ALFRED BROOKS WADHAM: 953
8th Infantry Battalion, Australian Imperial Forces
Alfred was the fifth of seven children born to Joseph and Mary Wadham and the family lived in Rax Lane at numbers 3 and 27. His father, Joseph, ran an iron foundry and his brother Frederick also worked there.
Alfred did not go into the family business. As a young man of sixteen he was working as a gas fitter, boarding with the Brown family on Portland. He returned to Bridport however, and married a local girl Frances Ellen Harvey in 1911 and they made their married home in Barrack Street. They were not there for long, because in October of the same year, Alfred and Frances boarded the ‘Gothic’ and set sail for Melbourne, Australia
They were not alone. Brother Frederick and his wife and daughter were also on board. Alfred settled in Mildura, Victoria and a son, Albert was born there. Tragically, soon after the birth, Frances died and Alfred relied on the support of his brother and wife Ada, to raise his son.
When war was declared in 1914, Alfred enlisted with the Australian Imperial Forces, and was deployed with other ANZAC troops to fight in the Dardanelles. He was invalided ‘home’ to England after a crippling bout of dysentery and when he recovered, he started training with the Australian Infantry at Monte Video Camp, Weymouth. It was when he was here, that Alfred received news of his widowed mother’s death. His mother, Mary, had moved to London several years before, to live with her son Joseph and his family in Wood Green
Alfred took compassionate leave and traveled up to London by train. In a freak accident he fell from the railway carriage and was killed.