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1851316 (formerly 10523 Warrant Officer Class II
ALBERT MURRAY HUMPHREYS, M.B.E., M.M.
Royal Engineers

By His Grandson
Trevor Murray Humphreys

Albert Murray Humphreys was born on the 22nd of July 1886 (in the military hospital where his father worked) in the parish of Stoke Damerel within a short distance of Her Majesty's Naval Dockyard, Plymouth. He was the eldest of six siblings.  His parents were Thomas Murray Humphry(eys)* a cook in the Army Hospital Staff Corps (the forerunner of the Royal Army Medical Corps) and Annie Sophia May.  They had married at St Mary’s Church, Peckham, South London on the 20th of October 1885. Thomas, born on the 4th of March 1855 in Rogate, Sussex, was one of only four siblings out of eight to survive into adulthood.  His father, William John Humphry had been a saddler.  At the time of his enlistment on the 5th of March 1878, Thomas’ occupation was listed as a groom.

Annie Sophia May born in 1865 in Bethnal Green, East  London was the eldest of ten children. Her father,  Richard May, was employed as a glass instrument examiner at the Royal Woolwich Arsenal.

After leaving the army at the end of his engagement, Albert joined the civil service on the 29th of July 1930 and started work at Erith Labour Exchange retiring as the Assistant Manager in 1947.   At the time of his death on the 5th of June 1969, at 39 Lyndhurst Road, Barnehurst, Bexleyheath, Kent, he was the oldest member of the Mount Lebanon Lodge.

He first married May Louise Geraldine Frisby at Greenwich on the 11th of October 1917 and had two children, Edmund born in 1919 and Elizabeth born in 1925.  Following the death of his wife May, he met and married Flora Young (née) Manktelow, herself a widow, on the 4th of May 1940 at Dartford.       

Footnotes:

1. The 1911 Census of England and Wales shows Albert in barracks and listed as Motor Mechanic, although later he changed to become an electrical engineer.

2. May Frisby was from a fishmonger family who were part of the Guild of Fishmongers based at the Billingsgate Fish Market, London.  Several  successive generations of the  male lineage held the honour of Freemen (Freedom of the City of London).

*At some point after his birth and before enlistment into the army, Thomas Murray Humphry changed the spelling of his surname Humphry to Humphrey then Humphreys.

OUTLINE OF THE SERVICE RECORD OF WO II ALBERT MURRAY HUMPHREYS, M.B.E., M.M.

30 Jan 1902 Enlisted as a Boy Soldier, Regimental Number 10523 in the Royal Engineers (Regular Army).
30 Jul 1904 Posted to the ranks on attaining the age of 18 years.
23 Mar 1905 Posted to "B" Company and appointed an Acting Corporal.
15 Jan 1906 Promoted Lance Corporal.
30 Oct 1907 Posted to Ceylon.
18 Sep 1909 Posted to the 31st Company.
29 Nov 1910 Returned home from Ceylon.
4 Oct 1911 Posted to Ceylon.
29 Sep 1912 Promoted Corporal.
4 Dec 1913 Re-engaged to complete 12 years with the Colours.
17 Oct 1914 Returned home from Ceylon.
13 Dec 1914 Posted to France with the British Expeditionary Force.
21 Jan 1915 Appointed Acting Sergeant.
1 Oct 1915 Promoted Sergeant.
12 Mar 1918 Appointed Acting Company Sergeant Major (Acting Warrant Officer Class II).
17 Mar 1918 Posted to the 6th Foreway Company.
8 Jun 1918 Returned home from France.
2 Nov 1918 Posted to the 6th Bridging Battalion and promoted Company Sergeant Major (Warrant Officer Class II).
29 Mar 1919 Reverts to Acting Sergeant.
2 Nov 1919 Posted to Sierra Leone.
14 Nov 1919 Posted to the 36th Company and appointed Acting Company Quartermaster Sergeant.
1 Sep 1920 Promoted Company Quartermaster Sergeant.
18 Feb 1921 Returned home from Sierra Leone.
10 Jun 1921 Promoted Warrant Officer Class II and appointed Company Sergeant Major in "G" Company.
7 Feb 1923 Posted to the 39th Fortress Company.
28 Feb 1923 Posted to the 10th Anti-Aircraft Battalion and appointed Acting Regimental Sergeant Major.
12 Sep 1924 Posted to the 26th Anti-Aircraft Battalion.
29 Jan 1930 Discharged on the termination of his period of engagement.

Total Service with the Colours:    31 January 1902 - 29 January 1930 (28 years) 

Service Abroad

Ceylon: 30 October 1907 - 29 November 1910 and 4 October 1911 - 17 October 1914.

Great War: 13 December 1914 - 8 June 1918.

Sierra Leone, West Africa: 2 November 1919 - 18 February 1921.

Military Conduct: Exemplary.

THE MEDALS OF WARRANT OFFICER CLASS II ALBERT MURRAY HUMPHREYS, M.B.E., R.E.

WO II HUMPHREY'S GREAT WAR MEDAL INDEX CARD

SOME NOTES ON HIS MILITARY SERVICE

During the Great War he was responsible for running and maintaining a section of narrow gauge railway between Sailly La Bourse and Vermelles, serving the front lines just to the north and west of Loos-en-Gohelle, Northern France.

His M.B.E. (Military) was awarded (London Gazette, June 4, 1928) in recognition of his work with the 26th London Electrical Engineers Battalion R.E. based at the Duke of York’s Headquarters, Chelsea, London SW1.  This territorial battalion was one of two in London responsible for the anti- aircraft searchlight defenses.  He served as a regular Company Sergeant Major (eventually acting Regimental Sergeant Major) responsible for reorganizing and running the unit. He finished his regular army service at the 26th London Electrical Engineers. but not before journeying to Ypres on Sunday March 24, 1929 where he led a party of six Royal Engineers  to St Georges Memorial Church to present the gift of the silver communion altar service from the Corps on the occasion of the newly built church’s dedication.