Boylett A

Alec Boylett

Appears as:

Born:

Parents:

Unit:

No.:

Rank:

Died:

Grave/Memorial:

Boylett, Alec

1898, Woking, Surrey

James & Elizabeth (née Pullen)

Royal Sussex Regiment /
2nd Battalion Machine Gun Corps (Infantry)

L.10792 / 6172

Private

27 Oct 1918, Italy, age 20

Tezze British Cemetery, Tezze, Provincia di Treviso,
Veneto, Italy: 6. D. 17

Biography:
Alec Boylett was born, in 1898, in Knaphill, Woking, Surrey, son of James, labourer, & Elizabeth (née Pullen). He was the
youngest of six brothers, who all volunteered when war broke out. He also had three sisters.

Alec attended Brookwood School. After leaving school, Alec worked for Mr. Rice, coal merchant, in Knaphill.

Alec enlisted in 1915, when he was aged 17, joining the Royal Sussex Regiment. In 1916, he was injured; he was evacuated home
and, after a period of convalescence in England, he was deployed to Italy.

A Machine Gun Battalion of the Machine Gun Corps (MGC) was attached to each Infantry Division. The 2nd Battalion, MGC was
formed on the 4 March 1918 and it is likely that Alec transferred at about this time.

Although 2nd Battalion MGC was embedded with 2nd Division, which found itself
fighting in France in the latter months of the war, Alec (presumably with some subunit
of 2nd Battalion) was in Italy as part of XIV Corps. XIV Corps took part in the Battle
of Vittorio Veneto from 24 October to 3 November 1918.

During the battle, Alec was wounded; he died in hospital from his wounds on 27
October 1918.

Alec Boylett is buried in the Tezze British Cemetery, Tezze, Veneto, Italy.

The Italians entered the war on the Allied side, declaring war on Austria, in May 1915. Commonwealth forces were at the Italian front between November
1917 and November 1918.

The village of Tezze was captured by the Austrians in the advance in the autumn of 1917 and remained in their hands until the Allied forces crossed the River
Piave at the end of October 1918. On 21 October 1918, Commonwealth forces comprising the XIVth Corps (7th and 23rd Divisions) took over the part of
the River Piave front from Salletuol to Palazzon, serving as part of the Italian Tenth Army. On the night of 23 October, the main channel of the river was
crossed using small boats and the northern half of the island of Grava di Papadopoli was occupied. The Allied attack east of the Piave began early in the
morning of 27 October. Many of those who died on the north-east side of the river during the Passage of the Piave are buried in Tezze British Cemetery.

Alec Boylett is also commemorated on the memorial tablet within Knaphill Holy Trinity Church.