Company Sergeant Major Albert Ernest Hemblys

The Hemblys family had a remarkable record of service with the Duke of Wellington's Regiment. The head of the family, C/Sjt. C.E. Hemblys, served in the 33rd, and six of his sons and four grandsons served in the regiment, their total service being 138 years.

Company Sergeant Major Albert Hemblys served in South Africa with the 3rd battalion and later with Kitchener's Scouts. In 1914 he proceeded to France with the Indian Expeditionary Force, serving with it until invalided in 1916. The following year he went back to the 1st Battalion in India and served with them in Afghanistan. He returned to England later that year to represent the regiment at the march past of British and Indian troops in London.

Company Sergeant Major Albert John Hemblys was son of C.S.M. A. Hemblys above, and joined the regiment in 1922, at Gibraltar, where his father was then serving. He was killed in action on 21 April 1943, whilst serving as a Company Sergeant Major with the 1st battalion in the Tunisian campaign, during the attack on Banana Ridge by the Hermann Goering Parachute Division. He was buried in Medjez-el-Bab Cemetery, Tunisia.

Birth: Feb 4 1882 - Halifax Death: Jan 3 1959 - Halifax Parents: Charles Edward Hemblys, Catherine Ann Hemblys (born Judge) Siblings: Charles Hemblys, Harriet Shorrocks (born Hemblys) Wife: Rosalie Susannah Hemblys (born Allen) Children: Albert Hemblys, Thomas Hemblys, Florence Georgina Peacock (born Hemblys), Arthur Hemblys, Jessie Greenwood (born Hemblys), Dorothy May Blackburn (born Hemblys)