burton

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

The style of that cap is new to me.

Willem It was called a soft cap and didn't have the wired rim inside that keeps the caps rigid in normal circumstances.

Lee Crosbie Thank you!

This is the 1915 pattern issue trench cap. The soldiers nicknamed them 'Gor Blimey' caps. There is a good picture of the design - one made in blue for distribution to PoWs in Germany - at www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/30093164 PS/1858 Private James Burton was the son of Frances Campbell Burton, of 66 Leam Terrace, Leamington, Warwickshire, and the late George Burton. CWGC. The PS prefix indicated that 16th Battalion Middlesex was, originally at least, a 'Public Schools' battalion. 16th(Service) Battalion (Public Schools) was originally sent to France with 100th Brigade in 33rd Division. They landed at Boulogne on 17th November 1915, but in late February 1916 were transferred to a support role with GHQ Troops, before landing with 86th Brigade in 29th Division on 25th April 1916 for the Battle of the Somme. There is some, believed genuine but somewhat indistinct, film footage of 16th Battalion Middlesex attacking the 'Hawthorn Ridge' on 1st July 1916 at www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fm1eY7X343o //

Gor Blimey! Probably uttered, because they look far from being martial.

played 23 games for the Yankees in 1913 www.baseball-almanac.com/players/player.php?p=derricl01 9-18-1912: Traded by Detroit Tigers to New York Yankees for Red McKee. 06-26-1913: Sold by New York Yankees to Baltimore (International).