1887 Apr/Jun. Born Albert Jubilee Sweeney at Salford
1891 census living at 40, West Street, Broughton, Salford
1901 census living at 61 Moss Lane West, Moss Side with his brother
1910 Jan 15. Married Lancaster to Maggie Hartley. They have 3 children, Cyril b1911, Leslie b.18 Feb 1914 and Marjorie b.3 Feb 1917
1911 census at 47 Moor Lane, Lancaster
.
1914 Sep. Albert Sweeney's first regimental number was 2053 which appears to mean that he was one of the 'Gallant 200' who volunteered in early September 1914 to bring the 5th (Territorial Force) Battalion up to strength. The 5th Battalion had been mobilised as the start of August 1914, being recalled from the cancelled Annual Camp at Kirkby Lonsdale. The Battalion was mobilised and those men who were unable, unwilling or just not suitable for military/overseas service reduced the battalion's strength. An appeal was made in the local press for volunteers to come forward to make the battalion up to strength. The 'Lancaster Pals' or 'Gallant 200' as the local press dubbed them, joined on or around the 3rd and 4th September 1914. Albert Sweeney would have been one of them, with his number 2053.
1915 Feb 14. He went overseas with the rest of the 1st/5th Battalion. His number changed to the six figure number 240477 as part of the army wide renumbering of territorial battalions in 1917.
At the end of the war the 1st/5th Battalion moved into Belgium and were based near Brussels and gradually men were sent home for discharge, until the battalion got to such a size that it was moved to Ireland, prior to a final move back to Lancaster.
1919 Sep 1. Albert Sweeney must have been with the 1st/5th Battalion in Ireland and decided to sign on into the Regular Army. His attestation is dated 1st September 1919, at the age of 32 years and four months, and was at Dublin. His trade on enlistment is shown as 'Cabinet Maker' which one assumes was his job in 1914, maybe for the well known Lancaster firm of Waring and Gillow.
His regular army enlistment number was 51920. In 1920 his regimental number, 51920 changed to the new army number 3703293.
1920 Sep 20. Died at Dublin, age 33. Sweeney and Sgt Thomas Downton were murdered by Sgt George Henry Pollington. The Regimental Digest quite strangely does not mention Sweeneys death, though it does record the cross-country run results for that week!
Husband of Mrs M Sweeney, of 32 Adelphi Street, Bowerham, Lancaster.
Buried in Lancaster Cemetery
1922 His widow remarried Thomas Vaughan
British Soldiers died in Ireland