1914
Oct 1914
Jan-Mar 1915
Mar-May 1915
May-Jun 1915
Jun-Oct 1915
Oct 1915-Jan 1916
Jan-Jun 1916
Jun-Nov 1916
Dec 1916-Jun 1917
Jun 1917-Jun 1918
Jun 1918-Mar 1919
1919-1929
Dec 1929
1930-1934
1935-1939
1947
1949
Oct 1949
Born at Bermondsey in Surrey [1]
Lived with parents at 46 Hall Rd, Peckham, Surrey. Worked as a clerk (1908) and ship's steward (1911) [5] [6] [7] [8]
Served with the 6th London Brigade in the Territorial Force. Completed annual training at Salisbury (Aug 1909), Chatham (Jul/Aug 1910) and Shornecliffe (Jul/Aug 1911) [6]
Enlisted as Serjeant in the 2/17th London Regiment (Poplar and Stepney Rifles) [11]
Stationed with unit at Reigate, Surrey [12]
Stationed with unit at St Albans, Hertfordshire [12]
Stationed with unit at Braintree, Essex [12]
Stationed with unit at Hatfield Broad Oak, Essex [12]
Stationed with unit at Saffron Walden, Essex [12]
Stationed with unit at Vimy, France [13]
Stationed with unit at Salonika, Greece [11]
Stationed with unit at Ypres, Belgium [14]
Lived with parents at 54 Friern Rd, East Dulwich Surrey. Worked as a meat salesman (although resting through illness in 1921) and as a wireless engineer in 1929 [15] [34] [16]
Married Ellen Ruby Price Lane at St Clement with St Peter Church, West Dulwich, Surrey [16]
Lived with family at 112 Copleston Rd, East Dulwich, Surrey and worked as a radio and cycle travelling salesman [17] [37] [38] [18]
Lived with family and his brother-in-law's family at the Sun in the Sands, 123 Shooters Hill Rd, Blackheath, Surrey. Worked as a meat salesman [21]
Lived at 139 Upland Rd, East Dulwich, Surrey and worked as a manager at a newsagent [22]
Died of heart attack at St Ebbas Hospital in Epsom, Surrey [22]
Biography
Early years
Charles Booth map of Fort Road, Bermondsey area (marked with blue dot), 1898/99
Alfred was born at his parents' home at 196 Fort Road, South Bermondsey, on 25 Apr 1893. The family's home was right by St Anne's Church in Thorburn Square and just north of the Bricklayers Arms railway, which was used as a goods line [1] [23].
The Charles Booth map of the area from 1898/99 shows that the area was working-class but relatively well-off. In fact, working-class could be applied to the district of Bermondsey as a whole. It had long been an industrial centre, with an economy dominated by its riverside wharves, where imported goods were landed and handled [24] [25].
Alfred's father, James, was a lithographic printer and his mother, Annie Louisa, was a full-time housewife raising Alfred and his four older siblings [1].
The Oliver family lived on Fort Road until Alfred was 6 years old, and then moved to 5 Laurel Villas on Hall Rd (modern-day Cheltenham Rd) in the area of Camberwell parish known as Peckham Rye, a more middle-class area. Peckham Rye area was so named because of Peckham Rye Park and Common, which the Olivers lived just down the road from [25].
Bank holiday on Peckham Rye Park
Alfred's childhood and teenage years were all spent on Hall Road. In 1908, at the age of 15, Alfred was working as a clerk when he decided to enlist for four years' service in the Territorial Force. The Territorial Force was newly-created in 1908, an amalgamation of the old Volunteer Force and yeomanry. It was a part-time, volunteer auxiliary force, intended to augment Britain's army. Members were liable for serve anywhere in the UK but could not be compelled to serve overseas. As part of his service, Alfred completed regular drill periods and attended annual two-week camps [5] [6] [26] [27].
Alfred enlisted with the 6th London Brigade, Royal Field Artillery, at their headquarters on Holland Rd, Brixton, the district next to Camberwell. His physical description was given as 15 yrs 5 mths, 5 ft 4½ in, with good vision and fairly good physical development [6].
Recruits received two sets of clothing, either one service dress (basic field dress) and one 'walking-out dress' (with braiding and sometimes coloured trouser), or two sets of service dress only. Which option the recruit got would depend on the funds of the local County Association that was responsible for the unit, and whether they were responsible for providing all uniforms, as 'walking-out dress' cost more [27].
Outside of his Territorial Force service duties, in 1911, Alfred worked as a ship's steward, which would have involve working on a boat, keeping cabins tidy, laying and clearing tables for meals and generally looking after the needs of crew and guests [7].
