438984 Sapper Leonard Alker

Lieutenant Colonel (Retired) Edward De Santis, MSCE, BSAE P.E., MinstRE
U.S. Army Corps of Engineers
(April 2026)

While trolling through the photographs on the Imperial War Museum website, I came across these two remarkable photographs. Both men had served in the Lancashire Constabulary and as Sappers in field companies of the Royal Engineers during the Great War of 1914-1918, and both men were killed in action. I could not resist looking into their lives and service in order to add them to my website.

Leonard Alker was born on 15 May 1893 in Adlington, Lancashire, the son of Walter Alker (1856-1928) and Mary Ellen Alker, née Farnworth (1857-1939). Leonard had five siblings: Ernest (1883-?), Alice (1884-?), Florrie (1887-?), Allan (1888-1889) and Walter Sidney (1891-?).[1] Ernest served as 242928 Private, South Lancashire Regiment and later T/394004 Private, Royal Army Service Corps.[2]

On 19 October 1914 Leonard Alker joined the Lancashire Constabulary as a Police Constable, Number 1921, in the Blackburn Higher Division and on 2 May 1915 he was transferred to Manchester.[3]

Unfortunately no family tree for Harry Probyn could be accessed on Ancestry.com as all trees posted on the website were private. However, the 1911 Census shows him as the son of Hugh and Emily Probyn living at Hale Cliff in Liverpool. Harry had been born on 15 April 1891 in Halewood, Widnes, in the North West region of England. In 1911 he was employed as a farm labourer, but on 4 January 1915 he became a Police Constable, Number 1696, in the Blackburn Higher Division of the Lancashire Constabulary. He and Leonard Alker must certainly have known each other.

On 12 November 1915, while serving as a Police Constable, Leonard Alker enlisted in Manchester in the 1^st East Lancashire Field Company, R.E. as a Sapper, Territorial Force (T.F.) regimental number 2959.[4] This company was re-designated the 427^th Field Company in the 42^nd Division in Kitchener’s New Army organization and his regimental number was changed to 438594.[5] He was subsequently transferred to the 529^th Field Company in the 3^rd Division for service in France and Flanders.

On 12 November 1915 Harry Probyn enlisted in Liverpool in the 1^st East Lancashire Field Company, R.E. as a Sapper, Territorial Force regimental number 2954. As Alker’s and Probyn’s Territorial Force numbers are only five numbers apart, they must have enlisted on the same day. Interestingly, although their T.F. regimental numbers were only five numbers apart, their New Army numbers were 399 apart, with Probyn’s number being 438195. Probyn remained with the company after its redesignation as the 427^th Field Company and served with it in the 42^nd Division in France and Flanders.

As both men had been serving in a Territorial Force unit of the Royal Engineers, they had received training during annual field exercises and weekend drill session. They were considered to be trained in field engineering work when their units were mobilized for active service, hence they did not have to attend the School of Military Engineering at Chatham prior to their deployment to France.

The East Lancashire Royal Engineers was a Volunteer unit of Britain's Royal Engineers raised in Manchester in 1901. It became the engineer component of the 42^nd (East Lancashire) Division of the Territorial Force, with a unit seeing service in Egypt, at Gallipoli and, together with a duplicate unit, on the Western Front during the Great War.

When the Volunteers were subsumed into the new Territorial Force under the Haldane Reforms of 1908, the Volunteer Lancashire Engineers became the East Lancashire Divisional Engineers forming part of the East Lancashire Division of the Territorial Force with the following organization:

On Sunday 1 August 1914, the 1^st Field Company was entrained and about to depart when orders came cancelling the camp because of the deteriorating international situation. The company returned to Seymour Grove, where mobilisation orders arrived at 1800 hours on 4 August. The men were billeted in the schools next door to the drill hall and horses and carts were requisitioned according to standing instructions. On 10 August units of the Territorial Force were invited to volunteer for Overseas Service, which was greeted with acclamation at Seymour Grove. Virtually the whole of the East Lancashire Division volunteered. On 18 August the HQ and field companies left Old Trafford for a training camp at Doffcocker, near Bolton, while the signal company went to Bury and its sections camped with their brigades.[7]

It appears that in 1916 and 1917 Sapper Leonard Alker may have been serving in the 427^th Field Company in Egypt. Without access to his military service papers it is not possible to know exactly when and where he joined the company. According to an entry in his family tree he was posted from the 427^th Field Company to the 529^th (East Riding) Field Company in the 3^rd Division, probably as a replacement.[8]

The following is a chronological outline of the service of the 529^th Field Company from the time that it arrived on the Western Front until the time of Sapper Alker’s death:[9]

Sapper Leonard Alker was killed in action on 18 June 1917.[10] This day was exceptionally costly for the 529^th Field Company. In addition to Sapper Alker, the following men of the company were killed on this day:[11]

On 18 June 1917 the 529^th Field Company suffered 13 fatalities (1 Officer and 12 Other Ranks). These casualties occurred between the end of the Third Battle of the Scarpe (4 May 1917) and the start of the Battle of Polygon Wood (26 September 1917). The company suffered a total of 30 fatal casualties during the war, so the losses on 18 June represent 43.3 percent of all the fatalities suffered by the company during the war. The Imperial War Museum website indicates that 2^nd Lieutenant Parkin fell at Monchy-le-Preux.[12] The company War Diary for the period 17-18 June 1917 indicates that the company headquarters was at Tilloy[13] and reads as follows:

