Lives of the First World War

Born in Gravesend in 1887, Alfred Victor was the third son of Frederick Edwin Ratcliffe and Florence Anne Ratfcliffe, nee Brotherton. The Ratcliffes had three sons - Alfred Victor (1887b - 1916), Charles Frederick Brotherton (1882 – 1949) and Edward Brotherton (1885 – 1938). Alfred’s mother was sister to Lord Brotherton, a chemical millionaire from Manchester, who lived in a house called “Roundhay” in Leeds. Alfred attended Dulwich College before going on to Sidney Sussex College, Cambridge, where he studied law. In 1914, Alfred was a teacher at Framlingham College in Suffolk but left there and joined the Army, putting his law studies on hold. He was commissioned into the West Yorkshire Regiment. At that time Alfred Victor was engaged to be married to Miss Pauline Benson Clough, daughter of Mr. George Benson Clough a barrister of Oxshott, Surrey. Pauline was a younger sister of Female Poet of the First World War Dorothy Una Ratcliffe, who married Alfred Victor’s brother Charles

Lieutenant Alfred Victor Ratcliffe. Unit: 10th Battalion, West Yorkshire Regiment (Prince of Wales Own). Death: 01 July 1916 Western Front