Alfred Lawrence Filley

Story:
Alfred Lawrence Filley was born in Glasgow, Scotland, on 25 Aug 1896 the son of George Frederick Filley and Sarah Louisa Filley (nee Wheeler).   His father died in 1900 and he and his mother moved to Berwick St. John, Wiltshire, where Sarah became a local school teacher.   Alfred had attended at Shaftesbury Grammar School, Shaftesbury, Dorset, for some of his education leaving at the end of 1911.  He enlisted in the Royal Navy as a Trainee Engineering Artificer (Service No. M3763).  He served on many ships during the war and was awarded the Victory and British War Medals.  He continued to serve in the Royal Navy and is still mentioned in the records, having achieved the rank of Lieutenant (Honorary).  The 1921 Census gives his address as Curfew Cottage, Water Street, Berwick St John, Wiltshire, (where he was visiting his mother) describing him as an Engine Room Artificer (RN).  He had married Annie Sansom in Berwick St. John in 1919 but she regrettably died in 1936.  He rejoined the Royal Navy by Jul 1938 and was gazetted as a Lieutenant on 23 May 1944. Alfred went on to re-marry Gwladys Jane Pashby or Cross (records are confusing) in Lancaster, Lancashire, on 19 Aug 1959.  He died in the Everleigh Nursing Home, 12 Grove Road, Wallasey, Cheshire, on 22 Mar 1988.