Category: Military
Rank: Sapper 145830
Regiment or Ship: 57th Field Company Royal Engineers
Service Number(s): 145830
Occupation: Thrashing machine driver (1911 Census). Engine Driver (Attestation Form).
Date of Birth: 1887
Place of Birth: Ninfield, Sussex
Date of Death: 28.10.1916
Place of Death: No. 12 Stationary Hospital, St Pol, France.
Place of Burial / Memorials:
British Cemetery, St. Pol Communal Cemetery Extension; St. Pol-Sur-Ternoise Grave Ref C5.
Address: 69 Sidley Street, Sidley
Photos and newspaper articles
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Family Information
Parents:
William Simmons, born in 1853, in Wartling, Sussex, and Sarah Elizabeth Ellen Rich, born 1857, in Ninfield, Sussex.
Siblings:
Amelia born 1880, in Ninfield, Sussex.
William born 1881, in Ninfield, Sussex.
Flora born 1885, in Ninfield, Sussex.
Eva born 1889, in Ninfield, Sussex.
Newton born 1891, in Ninfield, Sussex. W0112 Newton Simmons
Ellen born 1893, in Ninfield, Sussex.
Mahala born 1895, in Ninfield, Sussex.
Lily born 1898, in Ninfield, Sussex.
Alfonso never married so he has no descendents.
First World War Experience
Alfonso attested at Chatham, in Kent, on 7th December 1915. He was aged 29 years 8 months, unmarried, and gave his address, and that of his father as next-of-kin, as 69, Sidley Road, Bexhill. He was mobilised at Chatham on 16th March 1916 and was posted to France on 22nd August 1916.
He died of tonsillitis at No. 12 Stationary Hospital, St Pol, on 28th October, 1916, after just 327 days of Army Service. Gangrene of the right tonsil was the official cause of death according to his Service Papers.
Additional Information
The only Service Record of his to have survived appears to be his “Attestation Form” (Army Form B 2512). This gives the following information:-
He was 5ft 6 inches tall (1.7 metres) and weighed 135 lb. (62.3 Kg) His chest, when fully expanded, was 35½ inches (0.9 metres). His civil occupation was given as “engine driver”.
His religion as “C. of E.” and his next of kin was his father, living at 69, Sidley Street, Bexhill and he was rated as “proficient” as a Field engine driver.
After his death, his father wrote a letter (this has survived together with this “Attestation Form”) dated January 18th 1917, acknowledging receipt of his son’s personal effects and details of his burial location on 18th December 1916.
A telegram was sent to his father telling him that Alfonso was “dangerously ill with diphtheria, and that permission to visit cannot be granted”
The following “IN MEMORIAM” appeared in the Bexhill Observer, dated Saturday, December 8, 1917.
SIMMONS – In loving memory of my dear husband, Private N. Simmons, who died of wounds, December 7, 1916.
Also of Sapper A. Simmons, died in hospital in France, October 28, 1916. Sons of Mr and Mrs W. Simmons, 69 Sidley-Street.