John Sidney Alldred was born on 6 September 1886, one of the four children of Charles Alldred (1856-1947) and Mary Ann Alldred née Brinn (1859-1947). His birth was registered in the 3rd quarter of 1886 in the Paddington registration district, Middlesex (now Greater London). He was baptised on 8 October 1886 at St Jude's Church, Kensal Green, where the baptismal register shows that his father was a postman and the family lived at 105 Ashmore Road, West Kilburn.
When his brother, Arthur Charles Alldred (1890-1978), was baptised on 7 September 1890 at Holy Trinity Church, Upper Chelsea, the baptismal register states that the family address was 123 Edgware Road, Paddington and the 1891 census confirms that he was still living there with his parents and his brother.
On 9 December 1895 he was admitted into the Bell Street School that stood at the junction of Bell Street and Lisson Street, Marylebone, and the school register shows the family address as 28 Great James Street.
His brother, Francis Philip Augustus Alldred (1894-1989), was baptised on 15 January 1896 at Christ Church, Marylebone, and the baptismal register shows the family residing at 29 Great James Street. In the 1901 census he is shown as a telegraph messenger living in two rooms at 67 Ifield Road, Kensington, with his parents and both brothers.
The 1 November 1904 edition of the London Gazette confirms that he was appointed as a General Post Office postman in London with effect from 13 October 1904. He was later attached to their Western District Office in March 1905. The 1911 census shows him as a postman living in a six roomed property at 19 Wendell Road, Wendell Park, Shepherds Bush, with his parents and both brothers, together with his paternal widowed great aunt, Mary Ann Green. The census would indicate that his parents had a fourth child who had died by the time of the census, that his father was by now a head postman, that his brother Charles was also a postman and his other brother was a Post Office boy messenger.
On 9th May 1912 he married his cousin, Lucy Clara Alldred (1888-1978) at St Saviour's Church, Wendell Park, London, W12. She was the youngest of the six children of William James Alldred (1854-1936) who was the elder brother of his father, Charles Alldred. When their son, Alan Charles Alldred (1913-1994) was baptised on 11 May 1913 at St Saviour's Church, Shepherds Bush, the baptismal register confirms the family were residing at 22 Langthorne Street, Fulham and electoral registers for 1914 and 1915 confirm him still listed there. Their other son, Francis John Alldred (1915-1936), birth was registered in the 1st quarter of 1915 in the Fulham registration district.
On the outbreak of World War One he joined the 8th (City of London) Battalion, The London Regiment (Post Office Rifles), service number 1864, and entered France on 18 May 1915. He was killed in action, aged 29 years, in the German assault on Vimy Ridge, France, on 21 May 1916. A description of the action in which he died is shown on his profile page of the London WW1 Memorial website. As he has no known grave he is commemorated on Bay 10 of the Arras Memorial to the Missing, in the Faubourg-d’Amiens Cemetery, 62000 Arras, France. His widow was sent £3-4s-8d of his army effects on 12 July 1916 and probate records show that administration (with Will) was granted to her on 17 August 1916, his effects totalling £247-3s-4d. Probate records claim his address remained as 19 Wendell Park, Shepherds Bush. His widow was sent the balance of his army effects totalling £4-1s-6d on 2 January 1917. On 19 August 1919 she was sent his £8-0s-0d war gratuity to her new address at 87 Wellwood Road, Goodmayes, Essex.
He was posthumously awarded the 1914-1915 Star, the British War Medal 1914-1918 and the Victory Medal.
He is commemorated as Alldred, J. S. on the Western Postal District war memorial now located in Mount Pleasant, London, EC1; on the grave of his son in St Peter's Churchyard, Aldborough Rd, Aldborough Hatch, Ilford, IG2 7QH; on page 8 of The Post Office Fellowship of Remembrance's Book of of Remembrance 1914-1920; on the Commonwealth War Graves Commission's website and on the Imperial War Museum's Lives of the First World War website.
Credit for this entry to: Andrew Behan.
