Captain Alfred Christopher Pearson
9th Royal Warwickshire Regiment
Born May 1893
Died 4th April 1919, aged 25
Buried in Baghdad (North Gate) Cemetery, Iraq
Commemorated in Burnley Cemetery, UK

Alfred Christopher Pearson, the son of the late Alfred Pearson the Bishop of Burnley, had just taken his degree in Theology at Oxford and had passed with second class honours when the First World War broke out. He abandoned plans to be a missionary and was commissioned into the 9th (Service) Royal Warwickshire Regiment. This was one of Kitchener’s "New Army" battalions and consisted almost entirely of volunteers. (Lt William J Slim later Field Marshall William Slim also joined at the same time and was a good friend of Pearson)

Lieutenant A. C. Pearson landed on the Gallipoli Peninsula on the 13th July 1915, and was wounded in action on the 10th August at the Farm, Anzac. (probably the Warwickshire charge up hill 971)

He was promoted to Captain in 1916 and after recovering from his serious wounds, he rejoined his Battalion in Mesopotamia in June 1916. by December the British had succeeded in pushing the Turks back and by March 1917 Baghdad was taken. The Warwickshire's attacked Turkish positions and, despite heavy shrapnel, captured objectives and took 100 prisoners.
Casualties were heavy with 10 Officers and 140 other ranks being killed or wounded. He was once again wounded here. During his convalescence Pearson had time to ponder over his aim in life and he decided to apply for a transfer to the Governments Political Department.

He had decided, while at school in North Yorkshire, he would become a missionary and political duties in Mesopotamia would be an introduction to the work. So he learned the language and customs of the Arabs.
He was appointed Assistant Political Officer and Deputy Military Governor of Basra on March 26th, 1918. and became respected by many Kurds and other tribes , in December 1918, he was transferred as Political Officer to Zakho where a small garrison had been deployed.

In March 1919 the Goyan tribe appealed to Alfred Pearson to pay them a visit with a view to their enrolment in the list of tribes within the sphere of British military occupation. They were perhaps the wildest of the tribes with whom Pearson had to deal. The valley in which they dwelt was particularly inaccessible. The courageous 26 year old Political Officer was, however, devoted to his task and had already shown great skill in negotiations with Kurdish and other tribes.

He wanted to reassure the tribesmen of British intentions and, in return for supplies of seed and grain; he hoped to persuade them to stop plundering their neighbours. That would constitute an important step towards pacification of the whole region.

But on his way to the rendezvous accompanied by a Kurdish Orderly and a few men of the Goyan, he was ambushed and killed on the 4thApril1919.

The loss was a salutary lesson in dealing with Kurdish tribes without adequate support.
Following the murder an attempt was made to penetrate the area with a military escort. But a large number of tribes had joined against the British. The whole area had become unstable.
A fellow Political Officer told the family that the only reason for the murder of Captain Pearson was a fanatical hatred of a Christian.

Captain Pearson's body was recovered and buried in North Gate War Cemetery, Baghdad