231752 Pte Albert Hugill Excelby British Army 5th Btn. Border Regiment from:Stokesley Albert Hugill Exelby, was one of four sons of George Exelby and Elizabeth Hurworth who served in the Great War: William (b 26/3/1894), George junior (31/3/1895), Joseph (20/4/1896) and Albert (22/5/1897). They also had two daughters, Mary (b 16/4/1899) and Jane (b 26/3/1901
Albert joined the Territorials on 1st April, 1914 giving his age as 17 years, though he was only 16. His medical examination records him as 5 foot 10 and a half with a 36" chest, good physical development and good vision.
He spent two years in the 4th Yorkshire (Reserve) Battalion, before being transferred to the 3rd Border Regiment on 4th July, 1916, and was sent to France on 12th July. Two days later he was transferred to the 5th Battalion.
On 19th September 1916, Albert received a gunshot wound to his left arm and was sent back to England, Albert was for a time a patient in the VAD hospital in Stokesley Manor House. He returned to his unit in France in December and was wounded on three further occasions, April 1917, October 1917 and May, 1918. He was officially demobed in February 1919, aged 21 and received an enhancement of 20% to his pension due to disability caused by a gunshot wound to the left thigh giving him a pension of 8 shillings and threepence per week.
Albert married Eliza Hindmarsh, nee Green in August 1922. Eliza had two daughters from a previous marriage and she and Albert had two more:
Beatrice in 1923 and Margaret in 1929. Albert Exelby died in Middlesbrough in 1950.
|