Albert Hand

Service number: 55911 Screen Wall. B10. 6. 474B.

Albert Arthur Hand was born the son of Charles and Jane Hand in Saint Thomas, Derbyshire in 1894. The family later lived at 50 Bankes Road, in the Small Heath area of Birmingham. Having not served in another regiment prior to joining the Labour Corps, it is likely that Albert was in some manner deemed to be unfit for frontline service.

The 13^th Battalion of the Devonshire Regiment was a dedicated Labour unit created in 1916 to provide engineering and logistical support to the Devonshire Regiment. Although it was originally envisaged that there would be just one Labour or Works battalion attached to each regiment, as the war progressed the demand placed on these units became greater and greater, with recruitment to such units continually expanding. The 13^th Battalion was the second of three Labour battalions ultimately created for the Devonshire Regiment, though the demand was never effectively met, and they were eventually transferred to the newly formed Labour Corps.

Though not an infantrymen, Albert would have still been in the thick of the action, with the 13^th Battalion being involved in works behind enemy lines in France. It was at some point during his time in France in the summer of 1917 that Albert was wounded and returned home to Birmingham. It was here that Albert died on the 11^th July 1917, before being interred at Lodge Hill Cemetery, which had already been established as a burial site for fallen servicemen.