Introduction
Albert Charles Eastment is one of the village’s valiant war dead of 1914-18, and is commemorated on the memorial in the church. He was the last man from the village to be killed in the war.
Childhood
Albert was born at Hardington on 7 September 1899, the second of three illegitimate children born to Emma Eastment of Hardington Marsh.[1] She was the daughter of Reuben Eastment, a farm labourer. His brother or half-brother, George, was born in 1884, and his sister, Mabel Jane, was born on 17 December 1900.[2] Emma raised her three children in a four-room cottage at Hardington Marsh, which also housed her father.[3]
Albert entered Hardington School on 20 June 1904 and probably left in the summer of 1911, just before turning twelve.[4]
Around the time he left school, his mother married Edward Marsh.[5] His grandfather, Reuben Eastment, died in 1912, and his mother died on 9 March 1917 from stomach cancer at the age of 52.[6]
First World War
Albert probably joined the army in September 1917 when he turned 18.
He served with the Royal Warwick Regiment under the regimental number 41158. Later, he became a Rifleman with the 12th Battalion of the Royal Irish Rifles, holding the regimental number 52522.[7]
Tragically, Albert was killed on 13 October 1918. He is buried in the Dadizeele New British Cemetery.[8]
In 1919, his outstanding pay of £15 9s 5d was divided equally between his brother and sister.[9]
His brother, George, also fought in the war but survived.[10]
References
[1] Hardington School admission register; Civil Registration Birth Index.
[2] Hardington School admission register; Civil Registration Birth Index; 1939 Register.
[3] RG13, piece 2297, folio 41, page 2; RG14, piece 14381.
[4] Hardington School admission register.
[5] Civil Registration Marriage Index.
[6] Civil Registration Death Index; death certificate of Emma Marsh.
[7] Soldiers Died in the Great War, 1914-1919; Ireland, World War I Casualties, 1914-1922.
[8] Find a Grave.
[9] Army Registers of Soldiers’ Effects, 1901-1929. His pay included a war gratuity of £5 10s.
[10] World War I Pension Ledgers and Index Cards, 1914-1923.