In 1913, Alfred had completed his four years' service and he and his family had moved to East Dulwich, not far from their old home at Peckham Rye. However, it was not long before Alfred was called back to military duty [9].
The Great War
When Great Britain declared war against Germany on 4 August 1914, men in Territorial Force units were invited to volunteer for Overseas Service. At the time, Alfred was 21 and was no longer in the Territorial Force. However, his military service number of 2831 indicates he volunteered for service around October 1914. He was enlisted in the 2/17th London Regiment (Poplar and Stepney Rifles), a sister battalion to the 1/17th London Regiment. Like Alfred's old unit of the 6th London Brigade, the 17th London Regiment were a Territorial Force battalion. The prefix of 2/- indicates that the 2/17th battalion was a Reserve, or second line, battalion. While the 1/17th was readying for deployment to France, the 2/17th formed as a duplicate battalion to be kept in reserve in Britain. All volunteers for the second line had the same terms and conditions as the first line, and could not be sent overseas unless they agreed to do. As it would happen, the 2/17th would be called to overseas duty [28] [29].
At first, the 2/17th recruits lived at home and trained in civilian dress at the Battalion's headquarters on Tredegar Road, Tower Hamlets (east London). However, in Jan 1915 Alfred and the battalion were stationed in Reigate, Surrey. Over the next 18 months, the battalion would move to locations around Hertfordshire and Essex in training. Typical days would include attending lectures on tactics, courses on map reading, marches, and physical drills. In fact, Alfred would have delivered some or many of those physical drills as the crossed swords badge seen on Alfred's left sleeve in his WW1 portrait indicates he was a Physical Training Instructor [12] [13].
Alfred Thomas Oliver's World War I portrait
After the 2/17th moved to Sutton Verny in Jan 1916, they received their orders to prepare to move to France. The battalion began final training for overseas deployment including trench digging, bayonet fighting, gas helmet instruction and field firing. On 15 Jun 1916, the battalion began mobilisation to France, arriving in Le Havre on 23/24 June [13] [28].
On 1 July, within a week of arrival, the battalion were in front line and support trenches east of Neuville-Saint-Vaast, near Arras, France. Over the course of the next couple of weeks, the four companies of the 2/17th would alternate time between the front and support trenches, taking fire from the Germans who were using rifle grenades and, during quiet periods, repairing the barbed wire above the trenches [13].
WW1 soldiers using a rifle grenade
After a brief respite where they billeted in huts in the woods of Mont-Saint-Eloi, the battalion were back in the same trenches under fire from enemy trench mortars and rifle grenades. In response, the brigade let loose an artillery bombardment and their own trench and stokes mortars, doing considerable damage to the Germans. This continued on for weeks, day after day - mortar attacks, heavy artillery bombardment, rifle grenades, nights filled with machine gun fire. The battalion would spend weeks in the trenches with only brief respites of a couple of days in reserve. The strain led to at least one Lieutenant being sent down for shell shock [13].
The battalion stayed in this Groundhog Day for four months. It was likely for an event during this period that Alfred was later awarded a Military Medal for bravery in the field [30].
In November 1916, the battalion received orders to prepare to move to the Macedonian front. They made their way by train to Marseilles in the south of France and embarked for Salonika (modern-day Thessaloniki) aboard the Menominee and Caledonia [13] [28].
After arrival, the 2/17th were sent to the defence line of the XII Corps that formed part of the British Salonika Force on the Macedonian front. The Macedonian front, also known as the Salonika front, arose as a theatre of war as a result of the Allied powers attempt to aid Serbia against a combined attack from Germany, Austria-Hungary and Bulgaria [28] [29].
The 2/17th were specifically stationed near Snevce by February 1917, constructing and repairing entrenchments, drainage works and road making. The Bulgarian enemy were mostly quiet, although the battalion would have experienced regular air attacks [28].
In March 1917, the 2/17th were involved in the Battle of Dorian, although mainly in support. The Battle was intended to breakthrough the Bulgarian defence and began with a four-day artillery barrage on 22 April 1917, in which the British fired about 100,000 shells. The Allied assault continued intermittently until early May 1917 and was ultimately abandoned by the British due to heavy casualties - in total, 12,000 men killed, wounded or captured [32].
At the beginning of July 1917, the 2/17th were sent to Egypt and then sent up the front line in Palestine to join the Egyptian Expeditionary Force, to prepare for a planned assault on Gaza. Over the summer months, when not in the line, they carried out thorough training in preparation [28].
