Son of Mr Alfred S. and Mrs Catherine Campion
Aged 24 years
Died 7th August 1918
Commemorated at Dove Copse British Cemetery, Somme
Grave III. A.3.
And in Rushden Cemetery
Grave DA.311
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| Born at Kettering, enlisted at Rushden. |
| From the Burnt Records, Peter Inns & Kay Collins
Born at Kettering the son of Alfred Samuel & Mrs C Campion, Alfred Leonard was working in the shoe trade when he enlisted into the Northamptonshire Regiment on 3rd December 1915 at the age of 21, 5' 2" tall, with a chest of 35½" (2" expansion). He went to France and landed at Boulogne on 10th December 1916, but on the 30th was hospitalised with diarrhoea for almost a month. He joined the 7th Battalion in the field on 18th February 1917, but was again in hospital in May with an injury to his heel and was taken back to Chatham. He rejoined the 6th Battalion on 26th February 1918 and received gun shot wounds to his arm and knee and was taken to Rouen Hospital on the 8th May 1918. He rejoined his unit in the field on 9th July 1918 and was made up to Lance Corporal on the 22nd. but lost his life two weeks later when he was killed in action on the 7th August 1918.
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Gravestone in France
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Commemoration at Rushden Cemetery
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Rushden Echo, August 30th, 1918, transcribed by Greville Watson
Rushden’s Casualty List - Victims of the War
Mr and Mrs A. S. Campion, 41, Pytchley-road, Rushden, have, we regret to learn, received official news of the death in action on August 7th, of their eldest son, Lance-Corpl. Alfred Leonard Campion, of the Northants Regiment. The first account of the sad fatality was sent by Pte. W. Pack, of Spencer-road, Rushden, a comrade of the deceased, who wrote under date August 17th as follows: “I am sorry to have to write you informing you that Len was killed in action on August 7th. He has been more like a brother to me since we have been together out here..... There is one thing I can say, though it is poor comfort to you, that he was buried decently. I will close by sending my deepest sympathy, and I might add also that of our platoon, or what is left of us.” The late Pte. Campion, who was 24 years of age, joined the Colours on August 29th, 1916, and went to France on December 10th following. He was wounded in March this year, but his injuries were not sufficiently serious to bring him to “Blighty,” but he only returned to the trenches quite recently. Before joining the Colours he worked for Messrs. James Hyde, Ltd., with which firm he had been since boyhood. He was a teacher in St Peter’s Sunday school, Rushden, and his parents have received a kind letter of condolence from the deceased’s fellow-teachers. Mr and Mrs Campion and family desire to express their sincere thanks for the many expressions of sympathy they have received in their great loss. |
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