b. 19/04/1896 Leeds, Yorkshire. d. 07/01/1967 Leeds, Yorkshire.
Albert Mountain (1895-1967) was born on 19th April 1896 at 151 York Road, Leeds, Yorkshire. His father, James Mountain married Mary Ann Swales (born in Ripon) on 14th June 1891 at St Simon, Leeds. She had been previously married to John William Cowling. His father eventually became a hotelkeeper and they ended up running the Alexandra Hotel in Ripon. Albert had five siblings from his mother’s two marriages.
Albert Mountain VC
Albert was educated at Saville Green School, Leeds. He then became a coal hewer.
When the war broke out in 1914, he joined the Leeds Bantams before transferring to the Leeds Pals. The 15th and 17th Battalions amalgamated on 7th December 1917 to become the 15/17 West Yorkshire Regiment. On March 23rd, 1918, Sergeant Mountain was in command of a rifle squad during the Battle of the Somme, in actions at Hamelincourt, France. When the situation was critical, Sergeant Mountain with a party of 10 men attacked an advance enemy patrol of about 200 strong, killing half of them. He then rallied his men against the main body of the enemy, to cover the retirement of the rest of his company. With only four men he held at bay 600 of the enemy for half an hour. Sergeant Mountain later took command of the flank post of the battalion, holding on for 27 hours until the enemy finally surrounded. For most prestigious award for gallantry in the face of the enemy, he was awarded the Victoria Cross on June 7th, 1918.
Three days after the announcement of his award, he was presented with the VC ribbon by his CO, Major T G Gibson at a parade in the field in France on 10th June 1918. He sewed the ribbon onto his uniform. He was presented with the VC by King George V at Buckingham Palace on 29th June 1918. During the following year, he was discharged and became a chauffeur for the Lord Mayor of Leeds. He also married Ethel Smith on 27th September 1919 at St Agnes Parish Church, Leeds. They went on to have three daughters (Jean, Mavis and Wendy) and a son (Jack).
Post war, Albert worked as a chauffeur for the Lord Mayor of Leeds. Later he was a timekeeper at Burton’s clothing factory in Leeds.
In 1953, Albert became the landlord of the Miners Arms, Aberford Road, Garforth, near Leeds. Albert attended many VC functions including the VC Garden Party in 1920, the VC Dinner at the House of Lords in November 1929, the Victory Day Celebration Dinner at the Dorchester Hotel in London in June 1946, and in June 1956, he attended the VC Centenary Celebrations in Hyde Park. He attended the funeral of John Crawshaw Raynes VC on 16th November 1929 with fellow VCs – George Sanders, Wilfrid Edwards, Fred McNess, Charles Hull, Frederick Dobson, Arthur Poulter, William Butler, Samuel Meekosha, Albert Shepherd and John Ormsby. He was also at the funeral of George Sanders VC in 1950 with fellow VCs -Wilfrid Edwards and Charles Hull.
Albert died at his home in the Miners Arms on 7th January 1967 after a long illness. His funeral was at Garforth Parish Church, where his regiment was represented and a bugler from the 1st Battalion played the Last Post. Captain Wilfrid Edwards, another Leeds VC, attended the funeral as did William Butler VC. His body was cremated at Lawns Wood Crematorium and his ashes were scattered in New Adel Lane Avenue, Plot K2-380 of the Garden of Remembrance. Albert is commemorated on the Leeds VC Memorial in Leeds, with a memorial plaque at St Mary the Virgin Church, Garforth, with a blue plaque on his former home at The Miners Arms, Garforth, and with a VC commemorative stone unveiled on 26th March 2018 at The Miners Bar & Kitchen, Garforth.
In addition to his VC, he was awarded the British War Medal 1914-20, Victory Medal 1914-19, George VI Coronation Medal 1937, Elizabeth II Coronation Medal 1953 and the French Medaille Militaire. He is also reputed to have been awarded the French Croix de Guerre 1914-18 but no record of it has been found. The VC was presented to the curator of the West Yorkshire Regiment Museum, Major HAV Spencer, at a ceremony at the Britannia Hotel, Holbeck, Leeds, by his son, Jack in June 1967. It is now held by the Prince of Wales’s Own Regiment of Yorkshire Museum, York.
LOCATION OF MEDAL: PRINCE OF WALES’S OWN REGIMENT OF YORKSHIRE MUSEUM, YORK.
BURIAL PLACE: LAWNSWOOD CEMETERY, LEEDS, YORKSHIRE. PLOT K2-380 (ASHES)
Acknowledgements:
Terry Hissey – Mountain VC Medal Group at the York Army Museum.
Alan Austin – Image of the Mountain VC Stone and accompanying programme in Garforth, Leeds.