Thank you to Jane Anthony for the following research. Thank you to Molly Worsfold and Tim Dumas from St. Bartholomew Church in Leigh for allowing Dorking Museum to reproduce their research.
Albert Charles Pescud was born on 25th July 1896 at Mynthurst Farm, Leigh. The son of Peter and Eileen Pescud, he was one of five children. In 1911 his father was employed as cowman at Herons Head Farm, Leigh, there were seven children in the family but only three were still living at home.
Albert went to Leigh School, where his name is to be found in the Punishment Book for excessive talking, for which he got two straps.
Although he was enlisted in the East Surrey regiment at the time of his death, he was attached to the Queens Own Royal West Surrey Regiment. Bailleul, where he died, was an import rail depot and hospital base from 1914 until April 1918, when it fell into the hand of the Germans. At the time of Alberts death there were no battles being fought on the Western Front.
He died of his wounds on 16th June 1916, six weeks before his twentieth birthday, the youngest man from Leigh to die for his country.
He is buried at Bailleul Communal Cemetery, grave reference II. B. 185. There is also a memorial to him on his parents grave in Leigh churchyard.
| Born | Leigh, Surrey | |
| Lived | Leigh, Surrey | |
| Son of | Peter and Eileen Pescud of The Herons, Leigh | |
| Regiment | 9th Battalion. East Surrey Regiment attached Queen’s Royal West Surrey | |
| Number | 16205 | |
| Date of Death | 16th June 1916 | |
| Place of Death | Bailleul, Somme, France | |
| Cause of Death | Died of Wounds | |
| Age | 19 | |
| Cemetery | Bailleul Communal Cemetery, Somme, France |
