Alfred Thomas Hope was the son of Thomas Ebenezar Hope and his wife Elizabeth Agnes, nee Dowker.He was 19 years and 11 months old when he enlisted on 20 August, 1914, a storeman by occupation. He was tall for this time, 5'10", with a dark complexion, brown eyes and dark brown hair. He gave his religion as Church of England. Hope was one of the earliest recruits to the war and would have done his initial training at Broadmeadows, then outside Melbourne on a property loaned to the government by Mr R. G.Wilson. From here, he was placed in the 6th Battalion, part of the 2nd Brigade with the 5th, 7th and 8th Battalion.  Alfred Hope, along with the the other recruits, embarked on board HMAT Hororata on 19 October, 1914. They would have sailed round to Albany to meet up with the rest of the fleet, before heading to Egypt, landing on 2 December.

He would remember this in a letter to the Defence Department later in his life:

I went away with the 6th Battalion in the first contingent my number is 207A, Sergeant. I was in the landing at the Turks Peninsular'. 

The 6th Battalion took part in the Anzac landing on 25 April, 1915, as part of the second wave. Ten days later, they were sent to Krithia, a bungled operation which cost the 2nd Brigade almost a third of their strength. From Krithia, they returned to the Anzac Cove to defend the beachhead. On 2 August, they fought at Lone Pine and it was here that Alfred Hope got his first wound, a gunshot wound to his right shoulder. He was hit in the elbow and the bullet travelled up his arm and lodged in his shoulder. The sniper had been aiming for his head, but got the windage wrong. Alfred Hope had arguments with the nurses and doctor who were digging for the bullet in the elbow region, while he was getting angry and telling them it was up in his shoulder.

He was sent to Malta and admitted to the Imtarfa Hospital on 17 May 1915, then transferred to the Valetta Hospital  on 21 May.  On 15 August, 1915, he was again admitted sick, suffering from gonorrhoea and sent to the Forrest Hospital, Malta. He was away from the army for a total of 102 days, rejoining the 6th Battalion on 8th Febraury, 1916. On 17 February, he was transferred from the 6th Battalion to the 6oth Battalion, raised in Egypt on 24 February, 1916 as part of the doubling of the AIF. On 25 March, Alfred Hope was promoted to Lance Corporal, probably as a result of his experience in the Gallipoli campaign. The new 60th Battalion formed part of the 15th Brigade of the 5th Australian Division.

The 6oth Battalion arrived in France on 28 June, 1916 and was immediately sent into battle at Fromelles on 19 July. It was a disastrous battle for the newly arrived troops, with the 6th Battalion losing 757 casualties on a single day. The 60th Battalion were withdrawn from the Front and saw little action during the rest of 1916. 

On 6 December, 1916, Alfred Hope became sick while on furlough in Engalnd. He was on leave at the time and sent to the City of London Hospital and then on to the 2nd Auxiliary Hospital, located at Southall, England. He seems to have rejoined his battalion in the field on 23 December, but by June was back in England, marching in to the Central Training School as an Instructor on 6 June, 1917. On 29 September, he was posted to Hurdcott camp, and posted to the 15th Training Battalion. he must have done well as an Instructor, because in November, 1917, he attended the 40th Army Course of Physical and Bayonet Training and qualified as 'good'. Following this, he was attached for duty with the Permanent Cadre 14th Training Battalion at Codford. 

He must have been seen as fully recovered by mid-1918, and on 1 July, proceeded overseas to France, where he was taken on strength with the 59th Battalion from the 60th and was engaged in the Battle of St Quentin Canal on 29 September, and would have fought with the Battalion at the Battle of Mt. St Quentin on 31 August, their last engagement. Having suffered heavy losses, they were withdrawn and remained away from the front line for the rest of the war.

Alfred Hope boarded the HS Port Hacking on 9 November, 1918, for his return to Australia, disembarking on 27 January, 1919. In 1923, he married Gretta Maud Christofferson. They had two daughters, Lorna Ellen (1924-2006) and Betty Mae (1925-1999). They made their home in Edith St., Preston, with Thomas, as he now called himself, working as a fitter. By 19301, they were at 8 McDonald St, Heidelberg, and in 1942, at 192 Smith St. Northcote,. By now, Alfred was not a fitter, but a postal employee. 

In April, 1933, he wrote this letter to Smith's Weekly: Thomas Alfred Hope, now at 8 Mcdonald St., Preston, Victoria, was in Imtarfa Hospital, Malta, in 1915. He had a gunshot wound at Gallipoli and was also suffering from dysentry. While in Egypt, he underwent an operation for hernia. For some unexplained reason, neither the hernia operation nor the dysentry attack were entered on his medical history sheet. While at Imtarfa, Hope and twelve other Diggers in his ward had a group photo taken. He is seeking assistance now from the authoritites owing to complications arising from his war injuries and would like any of the others who were photographed with him at Imtarfa to get in touch with him.

 Gretta and Alfred moved to Port  irie around 1946, following their daughter Lorna's discharge from the Air Force following World War 11. They built a house at 8 Wandearah Road, where they lived until Alfred suffered a stroke. He recovered initially, but some months later had a second stroke, leaving hm incapacitated. After some time at the Port Pirie Hospital, Alfred was transferred to the Repatriation Hospital in Adelaide, where he remained until his death on 19 September, 1967. There is no correspondence in his record with the Defence Department about his health problems. 

Alfred Hope was cremated and is interred in the War Graves section at Centennial Park, Adelaide. His wife, Gretta survived him by many years and was also cremated and interred with her husband.his daughter Lorna and her husband later moved to Saltwater River, in Tasmania. Both are buried there.

Alfred's grandson remembers him with love: 'He was very much the 'bronzed Aussie' and was a keen sportsman, my brother has somewhere some medals he won for Cross Country running while a PT Instructor at Bayonet School at Codord, UK. He was quite tall, easily six foot. He kept the bullet when they eventally found it  and had it dipped in gold and wore it on a chain around his neck much of his life My younger brother, Lindsay, has custody of it and his service medals.'