LAWRENCE, Allen D

Allen Lawrence was born at Oswestry and was one of the four sons of Mrs Lawrence of 15 Corser Street, Oldswinford. By 1918 three of them, together with her two sons in law, were serving in France and one was in training in England. Before the war Allen Lawrence had been a gardener for Mrs Owen at The Quarry. He had volunteered on the 29th October 1914 for the Worcesters and was sent to the 10th (Service) Battalion. The 10th were in the 19th Division and crossed to France in July 1915. Apart from a short period of leave in February 1917 Allen Lawrence had been engaged in some of the worst periods of combat including the Somme in 1916, Messines 1917 and Third Ypres. In that time he had earned his promotion at the age of 22 to Sergeant. During the winter of 1917-18 the Worcesters returned to the front line near Cambrai. By March all the troops knew that some form of German attack was being organised with troops fresh from the Russian front. On the 21st March the German forces attacked and, although the Worcesters put in two successful counter attacks, the enemy numbers were overwhelming. By the time they were taken out of the line the Worcesters had suffered an estimated 350 casualties. Among the killed in action was Sergeant Allen Lawrence. He was 22 years of age and is commemorated on the Arras, Stourbridge and Oldswinford church Memorials.