The fallen war heroes of Albert Street, St Albans

Retired history teacher John Cane researched the stories of the 12 young men who lived in the street before their deaths on the battlefield.

The seventh name on the memorial, Robert Gibson, was a Scot who was born in Edinburgh in 1878, and had moved to St Albans by 1911.

Robert was about 36 when war broke out, and joined a Scottish regiment in 1915. He got in trouble for going absent without leave in May 1916, but clearly redeemed himself and was sent to France.

He was killed in November 1916 in an attack by his battalion upon German positions at Beaumont-Hamel.

Robert is also commemorated on the National Scottish War Memorial in Edinburgh Castle.

Another man who lived in Albert Street was Edward Foster. He was born in 1883 and lived in Fishpool Street, before moving to Albert Street with his wife Annie.

Edward Foster is commemorated on the Albert Street war memorial (Image: Supplied)

Edward joined the Essex Regiment and went to Bologne in 1915. He was treated for trench foot in January 1917.

On May 15, 1918, Edward was reported missing, and his death was later recorded as having happened on March 22. 

Two of Edward's three brothers, Alfred and Walter, were also killed in the war.

Reuben Lawrence was born in 1897, and his family moved into the home previously occupied by the Corley family - two of whom are also listed on the memorial.

He initially enlisted in the Northumberland Fusiliers but was later transferred into the Queens Own (Royal West Kent) Regiment in Watford.

He was killed in action in 1917 - 16 days after his 20th birthday - during the Battle of Menin Road Ridge, part of the Third Battle of Ypres.

Harry Spence lived at 7 Albert Street, and was one of 15 children - but by 1911 five had died.

When he was 14 he worked in an oil warehouse. He was only around 16 when war began, and was enlisted into the Lancashire Fusiliers, who fought in many famous battles including the Somme, Arras, and Passchendaele.

He died of wounds in August 1918, at the age of 20.

Another fallen soldier, Daniel John Goodchild, was boarding in Albert Street in 1911, age 22.

He married Harriet Jones, the daughter of his landlady, and they had a daughter named Irene in 1913.

Daniel served as a rifleman in the 2nd Battalion of the Rifle Brigade, and died of wounds in 1917, at age 29.

Tragically, his wife Harriet died two years later, leaving their daughter to be brought up by her grandmother.

The last name on the memorial is Silas Payne, who differed from the others as he had already joined up as a professional soldier before the war.

Silas was born in St Albans in 1888, and was stationed in South Africa with the Army Service Corps in 1911. 

During the war he served as a driver of horse-drawn wagons in the 163rd Company.

He died from burns in Greece in May 1918, at the age of 32. His brothers Robert and James both survived the war.