Chum Alfred Edwin Elen
Harrow and Wembley Branch and Woking Branch
1914: 7812 Bandsman A. E. Elen
1st Battalion, The Manchester Regiment
Born on 3 July 1886 (records give his birthplace either as Clerkenwell or Islington), Alfred Elen was the son of Philip David Elen, who worked as a milk carman and later as a cab driver, and Lavinia Clara Elen (nee Dent).
Alfred was living with his family at 16 Bishops Grove when he was baptised at St Jude’s Church in Whitechapel on 25 February 1895. He had attended Tottenham Road School but was later sent to the Training Ship “Shaftesbury,” moored in the Thames off Grays in Essex, which was utilised by the London School Board as an establishment to which boys who were persistent truants or had criminal convictions were sent and given training in seamanship. Boys were detained there until they reached the age of sixteen.
Aged fifteen years and eleven months, Alfred attested for The Manchester Regiment at Aldershot on 28 June 1902, on ‘boy service’ to complete twelve years with the Colours. At the time of his enlistment Alfred was four feet, nine and a half inches tall and was described as having ‘light’ hair, brown eyes and a fair complexion. Boy Elen joined the 3rd Battalion but was placed on a draft for the 1st Battalion in South Africa on 28 July. Appointed as a Bandsman on 1 September, the following year he sailed for Singapore with the 1st Manchesters on the S.S. Dilwara and disembarked there on 30 March 1903. While stationed at Tanglin Barracks Bandsman Elen was admitted to hospital on 17 September, suffering from a contusion to his left thigh. On his discharge he left the Band and reverted to his former status as Boy Elen on 14 October. Passing his 3rd Class Certificate in Education on 19 February 1904, and attained his 2nd Class Certificate on 11 May, Boy Elen was awarded his Good Conduct pay on 28 June. He was reappointed as a Bandsman on 18 November 1904.
The 1st Battalion arrived in India on 20 December 1904, and was stationed at Secunderabad when Bandsman Elen was awarded his second Good Conduct Badge on 28 June 1906, before moving to Kamptee in October 1908. Elen reverted to Private on 2 March 1908, but on 16 November reappointed a Bandsman. He became a Private again on 1 October 1909, but rejoined the Band on 1 November 1910. Bandsman Elen was granted leave to return to England around this time, as he is recorded in the 1911 Census as a visitor to the home of his mother and step-father, Isaac Bullock, who with his half-sister Virtue resided at 77 Maroon Street in Limehouse. Returning to India later that year, he took part in the Delhi Durbar and on 11 December, the day before the Durbar took place, was charged with being improperly dressed and irregular conduct on parade and received seven days’ confinement to barracks as punishment. Following the Durbar the 1st Manchesters moved to Jullundur, and Bandsman Elen was stationed at Dalhousie when war was declared in August 1914.
On being mobilised the 1st Manchesters concentrated at Jullundur on 13 August, and then entrained for Karachi, embarking on the S.S. Edavana on 27 August. The Battalion sailed Egypt two days later as part of the Jullundur Brigade of the Lahore Division, and landed at Suez on 13 September. After travelling by train to Cairo and then to Alexandria, the 1st Battalion re-embarked on the Edavana and sailed for France on 19 September, arriving at Marseilles a week later.
Bandsman Elen was soon in action with the 1st Manchesters, the Battalion relieving the 1st Bedfords in positions east of the village of Festubert on 26 October. He later took part in the fighting at Givenchy on 20/21 December, and was severely wounded in the abdomen on 12 March following the Battalion’s attack on German positions at Bois du Biez. Admitted to No. 13 General Hospital at Boulogne on 13 March, Elen was evacuated to England on 11 April and was posted onto the strength of the Regimental Depot. The severity of his wounds had left Bandsman Elen with pelvic injuries and he was also suffering paralysis in his right leg. As a consequence he was discharged as physically unfit for war service on 18 January 1916.
Awarded a pension of 27/- a week for six months, Alfred returned to London and resided at 53 Victoria Road in Kentish Town following his discharge, receiving his Silver War Badge and King’s Certificate by post on 12 November.
Alfred married Mabel Florence Edith Hawkins, who lived with her parents at 53 Victoria Road, in 1917 and their daughter Mabel was born on 23 November of that year. A son, Victor, was born on 7 June 1919. Alfred obtained employment as a warden at the British Museum, and in 1932 the family moved to 50 Boycroft Avenue in Kingsbury.
Alfred had received the Clasp and Roses for his 1914 Star on 23 February 1926. He later joined the Harrow and Wembley Branch of The Old Contemptibles’ Association, being issued with Badge No. 7783B on being accepted as a member, and subsequently purchased a Membership Certificate.
In April 1940 Alfred and Mabel divorced and later that year he married Rose Haysom. On his retirement they moved to Berkshire and resided at Hawthorne Cottage in Wick Hill, a suburb of Bracknell. Chum Elen also transferred to the Woking Branch.
Chum Alfred Elen died in 1967.
Old Contemptibles' Association Scrap Book 