ALEXANDER JOSEPH COTTRELL Private 2nd Battalion Royal Berkshire Regiment Service No: 9278 Died of Wounds 13 July 1915, aged 31 Alexander Joseph Cottrell was born in 1884, the birth being registered at Bradfield, Berkshire in the 2nd quarter as Joseph Alexander. The 1891 census shows him aged 6 years living on the Bath Road near Lambdens Farm with his father Henry Cottrell 31, gardener of Knighton, Vale of the White Horse, mother Mary Ann Cottrell 31 (nee Leavey), of Brimpton, and siblings Laura Elizabeth Cottrell10, b Woolhampton, Alice Mary Cottrell 9, b Beenham, Frances Helen Cottrell 5, b Ufton Edith May Cottrell3, b Ufton Harry William Cottrell 2, b Ufton. The 1901 census for Charter Alley near Monk Sherborne, Hants shows him, aged 16 living with his uncle, Joseph W. Leavey and his family, a draper, who was originally from Brimpton. In this census, he is shown as Joseph A., a draper’s assistant and born in Beenham. In 1911 he is listed as Alexander Joseph and in Dover at the South Front barracks, Western Heights having enlisted at Reading with the 1st Battalion, Royal Berkshire Regiment, rank given as private, aged 25 years, unmarried, born in Beenham. Meanwhile his parents Henry & Mary had moved to Surrey where Henry was head gardener at Royal Holloway College, Englefield Green. We know that Alexander’s Regiment was involved in heavy fighting just East of Bethune, near Givenchy and that Alexander became a casualty with injuries received at Neuve Chapelle (10–13 March 1915). We also know that he was evacuated to England where he died of wounds at King George Hospital, London on 13 July 1915, aged 31. Alexander Joseph Cottrell is buried at Englefield Green cemetery, Runnymede, Surrey in a grave shared with his sister Edith May (d 1910), father (d 1928) and mother (d 1938). As far as can be established, his name does not appear on any war memorial.