Albert Lamb was born in the early 1890s to Charles and Isabella Lamb and attended the local village school in Wales, a mining community in the heart of the South Yorkshire coalfields. After basic schooling Albert was taken on at the local colliery of Kiveton Park. Albert’s brother Herbert, born in 1892, had been badly injured in a pit accident before the War, which rendered him permanently medically unfit for military service.

Albert and his chum Harry Checkley made their way to the local recruiting office and were attested into their local regiment, the King’s Own Yorkshire Light Infantry (KOYLI). Harry was the only son of Joseph and Hannah Checkley, of 1, Albert Terrace, Kiveton Park. Harry must have jumped the queue because his regimental number was 20785, whereas Albert’s was 20792.

After attestation Albert and Harry were posted to the 3rd (Reserve) Battalion, based in Pontefract. Little is known about Albert’s specific whereabouts during this time, but sometime in October 1914 he was sent to Hull to complete his basic training. His unit was based at Thoresby Street Council School, Hull.

On Tuesday 27 April 1915 Albert was posted with a draft into the 2nd Battalion which was already in France with the British Expeditionary Force, and proceeded to the continent under the command of 2nd Lieutenant J R Hammond, along with 64 other NCOs and men.

The weather throughout late April and early May was described in the Battalion diary as fine and mild, or fine, sunny and warm. It was in this reasonable weather that Albert and his comrades arrived in their draft from ‘Blighty’ on 28 April 1915, at the village of St Jean (now called Sint-Jan). Although this was a ‘rest’ area, it still came under regular artillery shellfire. St Jean was actually in a hot spot, situated east of Ypres just behind the high ground occupied by the Germans at the Frezenberg Ridge.

On 30 April Albert and Harry moved with their Battalion to the front line trenches north of Wieltje. Albert and his comrades spent just a few hours in the front line before being relieved and marching 4 ½ miles to a farm north west of Brielen, itself around 3 miles north west of ’Wipers’. The Battalion diary records that they arrived there at 3 in the morning, having been shelled continuously during their move. “A quiet day as far as we were concerned….shelled for the whole day but only losing 5 men” . From Brielen the battalion moved to camp at Ouderdom.

Albert lost his life on 7 May 1915, just a few days after arriving in France. He had moved into the trenches of the Zwarteleen salient, a feature in the British front line facing Hill 60. On the extract of the trench map shown below, his position was approximately at the "n" of "Zwarteleen". His battalion had been selected to make a reprisal attack following an assault that the Germans had made, using poison gas, against the 2nd Duke of Wellington's on Hill 60 on 5 May.

Albert's battalion moved into the trenches at the Zwarteleen salient, on the slopes of Hill 60. The trenches shown here in red are the German ones; the British trenches were to the left, the most forward positions being just a few yards from the enemy front line.

From the battalion war diary:

6 May 1915: A hot sunny day. At about noon the Colonel received notification that the Battn. was to make an attack during the night or at dawn on the Zwarteleen Salient and the Brigadier asked him to reconnoitre the position and let him know how he considered the attack could best be made. Consequently at 2pm the CO, Adjutant & 4 Company Commanders set out to get a view of the Salient from "41" trench. As a result of this reconnaissance the orders for attack were issued by Brigadier at 6.5pm. After receiving these orders the C.O. assembled all officers & explained his dispositions for the attack.

Sketch by Kerry Hutchinson, showing the trench positions mentioned in the war diary. The British attack, which geographically went from west to east, is shown bottom to top on the sketch.

