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-   What Did Your Relative Do In The Great War? (http://genealogistsforum.co.uk/forum/forumdisplay.php?f=43)
-   -   (43) William Arthur Overton, Private 10749 Coldstream Guard (http://genealogistsforum.co.uk/forum/showthread.php?t=21735)

Jill 26-01-15 14:51

(43) William Arthur Overton, Private 10749 Coldstream Guard
 
43rd of the St Wilfrid's Old Boys to die in WW1.

William was born in 1896 in Haywards Heath to William and Catherine Overton, his father was a baker and they lived in Franklynn Road, by 1911 when he was 14 he was working in the bakehouse and was the eldest of 9 children. He joined the Coldstream Guards in May 1914 in Brighton and was 5ft 9in tall with brown hair and grey eyes.

William was wounded at Ypres in November 1914, his records say he was a trustworthy and hardworking man. After being wounded he was discharged as medically unfit on 30th June 1915 with a pension. The report says “Gunshot wound, total blindness. Somewhere in France or Belgium. Man suffering from loss of memory and blindness. He is in a fair condition of general health. His memory for recent & past events has gone & he is blind in both eyes. The condition of the fundus is quite normal and there is nothing about the eye to account for blindness in the opinion of Mr Harion (ophthalmic specialist) the condition is physical.”

He died on 28 Jun 1917 in the Brighton area, having married shortly before his death and is buried in Haywards Heath Cemetery; his gravestone says he died from the effect of his wounds. He was 20 years old.

This appeared in the Mid Sussex Times:
MID SUSSEX TIMES 3 JUL 1917
DEATH OF PRIVATE W A OVERTON
The deepest sympathy has gone out to Mr & Mrs Overton, of Franklynn Road, on the death of their eldest son, William Arthur, the sad event occurring on Thursday at Preston, near Brighton. The deceased, who had only been married four months, was in his 21st year.

He enlisted in the Coldstream Guards in May, 1914, and eventually went out to France. He had not been out there very long before he was shot in the head at Ypres by a sniper. The wound was so severe that for three months this poor young fellow lay unconscious and blind, and that his life was prolonged was due entirely to surgical skill and the good nursing he received both in France and in the London Hospital.

In April, 1915, he received his discharge from the Army, being no longer physically fit for service. Three hundred and nineteen days had he served, and his discharge paper stated that he was “a trustworthy, hardworking man.”

The funeral took place at the Church of the Presentation, New England Road, yesterday (Monday) afternoon, and a large number of sympathising friends attended to witness the last sad rites. The chief mourners were Mrs WA Overton (widow), Mr & Mrs W Overton (father and mother ), Alan George and Geoffrey Overton (brothers), the Misses G and D Overton (sisters), Mrs Brayne (granny), Miss Brayne (aunt), Miss K Barnard (sister in law), Mr P Woodland and Private D Luxford.


Then in the fashion of those days there was a list of everyone else who attended and what was written on the cards accompanying flowers that were sent.

There is no mention of his wife in the gravestone, he is described as the eldest son of William and Catherine. Someone of the same name (Ethel M Overton) married in Horsham district in 1920.

Merry 26-01-15 16:40

It looks likely that William's widow had a son, registered in Q1 1918. :)

Jill 28-01-15 14:09

Off to take a look...

Jill 28-01-15 17:53

Thanks Merry, I've traced him forward though not sure if I've found a death yet so won't put his name on here. Appears to have married in the late 1930s & had a son just after WW2 followed by a divorce and remarriage for both parties.

Jill 09-04-17 11:30

I will be attending a ceremony honouring William at his graveside on the anniversary of his death at 11am: wreaths will be laid and the last post and reveille played, with a family member and the Canadian standard bearer representing William's great great nephew, a Brigadier General in the Canadian army who visited for the 2014 anniversary ceremony at the town war memorial to commemorate the outbreak of the Great War.

Jill 23-04-17 11:15

There is a record on ancestry.co.uk which is lifted from the rollofhonour.com website's Haywards Heath page which gives Thetis Lorraine (Wells) Peters as William's spouse. This is WRONG!

Carol 09-05-17 23:42

William Arthur Overton is my Uncle and I do know quite a lot about him but am interested in finding his family, wife was Ethel May Barnard son was William Arnold born in 1918. The ceremony for the anniversary of his death in June, will be a moving tribute to him. William Arthur was the eldest of 9. Look forward to some news. Carol

Jill 10-05-17 14:26

Hi Carol, welcome to the forum - are you near enough to Haywards Heath to be able to attend? I am told a great great nephew from Uckfield will be there.

Carol 10-05-17 22:15

William Arthur Overton
 
Hi Jill, No I live in Australia but I would love to be there, My cousin Geoff will be there, can you tell me your connection? I would really love to find Williams son's family. My mother was the youngest of the 9 children born 1919 and remembers William Arnold visiting. Thanks for quick response. Carol

Jill 11-05-17 14:47

I'm not connected at all Carol, but I work at St Wilfrid's School which he attended, we are not in the same building now but the WW1 memorial board on which he features moved to the new school in the 1950s. I have researched every one of the 75 names on and have put up a display on each man as his 100th anniversary comes up.

Carol 11-05-17 21:43

Jill, You are wonderful, that means so much to me and the family, many thanks. I am in touch with a number of cousins who have been doing research on the Overton family for many years but we are losing touch with great great nephews/nieces. The grave is not in a good state when I visited in 2014, the cross on his grandmothers grave next to his should be on Williams grave. This is why I would love to find his family. Carol

Carol 13-05-17 09:33

Jill, I do have a few pictures if that would help your display. Carol

Jill 13-05-17 10:49

That would be wonderful, I shall pm my email address.

