Name
Bert Burton
Conflict
First World War
Date of Death / Age
Rank, Service Number & Service Details
Awards: Service Medals/Honour Awards
Cemetery/Memorial: Name/Reference/Country
Headstone Inscription
Not Researched
UK & Other Memorials
Biography
Bert is recorded in the Parish Magazine of November 1918 as serving in the US Army. Parish and census records suggest three possible men:
The first, Herbert David was born on August 13th 1881 to Goliath and Mary Ann Burton (née Halfpenny), and so he would have been thirty-two at the outbreak of war.
Baptism records reveal nine children: Frederick (bapt 1864), Martha Elizabeth (bapt 1867), Joseph (bapt 1869), Rose (bapt 1872), Ellen (bapt 1874), John (bapt 1875), Charles (bapt 1879), Herbert David (b 1881) and Lilian Mary (bapt 1884). Mary died in 1902 and subsequently Goliath married again, this time to a Charlotte Weeden.
This Herbert married Isabella Jane Titmuss in 1907. In 1911 he was twenty-nine, recorded as a farmer, his wife’s name confirmed as Jane and they now had two children: Jack (b c1908) and Frederick (b c1900).
The second Herbert William was born on June 22nd 1891 to William and Jane Burton (née Walker) and so he would have been twenty-three at the outbreak of war.
Baptism and census records for this man also reveal nine children: Peggy (bapt 1878), John (b 1880), James (b 1883), Charles (b 1886), Anne (b 1888), Herbert William (b 1891), Nellie (b c1894), Albert Edward (b 1897) and Emily May (b 1900). A John Burton also served, possibly this man’s brother.
The third possible man is Bertram Charles Burton, son of Alfred and Selina Burton and baptised in April 5th 1885. He died on January 5th 1972, aged eighty-seven and was married to Mabel Burton who died on December 27th 1966, aged eighty-seven. If this is the same man, then perhaps he left America after the war and returned to settle in Pirton?
Unfortunately, at this time, it is not known which, if any of these men, is the man that served.
Acknowledgments
Text from the book ‘The Pride of Pirton’ by Jonty Wild, Tony French & Chris Ryan used with author's permission
