Blackmore. Remembrance 100. Twenty-one days. Twenty-one names. (12) Ted Sutton

Ted (Edward) Sutton
War Memorial: Place and inscription Blackmore War Memorial: Gr. E. Sutton R.G.A.
Rank: Gunner
Regiment: Royal Garrison Artillery Clearing Office, formerly 211th Siege Battery.  Service No: 66987. [CWGC]
Service Details: Service record summary: Ted Sutton was born about May 1887, the son of John Joseph Sutton, of Blackmore [and therefore brother of David Sutton].   In November 1915, when he enlisted, he was a brewery hand, working in Tottenham.  During his service in France he was admitted to hospital twice [the illness is hard to decipher, but looks like haemothorax, a blood clot in the lungs caused by a blow to the chest] in 1917, and again in February 1918 for neurasthenia.  By this time, his 3 years’ service with the heaviest artillery was taking their toll.  But in November, right at the end of the war, he was in Exeter hospital, with shrapnel wounds to chest and leg, and he died there on 24th November.  He was 31.  He is buried at Blackmore, with a Commonwealth War Graves memorial. Medal card: RGA Gn. 66987 Sutton, Ted Victory/British RGA/132B p. 3192 [He cannot have seen action until early 1916, as there is no 14 Star.].  [Ancestry]
Personal and family information: Father John Joseph Sutton, mother Elizabeth Scrivener, both born Blackmore ca 1855 [C1881].  Married Q3 1877 St Olave, Southwark.  [FreeBMD]. Elizabeth Sutton died Q3 1910 Edmonton. [Free BMD] Ted Sutton was born Edmonton Q2 1887. [Free BMD] 1881 Census gives John J and Elizabeth Sutton (both born Blackmore) living in Southwark, St Olave. 1901 Census.  Living Middlesex; with John Joseph age 47 & Elizabeth age 47. Born 1887 Middlesex. Also brother David Sutton, age 6. 1911 Census. Ted Sutton is living at 66 Seaford Rd Tottenham, labourer age 23; father John Joseph is widower, occupation, carman. Burial Register: “Gunner Ted Sutton. 1 War Hospital, Exeter. Thirtieth November 1918. 31 Years.”  “John Joseph Sutton. The Bridge, Blackmore. August 6 1932. 77 Years.” (almost certainly the father of deceased).  [Source: Original register in church safe] There’s a John J Sutton death registered in Ongar RD Q3 1932, age 77.  [Free BMD]  This agrees with his birth date of ca 1855.  It also shows that John Joseph moved back to Blackmore sometime after 1911, and might well have been here in 1919, when the decisions were taken as to who to include on the War Memorial.
Date of Death: 24th November 1918
Age: 31
Where died: Wounded at Ypres. Needs to be verified – at this date the 211th siege battery appears to have been operating much further south, on the Somme or in Normandy.  Exeter Hospital
Place of Burial or Commemoration: Blackmore. St Laurence churchyard
List of Sources: Ancestry, Church Safe with grateful acknowledgment to the Vicar and churchwardens, Commonwealth War Graves Commission, Free BMD.