Pte 24526 Joseph Edward Turton

Joe married Catherine Brownlie Lindsay in late 1914 in West Derby Register Office. No records of children born to the marriage have been found found.  (Banns were read for the marriage of Catherine Brownlie Lindsay and John Gittens Jones “a bachelor of the high seas”, in November and December 1913, in St. Peter,'s Church, Aintree but the marriage did not take place.  Catherine was born in Scotland and in 1911, was a neighbor of Joseph’s living at 189 Rice Lane, and working as a shop assistant.)

 

Joe enlisted in the 18th (Pals) Battalion of The King’s (Liverpool) Regiment as Private 24526.

He trained with his battalion locally at Knowsley, then at Belton Park in Lincolnshire, and for final infantry training on Salisbury Plain before being sent to the front. The battalion disembarked at Boulogne on 7th November 1915.  

 

Joe’s mother died, aged 64, around Christmas time in 1915. 

 

Joe survived the Battle of the Somme, including that deadly first day and the Battle of the Transloy Ridges in October.  At the end of October the battalion moved north of the Somme to take over a section of the line opposite Bienvillers.  On 26 November 1916, the War Diary records;

“Casualties caused by dugout falling in - Wounded, shock and contusions Private W.J. Denny;  Killed - Pte. S. Phillipson 49244, Pte. P. Lewis 13200, Pte. J. Turton. 24526.”

 Joe was 30 years old when he died. He now rests at De Cusine Ravine British Cemetery, Basseux, France where his headstone bears the epitaph:

“FATHER IN THY GRACIOUS KEEPING LEAVE WE NOW OUR LOVED ONE SLEEPING”

800 metres South East of the village is a ravine called the Fosse de Berles, but known to the French troops (who had a field kitchen there) as the Ravin des Cusines; and on the further side of the ravine is the British Cemetery bearing a modified form of the French Army name. A French Military Cemetery close to it, also named from the ravine, has now been removed. The cemetery was begun by the 13th King's Royal Rifles in February, 1916, and used by units holding this front until March, 1917; one further burial took place in September, 1917. There are now over 60, 1914-18 war casualties commemorated in this site. Two brothers are buried in Row C, graves 6 and 7. The cemetery covers an area of 615 square metres and is enclosed by a red brick wall. 

His loved ones placed notices in the Liverpool Echo on 26th November 1918:

 

 

 

His father died in 1918, living at 107 Chatsworth Avenue.

 

His widow Catherine Brownlie Turton at 205 Rice Lane, received his Army effects, a War Gratuity of £9, and a pension of 13/9d a week, increased to £1 a week in 1919. 

In 1925 she was living at 184 Walton Road.

Catherine appears to have married in 1937 and in 1939 was living in Yew Tree Road, Liverpool.