On the night of 17^th/18^th No. 1 Section working on new fire trench starting from HOOK TRENCH and running north. Nos. 2, 3 & 4 Sections on the C.T. between HOOK and LONG trenches. 12.30 A.M. the enemy heavily barraged all first line defenses in that area until about 3 A.M. when he attacked the positions. The Company assisted the 76^th Inf. Brigade [a brigade in the 3^rd Division] to resist this attack, which was successfully accomplished. Nos. 2, 3 & 4 Sections suffered heavy casualties during the barrage. No. 1 Section, 2^nd Lieut. H. Haithwaite, returned to camp at 8 A.M. Nos. 2, 3 & 4 Sections under 2^nd Lieut. G.W. Palethorpe returned to camp at 2 P.M., the officers of 3 & 4 Sections having become casualties.

From the Regimental Numbers of the men above it appears that the numbers assigned to the original men serving in the 529^th (East Riding) Field Company were in the series 474XXX. Clearly Alker, Edwards and Jones had been replacements.

As previously noted, Harry Probyn appears to have remained with the 427^th Field Company in the 42^nd Division after his enlistment. Again, without his service papers it is not possible to know just when and where he served, although from his medal entitlements it is certain that he did not go abroad until sometime in 1916. It is possible that he joined the unit in Egypt and was present at the actions at Rumani (4-5 August 1916) and Rafah (9 January 1917).[15]

The 42^nd Division moved from Egypt to France in 1917 and entered the line at Epehy, as part of III Corps in Fourth Army. It remained in this area, soon moving to Havrincourt where it remained until 8 July 1917. These positions faced the formidable German Hindenburg Line in front of Cambrai. Through the rest of July and August, the division underwent rest and training, in the area of Albert (on the old Somme battlefield of 1916).[16]

In September 1917 the division moved north to join the offensive at Ypres that had opened on 31 July. This is officially known as the Third Battle of Ypres, or more popularly, the Battle of Passchendaele. Although the battle opened well it had soon become literally bogged down as Flanders endured the worst August weather for many years. During this time the British Second and Fifth Armies made a number of costly but successful “bite and hold” advances. The 42^nd (East Lancashire) Division relieved the 15^th (Scottish) Division in XIX Corps of Fifth Army on the overcast day of 28 August 1917.[17]

The Lancashire Fusiliers Brigade carried out an unsuccessful attack on 6 September, against strongly held German pillboxes at Iberian, Borry and Beck House Farms. The small amount of ground they captured was in fact given up the next day.[18] Elements of the 427^th Field Company supported the brigade in this attack and Sapper Harry Probyn was killed in action during the battle.[19] In addition to Probyn, the following men of the company were killed on 6 September:[20]

The 427^th Field Company suffered 24 fatal casualties during the war. The predominant Regimental Numbers in the casualty list are in the series 438XXX, indicating the numbers that were issued to the men originally assigned to the unit.[21]

For their service during the war, both men were awarded the British War Medal and Victory Medal.

NOTE: The medals in Figure 3 below are not those of either Sapper Alker or Sapper Probyn. The image is posted here for illustrative purposes only.

Figure 3. The British War Medal and Victory Medal.
(Image from the author’s collection)

Figure 4. Great War Medal Index Card of Leonard Alker.
(Image courtesy of Ancestry.com)

Figure 5. Great War Medal Index Card of Harry Probyn.
(Image courtesy of Ancestry.com)

Like his brother Leonard, Private Ernest Alker was awarded the British War Medal and Victory Medal for his service as a Private in the South Lancashire Regiment and Royal Army Service Corps. Ernest Alker survived the war.

Figure 6. Great War Medal Index Card of Ernest Alker.
(Image courtesy of Ancestry.com)

1. Royal Engineers Medal Roll: British War Medal and Victory Medal (Leonard Alker).

2. Royal Engineers Medal Roll: British War Medal and Victory Medal (Harry Probyn).

3. Royal Army Service Corps Medal Roll: British War Medal and Victory Medal (Ernest Alker).

Battle Honours of the Royal Engineers. The Royal Engineers Journal. The Institution of Royal Engineers, Chatham, Kent, 1925-1932.

2. The Long, Long Trail: Renumbering of the Territorial Force Royal Engineers in 1917.

[1] Family tree.

[2] Medal Index Card.

[3] Imperial War Museum.

[4] Gase, S.

[5] The Long, Long Trail.

[6] Wikipedia.

[7] Ibid.

[8] The 3^rd Division was a Regular Army unit that had been in France and Flanders since mid-1916 and had suffered many casualties.

[9] Battle Honours of the Royal Engineers.

[10] Soldiers Died in the Great War.

[11] Commonwealth War Graves Commission.

[12] Monchy-le-Preux is located about 20 miles east southeast of Arras.

[13] Tilloy-lès-Mofflaines.

[14] As the Commonwealth War Graves Commission website indicates that the losses on this day were one Officer and 12 Other Ranks, one of the wounded men must have died of his wounds.

[15] The Long, Long Trail.

[16] Ibid.

[17] Ibid.

[18] Ibid.

[19] Soldiers Died in the Great War.

[20] Commonwealth War Graves Commission.

[21] Ibid.