Pte 32484 Norman Felton

• Age: 19
• From: Blyth, Northumberland
• Regiment: 10 L N LANCS RE
• Died on Thursday 26th April 1917
• Commemorated at: Cabaret Rouge Bc
  Panel Ref: XV.N.17

Norman Felton was born in the 4th quarter of 1897 in Blyth, Northumberland the son of Ralph Bailes Felton and his wife Ruth Etta (nee Hatt). 

The 1901 Census shows the family living at 72 Astley Terrace East, Seaton Delaval. His father is shown as a life insurance agent born at Seghill whilst his mother was born in Castleford. He has a younger brother Harold, born in 1901.

By 1911 the family have moved to 10 Clifford Street, Appleby, Westmorland. His father is shown as an assistant superintendant with Prudential Assurance. They now have another child, Reginald.

Norman served with the 20th Battalion of The King's Liverpool Regiment as Private 31608 before transferring to the 10th Battalion of the Loyal North Lancashire Regiment as Private 32484.

He died of wounds, aged 19, on 26th April 1917 and now rests at Cabaret Rouge British Cemetery in France. 

Cabaret-Rouge British Cemetery

"Cabaret Rouge" was a small, red-bricked, red-tiled café that stood close to this site in the early days of the First World War. The café was destroyed by shellfire in March 1915 but it gave its unusual name to this sector and to a communication trench that led troops up the front-line. Commonwealth soldiers began burying their fallen comrades here in March 1916. The cemetery was used mostly by the 47th (London) Division and the Canadian Corps until August 1917 and by different fighting units until September 1918. It was greatly enlarged in the years after the war when as many as 7,000 graves were concentrated here from over 100 other cemeteries in the area. For much of the twentieth century, Cabaret-Rouge British Cemetery served as one of a small number of ‘open cemeteries’ at which the remains of fallen servicemen newly discovered in the region were buried. Today the cemetery contains over 7,650 burials of the First World War, over half of which remain unidentified.

The Canadian Connection

Many different Commonwealth units served in this sector during the war and the cemetery contains the graves of British, Irish, Australian, New Zealand, Indian and South African soldiers. It is also the final resting place of over 70 officers of the Royal Flying Corps and Royal Air Force. Cabaret Rouge has a particularly close connection with the Canadian Infantry, however, as hundreds of Canadians who were killed at the Battle of Vimy Ridge in April 1917 were ultimately laid to rest here.

The cemetery and shelter buildings were designed by former Canadian Army officer Frank Higginson. Higginson worked as an architect for the Commonwealth War Graves Commission in the 1920s and later acted as Secretary to the Commission.

In May 2000 the remains of an unknown Canadian soldier were taken from this cemetery and buried in a special tomb at the foot of the National War Memorial in Ottawa, Canada. A focal point for remembrance, he represents more than 71,000 Canadians who lost their lives during the First World War. A headstone in plot 8, Row E, Grave 7 marks his original grave.

Norman is commemorated on the Memorials at:

Appleby Roll of Honour

Appleby Cross.

We currently have no further information on Norman Felton. If you have or know someone who may be able to add to the history of this soldier, please contact us.