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1890 - 18/01/1915

Place of birth: Sevenoaks, Kent
Last known address in Bromley: 58 Homesdale Road

Military information

Regiment/Service: London Regiment
Battalion/Ship: 13th Kensington
Rank: Lance Corporal
Number: 1816

Family information

Parents: George & Sarah Ann East (nee Norris)
Parents' occupation: Licensed Victualler
Siblings: (1) George William, Ethel Louise, Reginald Arthur (d), (2) Robert Frederick, Rose Annie, Wilfred Edwin, Dorothy
Relatives on War Memorial: EAST, R.F.

Census information

1891
Address: 2 Anchor Cottages, Sevenoaks
1901
Address: The Crown Inn, Chevening
1911
Address: 20 Grosvenor Place
Occupation: Servant to Earl Stanhope

Extra details

Alec as he was called by his family was the third of George and Sarah Ann East's four children. His mother died in early 1894, when he was four, his father then married Anne Elvina Woollard in late 1895. They also had four children. His father died in 1907. After leaving Raglan Road School Alec became a servant to the Earl Stanhope whose country house was in Chevening where Alec's father had run the Crown Inn before his death. In 1912 Alec travelled to America as a valet, returning as an accountant. He was in New York when war broke out, returning immediately to enlist. According to the passenger list he was 5ft 11ins tall, had brown eyes, brown hair and a dark complexion.

Alec's last letter to his stepmother reads -

"……. You will be interested to know that I had Christmas Day in the trenches, but fortunately the weather was frosty, and we had no rain for two days. This made it more bearable, and we sang carols alternately with the Germans. This led to an informal armistice being arranged, and on Christmas Day we left our trenches in small numbers and went across the intervening space, which is very narrow between the opposing lines of trenches. Half way over we met our friends, the enemy, and shook hands all round! Then followed fraternising generally; we exchanged cigarettes and souvenirs of various sorts. We had a peaceful time for 24 hours, but, of course, we have long since resumed "business".

It's grim business, too, under these present circumstances, for the state of the trenches is fearful. We wallow in mud - eat it, in fact - but we plug along somehow. One has to smile at the remarks in current English daily papers concerning the "hardships" of our soldiers now in training at Salisbury, &c. They grouse about their huts, &c, I believe. I wish they could try living in a mud-hole, knee high in mud and slush. And the digging! If we get back we shall make good Navvies"

Anne heard of Alec's death from his fiancée (name unknown) who received a letter from his Captain asking her to pass on his condolences to the family.

Alec's half- brother, Robert, also died.