Howden, Albert Joseph
988 Fitter Albert Joseph Howden - 59th Railway Operating Company
Albert was born on the 19th April 1891 in North Fremantle to Robert and Margaret Howden.
The family lived in Bruce Street North Fremantle and Albert was educated at North Fremantle Primary School. After leaving school he then took up work as an apprentice boilermaker. He was learning the trade of being an apprentice boilermaker at the Midland Railway Workshops in Midland. This involved a rail journey from North Fremantle morning and night.
During this time Albert also served in the Naval Cadets and then continued this service in the Royal Australian navy reserve.
In Perth in 1910 Albert married Olga Penelope Jarvis and two children were born, Cedric in 1910 and Glen in 1915. The family were then living with Olga's parents at 83 Holdsworth Street Fremantle. (later renumbered to 3 Holdsworth)
On the 21st December 1916, Walter enlisted into the Australian Imperial Force. He was accepted as fit for service with the medical examiner recording his physical attributes as;
Height - 5 feet 6 & 1/2 inches tall;
Weight - 120lbs;
Chest Measurement - 33-35 inches;
Complexion - Fresh;
Eyes - Brown;
Hair - Black.
After his successful enlistment, Albert was sent to Blackboy Hill Camp where due to his railway background he was assigned to the newly forming 59th Railway Operating Company.
On the 29th January 1917 Albert and the railway men from WA were entrained to Fremantle Harbour where they boarded the transport ship HMAT Miltiades. This ship then took them to England, where they disembarked at Devonport Harbour on the 27th march 1917.
They were then disembarked and sent to St Lucia Barracks at Bordon Army Camp which was where the 59th Australian Railway Operating Company was being formed. The next several weeks were spent on training for service on the Western Front.
On the 11th May 1917, Ben and the 59th Railway Operating Company left England and proceeded across to France.
He served with the 59th Company in France and Belgium through 1917 and 18. For a time they were responsible for running what was known as the 'Midland Line'. This ran from north of Poperinghe to Regensberg north of Ypres and then to St Julien.
They later operated from near Abbeville and ran services to Boulogne and Dunkirk as they were connected to the main French rail network. They were kept very busy bringing supplies and troops up to the front lines and while not in the trenches, the railway men were often under long range artillery fire and bombing from the German planes as the Germans knew the importance of the Railway lines and terminus's.
In 1918 he was transferred for service to the 5th Broad Gauge Railway Operating Company but was on the same duties in driving the trains filled with men and supplies around France and Belgium. Albert served with his unit until the 10th May 1918 when he fell ill and spent a few weeks in hospital but he returned to his unit on the 29th May 1918.
Albert then served for the next two months and in July 1918 was granted a two week furlough to England. He returned to France on the 9th August 1918. Albert then served with his unit through to the Armistice. The cessation of hostilities did not reduce the amount of work needed to be done and Albert was kept on his railway duties till March 1919. He had applied for a period of Non Military employment in England and so was sent there on the 9th March 1919.
After reporting into the AASC depot, Albert was sent to work for Pickersgill and Sons for a period of three months. He remained with this company till the 15th June 1919 and then requested another extension of Non Military employment. Albert was then sent to join the firm of Swan Hunter, Wigan and Richardson at Wallsend on Tyne, which was a shipbuilding yard. This work took Albert through to the 28th August 1919. He then applied for another extension which was granted through to November 1919.
On the 22nd November 1919 Albert left England aboard the transport ship Aeneas, arriving at Fremantle on the 1st January 1920. Albert was then discharged from the AIF on the 22nd April 1920.
On his return his wife Olga sought a divorce on the grounds that Albert had been living with another woman while in England. The courts approved Olga's request. Albert then went to work in Southern India as a boilermaker foreman for a Railway firm, however he soon returned to Fremantle in 1925 and resumed working as a boilermaker
In 1931 he was living at Fairlight street Cottesloe beach, moving to Bronte st East Perth in 1936. In 1937 Albert remarried to Frances Eunice Clayton and they remained living in East Perth through to the 1940's and then moved to Bayswater to 1960's. They then moved to Menora in 1972.
Albert died on the 15th January 1975 aged 83. He was cremated at Karrakatta Cemetery.