Profile

BREMFORD, Albert Edward
(Service number MB1935)

Aliases
First Rank Motor Mechanic Last Rank Chief Motor Mechanic

Birth

Date 7 June 1886 Place of Birth Christchuch

Enlistment Information

Date 6 December 1916 Age 30 years
Address at Enlistment
Occupation
Previous Military Experience
Marital Status Married
Next of Kin Mrs R. G. BREMFORD (wife), C/o Major Foden, Box 151, Timaru, South Canterbury, New Zealand
Religion
Medical Information

Military Service

Served with Royal Navy Served in Navy
Military District

Embarkation Information

Body on Embarkation Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve
Unit, Squadron, or Ship Royal Naval Auxiliary Patrol (Motor-Boat Service)
Date
Transport Orontes
Embarked From Destination
Other Units Served With
Last Unit Served With Royal Navy Volunteer Reserve

Military Awards

Campaigns
Service Medals
Military Awards

Award Circumstances and Date

No information

Prisoner of War Information

Date of Capture
Where Captured and by Whom
Actions Prior to Capture
PoW Serial Number
PoW Camps
Days Interned
Liberation Date

Discharge

Date Reason

Hospitals, Wounds, Diseases and Illnesses

Post-war Occupations

Death

Date 23 March 1951 Age 64 years
Place of Death
Cause
Notices
Memorial or Cemetery Timaru Cemetery
Memorial Reference General Section, Row 128, Plot 118
New Zealand Memorials

Biographical Notes

Albert Edward Bremford was born on 7 June 1886 at Christchurch, the older son of Samuel and Ellen Bremford. Albert was educated at Timaru Main School. He married Ruby Gwladys Foden in 1914 at St Mary’s Church, Timaru.

A. E. Bremford was in a draft of recruits selected for British Naval Motorboat Patrol Service who were leaving New Zealand in early December 1916. On 6 December 1916, he engaged as a motor mechabic with the Royal Volunteer Naval Reserve (RVNR), naming his wife as next-of-kin – Mrs R. G. Bremford, C/o Major Foden, Box 151, Timaru, South Canterbury, New Zealand. He may have left New Zealand per the Orontes. He enlisted on 6 December 1916 and served as a motor mechanic on HMS Hermione from 6 December 1916 till 21 May 1917. He was promoted to chief motor mechanic on 1 November 1917 and served with HMS Philomel.

Albert was at Southampton with the R.N.M.B.R. when his son was born on 25 July 1917 at Timaru. In January 1918 the name of Albert Edward Bremford, motor engineer, Perth Steet, Timaru, was drawn in the ballot. The Timaru Herald noted that e had enlisted in the motor patrol and left New Zealand in 1916, and that he was by then a chief mechanic in the Navy. As of 18 May 1918, he was invalided.

Albert died on 23 March 1951 and was buried in the Timaru Cemetery, ruby with him in 1960.

Note – the service number was allocated in New Zealand and used for embarkation. The number was not used in England by the Royal Navy. RNVR officers were not allocated service numbers.

Sources

Auckland War Memorial Museum Cenotaph Database [14 August 2021]; NZ BDM Indexes (Department of Internal Affairs) [14 August 2021]; Timaru Cemetery headstone image (Timaru District Council) [14 August 2021]; School Admission record (Canterbury Branch NZSG) [14 August 2021]; Timaru Herald, 21 November 1916, 26 July 1917, 16 January 1918, Evening Post, 2 December 1916, Press, 4 December 1916 (Papers Past) [14 August 2021]; Military record (The National Archives, reference ADM 337/97/929) [14 August 2021]

External Links

Related Documents

No documents available. 

Researched and Written by

Teresa Scott, SC branch NZSG

Currently Assigned to

Not assigned.

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