Jim Still 30-05-17 18:31

I together with Miss Heidi Watkins are putting together this little service forr William on the 28th. June 2017. It is intended that a Drum drapped with a Union Jack with a photo of william will be placed on the drum alongside his grave from where the service will be conducted by Captain Ian Olive, Military Padre with the Canadian Army in UK. together with the Head of the Uniting Church of Canada Also attending will be Mr. & Mrs. Geoff Overton from Polegate (Nephew), the Mayor of Haywards Heath., 6 Students and a teacher from St. Wilfrids school, where william was a studemt, Two World 1 Re-enactors, in full army dress with rifles. Also attending is the Mid Sussex News paper Photographer . They covered the story of the original funeral from 100 years ago. Just thought I would put this up as a guide to what we are trying to achieve for William. Jim Still

Jill 30-05-17 19:16

Hi Jim, I'll see you & Heidi there on the day, I'm going to pop down there before the day with my shears and gardening gloves to do a little tidy up.

At the foot of William's grave is that of another soldier who died of wounds at home, Leon Guy Austen.

Jim Still 31-05-17 09:11

Fantastic Jill. If you let me know the date and time you will be going down with your gardening tools Heidi and I will meet with you there. Another thought we had was the possibilty of one of the students reading a WW1 poem or perhaps a tribute from them during the service.

Geoffrey overton 31-05-17 22:13

Hi Jill ,just to introduce myself ,my name is Geoff Overton and I'm Carol s cousin in Australia,she has been keeping me informed with all the good work you have been doing regarding our uncle William and all the other lads who attended the same school,I will look forward to meeting you on the 28th June
Many Thanks
Geoff

Jill 01-06-17 08:37

Pleased to meet you Geoff, it looks like all is organised for the day, fingers crossed that the weather will do us proud too.

Jill 12-06-17 07:26

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jim Still (Post 336883)
Fantastic Jill. If you let me know the date and time you will be going down with your gardening tools Heidi and I will meet with you there. Another thought we had was the possibilty of one of the students reading a WW1 poem or perhaps a tribute from them during the service.

Jim - I'm fitting in the tidy up with my early morning run so have been there over the weekend (06:30!) and given the grave and the one next to it, (his grandmother's) an initial tidy except for the bluebells and will go again before the day.

I'll be meeting with the students before the day, perhaps you'd like to let me know what reading you would like, or we could put together a short piece ourselves.

Jim Still 13-06-17 14:40

Hi Jill.

Thanks for your efforts to date, very kind of you to tidy things up at the grave site.

With regards to a reading by the students I think it would be great if they were to do something of their own or of their own choice. Whatever it is will be most appreciated.

We are going to the grave site on Friday about 11am. Would be nice to meet with you if possible.

Regards..... JIM

Jill 14-06-17 06:16

Jim I will be working but will see if I can be released for a while.

Geoffrey overton 30-06-17 18:13

Hi Jill just to say thankyou for everything you ,the children and the school did for us on Wednesday to make the day special for the whole family ,I have been in contact with Carol and my other cousin to tell them about the day ,Carol tells me that you haven written to her and have given her a run down on how the day went ,I do have photos that I would gladly send you however I do understand the situation with the children ,if you would like me to send some photos perhaps you could send your e mail address ,would understand if you don't want to put address on forum so perhaps you could send the address to Carol and she could pass the address on to me Many Thanks Geoff

Jill 30-06-17 18:44

Thankyou Geoff - I sent you a private message earlier via this site (see top of page). thankyou for your kind offer of photos, I have some already on the school camera, and today Jim dropped of a CD full so we have plenty to look at, I think they may be showing them in assembly soon.

It was a very memorable occasion and we were proud to be able to take part.

Geoffrey overton 30-06-17 19:34

Hi Jill , have managed to see message (not used to all this technology) ,if we could get the war graves commission to make the grave more presentable that would marvellous , I didn't realise the grave was in such a poor state of repair and had mentioned to Lesley on the way home that I would contact the family to see if we could do something about it ,once again thankyou for all your help regarding the service ,and hopefully we meet again at some other time ,regards Geoff P S I have in the past tried to contact Williams immediate family and have the tree that shows me down to a great grandson but after numerous attempts to find them I have had no luck ,is there anything you could suggest that. might help me find them

Jill 01-07-17 19:44

I found a tree on Ancestry.co.uk that has William's son on it and messaged the tree owner a couple of weeks ago but so far have had no reply, I will let you know if I get an answer.

Geoffrey overton 02-07-17 19:18

Hi Jill ,thanks for that ,if you did get a answer that would be great ,I have William Arthur's tree if it's any help William Arthur Overton married Ethel may Barnard
Son William Arnold b1918 married Ruby Vousden married 1938
Son ******* Overton b1946 married ***** ****** marr 1969
Daughter **** b1969 tonbridge married **** 2003 and son **** born 1971 Maidstone married **** 1990 in Bromley they had one child **** born 2003 Lincolnshire
Just thought if you do get a reply this may help to confirm that this is the descendants of William Arthur
Many thanks take care Geoff

Jill 02-07-17 21:20

Thanks Geoff, we are not supposed to name living people so one of the moderators will remove those mentioned, but I have made a note for my own reference.

Geoffrey overton 02-07-17 21:48

Oh ok ,sorry about that didn't realise ,

kiterunner 02-07-17 22:31

Geoff, you could have edited your own post to remove the names when Jill pointed out the rule, but I have done it for you.

Jill 06-07-17 05:58

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jill (Post 338100)
I found a tree on Ancestry.co.uk that has William's son on it and messaged the tree owner a couple of weeks ago but so far have had no reply, I will let you know if I get an answer.

The tree owner is very distantly connected so is not in touch with any of the family unfortunately.


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