Hellmers, AGA
(1892 - 1915)
Key Facts
DATE OF BIRTH:
22nd August 1892
YEARS ATTENDED THE COLLEGE:
1903 - 1909
HOME ADDRESS WHEN AT THE COLLEGE:
Ormeau House, Queen's Road, Forest Hill
REGIMENT
1st Battalion, Royal Irish Rifles
FINAL RANK:
2nd Lieutenant
DATE OF DEATH:
11th May 1915
AGE AT DEATH:
22
WHERE HE DIED (or was wounded)
Fromelles
LOCATION OF GRAVE OR MEMORIAL:
Merville Communal Cemetery. I L. 1
2nd Lieutenant Alfred Gustav August Hellmers
Alfred was born on August 22nd 1892, the only son of Emil Hellmers, who ran a spirits shop on Great Tower Street, near the Tower of London. Having joined Dulwich in 1903, he went on to be a pupil for six years, leaving in the summer of 1909 as a member of the Modern Sixth. After the College he took up a position in the City of London, before, prior to the summer of 1914, enlisting in the Army as a member of the Artists Rifles.
In March 1915, some months after the declaration of war, Alfred was granted a commission, with the 1st Battalion of the Royal Irish Rifles. He proceeded to France with his new regiment not long after and was leading an attack near Fromelles on the 9th of May when he was severely wounded in the chest by a piece of shrapnel from a German shell. He was offered medical assistance, but refused it, instead instructing his men to continue with their orders; as a result he lay in the open for many hours. Two days later, on May 11th, he died from his wounds while at a casualty clearing station.