However, before Gaza, the 2/17th participated in the Battle of Beersheba in Oct 1917. Since ancient times Beersheba had been an important transport node. Previous sieges of Gaza during the War had been unsuccessful and Beersheba, about 40 miles south-east of Gaza was seen as a way to launch an outflanking manoeuvre and capture a regional transport hub to support logistics and eventually facilitate a march on Jerusalem to the north [33].
Although in divisional reserve with the Battle of Beersheba began, the initial attack was so successful that Brigade followed up through the night with the 2/17th in the lead. They then went on to El Muweileh, where they concentrated with other battalions in their Brigade for an attack on the Kauwukah trench system. The attack was a success and they went on to take the viaduct at Wadi es Sheria and the water supplies, however this was delayed because ammunition dumps in the town were exploding and the fires silhouetted the attackers. Lieutenant-Col Dear of the 2/17th agreed with his fellow commanding officers to make the attack when the explosions ended. They went in at 5.30 the next morning, with the 2/17th charging in silence across the wadi, then rushing four machine guns posted on a mound beyond. The Turks put up a determined resistance, but the position was quickly taken [28].
The 2/17th would go on to fight in Jerusalem and the Jordan Valley in December 1917 and early 1918. In March 1918, the 2/17th were ordered back to the Western Front. Along with other battalions in their brigade, the 2/17th participated in a small operation to capture Neuve Eglise in Belgium and participated in the Fifth Battle of Ypres [28].
Demobilisation and marriage to Ellen Ruby Price Lane
Alfred, now aged 26, was discharged on 15 March 1919 and returned to his family, living at 54 Friern Road in East Dulwich [6] [15].
Alfred's four years of service left him a changed man. He suffered badly from shell shock, now recognised as Post-traumatic Stress Disorder. Along with his brother Albert, Alfred got a job in the central London Smithfield Meat Market, working as a meat salesman for Morris Beef Company. However, by 1921, he was recorded as "resting through illness". As Alfred's nephew James William Oliver remembered, Alfred's nerves were pretty bad and it was some time before he got really well. James would often go swimming with Alfred, at the request of Alfred's mother Annie and sister Loll (Annie Laurie) [15] [34] [35].
By 1928, Alfred had met his wife-to-be, Ellen Ruby Price Lane, known as Nell. She was also from East Dulwich, living on nearby Elsie Road, and they probably met at a local pub, possibly one owned by Nell's brother Horrie, who had also gone into the pub trade [36].
At the time, Alfred was working as a wireless engineer and they married at the local St Clement with St Peter Church on the 15th of December 1929. Alfred's brother Albert and Nell's sister Iris (Rissy) served as their official witnesses to the marriage [16].
Nell and Alfred on their wedding day, 1929
St Clements with St Peter Church, East Dulwich as seen on Barry Road before it was destroyed in 1940
After their marriage, Alfred and Nell lived at 112 Copleston Rd in East Dulwich, where their three daughters (the youngest two being twins) were all born in 1931 and 1932. Alfred's occupation at this time was given variously as "Radio Traveller" or "Traveller Radio & Cycle", which suggests he was a travelling salesman for radios [17] [37] [38].
112 Copleston Road, East Dulwich
In 1935, the family moved out of London to the Surrey village of Cheam. The house, at 58 Chatsworth Road, was an end-of-terrace home close to Nonsuch Park.
When the Second World War started in 1939, the impact of it was felt even in the village of Cheam. Alfred and Nell's daughters wore tin gas masks to school (much like these ones, worn by children in England) and, when they arrived at school, they'd take their gas masks off and place them on the floor under their desks. Sometimes an alarm would go off to warn of an impending bombing raid and the children would have to put their masks on [36].
52 Chatsworth Road, Cheam [marked with red dot]
One of Alfred's daughters, Norma, remembered Alfred and Nell taking turns sitting up at night due to the risk of bombing, while the girls slept on a big mattress in a cupboard under the stairs [36].
It is perhaps unsurprising that Alfred suffered a relapse when the war broke out and had to be hospitalised for treatment. Nell needed to work full-time to pay the bills and mortgage and didn't want the girls to come home to an empty house, particularly given the risks of bombing. As a result, the girls were sent to an orphanage for most of the war period [36].
Towards the end of the war, Alfred improved and he was sent home. The girls also returned home and Norma remembered her father coming to pick them up from the school, which was close to their house [36].
Later years and death
The close of the war brought a series of tragedies to Alfred's life.
