Albert Edwin's Story.
EARLY LIFE
Albert Edwin Cliffe was born on 8 September 1891 and baptised on 20 October 1892 at St Thomas' Church, Henbury, the son of Mary (née Stott) and Henry Cliffe, a wheelwright of Chelford Road, Broken Cross, near Macclesfield.
In 1901, nine-year-old Albert was living at 95 Chelford Road, Broken Cross, with his parents and siblings Emma (17), Sarah (12), Violet (10), Wilfred (7) and May (5). Ten years later, the family had moved to 2 Whirley Road, Broken Cross, and Albert was the head of the family, working as a jacquard card cutter and responsible for his five sisters: Emma (27), Sarah (22), May (15), Bertha (12) and Florence (10).
Albert married Florence George on 24 August 1917 at Christ Church, Macclesfield; their son, Morris Edwin, was born the following year. Florence later lived at 20 Shaw St, Macclesfield.
WWI SERVICE
Albert Cliffe enlisted in February 1916 with the 12th East Lancashire Regiment at Blackburn, Lancashire, and was drafted to France in May 1917. He served with the 12th, 11th, 3rd, 2nd and 1st battalions of the East Lancashire Regiment. For reasons unknown, he returned to Macclesfield in August 1917, when he was married at Christ Church. He was killed in action on 21 March 1918, aged 27 years, just two months after the birth of his son, Morris Edwin Cliffe.
The East Lancashire Regiment was in the 34th Division, 103rd Infantry Brigade and the Battalion war diary for 21 March 1918 records:
The B.G.C. 102nd Brigade asked that a company should be sent out to form a defensive flank to the S.E. on the HOGS BACK facing ECOUST. The O.C. “D” Company was ordered to take his company forward. There were more delays moving the company forward then there should have been. Further companies followed later.
Private Cliffe's death was reported in the Macclesfield Times on 12 April 1918:
Unofficial news has reached Mrs Cliffe, 20 Shaw St, Macclesfield, that her husband, Pte Albert Cliffe, East Lancs Regt, was killed in action on March 22nd. He joined the Army in February 1915 [sic] and went to France the following May. Pte Cliffe was educated at Broken Cross School and was formerly in the employ of Mr Godwin, Athey Street, Macclesfield. Three brothers are serving, namely:- Pte Frank, Ches Regt (in France); Pte Wilfred Charles, Warwickshire Regt (in Italy); and Pte Frederick William, Army Service Corps (in Salonika).
An entry for Albert Cliffe was printed in volume 4 of De Ruvigny’s Roll of Honour 1914-1918:
CLIFFE, ALBERT EDWIN, Private, No. 24435, 1st Battn (30th Foot) The East Lancashire Regt., son of the late Henry Cliffe; born Broken Cross, Cheshire, 1891; educated St Thomas' School there; was a Jacquard Card Cutter; enlisted 14 Feb 1916; served with the expeditionary Force in France and Flanders from the following May, and was killed in action 21 March 1918. Buried at St Leger. He married at Christ Church, Macclesfield, Florence (20 Shaw St, Macclesfield), dau of the late Morris David Edmunds George, and had a son, Morris Edwin...
COMMEMORATION
Private Albert Cliffe is commemorated on the Arras Memorial, France. The Commonwealth War Graves Commission holds casualty details for Private Albert Cliffe, and he is listed on the Imperial War Museum’s Lives of the First World War website.
Locally, Private Albert Cliffe is commemorated on the Macclesfield Park Green, Town Hall and St Michael's Church war memorials, and on the Henbury and Broken Cross war memorial at St Thomas Church, Henbury. He is also remembered on a family memorial in Macclesfield Cemetery, plot F.4551.
NOTES
Brother of Frank Cliffe, who served in France with the Cheshire Regiment; Wilfred Charles Cliffe, who served in Italy with the Warwickshire Regiment; and Frederick William Cliffe, who served in Salonika with the Army Service Corps.
SOURCES
GRO (England & Wales) Index: Births, Marriages
Cheshire Parish Baptism Registers (Find My Past): St Thomas' Church, Henbury
Census (England & Wales): 1901, 1911
Family History Society of Cheshire (FHSC): Macclesfield Christ Church marriage index
WWI Service Medal and Award Rolls (Ancestry)
WWI British Army Registers of Soldiers’ Effects
De Ruvigny's Roll of Honour (Find My Past)
Commonwealth War Graves Commission website
Family History Society of Cheshire (FHSC): Macclesfield Area Monumental Inscriptions
Macclesfield Times: 12 April 1918
With thanks to the family of Albert Cliffe for the photograph.
Research by H.A.G Carlisle and Rosie Rowley, of Macclesfield.