burton

Commomwealth War Graves Commission lists the following BURTON, THOMAS HAROLD Rank:Gunner Service No:L/1649 Date of Death:25/03/1918 Age:22 Regiment/Service:Royal Field Artillery "C" Coy. 178th Bde. Grave ReferenceI. C. 25. Cemetery BAC-DU-SUD BRITISH CEMETERY, BAILLEULVAL Additional Information: Native of Nottingham. Only son of Thomas and Fanny Burton, of 50, Ramsey St., Scarborough. they can found www.cwgc.org/search-for-war-dead/casualty/18615/BURTON,%2... A photo of the his grave can be found here twgpp.org/information.php?id=2430605

My great uncle James Scott of the Lincolnshire regiment was killed 23/4th March 1918 in German Assault, at Arras. Would this been the same assault as Gunner Burton. Thank You.

This photograph was possibly taken at the studio of Alan Rufford at 19 Market Street, Nottingham. 178 (East Ham) Howitzer Brigade RFA went to France in June 1916 (commanded by Lt Col D H Gill [later Col, CMG DSO]) as part of the Divisional Artillery of 40th Division (119, 120 and 121 Infantry Brigades). 178 Brigade supported 20th Division at Cambrai in 1917. On 21st March 1918, back with 40th Division in Fifth Army, 'C' Battery of 178th Brigade RFA (also referred to as CLXXVIII Brigade) was amongst the artillery positions subjected to intense counter-battery fire on the first day of the 'Ludendorff Offensive'. Over a million shells were fired by the Germans in the first 5 hours of this attack, chiefly targeting British artillery batteries which had been accurately located by aerial reconnaissance and had been static for too long on what was considered a quiet sector of the front. The 178th Brigade war diaries June 1916 to March 1919 are at the National Archive, WO95/2598. A Mr Dave Steward at 'The Great War Forum' has a particular interest in 178th Brigade RFA.//

The 1911 Census record shows him living at 41 Ewart Road, Nottingham which is still standing today. He was living there with his mother and father and 23 year old sister Fanny. He was 15 and an office boy at the time of the census.

Nurselead 'Nurselead' - Your Great Uncle, 38739 Pte James Scott of the Lincolnshire Regiment could have been serving in one of a number of battalions, including 1st (at Poziers), 2nd (at Bethancourt), 5th (withdrawing from St Quentin), and 7th (near Arras). The location of his memorial at Arras suggests he was in 7th Battalion Lincolnshire Regiment, but that is in no way definitive. This German attack, launched on 21st March 1918, called Operation Michael, threw 21 divisions, supported by intense artillery concentrations, focused on St Quentin, across an Allied front of 23 miles. This was the German 'Spring Offensive' aimed at achieving a decisive victory before the American forces could arrive in sufficient numbers to defeat the progressively weakening Central Powers.//

James Howard Burton, Naval Aviator No. 1531.

From www.cwgc.org www.cwgc.org/find-war-dead/casualty/762213/BURTON,%20JOHN Rank:Serjeant Service No:16282 Date of Death:01/07/1916 Regiment/Service:Royal Irish Rifles 14th Bn. Panel ReferencePier and Face 15 A and 15 B. Memorial THIEPVAL MEMORIAL His Medal Roll Index Card shows his rank as Sergeant 14/16282. Would that infer that he was a career soldier? Entitlement: Victory Medal B.104 B14 Page 2118 British Medal ditto 15 Star B/4B Page 88 Theatre of War - France Qualifying date 5.10.15 From www.1914-1918.net/ririfles.htm Royal Irish Rifles 14th (Service) Battalion (Young Citizens) Formed in Belfast in September 1914 from the Belfast Volunteers. Came under orders of 109th Brigade in 36th (Ulster) Division. Moved to Bundoran in December 1914, going on to Randalstown in January 1915. July 1915 : moved to Seaford. October 1915 : landed at Boulogne. 18 February 1918 : disbanded in France.

Sergeant John Burton, Service No: 16282, 14th Battalion, Royal Irish Rifles (Young Citizens Volunteers), Part of the 36th Ulster Division. He lived with his family at 109 Marlborough Park, Shankhill, County Antrim, and was an embroidery designer before the war. He entered the war on 5th October 1915, therefore qualifying for the 1915 star. He is listed as missing presumed dead. As far as I can ascertain, no military records other than his Medal Index Card (MIC) survived WW2. He died on the first day of the Battle of the Somme, 1st July 1916, he was 25. It was curiously and coincidentally the anniversary of the Battle of the Boyne. He almost certainly died in the attack on the Schwaben Redoubt, a heavily fortified area of the German lines with deep dugouts that wasn't actually completely taken until October 1916 some three months later, the site of which sits in the fields just to the East of the Ulster Tower: the memorial to the Irish Divisions just North of Thiepval itself. The advances the Ulstermen made were described as "good" getting to the second line at Schwaben. John almost certainly still lies in those fields, alongside many other Ulstermen, and not far from A men from Yorkshire and as far afiled as Newfoundland. He is commemorated on Pier 15 A and 15 B Thiepval. He appears to be listed on the Armagh Presbytery Roll of Honour. He is also commemorated on a headstone in Bangor cemetery in Northern Ireland. Son of John, a linen manager, and Agnus Amelia Burton. He left three sisters Winifred, a telephone operator, Alicia and Mary, a shop assistant, he had one brother William, a newspaper clerk.

At Zero Hour the 109th Brigade were on the right of the 36th (Ulster) Division's advance and the 14/R. IR RIF and the 11/R. INNIS FUS were the support wave who moved into the frontline between the junction of Mill & Thiepval Road with Thiepval Wood behind them. They then moved forward past the German frontline to the enemy second line which sat on the edge of the Schwaben Redoubt, part of the 36th Division's first objective, where they stayed until the division withdrew to the old German frontline after holding onto the Schwaben Redoubt for 15 hours In total, it is estimated that the 36th (Ulster) Division lost 5,104 killed, wounded, missing or captured on 1st July 1916.

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I hope you don't mind but I have borrowed this portrait photo to add to a profile on John for a project I am working on bangorcemeteryproject.blogspot.com/2018/10/burton-john.html