ALFRED LAWRENCE TODD 1880–1934
Photograph courtesy of the family
Born 9th October 1880 in Thorney, Cambridgeshire
Baptised 7th November 1880, Thorney; mother Ruth Elizabeth, father Arthur, farmer. Residence Whittlesey St Andrew
Married 7th October 1908 to Betsy Binge in Laneham, East Retford, Nottinghamshire. Betsy was a nurse.
Daughter Barbara Mary born 26th May 1910 in Radcliffe on Trent
Died 4th February 1934. Buried in Radcliffe Cemetery, grave reference A77
1881 Census
Age five months, living at Austen Dyke, Moulton, near Spalding, with his mother Ruth Todd, thirty-three, farmer’s wife and his brother Henry, four. They lived with Ruth’s brother William Perkins, forty-seven, farmer of 209 acres, his wife Sarah, forty-nine, and their children Mary, eleven, and John, nine. Louisa Woolley, twenty-one, William’s cousin, and three servants: John Brown, John Jinks and Millicent Templeman were also living there. William employed eight men and three boys on the farm.
1891 Census
Age ten, living with his mother Ruth and brother Edmund at the home of his uncle William Perkins and family at Austen Dyke, Moulton.
1901 Census
Age twenty a journeyman baker (bread worker) living in the home of his employer Joseph Askew, baker and confectioner in Yaxley, Huntingdon.
His mother Ruth was living on her own means in Moulton, Spalding, with her brother-in-law Alfred Pick, postmaster and grocer. She died of diphtheria on 16 June 1902 and his father Arthur died later in the same year (source: ancestry family tree).
1911 Census
Age thirty, an attendant at Notts County Asylum, living on Cropwell Road, Radcliffe on Trent with his wife Betsy, thirty, born in Rampton, Notts and daughter Barbara Mary age ten months.
1914 Electoral Register
Living on Cropwell Road, Radcliffe.
Military Service
Rank: Acting Corporal
Military Unit: Royal Army Medical Corps
Service Number: 155908
Attestation: 10.12.15
States that he had previously served in the 4th Hants Volunteer Battalion (based in Winchester)
Address 6 Asylum Cottages, Radcliffe on Trent; age 35 years 1 month; occupation attendant; next of kin Betsy Todd.
10.12.15: To Army Reserve
11.12.15 to 6.8.18: Army Reserve; 7.8.18 to 17.8.19 Home. Service 3 years 51 days
23.3.18: Medical examination in Nottingham: age 34 years (37 according to the birth register) 164 days; occupation asylum attendant; height 5ft 5⅛ inches; weight 161 lbs; hair black; eyes brown; chest 40 inches; range of expansion 2½ inches; physical development good; category B1
7.8.18: Mobilised Nottingham
9.8.18: Posted RAMC Derby
10.8.18: Private, RAMC 3rd Training Battalion
21.8.18: Appointed Acting Corporal with pay, 8 Company
23.8.18: Returned to Reception Depot, Derby
21.7.19: 8 Company, Demobilised; papers stamped Notts County War Hospital
Between 1901 and 1911 Alfred took employment at Notts. County Asylum (Saxondale). He was working there at the date of his attestation in December 1915 and probably at the date of his medical examination in March 1918 while in the Army Reserve.
In July 1918 the Asylum became Notts County War Hospital. As the war progressed there was a growing acknowledgement that specialised provision was needed for servicemen suffering from mental or nervous breakdown. Accordingly, a number of asylums were converted into War mental hospitals, Notts County Asylum being one of them. 540 beds were provided for military patients. The War Hospital closed in August 1919 and was re-converted to an asylum for civilian patients.
There is a gap of eleven months in Alfred’s service records between his return to the Reception Depot at Derby on 23.8.18 and his demobilisation on 27.7.19, the record of which is stamped Notts County War Hospital, as is his conduct record. It is possible that Alfred’s RAMC service took place there during this period; the War Office employed 100 RAMC orderlies at Notts County War Hospital.
Medals Awarded: ineligible for campaign medals as he did not enter a theatre of war
Other information
Middle name is recorded as Laurence on the birth register, Lawrence in later records
1921 Census
Address: 6 Henson Lane, Radcliffe
Employment: Male Nurse, Notts County Asylum
Household: wife Betty, daughter Barbara, mother in law Ellen Binge
1930 Electoral Register
Nottinghamshire County Mental Hospital, Radcliffe on Trent with wife Betsy
1939 Register
Betsy, unpaid domestic pensioner living at 29 Lincoln Grove, Radcliffe on Trent
Other Information
Betsy’s sister Mary married William Fielding Johnson.
At the time of Alfred’s death he was living at Lower Hospital Lodge, Bingham Road, Radcliffe on Trent. Betsy died in 1966 in Nottingham district.
Reasons for inclusion on Radcliffe on Trent Roll of Honour
Lived and worked in Radcliffe on Trent before, during and after the War