Case submitted for recognition of a war grave: Albert Wheatley Thornton

I submitted this case for consideration by the Commonwealth War Graves Commission on 16 January 2025.

Driver 32186 Albert Wheatley Thornton was serving with 55th Reserve Battery of 1A Reserve Brigade, Royal Field Artillery, when he died at Armstrong College Military Hospital in Newcastle upon Tyne on 24 January 1916.

He was buried with military honours soon afterwards at Wallsend Cemetery and does not appear to have been included amongst those commemorated by the Imperial, later Commonwealth, War Graves Commission.
I submitted that Thornton should be commemorated within the CWGC war dead database and, if possible and by agreement with appropriate authorities and family descendants, by a headstone.

Documentary evidence

There are parts of Thornton’s army service record in the National Archives WO97 and WO363 collections, but they only cover his first period of military service which ended in 1897. There is no trace of his record for his second period of service.

Thornton has no entry in the campaign medal rolls held in National Archives collection WO329, which implies that he had not served overseas during the conflict.

Evidence that I sent to the CWGC:

  1. Death certificate (from the General Register Office)
  2. Dependants’ pension record, two items (Western Front Association collection)
  3. Entry in War Office financial effects register, two items (National Army Museum collection).
  4. Contemporary newspaper clippings, three items plus one mentioning the 1939 death of his widow (British Newspaper Archive).

Summary of life, service and death

Albert Wheatley Thornton served in the regular army between 3 March 1885 and 2 March 1897, initially as Private 2540 of the 13th Hussars and after transfer as 3453 of the 7th Dragoon Guards. He spent more than five years of this service in India and was transferred to reserve on 10 December 1892.

His birth had been registered in Easington in County Durham in the first quarter of 1867 and when he attested for army service, he gave his age as 18 years and one month, and his occupation as miner.

The census of 31 March 1901 shows that he was resident at 39 Bewicke Street in Willington Quay, east of Wallsend in Northumberland. He was said to be 34 years of age and a general labourer. His wife Jane and children William, 5, and Margaret, 3, were also present as were two boarders.

The census of 2 April 1911 has the family at 37 Bewicke Street. Both children mentioned in 1901 were present, as was Albert junior, aged 9. Albert senior was now given as a blacksmith’s striker.

Albert Wheatley Thornton re-enlisted for the Great War, becoming Driver 32186 of the Royal Field Artillery. His exact date of attestation is uncertain, but records of men numbered nearby suggest around 17 September 1914 and that he joined the RFA’s Special Reserve. The men were posted to 1A Reserve Brigade RFA, which was located at Fenham Barracks in Newcastle upon Tyne. Records show that Albert was still with that unit when he died.

1A Reserve Brigade RFA was originally made up of the 1st, 2nd and 3rd Reserve Batteries but was expanded by the addition of 55th Reserve Battery by January 1916. Albert had been allotted to that battery and was serving with it when he died.

Albert Wheatley Thornton died at Armstrong College Military Hospital, part of the 1st Northern General Hospital, in Newcastle of 24 January 1916. The official cause of death was stated to be heart failure resulting from haemorrhage of a dermoid cyst. Records of a pension granted to his widow and youngest child confirm that he was on active service at the time.

Newspaper reports state that he was interred at Wallsend Cemetery. [I understand that Church Bank and Holy Cross cemeteries in Wallsend were both open at the time.]

Mrs Jane Thornton died on 14 September 1939 and is buried in the same cemetery.

Progress

I await the decision. [As at 11 May 2025]

Links

Researching the men of the Royal Field Artillery