Pte 36187 Alexander Lohrenz

• Age: 30
• From: Liverpool
• Regiment: The King's (Liverpool Regiment) 17th Btn
• K.I.A Sunday 30th July 1916
• Commemorated at: Serre Rd No 2 Cem, B-hamel
  Panel Ref: IX.L6

Alexander Lohrenz was born 26th October 1885 in Liverpool and was baptised on 11th November 1885 at St Thomas, Church of England, Toxteth. He was the son of Charles Lohrenz and his wife Harriet (née Forsyth). At the time of his baptism his parents lived in court housing in Beaufort Street and his father worked as a carpenter. His parents married on the 23rd September 1873 at St James, Toxteth, Charles was a 32 year old carpenter, father Charles, whilst Harriet was aged 24, father Peter, both of 81 Grafton St. They had seven children, of which Alexander was the youngest.  He had older brothers Charles William born in 1874, John 1875, and Henry 1877. A sister Alice born in 1879 died in infancy. Maggie was born in 1881 and George in 1883. 

The 1891 Census shows the family living at 26 Bridport Street, Liverpool. 

His mother, Harriet, is aged 40, born 1851 in Stirlingshire, Scotland and she is a boarding house-keeper. His father, Charles, is not at the address at the time of the Census being taken. They have four sons at the property;  John aged 15, born 1876 employed as a compositor, Harry aged 13, born 1878, George aged 7, born 1874 and Alexander aged 5. 

His eldest brother Charles is working as a billiard marker in the Queens Hotel, York Street, Great Crosby and sister Maggie, 10 is visiting the Ohls family in Hertford Road, Bootle.

His father is listed in the Liverpool directory of 1894 as a shipwright at 26 Bridport Street.

On the 1901 Census his brother John is head of household at 17 Chatham Street with his parents and three siblings. His father Charles is 60, a shipwright, his mother Harriet is 52. John, 25, is a billiard marker, Charles is 26, a hotel waiter.  Alexander is 15 and an apprentice to a cyclist. Also living with them are his married sister Maggie Smith, 20, and her daughter Harriet, 1 year old. 

His mother Harriet died in 1907, aged 57.

The 1911 Census shows the family living at 46 Corney Street, Smithdown Road, Liverpool.

His father, Charles, is a widower aged 70, born 1841 in Rostock and was German  his occupation is recorded as a ships carpenter. Alexander aged 25, is a hotel waiter, his sister Maggie who is married and aged 30, born 1881 is a music hall artist and she has her daughter with her Harriet Fenella aged 11 , born 1900 who is at school.  

His father died at Christmastime 1912 aged 71.

Alex was the husband of Margerita Caldwell Lohrenz (nee McCulloch) of 179 Grove Street, Liverpool. She was born as Margaret in 1881 in Stranraer, Scotland, the daughter of William and Sarah Mcculloch, 11 Sun St, Stranraer. They married at West Derby Registrar Office in 1916.  

Alexander enlisted in Seaforth, Liverpool and was serving in the 19^th Battalion, The King’s Liverpool Regiment as Private No 36187. He had served for no more than one year when he was killed, arriving in France in 1916.

He was killed in action on the 30^th July 1916, aged 30, at the village of Guillemont, France, during the Somme Offensive. 

17th Battalion Diary 30th July 1916

The Battalion was in support to 19 & 20 Battalions K.L.R. 2 Coys. behind 19th & 2 Coys. behind 20th. Very thick mist. The attack was pushed home to the objective in places but in the main was held up by machine gun fire from hidden machine guns.

Fighting continued all day swaying backwards and forwards until by 6pm about 300 yards in depth had been gained & consolidated all along our front.

Casualties in the 17th Battalion were 15 Officers and 281 Other Ranks

Further details are reported in more detailed by Everard Wyrall in his book The History of the King’s Regiment (Liverpool) 1914-1919 Volume II 1916-1917

The 17th King’s had advanced (two companies each behind the 19th and 20th Battalions) in small columns. They too suffered heavily from machine-gun fire and were quickly absorbed into the waves that preceded them. They also shared the gains and losses of that terrible day.

When darkness fell on the battlefield the 30th Division held a line from the railway on the eastern side of Trones Wood , southwards and including Arrow Head Copse, to east of Maltz Horn Farm. On this line the division was relieved by the 55th Division during the early hours of the 31st July. 

The events of 30th July 1916 were regarded at the time as Liverpool’s blackest day. There follows an extract from The History of the 89th Brigade written by Brigadier General Ferdinand Stanley which gives an indication of the events of the day.

Guillemont

Well the hour to advance came, and of all bad luck in the world it was a thick fog; so thick that you couldn’t see more than about ten yards. It was next to impossible to delay the attack – it was much too big an operation- so forward they had to go. It will give some idea when I say that on one flank we had to go 1,750 yards over big rolling country. Everyone knows what it is like to cross enclosed country which you know really well in a fog and how easy it is to lose your way. Therefore, imagine these rolling hills, with no landmarks and absolutely unknown to anyone. Is it surprising that people lost their way and lost touch with those next to them? As a matter of fact, it was wonderful the way in which many men found their way right to the place we wanted to get to. But as a connected attack it was impossible.

