Second Lieutenant Alfred Wyatt Papworth was born on 28 September 1879 the youngest of the three children of Wyatt Angelicus van Sandau Papworth (1822-1894) and Marian Papworth née Baker (1839-1929). He was baptised on 12 November 1879 in St George's Church, Bloomsbury where the baptismal register shows the family were living at 33 Bloomsbury Street, Bloomsbury and that his father was an architect.
The 1881 census confirms that he was still living at 33 Bloomsbury Street, with his parents, his sister Lucy Julia Wyatt Papworth (1874-1921), his brother John Wyatt Papworth (1876-1961), a governess, a cook and a housemaid. The 1891 shows that the whole family were still at 33 Bloomsbury Street, with a cook and a housemaid.
He attended Sutton Valence Grammar School, North Street, Sutton Valence, Maidstone, Kent in 1896 and was a Royal Academy Schools student from 30 January 1900 to January 1903. On 6 February 1901 he was admitted into the Freedom of the City of London, by patrimony, in the Company of Clothworkers, his father having been a Freeman since 3 December 1851.
In the 1901 he is shown as an architect living at 10 Park Place Villas, Paddington, with his widowed mother, his two siblings, a cook and a housemaid. The 1905 edition of the City of London directory list both him and his brother as Liverymen in the Company of Clothworkers and they were both residing at 115 St Mary's Mansions, St Mary's Terrace, Paddington.
Electoral registers in 1909 show him resident at 2 Hewitt Road, Hampstead and on 11 March 1909 he was initiated as a Freemason in the Hammersmith Lodge No.2090 that met in The Vestry Hall, 10 Broadway, Hammersmith. The membership registers show his address to have been 22 King Street, Hammersmith and is occupation was recorded as an architect. In the 3rd quarter of 1910 in the Camberwell registration district he married Katharine Florence Hills (1879-1957).
The 1911 census shows him as an Associate of the Royal Institute of British Architects, living at 17 Upper Mall, Hammersmith, with his wife and a cook. Electoral registers in 1914 show the address as 'The Seasons', Upper Mall, Hammersmith.
He joined the army in 1915 enlisting in the 28th (County of London) Battalion, The London Regiment, (Artists' Rifles), service number 4399, and rose to the rank of Corporal. He was commissioned on 19 August 1916 in the Royal Engineers and was attached to their 129th Field Company when he was killed in action, aged 37 years, on 2 April 1917 in Souchez, France. He was buried in Plot 1, Row V, Grave 30, in the Aix-Noulette Communal Cemetery Extension, 62 Rue de Bully, 62160 Aix-Noulette, France.
Probate records confirm his address had been Le Seasons, Upper Mall, Hammersmith and when probate was granted on 18 July 1917 to Bertram Saward Puckle, an artist, his effects totalled £3,561-17s-7d. His army effects totalling £47-6s-6d were sent to his executor, Bertram Puckle, on 21 August 1917 as was his £5-0s-0d war gratuity on 5 February 1920.
He was posthumously awarded the British War Medal 1914-1918 and the Victory Medal and these were sent to his widow at The Seasons, 17 Upper Mall, Hammersmith, in 1922.
Credit for this entry to: Andrew Behan.
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