Albert was born in Holmfirth, West Yorkshire, the son of Wilson and Harriet of Hade Edge, Holmfirth. He attended the Hade Edge Weslyan Chapel and was later employed as an accountant in Huddersfield, prior to enlisting in Sept 1914, soon after the outbreak of war. He joined A Coy, 9th Bn of the Duke of Wellington's Regt (52nd Infantry Brigade). The 9th Bn was made up of over 1,100 recruits when it was raised as part of 'Kitchener's 100,000' in Halifax. He trained at Bovington Camp, in Wool, Dorset and was deployed to France in July 1915 and then from there to the Ypres Salient in Flanders. His Army no was 12592. Initially the DWR occupied a relatively quiet area until they were moved to more dangerous trenches. Albert was in the area of trenches 88 and 89 near Moutardiere Farm, between Frelinghien and Houplines on Tuesday 25th April 1916. That night, after a day of heavy artillery activity on both sides, a German plane dropped flares over their trenches at 7.30pm; upon this signal the enemy opened up with a very heavy artillery bombardment, followed by an unsuccessful charge of British positions. The 9th Bn lost 28 men, including Albert, in the action. His parents received the following letter from the Sister-in-charge of the Casualty Clearing Station he was taken to: "I am sorry to tell you that Pte Albert Helm was brought here shortly after midnight very very severely wounded in both legs & quite unconscious. Everything was done for him but he passed away at 10 minutes to 1 on Wednesday morning (26th April) less than an hour after admission" Albert was 19. He was buried at Bailleul Military Cemetary on the site of the Clearing Station. 9th Bn went on to fight on the Somme 2 months later.

Martin Kay