Lewis, Private Albert

Service highlights

  • Service number: 401271
  • Rank: Private
  • Born: 21 July 1897, Walthamstow
  • Came to Canada: as a boy, sometime after 1911, settling in St. Marys
  • Work: toolmaker at Maxwell’s, lived with his parents on Salina Street
  • Enlisted: 27 July 1915 in London, 33rd Canadian Infantry Battalion
  • Overseas: Reported to the Royal Canadian Regiment on 7 May 1916
  • Missing presumed dead: 16 September 1916, after an attack at Zollern Graben
  • No known grave: commemorated on the Canadian National Vimy Memorial
  • Commemorated: cenotaph in St. Marys

A Life and Service Remembered

Albert Lewis was born in Walthamstow, England on 21 July 1897. Sometime after 1911 he came to St. Marys with his parents, settling into a new life in town. He found skilled work as a toolmaker at Maxwell’s and lived with his family on Salina Street.

He was eager to enlist. On 26 July 1915, Albert went to work on his bicycle. At the end of the day he collected his pay and cycled to London, Ontario. The next day, 27 July 1915, he joined the 33rd Canadian Infantry Battalion, possibly hoping to be with his older brother Henry, who had enlisted earlier on 19 May 1915. It is a small detail, but it captures something real: a young man trying to choose courage, and also trying not to go alone.

The 33rd’s story in Canada was turbulent. Scandals followed the battalion, and in November 1915 men from the unit rioted and seized the central police station in downtown London. The battalion was sent to Quebec City and housed in the immigration sheds. In March 1916 they entrained for Halifax and boarded the SS Lapland on 1 April 1916.

When they arrived in England, the 33rd was broken up for reinforcements. Albert was drafted to France almost immediately, possibly with his brother, and on 7 May 1916 he reported to the Royal Canadian Regiment. He served in the trenches south of Ypres. After fighting at Mount Sorrel in June 1916, the regiment moved south to the Somme in early September to prepare for a major attack.

On 16 September 1916, the battalion jumped off from Fabek Graben to capture a German defensive position, Zollern Graben, about 225 yards away. The Regimental War Diary recorded that the Canadian artillery did not properly hit the objective, while the German line was held strongly. A and D Companies advanced under heavy rifle and machine gun fire and were cut down after gaining only about 75 yards. Total casualties for the day were recorded as 271 out of a battalion strength of about 800. The later report written by the commanding officer reads like a unit in shock, exhausted and trying to make sense of a day that shattered it.

Albert was seen by a survivor wounded forward of Fabek Graben, but he was not recovered by the stretcher bearers and is believed to have died somewhere in no man’s land. He is commemorated by name on the Canadian Memorial to the Missing at Vimy Ridge.

He was survived by his parents, Private Henry Lewis of the 110th Battalion, and Emma Lewis of Salina Street, St. Marys, and by his brother Henry (Harry) Lewis of the Royal Canadian Regiment machine gun section. After the war, Henry and Emma moved to Hamilton. Albert Lewis is commemorated on the cenotaph in St. Marys.

Major battles and operations

  • Battle of Mount Sorrel (June 1916), with the Royal Canadian Regiment in the Ypres sector
  • Somme sector operations, September 1916
  • Attack on Zollern Graben from Fabek Graben, 16 September 1916, reported missing and presumed killed

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