In Memory of Albert Victor Mott by Diane Crane

This is in memory of my great-uncle Albert Victor Mott, who died on 2 November 1917 at the Battle of Ypres, aged only 21 years.  His story has been pieced together from letters he sent home, which were treasured by his mother and sister and carefully stored wrapped in brown paper tied up with string. The parcel also contained Official correspondence which explains a sequence of events that portrays the hope, anxiety and despair that he and his family must have experienced.    

Albert was born on 15 September 1896, the son of William and Esther Mott, who farmed on the Feltwell / Methwold / Southery border at Railway Farm. In 1917 at the age of 20, he went to war, we assume reluctantly by the tone of his letters. His father was then 48, his mother 40, his brother Bert was 15 and his sister Violet was just four years old. Albert had worked on the farm and appears to have been a strong man, a hard worker with good knowledge of livestock and arable farming and presumably very familiar with a gun. 

On leaving home, he travelled by train to Norwich, to join No.2 Company at the Britannia Barracks, where he was told he would be joining the Royal Fusiliers. He sent his clothes back to Lakenheath station with instructions for his mother to collect them and pay the carriage.

He looked forward to the parcels he received from home, which always contained home-made butter, sometimes jam or tomatoes and occasionally a ten shilling note or pound note or postal order.

In July 1917 he was sent to Dover to the Duke of York School for 14 weeks training with the rifle and bayonet fighting. He wrote “I am starting on the miniature range on Monday but my hands shake so, as you can see by the writing. We have an hour’s physical drill every day and bayonet fighting which I will show you when I come home and I am sure you will laugh to see me.”

With the harvest season approaching, he asked his father to write to the Ministry of Agriculture to ask for leave so he could help with the harvest. He was allowed home in August, travelled by train to Brandon then hired a bike for the 9-mile ride home. His father had wanted him until the end of August but he reluctantly had to go back after only two weeks. He wrote “They have been hitting the Germans hard, I hope they will knock them all out before I get there.”

In September he moved on to machine gun training, but was still longing to get home and work with his horses.  In October he was told he was soon going over the water from Folkestone “but I hope I shan’t have to be there long. I don’t think the war can last much longer or I hope not at least.”  Could he really have believed this, or was it written to reassure his family?

On 11 October 1917 the boat left for France. He had a rough voyage, there was a strong wind and it rained constantly. At least he and his mates from Dover were together and they were transferred to the East Surrey Regt.  Only one letter arrived home from France, dated 25 October 1917. It had been stamped PASSED FIELD CENSOR and described slipping over deep into the mud and added “I am getting on the best I can under the circumstances which are rough enough I can tell you.” How helpless his parents must have felt to hear this, they must have longed for him to be saved from the misery and danger.

Instead of letters, Albert was allowed to send Field Service Postcards. These did little to reassure the recipient, they just showed a series of pre-printed sentences which were deleted to leave only the appropriate ones. His last communication of this type was dated 28 October 1917 and all it said was “I am quite well. Letter follows at first opportunity. I have received no letter from you for a long time.”  His mother had written on 23 October, but the letter was returned undelivered, stamped PRESENT LOCATION UNCERTAIN.  She had written “This is Feltwell Fair day but there is no fair. It’s now 3 weeks since we had letter or anything from you. Try and take care of yourself as much as you can.”  But he never received it, he was reported missing on 2 November 1917.

There followed many, many weeks of uncertainty. The Infantry Records Office and the Red Cross made enquiries and although an unconfirmed account of the events was received in January 1918, it was not until September 1918 that “the Army Council have been regretfully constrained to conclude that he is dead.” The accompanying printed Message of Sympathy from the King and Queen must have been little consolation after almost a year of anxiety. 

Albert had apparently been subjected to heavy shell fire while being relieved from the front line trenches and was found to be missing when the Company was reformed some time later.

He was eventually buried near Gheluvelt, East South East of Ypres, but more distress was to follow. In March 1921 his family were informed that he was to be exhumed and re-interred at Hooge Crater Cemetery, because the French and Belgian governments wanted all scattered graves removed. His Identification Disc was salvaged from his body at this time. His name and number are barely visible, but it is the only item of his possessions that was returned.

He was awarded the British War Medal and the Allied Victory Medal, which were sent to his parents in October 1921. However it was not until December 1926 that the permanent headstone was erected at Hooge Crater Cemetery in Belgium, more than nine years after his death.

His family obtained a photograph of his headstone, but never visited the Cemetery. They continued to farm on the Poppylot Road and after his father’s death, his mother Esther and sister Violet (Crook) eventually moved to Long Lane, Feltwell. Esther died at the age of 90 in 1968 and surely never forgot this terrible time. Violet died at the age of 93 in 2007. She was robbed of the chance to get to know her big brother Albert, but was nevertheless extremely proud of him. His name is recorded on the Methwold War Memorial. 

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