What happened to Alfred Flatt?
QAlfred King Flatt and his twin Herbert were born on 24 February 1886 in Kensington to Jane Flatt and Alfred King, who never married. In the 1901 census, Herbert is living in Clee, Lincolnshire, but I can’t find Alfred. He’s possibly at sea – I have found him on a Royal Navy register of seamen’s services. In 1911, Alfred is a fisherman in Grimsby, but I can’t find him after that.
Diana Ventham
AI notice that Alfred was fired from the Royal Navy in 1909 because of his “excessive stupidity”, which I’ve never seen documented before! This being so, it is unlikely that he would have wanted to return, or been allowed to. The 1891 census notes him being born in London.
Many people with seafaring experience joined the Royal Naval Reserves (RNR) or Royal Naval Division (RND) during the First World War. The service records for these forces are available via The National Archives’ online catalogue Discovery ( discovery. nationalarchives.gov.uk), but Alfred is not to be found here.
He is not among the war dead on the Commonwealth War Graves Commission’s website ( cwgc.org) either. Alfred also does not seem to have emigrated abroad as a ship’s passenger in the 1910s and is not among Britons who died at sea, according to the extensive collection of such records on Findmypast ( findmypast.co.uk).
Men who had seafaring skills still joined the Army during the First World War. For example, records on Findmypast show a
British prisoner of war in German hands, Alfred Flatt, born on 16 February 1886. He was a private in the Royal Berkshires who enlisted in 1915 and was captured in March 1918. He came from Barnet, London, and was married to an Alice living in Henley. There is also a British Army Medal Index Card for the same person (regiment no. 11271). Interestingly, this notes that he fought in Persia in 1921–1924 and received the General Service Medal, so perhaps he became a career soldier. I suggest looking further to see if this man is your ancestor. Simon Wills