Albert Dovell Phillips was born on 15 October 1893 in Dulverton, Somerset. He was the son of William and Elizabeth Phillips.

The first formal record of Alfred is in the 1901 Census. At that time he was living with his parents and 4 siblings at 26 Rowland Terrace, Cockett, Swansea. His father, William was listed as a House Painter from London and his mother, Elizabeth was from Devon.

By 1911, the family had moved to Bay View Place, Sketty and Albert had followed his fathers trade and had become an Apprentice Painter.

When war was declared in 1914 and Albert left his job and family to join the Welsh Howitzers. Other than some short spells of leave in 1914 and 15, it is unlikely that he would have seen his family until he was demobilized, most likely in early 1919.

On returning from the War, he married Mary Hannah Davey in the summer of 1919.

His grand-daughter kindly provided the following: Grandmother was known as Hannah, I never met her, she died in 1962. There were 4 children, William (born 1920), Kenneth (born 1922), Eileen (born 1925) and Joan (born 1931). Sadly Joan died at the age of only 6.

At the time of the 1939 Register, Albert and Mary were living at 13 Frogmore Avenue, Swansea along with their son Kenneth and daughter Eileen. Albert was still working as a Painter.

His grand-daughter added: Grandad carried on house painting and in fact my father Kenneth followed that occupation as well. Some time in the late 1960s my grandfather Albert Dovell lived with us in Redcar for about 5 years returning to Swansea for the last 2 years of his life where he died in 1974. He was a quiet man who would sit by the window of and look out at the garden reading the newspaper. He was a smoker as many were in those days, and used tobacco and rolled his own cigarettes. He enjoyed being with the family and his relationship with his son, my father, was a good one, as it was with my mother, who looked after him as one of the family for the five years he lived with us.

Albert died at the age of 80 and was buried at St Peters, Cockett, Swansea on 24 May 1974.

Albert Dovell Phillips enlisted in the 1st Welsh (Howitzer) Brigade as a Driver shortly after the start of the Great War and was given the Service Number 1062.

Unfortunately, his Service Record was destroyed during the Blitz and there is very little other surviving information. However, it is still possible to provide an outline about what it is likely that he did during the War.

Based on his Service Number, Driver A.D. Phillips enlisted on 12 October 1914 and was one of the last men to enlist in the 1st wave of war-time recruits. The day after, recruiting was paused until the New Year.

Driver Phillips would have undertaken basic training in Swansea and is likely to have been in one of the groups of recruits that travelled to Cambridge to join the Brigade early in 1915. In May, the Brigade moved to Bedford where they continued their training, readying themselves for Active Service.

The Brigade finally received orders to move to France in November 1915, and according to his surviving records, Dvr, AD Phillips was one of the 401 men who travelled from Southampton to Le Havre on 22 November 1915.

From Le Havre, the Brigade travelled to the Somme to undertake frontline training in an area close to Albert which would mark the Southern edge of the Somme battlefield just 6 months later.

There are no other records relating to Albert Phillip’s service. The only other clue is that when the men received new Service Numbers in 1917, he was issued with a number from the 1st Welsh (Howitzer) Brigade block, suggesting that he was still linked with the Brigade.

Given that he travelled to France, it is reasonable to assume that he also travelled to Egypt in February 1916 and was involved in Suez Canal Defences (1916), the 3 Battles of Gaza and Jerusalem (1917) and the push through Palestine up to the defeat of the Turkish Army at the end of 1918.

For his service, Driver Albert Dovell Phillips was awarded the 1914/14 Star, British War Medal and Victory Medal.

Albert’s sons also saw service in World War 2. His grand-daughter added: William was a gunner in WW2 and lost the index and 2nd finger of his right hand and was invalided out of the army as a result. My father Kenneth was passed A1 fit for WW2 army service by a civilian doctor but C2 unfit by an army doctor. Technically he never left the training dept. but was posted to Redcar in the north East of England and patrolled the beach. This is where he met my mother and they married in January 1946