On the 8th of March 1945, his eldest brother James, was killed by a V2 rocket that hit the Smithfield meat market where he worked. At the time, Alfred was working as a meat salesman, probably in the same place [35] [21].
It was the last big rocket incident of the war in England. The bomb was dropped at about 7.20 in the morning, killing 131 people [40].
The following year, Nell and Alfred's eldest daughter Rita, contracted tuberculosis. She was only 15 at the time and, for treatment, she was placed at the Essex County Council's Sanatorium at Black Notley, near Braintree, Essex. A picture of her survives at the sanitorium, which had recently opened in 1930 specifically for the treatment of tuberculosis in women and children.
Rita sadly passed away at the age of 16 on the 14th April 1947 of tuberculosis meningitis, only a month after Alfred's mother died in March 1947. At the time, Alfred and the family were living with Nell's brother Horrie at the Sun in the Sands pub, in Blackheath. Alfred and Nell arranged for Rita to be buried in a private grave at Camberwell Cemetery on 18th April 1947 [21] [39] [41].
In the late 1940s, Alfred found a job managing a newsagency in Upminster, east London, which he enjoyed.
On the night of Halloween, 1949, Alfred experienced a heart attack and he died at St Ebbas Hospital in Epsom, Surrey at the age of only 56 years old [22] [36].
Ambulant Children's Pavilion at Black Notley Sanitorium
Rita at the Black Notley Sanitorium shortly before her death
Source information
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Alfred Thomas Oliver, England & Wales Birth Certificate, Registered 2nd Quarter 1893 in St Olave, Record no: 138, General Register Office [www.gro.gov.uk]
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James John Oliver, London England Electoral Registers 1832-1965, Borough of Southwark, Division of Bermondsey, 1899, Ancestry [www.ancestry.co.uk]. Location of father used as a proxy for Alfred, as he was a minor at the time.
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John and Albert Henry Oliver, Ivydale Road School Admission and Discharge Register for Boys, Southwark, London England School Admissions and Discharges 1840-1911, 1899, Ancestry [www.ancestry.co.uk]. Home address for brothers used as a proxy for Alfred, as he was a minor at the time.
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Alford Oliver [1901], Census return for Laurel Villas Hall Road, Camberwell, Middlesex, The National Archives of the UK, Ancestry [www.ancestry.co.uk]
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James John Oliver, London England Electoral Registers 1832-1965, Borough of Southwark, Division of Peckham, 1903, Ancestry [www.ancestry.co.uk]. Location of father used as a proxy for Alfred, as he was a minor at the time.
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Alfred Thomas Oliver, Attestation Paper for the Territorial Force, 6th London Brigade RFA, 23 Sep 1908, The National Archives of the UK, Ancestry [www.ancestry.co.uk]
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Alfred Thomas Oliver [1911], Census return for Hall Road, Nunhead, London, The National Archives of the UK, Ancestry [www.ancestry.co.uk]
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James John Oliver, London England Electoral Registers 1832-1965, Borough of Southwark, Division of Peckham, 1912, Ancestry [www.ancestry.co.uk]. Location of father used as a proxy for Alfred, as he was a minor at the time.
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James John Oliver, London England Electoral Registers 1832-1965, Borough of Southwark, Division of Dulwich, 1913, Ancestry [www.ancestry.co.uk]. Location of father used as a proxy for Alfred, as he was a minor at the time.
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James John Oliver, London England Electoral Registers 1832-1965, Borough of Southwark, Division of Dulwich, 1915, Ancestry [www.ancestry.co.uk]. Location of father used as a proxy for Alfred, as he was a minor at the time. The family is still living at 103 Bellendean Rd in 1915, supporting that they were living there in 1914.
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Alfred T Oliver, Medal roll for 17th London Regiment (Poplar and Stepney), 1914-1920, Ref: WO 329/1935/001, The National Archives of the UK, Ancestry [www.ancestry.co.uk]
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2/17 Battalion London Regiment War Diary - part 1, Jan 1915-Nov 1916, Ref: WO 95/3031/3, The National Archives of the UK [nationalarchives.gov.uk]
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2/17 Battalion London Regiment War Diary - part 2, Jan 1915-Nov 1916, Ref: WO 95/3031/3, The National Archives of the UK [nationalarchives.gov.uk]
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2/17 Battalion London Regiment War Diary, Jun 1918-Sep 1919, Ref: WO 95/3031/3, The National Archives of the UK [nationalarchives.gov.uk]
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Alfred Thomas Oliver, London England Electoral Registers 1832-1965, Borough of Southwark, Division of Camberwell, 1918, Ancestry [www.ancestry.co.uk]. This electoral roll is for enlisted military men and indicates his address at the time he was demobilised. He wasn't actually home until 1919.
