Private Alexander Wade

Private Alexander Wade, 1st Battalion, Northumberland Fusiliers. He was killed in action in Belgium, aged 24, on the 22nd September 1917 during the Battle of Third Ypres. He had been born in Cheswick and was the son of Margaret and Thomas Wade of East Kyloe, Beal and Bowsden West Farm, Berwick-upon-Tweed. He is commemorated on the Tyne Cot Memorial, Zonnebeke, Flanders, Belgium. Before enlisting in 1915 he had been employed as a porter with the N.E. Railway at Seaton, Northumberland. He had originally enlisted in the 16th Battalion, N.F. but was later transferred to the 1st N.F. He had been wound on the Somme in July 1916 and returned to the front in January 1917. He fell in the attack on the village of Zonnebeke which was only partially successful. Battalion casualties for their period in the line from 22nd until relieved on the 27th September were 3 Officers and 33 Other Ranks killed and 4 Officers and 108 Other Ranks wounded. The photos show the appalling condition of the battlefield where the incessant shelling had destroyed the fragile Flanders drainage system.