7 May 1915: The Enemy holds Hill 60 & all the line of trench marked. They had also dug a new trench across the neck of the Salient (a) & occupied it. At (b) a barrier had been erected by both sides. The Cheshire Regt. held 38, 39 & 40 trenches and the Royal Irish Rifles 46 trench. The Cheshires also occupied 41 trench. At 2.30am, at which time the KOYLI were to attack, the Battn. was to be in position as follows: - The 2 assaulting Coys B & A under Command of Captain King & 2/Lt. Roberts respectively were to be massed in 41 trench. C Coy with shovels and sandbags were to be in communicating trench (c) (under Lt. Singleton) ready to move up & follow B & A Coys in the attack. D Coy to be in the rear of C (under Lt. Clarke) also to move up into 41 trench either to reinforce the attack or remain in 41 as required. At 2.30am the barrier (b), which had been mined, was to be blown up and the Cheshires in 40 assisted by Bombing Parties of KOSB & West Kents were to push up into 43 and assist our attack, the R.I.R. doing the same from 46 on the left. The head of each of these parties were to show us their position by a flashlight. The Battn. paraded under the Railway Embankment at 11.45pm & moved up along the railway & by 2am was all ready in the above positions - at the appointed hour (2.30am) although the explosion of the Barrier did not take place B Coy closely followed by A Coy jumped forward over the parapet of 41 & advanced direct on the new German Trench (a) - after they had gone about 10 yards they were met with a terrific Rifle & Machine Gun fire & were mowed down fast. They were followed by C Coy & later by D Coy - the latter however, in the darkness lost direction & inclining too much to their right, got into 40 trench. Meanwhile the barrier at (b) exploded although somewhat late & the Cheshires pushed forward some 70 yards up into the Salient. Nothing was seen or heard of the R.I.R. on the left and they gave us no assistance. The first reliable information to come back was from Lt. Roberts who came in wounded & stated that the first trench (a) had been taken and crossed and that B & A Coys were well up in the Salient. Shortly after this dawn broke and it became evident that although the enemy had been driven out of the neck of the Salient they still held the Salient itself. It also became evident that any of A, B or C Coys who had got through would not be able to communicate back or move until nightfall. The Cheshire Regt. who had advanced well into the Salient on the right had been bombed back again to their old position & had re-erected the blown up barrier.

The day passed fairly quietly & without any news from the Salient which caused a feeling of suspense all round. Darkness came at 7.45pm & patrols were sent out to look for wounded men & to try to ascertain what the result of the attack had been. The situation, although it was known that the attack had failed, was not cleared up until Capt. King crawled in slightly wounded. From Capt. Kings narrative it is evident that only small parties of A, B & C Coys lived to enter the Salient & as only a sprinkling of these Coys ever turned up the remainder must have been either killed, wounded, or captured.

Unfortunately there can be no doubt that many wounded men died lying out unable to get back. In fact as late as 12 May 3 men crawled into 40 trench. Two of these died of exposure before they could say anything. The third declared that there was a party of one Officer & about 14 men in an old trench in the Salient quite close to the enemy & that they were living on raw potatoes & water. They refused to surrender & whenever the Germans advanced to take them they fired on them. He stated they had no hope of getting back. As the narrator of this story died shortly after telling it to the men of the S. Lancashire Regt. & as it was impossible to do anything to assist the party the truth of this could never be verified. If true the officer must have been either Lt. Singleton or 2/Lt. Addenbrooke.

Killed: Lt. F.W. Snape & 21 N.C.O.s & men.
Wounded Lts. Roberts - Thom - Lumb - White - Gosschalk - Clarke - Roe -
Capt. King & 116 N.C.O.s and men.
Missing. Lts. Singleton - Addenbrooke & 40 N.C.O.s & men.
Total. 11 Officers & 177 Rank & File.

The area of the Zwarteleen Salient, where Albert Lamb died - possibly among the small group that was cut off and apparently survived for several days- today. The ground between Trenches 41 and 46 has been completely built over.

Albert Lamb has no known grave. His name is on panel 47 of the Menin Gate Memorial to the Missing. Since 2003, wreaths have been laid at the Last Post Ceremony and in 2004
a memorial plaque was to be placed and dedicated in St George’s Church, Ypres, in memory of his supreme sacrifice.

Albert’s friend Harry Checkley survived the battle but we do not know if he wrote home to tell about Albert’s death before he was himself was killed at St Eloi, along with 25 of his comrades, on 18 July 1915. Harry survived his pal by just 61 days.

This excellently researched and moving article was kindly submitted to The Long, Long Trail by Kerry Hutchinson. In addition, the following information is provided by Chris Baker:

The 2nd KOYLI casualties of the 7 May 1915 attack on the Zwarteleen salient at Hill 60 were shown in the war diary as including 22 dead and 42 missing. As far as I can tell from research using the records of the Commonwealth War Graves Commission and "Soldiers Died in the Great War 1914-19", 61 men of the battalion lost their lives in this affair.

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