Prescot Roll of Honour

Prescot Reporter 23/03/1917

Service Details

Albert Finney was born in Prescot on 1st April 1891, the son of Thomas and Elizabeth Finney. He was baptised at St Mary's Church on 22nd April 1891.

Rfn. Finney served with 2nd/6th King's (Liverpool Regiment) from 3rd July 1915. The battalion landed in France around the middle of February 1917, one of 6 'second line' Territorial battalions of the King's (Liverpool) Regiment to go to France after almost two years training in England.

They settled down to trench warfare, first in the Fleurbaix sector, then extending the line northwards as far as Armentieres, covering almost 16,000 yards of the front line. An officer of the 2nd/6th described Fleurbaix as follows:

'..it was a ruined village though some of the surrounding farms were intact and actually flourishing. The church was a mere skeleton and whole sides of some streets were in a state of collapse. Windows were few and far between and the spaces usually covered with glass were now mostly filled with canvas, or in a few privileged places with oilskin which let in the light. According to the local report, the enemy shelled the place at regular intervals, gas shells being particularly plentiful in the previous bombardment'

On the 22nd February the battalion relieved New Zealand troops in the front line in the La Boutillerie sector. The tour lasted four days, and one officer's report stated 'On the last night (25th) we had our first casualties, a 'minnie' falling right on to a post, killing three men and wounding two. The fortune of war is very curious; some men go for months and even years unscathed through dangers of every description; others, like these three, are killed on their first tour of duty in one of the quietest sectors in France. We buried them next day in the cemetery by Battalion Headquarters, and it was melancholy to realise that the dissolution of our happy band had now commenced in grim earnest, and was likely to proceed more rapidly in the days to come.

Private Finney was one of those killed in this incident. The other men were Lance Corporal 241108 William Jack, aged 22 of Walton, Liverpool and Rifleman James McCutcheon, also aged 22, of Liverpool. The three men lie in adjacent graves at Y Farm Cemetery.

The Parish Magazine of 26th April 1917 reported 'The following have fallen in the present fighting on various battlefields' and included 'Pte. A. Holt Finney, 26, King's Liverpool, of 60, Warrington Road, March 1917'

Prescot Reporter 14th September 1917

Private Finney's Medal Index Card. The absence of a Date of Entry indicates that he only arrived overseas after January 1916. His entitlement was to the British War Medal and Victory Medal

The reverse of the card (above) shows that the Officer in Charge of Records requests authority for disposal of the medals in January 1923. This 'disposal' refers to the issuing of the medals and suggests that they had not been sent out originally in 1921, when most medals were issued. The reasons for this are unclear

Private Finney's grave (above) in Y Farm Cemetery, and below are the adjacent graves of his colleague Pte. Jack and Pte McCutcheon. They served together, died together and rest together