Tom Burton

Thomas Burton. 2693, renumbered 200593 Pte. 1/4th Bn. KORLR, KIA 20th September 1917, Ypres, Belgium, age 30 yrs.

Tom Burton's name on the Tyne Cot Memorial.

Myles' elder brother Tom enlisted on 26th September 1914, age 27yrs 7mths., having previously been employed as a bookkeeper. He was also Cartmel correspondent for the "Westmorland Gazette". Tom Burton was born, and lived, in Cartmel until he joined the army. He was baptised, coincidentally, at the same service as Jimmie Bland, 20th February 1887. He served with the BEF from 3rd May 1915 until his death at the 3rd Battle of Ypres, better known as Passchendaele.

The Parish Magazine carried several reports, "Before going out Tom acted as Secretary of the Working Men's Club, and his keen interest in public matters gave promise of much future usefulness. He was a great lover of animals, and he was a member of the C.E.M.S. (Church of England Men's Society) and the Fire Brigade. He always came to see me during his "leaves", and we had one long talk about the reorganisation of the services of the Church so that they should make a better appeal to the younger men of the country when they came home. His name, like that of his brother, will be remembered with very great affection, and his death will be regretted as depriving our parish of one from whom much was hoped. But the real Tom is with Christ,"which is far better."

He suffered an illness and spent some time in hospital, in Rouen, in early summer 1915. He was reported to be looking very well while on leave in late 1916 after 18 months in France.

The night of the 19/20th September 1917 saw the 1/4th moving forward over difficult ground and under a severe bombardment, to position itself, in shell-holes west of a line Somme-Hindu Cott, for the next day's attack.

The 1/4th King's Own and 2/5th Lancashire Fusiliers were the lead battalions of 164th Brigade, 55th Division, part of 5th Army's V Corps, in the Battle of The Menin Road Ridge. Conditions facing the troops were terrible, with deep, clinging, sucking mud everywhere. To compensate the plan was less ambitious, and called for a slower advance, than its predecessors. There was no continual barrage of enemy trenches, in an attempt to mislead the Germans. Just before the infantry attack the greatest barrage ever known erupted. The advance began at 5.40am on September 20th, under cover of a slight mist. The advance was in lines of sections, with twenty yards between sections. The men were equipped with phosphorous bombs for the first time, the hope being that the enemy would be forced to leave its positions to escape the flames and smoke.

Resistance was stubborn, with very many individual strongpoints to be captured. The enemy barrage forced the supporting 1/4 Loyals to close up and the troops became hopelessly mixed up, in the Aisne Farm area. They eventually combined to hold a road called the "Schuler galleries", where Capt. A.P. Proctor took command and reorganised in preparation for expected counter attacks.

1/5 KORLR followed at 7.00am, reaching the Schuler galleries after a difficult advance. A line was eventually established, between the Schuler galleries and Loos, and, over the next few days, patrols were sent out and posts were established as far forward as the objective "green line".

The 1/4 King's Own suffered heavy losses 4 officers and 37 other ranks killed, with a total of 233 casualties.

Ypres from Tyne Cot. the King's Own attack took place in the area on the right of the photograph.

The August 1918 Parish Magazine carried the following item, "I have been able to see some letters in connection with Pte. Thomas Burton, who fell on the night of September 20th 1917, while holding a listening post at the foot of Abraham Heights as a Volunteer during the Battle of Gravelstrafel* (sic) Ridge. *Gravenstafel

"The night before, the 19th, he and his friend, Private Richard Penny, had acted together as "Runners", and had been busy finding men in shell holes and taking them hot drinks. Sergeant Seager wrote to his parents; "The Major spoke well of him, and said he did some marvellous work, and had he come through it he would have had a "decoration." He is buried at Wiltshire (Wieltje?) Dug-outs, the locality of which his friends in Belgium will be able to find."

The area in which Tom was buried was given up to the Germans in the great onslaught of spring 1918. Tom now has no known grave and is commemorated on the Tyne Cot Memorial, Belgium. Panel 18 to 19. This was established after it was discovered that the Menin Gate was not large enough to contain all the names of the missing. In consequence the panels at Tyne Cot hold the 34,984 names of those who fell between 16th August 1917 and the end of the war.

The news of Tom's death was first communicated by his friend, Pte. Penny. In his letter he wrote, "Previous to going into action your son and I exchanged our home addresses in case we did not come out again. I am greatly pained to have to write to you of his sad end, for he often talked of home and you. It will be an amount of satisfaction to you to know that he died a very brave man. He was killed instantly, so suffered no pain. I can say that his loss is greatly felt by both officers and men of this regiment, as he was well known to act as a soldier and a man. The rest of his companions and myself in the battalion extend to you our very deep sympathy."

The November Parish Magazine reported, "Mr & Mrs Burton have now received official news that their son Tom Burton was killed in action on September 20th. It will be some consolation to them and to his many friends to know that he was reverently buried behind the firing line, and that in due course a photo of his grave will be sent home."

Myles and Tom were the sons of James and Sarah Anne Burton of The Flags, Cartmel. James was a joiner and wheelwright, who died in 1927, his wife in 1935. The business was carried on in what is now The Mallard and Unsworth's Yard

There was another brother, Herbert, who died in 1904 aged 16. These untimely deaths resulted in the family dying out with Sarah Anne. I spoke to their nearest living relative, Lily, born in 1915, who has since died. She was the daughter of Myles and Tom's cousin and could remember their parents, particularly their mother, but could add little to the sad facts recounted here, apart from the fact that the brothers volunteered together.

A photograph of the premises (taken about 2000) which used to be James Burton's place of business. The wood drying shed can be seen on the right, the house in the foreground was a workshop. The businesses and yard has been redeveloped and the shed demolished, it is now called "Unsworth's Yard."

This is confirmed by the "Westmorland Gazette" of 3rd October 1914 which carried the following item, "Mr Tom Burton, Myles Burton, Ernest Nicholson, and Arthur Venables this week joined the King's Own Territorials at Ulverston, for active or foreign service. This brings the number up to 11 representing Cartmel who have answered the call." The Parish Magazine stated that Tom enlisted on 26th September and Myles on the 30th. "Their father's patriotism in being willing to spare both his sons from his business is a splendid example." He had wanted one brother to stay at home and help with the business, but both wanted to go, so he did not prevent them.