Pte. W.S. Hunton

FIRST NAMES: William Stephen

UNIT: 2nd Yorkshire Regiment

NUMBER: 20606

STATUS: Died of Wounds

DATE OF DEATH: 2nd November 1916

CEMETERY OR MEMORIAL: Brompton Churchyard

AGE: 44

William was born in Brompton, and his father was the Late Stephen Hunton who had worked as a shoemaker in Brompton. William was married and his wife's name was Clara Emily.

He had been a member of the Northallerton Volunteer Training Corps before he enlisted in May 1915. After completing his training he joined the 2nd Yorkshire Regiment in France.

He had been in France for about 7 months when, on 12th October 1916, he was wounded in three places by shellfire, probably while moving up to the front line area. The most serious of the wounds was one near his left shoulder.

He was sent back to England and taken to the Fazakerley Military Hospital in Liverpool where an operation was performed on his wounds. At some point his family were told that he had died, but shortly afterwards they received a pre-paid telegram from the hospital which clearly showed that this initial report was false. The telegram said that he was "progressing favourably".

Unfortunately the telegram did not tell the whole truth either. The operation proved to have been unsuccessful and William Hunton died in hospital on 2nd November 1916, aged 44. His body was transported back to Brompton where he was laid to rest, with full Military Honours, on Sunday 5th November 1916.

According to the Official records he died of wounds in England on 20th October 1916. It seems likely that the official records still reflect the original report which was later shown to have been in error.