Albert Rushbrooke Long

Born: 1887

Died: 12 August 1916

Rank and Regiment: Lance-Corporal 17178 in the 1st Battalion of the Norfolk Regiment

Resting Place: Netley Military Cemetery, Hampshire - Grave No CE1837

Memorial: Reymerston War Memorial

Albert Rushbrooke Long was the eldest of six sons born to Albert and Bertha Agnes Long. He was born in Newton Flotman in 1887. His brothers were Russell, Reginald, Jack, Frederick and William. His father owned the farm where Albert worked when finishing school. The family moved to Wood Farm in Reymerston after farming in Wreningham when their sons were in their teens.

Albert was a Lance Corporal 1st Battalion Norfolk Regiment (17178) and died of battle wounds at the hospital he had been transferred to (Red Hospital, Netley) on 12 August 1916 aged 29. Netley Hospital was based near Southampton and received most of the wounded from Flanders during WWI. During the summer of 1916 the Norfolk Regiment was fighting in the Battle of the Somme, and it is likely that is where Albert was wounded.

His death certificate incorrectly refers to him as a Private, but is no doubt grimly accurate in its description of what led to his death:

1. Gun shot wound. Thigh fractured. Femur amputation of Leg.

2. Septicaemia and shock.

This was, of course, a time before antibiotics.

He is buried at Netley Military cemetery (Grave No CE1837).

His mother was paid his effects (£15 18s 6d) on 5 December 1916 and a further war gratuity of £7 10s on 24 September 1919.

Netley Military Cemetery, United Kingdom