Alfred J. Knightley

Rank:

Sergeant

Regimental number:

42248

Unit at enlistment:

3rd Brigade C.F.A., 8th Battery

Force:

C.E.F.

Volunteered or conscripted:

Volunteered

Survived the war:

Yes

Cemetery:

Mount Hope Cemetery, Brantford, Ontario

Commemorated at:

Immanuel Baptist Church, Independent Order of Foresters

Birth country:

England

Birth county:

Greater London

Birth city:

London, Wandsworth, Battersea

Address at enlistment:

37 Greenwich Street, Brantford, Ontario

Next of kin address:

37 Greenwich Street, Brantford, Ontario

Trade or calling:

Blacksmith

Employer:

Massey-Harris Co.

Religious denominations:

Baptist

Marital status:

Married

Age at enlistment:

Letters and documents

BX April 19, 1915

Returned an Invalid

Word has been received here that Alfred Knightley has been returned as an invalid from the old land, and he is expected to arrive here on a stretcher tomorrow. He had been operated on, and has not recovered his health. Alfred J. Knightley left with the first call of the 32nd Battery. He is a married man with three children and was a blacksmith at the Massey-Harris works. He was not in the fighting line.

BX April 21, 1915

Not Home yet

Private Alfred Knightley, 37 Greenwich Street, who has been invalided from active service, was expected to arrive in the city yesterday, at noon. He has not shown up yet, however, though expected at any time. He was operated on, and after the operation was too weak to continue in active service, and was sent home on a stretcher.

BX April 24, 1915

Not Satisfied with Treatment Received – Brantford Soldier Returns Home – Albert Knightley, an Invalid Complains That Things Did Not Go Right From the Time the First Canadian Contingent Left Valcartier – Praise For Capt. Colquhoun

First Shoeing-smith Albert J. Knightley, 37 Greenwich Street, a member of the first contingent of the 32nd Battery, and later with the 11th Field Battery, on active service, returned to the city yesterday, an invalid, with his discharge from the Canadian forces. His discharge papers were signed by R.B. Wein, captain commanding the depot.

Knightley left Brantford with the first contingent from the 32nd Battery, on Sept. 25 of last year, his discharge being from April 23. He went to Valcartier and then on to Salisbury Plains, took sick there and since last November has been ill. He was taken to Netheravon Hospital, and later to the Laventon and Devizes Hospitals, Wiltshire. Of the three he states that the latter, a voluntary aid hospital, was by far the best, he receiving splendid treatment there. Weather and strain combined to put him in the hospitals. The dampness of the climate at Salisbury Plain gave him lumbago, and while he was working with his horses he strained himself, causing a double rupture.

Not Pleased With Treatment

Knightley is very indignant over the treatment he received after leaving Valcartier. He stated this morning to an Expositor representative, that at Valcartier the boys were treated right. After the departure from there it was altogether different. On board ship they were treated very harshly because some of the men had got drunk on their last visit ashore. When the boat arrived at Devonport, the officer commanding refused to allow any of the men ashore. They cut the ropes of the boats and slipped away, and the mutiny flag was hoisted. The captain of a nearby warship came over with a boat’s crew to enquire into the cause and according to Knightley, told the commanding officer that it served him right for the way he had treated his men. He even refused to allow the officers junior to him to buy the men anything.

At Salisbury Plain

At Salisbury Plain Knightley took sick and he claims that Major Clarke, the medical officer, allowed him to lay in a damp hut for six days without medical attendance or medicines. The food, he says, was not good.

There was plenty of meat – too much of it – but not enough of vegetables. Three cabbages were sent down to make a dinner for 210 men, with other vegetables in proportion. The jam is not good; the men using it to paint the tents with, for it could not be eaten by the Canadians. The mail service was very bad, for he received but two letters since Christmas, though many more were sent him from Brantford, and he did not receive any parcels at all, though these had been sent. The men who should have received a “soldier’s box of chocolates” received half of one cake from the box, the rest going elsewhere. He states, however, that the Dufferin Rifles boys under Capt. Colquhoun and the other Brantford officers got along fine, for their officers treated them like men. The whole trouble, so far as he was concerned was with some of the officers. Capt. Carscallen of Hamilton was a splendid officer, and there were some others like him.

Invalids Poorly Treated

Knightley was very indignant at the way the invalids came home. They were shipped on the Missanabie, third class, and 107 all told of whom 65 were invalids and the rest undesirables, the latter making it very unpleasant for the invalids. The accommodation provided for the invalids was very poor. At Halifax they were put into the train shed with straw ticks, but the women of Halifax made it as comfortable for them as they could, giving them flowers, tobacco, cigars and hot drinks, as well as providing a concert.

BX November 9, 1955

Alfred James Knightley

Alfred James Knightley, of 73 Ontario Street, died Wednesday. He was born in Clapham, England, came to Canada 64 years ago and was a resident of Brantford for 60 years. He was a blacksmith by trade and was employed at the Massey-Harris-Ferguson Limited Verity Works. Surviving besides his widow, the former Emma Miller, are two daughters, Mrs. Rupert (Lillie) Farmer and Mrs. Wilfred (Ola) Kendrick, both of Brantford; one son, Richard R., of Windsor; four grandchildren and eight great-grandchildren. Mr. Knightley is resting at the Beckett Funeral Home for service at 3 p.m. Saturday. Interment will be in Mount Hope Cemetery.

BX November 12, 1955

Alfred James Knightley

The funeral of Alfred Knightley was conducted Saturday afternoon at the Becket Funeral Home, with Rev. T.D. Painting of Holy Trinity Anglican Church officiating. There was a large gathering of relatives and friends from the city and several outside points. The pallbearers were Kyrle Farmer, Richard F. Knightley, Charlton Baker, George Dick Jr., Stanley Hall and Cecil Giles. Interment was in Mount Hope Cemetery.