Name
Francis John Barr Laughton
1896
Conflict
First World War
Date of Death / Age
29/03/1915
Rank, Service Number & Service Details
Private
2076
Hertfordshire Regiment
1st Bn.
Awards: Service Medals/Honour Awards
1914 (Mons) Star, British War and Victory Medals
Cemetery/Memorial: Name/Reference/Country
GUARDS CEMETERY, WINDY CORNER, CUINCHY
I. E. 16.
France
Headstone Inscription
None
UK & Other Memorials
Berkhamsted Town Memorial, St Peter's Church Memorial, Berkhamsted, Hertfordshire Regimental Memorial, All Saints Church, Hertford
Pre War
Francis John Barr Laughton was born in Upper Tooting, London, the son of Thomas and Bessie Laughton (nee Ford) and was baptised on 19 April 1896 at Holy Trinity Church, Upper Tooting, Wandsworth, London. He was one of nine children, but two died in infancy. At that time the family were living at 41 Chetwood Road, Wandsworth, Surrey, and his father was working as a joiner.
By 1901 they had moved to 11 Castle Street, Berkhamsted when his father's occupation was described as a cabinet maker, and on the 1911 Census the family were living at 23 Ellesmere Road, Sunnyside, Berkhamsted. Frank was then working as a brush maker in a brush factory (probably Kent's Brushes in Apsley).
Wartime Service
Francis enlisted in Berkhamsted and served with the Hertfordshire Regiment in France from 6 November 1914. His regimental number suggests he had enlisted with the Regiment in late 1912 which was then a territorial force and would have been mobilised at the outbreak of war. The Regiment sailed on the 'City of Chester' and landed at Havre on 6 November, then travelling by train to St Omer and onward to Ypres.
He was killed in action on 29 March 1915 near Bethune and is buried in the Guards Cemetery, Windy Corner, Cuinchy, France.
Additional Information
His mother received a war gratuity of £3 and pay owing of £1 17s 11d. She also received a pension of 10 shillings a week.
Acknowledgments
Brenda Palmer
Jonty Wild
