Great War Casualty Trio & Memorial Plaque - Private Alfred Laver, 7th Battalion, Duke of Cornwall's Light Infantry – Killed in Action Ypres 1916
1914–15 Star – 18127 PTE A. LAVER. D. OF CORN:L.I.
British War Medal – 18127 PTE. A. LAVER. D. OF CON. L. I.
Victory Medal – 18127 PTE. A. LAVER. D. OF CON. L. I.
Memorial Plaque – ALFRED LAVER
Comes with original Memorial Plaque card envelope. Medals have some glue residue on them.
Alfred Laver was born in Lambeth, London, on 16th July 1885, the son of Alfred Laver (1852–1906) and Jane Turpin (1850–1935). He grew up in the Kennington and Vauxhall area of South London alongside his siblings Bertie and Albert Victor, the family forming part of London's thriving working-class community during the late Victorian period.
On 16th September 1906, Alfred married Emily Newman at St Anselm's Church, Kennington Cross, beginning what appeared to be a happy young family life. The couple made their home in Vauxhall, where Alfred worked before the outbreak of the Great War. Together they had four children:
- Alfred Maurice Laver (1906–1909), who tragically died in childhood.
- Rosina Ellen Laver (born 1908).
- Emily Sarah Laver (born 1910).
- Charles Frederick Laver (born 1912).
The 1911 Census records Alfred living with his wife and young family at 9 Lapford Place, Vauxhall, Lambeth, just five years before his life would be cut tragically short.
Following the outbreak of the First World War, Alfred enlisted at Camberwell, London, joining the 7th Battalion, Duke of Cornwall's Light Infantry, receiving the service number 18127. The battalion formed part of 61st Brigade, 20th (Light) Division, one of Kitchener's New Army formations that underwent extensive training before crossing to France.
Alfred entered the Western Front during 1915, qualifying for the 1914–15 Star, before serving with his battalion during some of the hardest fighting of the early Somme period.
On 11th April 1916, aged just 30, Private Alfred Laver was killed in action in France and Flanders. His death occurred during the bitter fighting around the Ypres Salient, only months before the opening of the Battle of the Somme.
His body was never recovered or positively identified and, like thousands of other soldiers with no known grave, he is commemorated on the Ypres (Menin Gate) Memorial, Panel 20, where his name is permanently inscribed amongst those who disappeared in the defence of the Salient.
The official pension records paint a particularly moving picture of the family Alfred left behind. His widow, Emily Laver, was awarded a war widow's pension to support herself and their three surviving children:
- Rosina Ellen, born 17th September 1908.
- Emily Sarah, born 6th June 1910.
- Charles Frederick, born 28th May 1912.
The family's loss is further illustrated by a remarkable group of surviving photographs. These include pre-war portraits of Alfred and Emily together, preserving the image of a young married couple before war intervened; a wartime photograph of Alfred in military dress wearing his trench coat; and perhaps most poignantly, a post-war family photograph of Emily with their three children, in which she wears a Duke of Cornwall's Light Infantry cap badge suspended as a necklace. This deeply personal act of remembrance serves as a lasting symbol of the sacrifice made by Alfred and the enduring grief carried by the family he left behind.
For his sacrifice, Alfred was posthumously awarded the 1914–15 Star, British War Medal, Victory Medal, and the Memorial Plaque, the latter bearing only his name—ALFRED LAVER—as the nation's final tribute to one of its fallen soldiers.
This outstanding Great War casualty group, comprising Alfred Laver's 1914–15 Star Trio and Memorial Plaque, represents the sacrifice of a young London family man who gave his life during the fighting around Ypres in April 1916. The group is considerably enhanced by extensive surviving research, together with a remarkable collection of family photographs on Ancestry documenting Alfred before the war, during his military service, and, most movingly, his widow and children in the years after his death. Emily Laver's decision to wear her husband's Duke of Cornwall's Light Infantry cap badge as a memorial pendant transforms the group from a collection of medals into a deeply human story of love, loss and remembrance, making it an exceptionally poignant and highly desirable casualty group.
PLEASE NOTE: All research will be sent to the buyer via email. I am unable to provide printed copies, as I do not have access to a printer.
AJMS Medals