Moore, Alfred Avon (Avon)
Private
No. 1630, 1st/6th Battalion, West Yorkshire Regiment (Prince of Wales’s Own)
Killed in action on Saturday 1 July 1916 (aged 19)
Buried:
Connaught Cemetery, France (Grave VI. A. 5)
Commemorated:
Commonwealth War Graves Commission
Brother of Private Frederick Stanley Moore (No. 91931)
St. Bede’s School, Bradford
BIOGRAPHY
In the Soldiers Died in the Great War 1914 – 1919 database and in Ireland’s Memorial Records 1914 – 1918 it is recorded that Private Avon Moore (No. 1630) was born in Bangor, Co Down.
In the Army Register of Soldiers’ Effects, it is recorded that Private Avon Moore’s sole legatee was his mother, Mary Kreling.
In the 1911 Census of England and Wales it is recorded that Charles Kreling (aged 29) and his wife, Mary Kreling (aged 36), were living at 39 Hanover Square, Bradford, Yorkshire. Charles Kreling, a Dutchman, was described as a ‘Teacher of Languages’ and he and Mary had been married for six years.
Living with Charles and Mary were the following children:
Avon Moore (aged 14, born in Bangor, Co Down)
Irene Moore (aged 8, born in Bangor, Co Down)
Nelly Kreling (aged 4, born in Bradford, Yorkshire)
James Kreling (aged 1, born in Bradford, Yorkshire)
Mary Kreling (aged 4 days, born in Bradford, Yorkshire)
In the 1901 Census of Ireland it is recorded that Mary Moore, described as a married woman (aged 25), was living in Southwell Street, Bangor, Co Down.
Living with Mary were her three sons:
James Maze (aged 6, born in County Down)
Alfred Avon (aged 4, born in County Down)
Frederick Stanley (aged 2, born in County Down)
Civil registration records reveal the following birth information:
- James Maze Cleland was born on 19 April 1895 in the townland of Dillin, Killough; his mother, Mary Cleland, was a domestic servant living in Ballymacarrett, Belfast and his father was named as Henry Moore, an agent for the Dublin Steam Ship Company also living in Ballymacarrett. In 1901 Henry Moore was living in Madrid Street, Belfast with his cousin, David Potts.
- Alfred Avon Cleland was born on 13 March 1897 in Maryville Crescent, Bangor; his mother, Mary Cleland, was a barmaid.
- Frederick Stanley Cleland was born on 18 April 1899 in Maryville Crescent, Bangor; his mother, Mary Cleland was a housekeeper.
In subsequent years these three children used the surname Moore.
James Maze Moore died in 1907 (aged 11).
- Mary Adeline Moore (Irene) was born on 15 December 1902 in Maryville Crescent, Bangor and she was a daughter of Henry and Mary Moore (nee Cleland); Henry Moore was described as a commercial traveller.
The marriage of Mary Florence Moore and Charles Joseph Kreling was registered in the third quarter of 1906 in Knaresborough, North Yorkshire. Charles Joseph Kreling was described as a ‘Professor of Languages’. Records show that there were at least seven Kreling children:
William Herbert Kreling (born in 1905; death registered in North Bierley in 1906)
Margaret Nelly Kreling (born on 28 March 1907 in Bradford)
Mary Florence Kreling (born on 28 May 1908; baptised in St Jude’s Church, Bradford; death registered in Bradford in 1908)
Peggy (born on 11 May 1909)
James John Kreling (born on 2 January 1910; death registered in Bradford in March 1975, aged 65)
Dodo Kreling (birth registered in Bradford in 1911)
Charles Kreling (born on 30 September 1914)
Avon Moore attended St. Bede’s School in Bradford, Yorkshire, he enlisted in Bradford, he served with the West Yorkshire Regiment (Prince of Wales’s Own) and he was killed in action on the first day of the Battle of the Somme.
The Battalion War Diary states that, at 6.30 am, the Battalion moved across the River Ancre and took up a position in Thiepval Wood. At 3.30 pm the Battalion received orders to attack Thiepval at 4.00 pm. It was a very hot day. ‘C’ and ‘D’ Companies went over the parapet at 4.00 pm but, ‘owing to heavy machine gun fire and artillery fire, had to retire to our own trenches’. The Battalion held the line near Thiepval and was very heavily shelled. Battalion casualties during the 1st and 2nd July were 14 officers and 200 other ranks.
Private Avon Moore (No. 1630) was 19 when he was killed in action on 1 July 1916 and he was buried in Connaught Cemetery, France.
Private Avon Moore (No. 1630) is commemorated in St. Bede’s School, Bradford.
His mother, Mary Florence Kreling, died in Bradford in June 1960 (aged 82). His step-father, Charles Joseph Kreling, died in 1974 (aged 92).