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Alfred Thomas Oliver and Ellen Ruby Price Lane, England & Wales Marriage Certificate, Registered 4th Quarter 1929 in Camberwell, Record no: 374, General Register Office [www.gro.gov.uk]
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Alfred Thomas Oliver, Borough of Southwark, District of Camberwell, 1930, London Electoral Roll Registers 1832-1965, Ancestry [www.ancestry.co.uk]
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Alfred Thomas Oliver, Borough of Southwark, District of Camberwell, 1934, London Electoral Roll Registers 1832-1965, Ancestry [www.ancestry.co.uk]
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Alfred Thomas Oliver, Borough of Sutton and Cheam, West Central Ward, 1935, London Electoral Roll Registers 1832-1965, Ancestry [www.ancestry.co.uk]
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Alfred T Oliver [1939], Register for Chatsworth Road, Sutton & Cheam, Surrey, The National Archives of the UK, Ancestry [www.ancestry.co.uk]
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Rita Anne Oliver, England & Wales Death Certificate, Registered 2nd Quarter 1947 in Braintree, Record no: 428, General Register Office [www.gro.gov.uk]
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Alfred Thomas Oliver, England & Wales Death Certificate, Registered 4th Quarter 1949 in Surrey Mid-Eastern, Record no: 491, General Register Office [www.gro.gov.uk]. Alfred is described as being "Of 139 Upland Road, Dulwich" although his wife Ellen's address is given as 37 Begbie Road, Blackheath
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Bestwick, Alec, From The Archive: The Failure Of Bricklayers Arms As A Passenger Station, The Railway Magazine, 1944, Available online [www.railwaymagazine.co.uk]
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Historical Background, Thorburn Square Conservation Area Appraisal, 2012, Southwark Council [www.southwark.gov.uk]
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Charles Booth's London, London School of Economics & Political Science [booth.lse.ac.uk/map]
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Territorial Force, Wikipedia, Last edited 27 Jan 2024 [en.wikipedia.org]
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The Territorial Force 1908-14, Liverpool Scottish Museum Archive [liverpoolscottish.org.uk]
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World War I: 2/17th Londons, Poplar and Stepney Rifles, Wikipedia, Last edited 15 Apr 2024 [en.wikipedia.org]
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Background: Territorial Force, British infantry brigades of the First World War, Wikipedia, Last edited 19 May 2024 [en.wikipedia.org]
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Local war heroes, Eastern Post, 30 Dec 1916, page 5, FindMyPast [www.findmypast.co.uk]
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Macedonian front, Wikipedia, Last edited 19 May 2024 [en.wikipedia.org]
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Battle of Dorian (1917), Wikipedia, Last edited 17 May 2024 [en.wikipedia.org]
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Why you need to know about the Battle of Beersheba, Commonwealth War Graves Commission, 31 Oct 2022 [www.cwgc.org]
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Alfred Thomas Oliver [1921], Census return for Friern Road, East Dulwich, London, The National Archives of the UK, Ancestry [www.ancestry.co.uk]
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Letter from James William Oliver junior
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Conversations with Norma Margaret Oliver
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Rita Anne Oliver, England & Wales Birth Certificate, Registered 1st Quarter 1931 in Camberwell, Record no: 440, General Register Office [www.gro.gov.uk]
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Norma Margaret Oliver, England & Wales Birth Certificate, Registered 2nd Quarter 1932 in Camberwell, Record no: 365, General Register Office [www.gro.gov.uk]
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Rita Anne Oliver, Burial Record, Camberwell Cemetery Burial Register, 17 Apr 1947, Record no: 273285, Deceased Online [deceasedonline.com]
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London's last big rocket incident killed 131, Daily News, 27 Apr 1945, page 3, FindMyPast [www.findmypast.co.uk]
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Annie Louisa Oliver, England & Wales Death Certificate, Registered 1st Quarter 1947 in Camberwell, Record no: 206, General Register Office [www.gro.gov.uk]
Personal map
Map of places from Alfred's life
Family members
Parents
James John Oliver
1856-1925
Annie Louisa Bentley
1857-1947
Siblings
James William Oliver
1885-1945
Annie Laurie Oliver
1887-1964
Herbert John Oliver
1889-1955
Albert Henry Oliver
1891-1960
Wife
Ellen Ruby Price Lane
1893-1976
Children
Rita Anne Oliver
1931-1947
Norma Margaret Oliver
Living
Monica Mary Oliver
1932-2012