| Other Info | Died age 19. Son of Edwin and Eliza Arculus, of Earlswood, Birmingham. Remembered at The Loos Memorial, Pas de Calais, France - Panel 64 and 65.
He volunteered for the Army Reserve as a Special Reservist on 6th March 1914 (aged 18 yrs 171 days). A farm labourer. At the outbreak of war he was promoted to Lance Corporal; by the 5th October he was a Corporal and in March 1915 he became L/Sergeant. Then in June he lost his stripe, the reason, curiosity! On the 3rd April at the back of his billet at Essars two R.E officers exploded an aeroplane bomb. A group of men including Alfred watched the proceedings and after the explosion started picking up fragments. Alfred found the nose of the bomb and as the R.E officers had declared the area safe he proceeded back to his billet with his mates and the fragment. This is where his curiosity got the better of him. He started to take the nose of the bomb apart and as witnessed by others it blew up and badly injured his left hand. A court of enquiry came to the conclusion that 'having considered the evidence Alfred was wholly to blame for the accident, and he was not in performance of military duties when injured'.
A month later on the 2nd May he was pronounced fully fit and back in the front line on the 4th May. On the 8th September he's again a Lance Sergeant. On the 26th September 1915 he was killed in action at Vermelles. He is commemorated on the Loos Memorial, originally buried at Barts Alley Cemetery, Vermelles (this cemetery was destroyed in later battles and the remains scattered - what was found taken to Loos and reburied). Of his effects only his identity disc remained. This was sent to his mother, Eliza. She received it in 1916. |
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