Pte. S.G. Garbutt

FIRST NAMES: Septimus George

UNIT: 4th Yorkshire Regiment

NUMBER: 1478

STATUS: Killed in Action

DATE OF DEATH: 2nd May 1915

CEMETERY OR MEMORIAL: The Menin Gate

AGE: 19

Septimus Garbutt was born in Brompton. He was the youngest son of William and Annie Garbutt of Cockpit Hill, Brompton. He had five brothers, all of whom fought in France.

He was one of five local men killed on a day that the Germans attacked the 4th Yorkshire Regiment during the Second Battle of Ypres using poison gas. It would seem, however, that Septimus lost his life to a sniper's bullet and not as a result of the gas, according to a letter sent home by Pte. Maxwell Whittaker, another Brompton soldier in the same battalion, who was destined to lose his life later in the War. None of the bodies were identified, and all five men, including Septimus Garbutt, are commemorated on the Menin Gate at Ypres. He was only 19 years of age when he lost his life.

A Special Memorial Service was held at Brompton Church for Septimus and the four other Bromptom soldiers who had been killed by the end of June 1915.