Albert Thomas Read was born on 15 August 1910 in Finsbury, London, the tenth of the eleven children of William John Read (1867-1948) and Hannah Maud Read née Sweeny (1874-1949). His birth was registered in the 3rd quarter of 1910 in the St Pancras Registration District, London.
His ten siblings were: Alfred Charles Read (1892-1917); Florence Maud Read (1895-1994); Minnie Emma Read (1896-1984); Hannah Maud Read (1898-1956); William James Read (1902-1969); John Edward Read (1903-1904); Frederick James Read (1904-1974); Mary Anne Elizabeth Read (1906-1972); Henry Charles Read (1908-2000) and May Elizabeth Read (1913-1998).
In the 1911 census he was shown as aged 7 months and living in three rooms at 5 Collier Street, London, N1, with his parents and his eight surviving siblings: Alfred Charles Read - a printer; Florence Maud Read; Minnie Emma Read - a boxmaker for a cardboard box manufacturer; Hannah Maud Read; William James Read; Frederick James Read; Mary Anne Elizabeth Read and Henry Charles Read. His father described himself as a flower seller working on his own account.
On 4 June 1916 both he and his youngest sister, May Elizabeth Read (1913-1998), were baptised in Christ Church, Church Street, Deptford, London, where the baptismal register confirms his date of birth, that their family lived at 28 Hermes Street, and that their father was a soldier.
When the 1921 census was undertaken he was shown as aged 10 years, 10 months and in whole-time education. He was living in three rooms at 1 St James Walk, London, EC1 with his parents, four of his siblings: Frederick James Read - a paper seller employed by The Star newspaper; Mary Anne Elizabeth Read - a feather maker employed by a Mr Cohen at Goswell Road, London; Henry Charles Read - in whole-time education and May Elizabeth Read - also in whole-time education, together a married couple and their one-year-old son who were lodgers. His father described himself as a fruiterer at Leather Lane who employed his wife there as his assistant.
The electoral registers showed that the family moved to various addresses:
1918. 10 Hermes Street, Finsbury.
1928. 30 Mandeville Houses, Pentonville.
1929. 35 Mandeville Houses, Pentonville.
1931. 32 Liverpool Road, Islington.
1935. 33 Myddelton Buildings, Islington High Street,
1938. 6 Cloudesley Square, Barnsbury, Islington.
On 11 March 1939 he married Doris Rose Kidd (1917-1948) in Holy Trinity Church, Cloudesley Square, Islington, where in the marriage register he is shown as aged 28 years, a bachelor and a plumber living at 6 Cloudesley Square, Islington, the son of William John Read, a pensioner, whilst his wife was described as aged 21 years and a spinster residing at 50 Cloudesley Road, Islington, the daughter of Robert Kidd, a street trader. Their daughter, Marie R. Kidd, was born in 1943.
On 26 May 1939, he was appointed as a Postman in the London Postal Region.
He joined the army and was attached to the 1st/7th Battalion of the Middlesex Regiment (Duke of Cambridge’s Own), service number 6199459. He died, aged 32 years, on 13 February 1943 and as he has no known grave he is commemorated on Column 66, The Alamein Memorial, El Alamein War Cemetery, Matruh, Egypt.
He is shown as 'READ, A.T.' on the Western Postal District war memorial at Mount Pleasant, London, WC1. He is also commemorated on the Commonwealth War Graves Commission's website and on page 212 of the Post Office Fellowship of Remembrance's Book of Remembrance 1939-1949.
Credit for this entry to: Andrew Behan.
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