2nd Lieutenant Alexander Spears

Alexander Spears was born in 1893 the son of Alexander Walker Spears and his wife Hannah (nee Beckett) who married in the 3rd quarter of 1880. 

The 1901 Census shows the family living at 12 Tatton Road, Birkenhead. His mother Hannah is the head of the household. His father was employed as a Marine Engineer so will probably have been away at sea when the Census was taken. Hannah was born in Norfolk in 1861. Alexander is shown as having been born in Ireland and has two siblings Eliazabeth and Agnes both born in Birkenhead.   

The 1911 Census shows the family are living at 33 Mallaby Street. Alexander is now 18 and is a Stockbrokers Clerk born in Ulster. His father is now shown as head of the household, he was born in Fife in 1848 and a Marine Engineer by trade.  His mother is also present as is his sister Agnes W.. Also present is a grand-daughter Kathleen. 

His father died in on 01st March 1912. Probate was granted to his widow Hannah on 16th April 1912 in the sum of £180. 15s. 

Alexander joined the 17th Battalion of The King's Liverpool Regiment as Private 15612. 

He was billeted at Prescot Watch Factory from 14^th September 1914, he trained there and also at Knowsley Hall. On 30th April 1915 the 17th Battalion alongside the other three Pals battalions left Liverpool via Prescot Station for further training at Belton Park, Grantham. They remained here until September 1915 when they reached Larkhill Camp on Salisbury Plain. He arrived in France on 7^th November 1915.

He earned a commission on 26th April 1917 and was serving as 2nd Lieutenant with the 12th Battalion of the K.L.R. when he was killed in action on 16th August 1917, aged 24. He has no known grave and is commemorated on the Tyne Cot Memorial, Belgium.

Those United Kingdom and New Zealand servicemen who died after August 16th 1917 are named on the Tyne Cot Memorial, a site which marks the furthest point reached by Commonwealth forces in Belgium until nearly the end of the war.

The Tyne Cot Memorial now bears the names of almost 35,000 officers and men whose graves are not known. The memorial, designed by Sir Herbert Baker with sculpture by Joseph Armitage and F.V. Blundstone, was unveiled by Sir Gilbert Dyett on 20 June 1927.

The memorial forms the north-eastern boundary of Tyne Cot Cemetery, which was established around a captured German blockhouse or pill-box used as an advanced dressing station.

His death was reported in the Liverpool Echo on 27th August 1917:

SPEARS - August 16, K.I.A. aged 24 years. Second-Lieutenant King's (Liverpool) Regiment, only son of Hananh and the late Alexander Spears and beloved brother of Agnes W. Christie 27 Park Road East.   

Note that CWGC show his date of death as 18th August 1917.

Soldiers Effects to mother Hannah, and sisters Agnes Christie and Elizabeth Cooper.

Alexander is also commemorated on the Birkenhead Cenotaph at Hamilton Square. 

His mother died in 1932.

The following tribute is an extract from Liverpool's Scroll of Fame. 

Those who saw the march past of the Liverpool "Pals" before Lord Kitchener will remember that they appeared to contribute a Corps d'elite. They gave splendid promise these battalions of the best of Merseyside's youth, the pick of Liverpool in physical and mental attributes, in social training and in educated patriotism. That promise was fulfilled, but in fulfilling it the Liverpool "Pals," the men who initiated the most notable of all our voluntary recruiting systems in the earlier months of the war, were more than decimated. Liverpool mourns the loss of thousands of her sons who were in the "Pals."

Among those who fell was Second-Lieutenant Alexander Spears, only son of the late Mr. Alexander Spears and Mrs. Hannah Spears, of 27, Park Road East, Birkenhead.This young officer was but twenty four years of age when he was killed leading his men in an attack on the morning of August 16th, 1917.
He was educated at Thornwood School, Partick, afterwards entering on a business career with a firm of Glasgow stockbrokers. There he spent a few years until he was transferred to the firm of Messrs. Wall & Lloyd, Stockbrokers, Liverpool, with whom he remained until the declaration of war.

Alexander Spears made up his mind at once. The proposal to form the "Pals" battalions appealed to him, and during the month of 1914 which saw Britain entering the war he "joined up."  With his comrades he went through training not far from Liverpool, and with his comrades he went in due course to France. About this time there was desperate, if not unspectacular, fighting to be done, for in those early days the British were still outnumbered, and the enemy were continuing to pour their legions against the thinly held lines which were guarding the roads to the Channel ports. Spears took part in these early operations, and as was characteristic generally of the "Pals"-- he was a keen soldier, and took a thorough interest in his work. Hereabouts, however, he was wounded, and there followed a period of some six months spent in hospital.
But his conduct on the field had already been noted, and, as the shortage of officers through the gaps which had been caused was now being keenly felt, a careful selection for promotions was being made from the best available material among those who had already had actual experience of warfare under modern conditions. Spears upon his recovery was one of those selected, and in May, 1916, he was awarded a commission, and gazetted to the 3rd King's (Liverpool Regiment).
Back to France he went, but alas, his time there was only short, though, of course, crowded with hard work and incident. As already stated it was during an attack on the morning of August 16th, 1917, that he fell while leading the men, who had such well-deserved confidence in him.

"Although" wrote the Colonel of the Battalion to the fallen officer's mother, " he had been such a short time with this Battalion he did most excellent work, and displayed much more than the usual zeal and ability."

Second-Lieutenant Spears was still another victim to the ubiquitous German sniper. One of his comrades wrote he suffered little or no pain, for he died almost instantly.

"His loss will be very much felt, for he was most popular with his men, and a great favourite with his brother officers. When we were resting we had some good times together. We generally managed to get where there was a piano, and, knowing Alex's abilities in singing and playing, you can guess the jolly times we had . . . .
He died a glorious death, and most willingly gave his life for the cause."

One of the Sergeants wrote:

"We were ordered to make an advance, starting about 4.30am. Everything went well with Mr. Spears till about 6.a.m., when he was leading the men of my platoon, and a sniper fired at him from a blockhouse . . . . You will be pleased to know that, although Mr. Spears was with us only a short time, he was very well liked by the men who were under his command, for I can vouchsafe that from my own experience with him."

Again a brother officer pays this fine tribute:

"I did not get many opportunities of meeting your son, but had made up my mind to know him better after the war, as he is what is known out here as a "white man," a fellow of the right sort. We could do with thousands more like him"
.   
It will be gathered from the foregoing that in the army Second-Lieutenant Spears had been of more than strictly military service--unless, of course, work in entertaining his comrades and keeping them in good spirits is counted as it should be as military service. For he was highly musical, and this quality allied to a personality, which has been well described as one of magnetism and charm made him a general favourite with all his comrades, among officers and men alike.