John Walton (1886-1917)
Engineman from Bishop Auckland served with 18th DLI commemorated on Arras Memorial
John Walton, the son of Thomas and Esther Walton, was born in Auckland St Andrew at the end of 1886. He had seven brothers and five sisters and lived in the same road until he married Mary Emma Gibbon on 19 November 1911 when working for a gas manufacturer. They had one son and he enlisted in the 18th Battalion (The Pals) Durham Light Infantry at Cocken Hall on 9 January 1915 when working on the railway. On 22 December he landed in Egypt and remained there until 5 March 1916 when he was shipped to France, landing there a week later. He was killed at the Battle of Arras on 3 May 1917 and is commemorated on the Arras Memorial and in the Bishop Auckland and the Durham Cathedral DLI Books of Remembrance.
Civil Parish: Auckland St. Andrew
Birth date: 1886
Death date: 3-May-1917
Armed force/civilian: Army
Residence: 13 Dent Street, Tindale Crescent, Bishop Auckland (1891 & 1901 censuses)
8 Dent Street, Tindale Crescent, Bishop Auckland (1911 census)
7 Dilks Street, Fylands, Bishop Auckland (British Army WWI Service Records, 1914-1920)
Employment: Gas Manufacturer (1911 census)
Enfine man (British Army WWI Service Records, 1914-1920)
Family: Father: Thomas Walton
Mother: Esther Walton (nee Hope)
Siblings: Charles, Mary Jane, Esther Ann, Thomas, Susan, Margaret Elizabeth, William, Henry, Olive, Walter, Robert & Edward Walton
Wife: Mary Emma Walton (nee Gibbon)
Son: Lawrence Walton
Military service:
18th Battalion (The Pals) Durham Light Infantry
Regimental no.: 18/1207
Private
Medal(s): 1914-1915 Star
British War Medal
Victory Medal
Memorial(s): Arras Memorial, Bay 8
Bishop Auckland 1914-1918 Book of Remembrance
Durham Cathedral DLI Book of Remembrance
Gender: Male
Contributed by John Edwards
