Private Albert Darch

Albert Darch was the son of a wheelwright, born in 1899. As with the majority of his immediate family he was born in the village of Yarnscombe; his mother was born in Tawstock. The 1901 census has them living in the village of Yarnscombe, albeit with no exact address. The family is comprised of Albert’s parents, Albert and Emily. His mother has an occupation listed as a ‘dressmaker’. His brother, John, sister ‘Kettie’ (this is a typo, it’s meant to read ‘Bettie) and his grandmother, Mary, make up the rest of the household. Albert was enrolled into Yarnscombe Council School in 1902 by his father.

By 1911 the family are still living in Yarnscombe, although the family has seen some new arrivals. His parents are still at the property in the same occupations. John, now aged 13 years, Albert, 11, Bettie, 10, and grandmother, Mary, are now joined by brothers Thomas, 8, Stanley, 3 and William, 1. In addition, there are two servants also attached to the census; these being, Annie Turner, 16, who is a general domestic servant and James Pate, 16, who is an apprentice to carpentry.

At some point in the next four years the family moved to Town Mills, Great Torrington. An advert for the Darch family was placed in the Exeter and Plymouth Gazette from 1915 seeking a ‘general servant’, which notes the family at this address [1].

Due to his age, Albert was unable to enlist at the start of the war and had to wait until he was the age of 18. He enlisted in 1918 with the 6th Battalion of the Dorsetshire Regiment with the Service Number: 20583. His birthplace is listed as Yarnscombe, his residence as Great Torrington and his enlistment place as Barnstaple.

The 6th Battalion would see a huge amount of action during the Great War. Indeed, it is noted that over the 1914-1918 period the battalion would lose 1000 lives, which is more than the entire strength of the battalion when full. Nearly half of these losses were during 1918 alone. Newspaper reports show that Albert was only in France for a few weeks [2]. His date of death is recorded as April 15th 1918, although there is no record of the 6th Dorsets being directly involved in any major operations at this time and as a result no details in the manner in which he was killed.

Private Albert Darch

Further to my original research, I have since been contacted by Gareth Owens who has undertaken his own research on the 6th Dorsets. He advised that Private Darch was one of 8 men from the 6th Dorsets killed that day - one Lance Corporal and 7 privates in total. One of the other privates killed was Gareth's wife's ancestor, Arthur Hainsworth. He was from Leeds and had only been transferred in to 6th Dorsets on 9th April after his unit, 12th West Yorks, was disbanded due to heavy casualties. His research so far has shown that 6th Dorsets were in a trench at the front line just east of Mesnil on 15th April. The Battalion War Diary simply says 'Held the Line' and gives the number of 8 men killed. Of the 8, six have no known grave and two, including Arthur Hainsworth, are buried in CWGC cemeteries near Mesnil. All are listed as 'killed in action' not 'missing'. It's possible that this was one section of 6th Dorsets hit by a shell in a particular part of the trench and that the incident was witnessed by others.

Coincidentally, Gareth's maternal grandfather was an old soldier from Great Torrington: Fred Stoneman, born in 1871. He served with the 1st Devons in India and through the Boer War, including the siege of Ladysmith. In 1914 he was working as a railwayman in Hampshire. Aged 45, he immediately re-enlisted and served throughout the War with Depot Company, Railway Troops, Royal Engineers at Longmoor. I am extremely grateful and thankful of Gareth's input.

As well as the Great Torrington war memorial, Private Darch is also remembered on the Yarnscombe memorial. Albert has no grave, but he is listed at the Pozieres memorial in the Somme area of France.

[1] Exeter and Plymouth Gazette. September 3rd 1915. ‘Situations Vacant’.

[2] Western Times. May 10th 1918. ‘News of the West’.