Albert Victor Higgins was born in Moreton, Thame in 1890, the youngest of four children of Arthur and Elizabeth Higgins.

In 1911 he was a gardener, living in North Street, Thame, but when he enlisted at Oxford with the Army Service Corps in November 1915, he was in the employ of Mrs West of the Thame Motor Garage as a mail driver for the Thame, Wallingford and Didcot service, and was accepted into the Mechanical Transport (MT) section, Service No. M2/138958 .

His attestation papers describe him as 5 feet 8¾ inches tall, 135 lbs, with a girth of 37½ inches. Embarking for France on 2nd May 1916, he saw service as a driver for a number of ammunition supply companies. In June 1916, he was sentenced to 2 days field punishment for exceeding the 6 mph speed limit in Bailleul.

In September 1917 he received orders for a compulsory transfer to the 1/6th Cheshire Regt, with new service number 51099. He was with the battalion for less than 2 months, before he was killed on 21st November 1917 at “Stirling Bridge”, alongside the Menin Road. His body was not recovered, and he is commemorated on the Tyne Cot Memorial.

Private A V Higgins is remembered in Thame on the town war memorial, and the memorial boards of Christchurch and All Saints churches.