Alfred Adams was born in Sarnia on January 13, 1886, the son of Joshua Fourth Adams and Jessie Loretta (nee Clark) Adams, of 191 Brock Street, Sarnia. His father Joshua was a customs officer. Alfred had three brothers: Charles Frederick (born 1880, who would become a schoolteacher in Calgary); Ernest Joshua (born 1882); and George Percy (born 1889). Alfred resided in Sarnia for many years, and was prominent in musical circles, being an accomplished organist and pianist. He left for Goderich a few years prior to enlisting, and was leader and choirmaster of one of the churches there. Alfred enlisted on June 17, 1915 in Sarnia with the 29th Battery, Canadian Field Artillery. At the time, he listed his occupation as Civil engineer and he was single. He trained at Guelph, going overseas in February 1916. On June 21st 1916, Alfred wrote to his mother from Witley Camp, in Surrey, England where he was training. Following is a portion of that letter:
Dear Mother,
I know it is a long time since I wrote, but it was pretty hard to do any writing while we were on our tick to Larkhill, and they have formed a habit recently of springing parades of one kind or another on us for Saturday afternoons and Sunday, so that leisure time is rather a scarce article. We had quite a time on our “trek.” It was done under actual service conditions. We left here on the 5th about 8 a.m., the whole brigade the 29th, 41st, 44th and 46th Batteries, travelled of course at a walk. Every hour we would halt for about 10 minutes, see that everything was alright, then on again. Any time near noon we would halt where there was a stream of water to water the horses, feed them and eat a sandwich ourselves. We moved by easy stages only about 12 to 16 miles a day, usually reaching our bivouac for the night about 2 or 3 p.m….
He later described his stay in the area of Over Wallop: … In the evening as soon as the horses are fed and watered, we had a hot meal usually a stew, then we would wander off to the town to see what it looked like. Then there was a roll-call at 9:30 so we didn’t have much time to look around. It is broad daylight here now at 9:30 with the daylight saving bill in force, Summer time as they call it. Reville was at 4 a.m. and we moved off again at 6. Of course we slept in the open with a rubber sheet and two blankets, fortunately we did ot get much rain at night….The soil all through is chalk but there is plenty of good sticky mud on the surface, and even a short shower turns the place into an abominable mud hole. The first contingent must have suffered tortures in such a place during the rainy season….It will not be long before we move to France now by the looks of things and I guess leave is hard to get then, but the war will soon be over. I think this brings my tale nearly up to date so I’ll end here. Everything is going fine, good health and everything else. I’m glad father is keeping up. Hope everything is O.K.
Yours, Roy
Alfred would take part in the battles at Vimy Ridge, the three battles of the Somme, Arras, Ypres, Passchendaele, Cambrai and others. Alfred took his Officer’s training in Witley Camp, Godalming, England, starting in January 1918, and later returned to the front in June 1918, having attained the rank of Lieutenant. He became a member of the Canadian Army Field Artillery, 3rd Brigade with the rank of Lieutenant. Alfred Adams was wounded at Amiens on September 4th, 1918, during Canada’s final Hundred Days Campaign and was confined in the General Hospital in France until October 10th. He was then moved to a hospital in England, where, one week later, on October 17, 1918, he would lose his life. He was listed as, Died of wounds – 3rd London General Hospital (England), Wandsworth Common, S.W. Thirty-two year old Alfred Adams is buried in Brookwood Military Cemetery, Surrey, United Kingdom, Grave III.D.12. Alfred received the British War Medal and the Victory Medal. Alfred’s father Joshua would die less than two years later, in April 1920.
SOURCES: A, B, C, D, E, F, L, N, 2C, 2D, 2G