Albert Edward Victor Byfield

Albert Edward Victor Byfield

Personal Information
Date of Birth	not known 1891
Place of Birth	Guildford, Western Australia
Death	17 Sep 1975, aged 83
Place of Death	Canning district, Western Australia
Age at Enlistment	24 years, 2 months
Description	5'7" (1.70m) tall ; 144lbs 65.317 kg ; fresh complexion ; blue eyes ; dark brown hair
Occupation	Orchardist
Religion	Church of England
Address	Mundaring, Western Australia
Next of Kin	Father , Mr Victor Robert Byfield
Military Information
Reg Number	10205
Date of Enlistment	4 Nov 1915
Rank	Gunner
Unit/Formation	6th Field Artillery Brigade, 2nd Reinforcement transferred to 2nd Division Trench Mortar Battery
Date of Embarkation	5 Jan 1916 ‒ ?? Feb 1916
Ship Embarked On	HMAT A19 Afric
Date of Return	1 Feb 1918 ‒ 18 Mar 1918
Ship Returned On	SS Balmoral Castle
Fate	Wounded in Action 21 Sep 1917 Returned to Australia
Monument	Gosnells Road Board Honour Roll
Medals	British War Medal Victory Medal

Pre War

Electoral Roll entries: 1916 Mundaring, labourer

War Service

Albert enlisted in the AIF at Perth on 4 Nov 1915 and was quickly sent to Maribyrnong in Victoria for training with the 2nd Division Ammunition Column Reinforcements. He boarded the HMAT A19 Afric with them at Port Melbourne on 5 Jan 1916 for Egypt.

On 14 Feb 1916 at Zeitoun, Albert was taken on strength of the 2nd Division Ammunition Column, and on 25 Mar 1916 he boarded the SS Gasconia in Alexandria for Marseilles in France, disembarking there on 3 Apr 1916. Taken on strength by the 2nd Australian Division Base Depot on 4 April, before transferring back to the 2nd Division's Ammunition Column on 17 Jul 1916.

On 3 Jan 1917 Albert transferred to the 22nd Field Artillery Brigade and was allocated to the 19th Battery, before on 27 Jan 1917 transferring to the 4th Field Artillery Brigade's 10th Battery. Three days later his was again moved, this time to the X2A Medium Mortar Battery. The Germans in early 1917 withdrew from to a new well prepared trench system called the Hindenburg Line. The Australian 2nd Division closely followed, then at Lagnicourt on 15 April the Germans made a strong counterattack, which was beaten off. The 2nd Division was involved in the second Battle of Bullecourt. It was then moved to the Ypres salient for the Third Battle of Ypres.

From 29 Aug - 11 Sep 1917 Albert enjoyed leave in the UK. The 2nd Division took part in the Battle of Menin Road bon 20 Sep 1917 and Albert was wounded in action on 21 Sep 1917 near Ypres in Belgium with a shell wound that fractured his right Humerus. Seen by the 6th Field Ambulance, he was passed back to the 2nd Australian Casualty Clearing Station the same day, and placed aboard Ambulance Train No. 14 on 22 Sep 1917 for the 3rd General Hospital in Le Tréport. On 31 Oct 1917 he was evacuated to England where he was admitted to Queen Mary's Military Hospital, Whalley on 2 Nov 1917. Discharged on 6 Dec 1917, he reported to No. 3 Command Depot at Hurdcott for assessment. On 3 Jan 1918 he was transferred to No. 2 Command Depot to be processed for return to Australia as permanently unfit for active or home service.

On return to Australia he was hospitalised in the 8th Australian General Hospital Fremantle from 18 Mar - 15 Apr 1918. While the wounds had healed, he only had partial flexibility in his right arm which had shortened. Described as mentally slow in final medical report.

Discharged as medically unfit at 5th Military District on 29 Apr 1918.

Post War

In 1933 Albert married Barbara M Herbert. He joined his father in operating and managing an orchard.

Albert Byfield was involved in a court case which came before the Police Court, Fremantle in October 1933, where it was reported during the hearing that he had responded by letter to an advert in the newspaper placed by a Miss Bateman. in which she was seeking employment as housekeeper He replied saying in his letter that as perhaps the lady would not like to keep house for a single man, they might correspond with a view to matrimony. They arranged to meet during a Hike at Harvey, which was an event hosted by the Railway Department. The meeting went well and they agreed to correspond to each other, during which Albert sent a diamond engagement ring. They met in late September in Maddington and went to his parents’ house in Phillip Street were they agreed to marry and he paid her £30 to buy furniture. After seeing her off on the train he found on returning home their correspondence had been taken and about a week later the ring was returned by post. Albert reported the matter to the Police who later apprehended Miss Bateman and recovered the letters and money from her sister. She appeared in the Police court charged with stealing £30 and during the hearing the court was informed of the lady’s true name was Mary Albany Betts aged 24 and she explained it was a joke. Magistrate dismissed the case and hoped that the publicity given to this case will be punishment enough.

Naturally the article was reported in the West Australian on 10 October 1933, but the story of a woman’s cruel joke on a farmer and an Adam and Eve story made copy in The Courier Mail (Brisbane) and the Advertiser (Adelaide) on 11 October, the Barrier Miner (Broken Hill, NSW) and the Chronicle (Adelaide) on 12 October, the Kyogle Examiner (NSW) on 13 October and the Western Star and Roma Advertiser (Toowoomba, Qld) on 21 October.

A short time after the court case, Albert married Barbara May Herbert in December 1933, in the Registrar’s Office, Perth and they one child Donald Robert (b. January 1935). In August 1935 he was working at Wundowie, up in the Darling Range near Bakers Hill and when he returned at the end of that month he asked her to live with him at Bullsbrook, where he had obtained land. She refused. On October 5, 1935, he found that she was living with De Terio in a house in Newcastle-street. Again he was reported in the newspapers in relation to his divorce to his wife on the grounds of adultery and obtained dissolution of his marriage on 7 May 1936. The following year the electoral rolls show him living in Woodanilling in the Great Southern Region, about 24 kms from Katanning, working as farm hand. By 1954 Albert was back living at 132 Phillip Street, Maddington, in 1958 his son Donald Robert, who was employed by W.A.G.R. as a fireman was living there with his father and aunts, by this time Albert had retired. He had moved to Railway Street North, Dandalup by 1968. He died in Canning on 17 September 1975 aged 83 and buried Guildford Cemetery, Guildford, Western Australia

Electoral Roll entries: 1925 at 1332 Phillip street, Maddington, orchardist; 1931 Peachy street Swan View, poultry farmer; 1936 Armadale road, Belmont, orchardist; 1943 - 1949 Woodanilling, farm hand; 1958 has returned to Phillip street, Maddington; 1968 retired at Railway street, North Dandalup; 1972 at Walpole

Notes

NOK (Father) lived in Maddington, Western Australia. Further detail about Alan's life is available via City of Gosnells Heritage Services