The fog was intense it was practically impossible to keep direction and parties got split up. Owing to the heavy shelling all the Bosches had left their main trenches and were lying out in the open with snipers and machine guns in shell holes, so of course our fellows were the most easy prey.

It is so awfully sad now going about and finding so many splendid fellows gone.

Alex was initially declared Missing in Action.

His family received official confirmation of his death nearly a year later, posting notices in the Liverpool Daily Post on 05th July 1917:

LOHRENZ - Killed July 30 1916, my dear brother Private Alexander Lohrenz, K.L.R. (Pals)

I often sit and think of him

When I am all alone;

For memory is the only friend

That grief can call its own.

Maggie and niece Fenella Smith

“Reported missing, now reported killed, my dear brother Private Alex. Lohrenz, K.L.R. (Pals). (Never forgotten by Charlie, Ethel, and Children.)”

His widow posted on the 13th July:

LOHRENZ - July 30 1916, previous reported missing, now (official) presumed killed on that date, Private Alexander Lohrenz, K.L.R., devoted husband of M.C. Lohrenz.

I cannot give you flowers,

For always round your grave

The guns increasing rave.

But oh, beloved and best,

Upon the cross of wood

That marks the place you died

My heart is crucified,

And watches o'er your rest.

I cannot bring you flowers.

(Sadly missed and deeply mourned by a sorrowing widow)

Alex was remembered on his birthday in October 1917:

“In affectionate birthday remembrance of my beloved husband, Private Alex. Lohrenz, K.L.R. (presumed) killed in action July 30, 1916.

  A sweet remembrance, now deeply tinged with woe,

    A sorrowing wife in poignant grief laid low;

  And I am doomed to wait, perhaps in vain,

    And never kiss his loving lips again.

- Sadly missed by his devoted Wife, Rita.”

On the second anniversary of his death in 1918 his widow paid tribute:

LOHRENZ - In affectionate remembrance of my beloved husband Private Alexander Lohrenz, K.L.R. (Pals), presumed killed in action July 30 1916.

Oh, guardian spirit guide my way

Thro' this dark gloom till lights eternal day,

When robed in purest shining white divine,

We drink in Heaven a Saviour's nuptial wine.

(Never forgotten by his devoted wife Rita)

The CWGC Graves Registration report shows that he was originally buried as one of five Unknown British Soldiers of the King's Liverpool Regiment.  After the war, when graves were concentrated, their bodies were exhumed, and four were identified by their uniforms and titles (Pte. H. Sampson;  2nd Lt. E.R. Porritt, 17th Bn;  Pte. F.J. Garside, 19th Bn; and Pte. A. Lohrenz, 17th Bn, all killed on the same date), and reinterred in Serre Road No.2 Cemetery, Beaumont Hamel, Somme, where all five rest side by side. 

In June 1916, the road out of Mailly-Maillet to Serre and Puisieux entered No Man's Land about 1,300 metres south-west of Serre. On 1 July 1916, the 31st and 4th Divisions attacked north and south of this road and although parties of the 31st Division reached Serre, the attack failed. The 3rd and 31st Divisions attacked once more on the 13 November, but again without success.

Early in 1917, the Germans fell back to the Hindenburg Line and on 25 February, Serre was occupied by the 22nd Manchesters. The village changed hands once more in March 1918 and remained under German occupation, until they withdrew in August.

In the spring of 1917, the battlefields of the Somme and Ancre were cleared by V Corps and a number of new cemeteries were made, three of which are now named from the Serre Road. Serre Road Cemetery No.2 was begun in May 1917 and by the end of the war it contained approximately 475 graves (Plots I and II, except for Row E, Plot II which was added in 1922 and Row AA, Plot I which was added in 1927), but it was greatly enlarged after the Armistice by the addition of further graves from the surrounding area.

There are now 7,127 Commonwealth burials of the First World War in the cemetery, mostly dating from 1916. Of these, 4,944 are unidentified.

The cemetery, which was not completed until 1934, was designed by Sir Edwin Lutyens. 

His widow received his Army pay and a War Gratuity of £3.  Margarita, living at 1 Bridson Street, Grove Street, was awarded a pension of 10/- a week from March 1917, increased to 13/9d from February 1919 and later increased to £1-15s-0d.

Soldiers Effects and Pension to his widow Margerita Caldwell Lohrenz.

Alex is commemorated in Liverpool’s Hall of Remembrance, Panel 24 Left 

His brother Charlie died in 1919, aged 44, leaving a number of children. Charlie's son Thomas Henry served in World War Two with the Royal Armoured Corps, 13th/18th Royal Hussars. He was killed in action at Dunkirk on 25th May 1940, aged 33.  Thomas has no known grave and is commemorated on the Dunkirk Memorial. 

By the 1921 census at 179 Grove St, Margaret has anglicised/changed her name to Lohring and on the Electoral Roll to Lorence until 1926. A family tree puts her date of birth as 5th May 1881, and died in Glasgow in 1967. 

We currently have no further information on Alexander Lohrenz, If you have or know someone who may be able to add to the history of this soldier, please contact us.