Swales, Alfred Alexander Tommins

Hull Pals Memorial Post. PRIVATE ALFRED ALEXANDER TOMMINS SWALES 13/1347. Born on 7th October 1897, Alfred was the only son of Alfred and Emma Tommins of 9 Joshua Avenue, Madeley Street, Hull. For some reason he was named for both his father’s surname and his mother’s maiden name and it was the latter he adopted becoming ‘Alfred Swales’. A Compositor by trade, he enlisted at Hull City Hall on 8th March 1915 lying about his age to join the 13th Battalion East Yorkshire Regiment, 4th Hull Pals. “T’Others”. Serving in Egypt before his arrival in France in March 1916, Alfred was a veteran of the Somme, Oppy Wood and the German Spring Offensive but was fatally wounded in the chest and back at La Becque and died in hospital at St. Omer on 2nd July 1918. He had served for 3 years and 117 days. He briefly married Constance Davis (1888-1950) in 1918 and left a young son. He is buried in Longuenesse Souvenir Cemetery; a young man of 20 and his mother’s only son.