BORN HULL 1892. SON OF JOHN MERCER (1863-1928) & HANNAH TADMAN (1871-1945), OF 36, SHAW STREET, HOLDERNESS ROAD. ONE OF EIGHT CHILDREN. HE HAD FIVE BROTHERS AND TWO SISTERS. FOUR SONS WERE KILLED DURING WW1. PRIOR TO ENLISTING ALFRED WAS A DOCK LABOURER.
HE JOINED THE 1ST WEST YORKSHIRE REGIMENT, AND HAD BEEN TRAINING FOR ONLY 12 WEEKS BEFORE HE WAS SENT TO FRANCE. HE WAS KILLED IN ACTION AT YPRES, ON 27TH MAY 1916, AGED 25. HIS ARMY EFFECTS WERE RETURNED TO HIS MOTHER. HIS BROTHERS, JACK, GEORGE & JAMES MERCER, WERE ALSO KILLED IN THE WAR. HE IS BURIED AT ESSEX FARM CEMETERY. HIS GRAVE INSCRIPTION, READS, “HE LIES WITH ENGLAND’S HEROES IN THE WATCHFUL CARE OF GOD”.
HIS DEATH WAS REPORTED IN THE HULL DAILY MAIL, ON 13/06/1916, WITH HIS PHOTOGRAPH. * HE IS RECORDED AS KILLED ON THE SHAW STREET ROLL OF HONOUR (Hull Daily Mail 18 November 1916)
John & Hannah Mercer, at 36 Shaw Street, had eight children and lost four sons in the war. They were:-
L/Cpl, John Mercer, 1st EYR was killed at Ypres on 9th August 1915, aged 20.
L/Cpl, Alfred Shaw, 1st West Yorkshire Regiment, killed on the 27th May 1916, aged 25.
Pte, George Mercer, 1/5th Bn Northumberland Fusiliers was killed on the 10th April 1918 aged 18.
Pte, James Mercer, 10th EYR, died of wounds as a prisoner in Germany, on 11th September 1918, aged 29.
