SKELTON - IN - CLEVELAND
IN HISTORY

"WE WILL REMEMBER THEM"
18/1306 Private CHARLES THORNTON.

18th Battalion, Durham Light Infantry.

Killed in action, aged 21, on the 1st of July 1916.

Born at Skelton in Cleveland. Enlisted at West Hartlepool.

Son of John William and Sarah Elizabeth Thornton,
of 22 Yeoman St, Skelton-in-Cleveland, N Yorks.


Serre Road Cemetery No 1, 11km North of Albert.

FAMILY:-
1901. Charles, aged 6, was living at 22 Yeoman St and had been born in Skelton.
His father, John William, worked in the Ironstone mines below ground. He had been born in Pickering, N Yorks.
His mother, Sarah Elizabeth, aged 26, had been born in Staithes, N Yorks. By the 1911 census and still just 35, she has had 8 children and 6 are still living.
He had a younger brother, Harry 2 and two sisters, Nellie 4 and Alice 1.
1911. The family are still at 22 Yeoman St. Charles, now 16, is working as a Gardener [Domestic], Nellie is a General Servant.
Two additions have arrived, Joseph, 9 and John, 3.
WAR SITUATION:-
The 18th (Service) Battalion (1st County) Durham Light Infantry was formed in September 1914.
In May 1915 it was attached to 93rd Brigade, 31st Division and moved to France in March 1916.
Charles' Medal Card shows that he was not awarded the 1914/15 Star and therefore did not join the 18th DLI in France until 1916.
The Division took part in the British offensive on the Somme and Charles was one of the 26,000 who were killed on the first day.
MEMORIAL:-
The village of Serre is located 11 kilometres North of Albert and Cemetery Number 1, where Charles lies has 2,426 burials, of which 1,728 are unidentified.

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