Wednesday 1 July 2015

Coulton, Edwin - Private (85737)

Pte Edwin Coulton
209th Battalion,
Machine Gun Corps (Infantry)
Killed in Action,
24th October 1918,
age 21
Buried Templeuve Communal Cemetery Tournai.

Newspaper Report:

Mr. and Mrs. J.W. Coulton, 8 Store Street, Haslingden have received information of the death of their son, Private Edwin Coulton, Machine Gun Corps, from wounds received in action.
Private Coulton was 21 on October 17th, - six days before he was killed.  He enlisted December 7th, 1916, up to which time he had been a weaver at Cotton's Laneside mill, and he is on the Parish Church roll of honour.  He had been in France nearly nine months.  Last Christmas he was in England through trench fever.  He was home on leave the week before the Haslingden holidays in July.  He wrote home the most cheery letters, and in his last letter said he would be home soon for the war was nearly over.  He was one of three brothers who have served in the war.  One has been a prisoner in Germany for nearly a year, another, as a result of wounds, has lost his left leg from below the knee. In writing to Private Coulton's mother, a lieutenant says:  "We were all very fond of him, and miss him most awfully.  He was always cheerful and the heart and soul of his team.  He was a fine soldier, and took his wounds like a man, without flinch.  Words cannot express how much we feel his loss.  He was buried in a village near here.  Please accept the deepest sympathy of my section."

Newspaper Memorial:

In loving memory of Private Edwin Coulton (200th Batt. M.G.C.), died October 24th 1918.

"Silently as the shades of evening,
Gather round our lonely door,
Silenty they bring before us,
The face of one we may see no more."

From father, mother, brothers and sisters, 8 Store Street, Haslingden.


Pte Edwin Coulton - Census Certificate - (Click over to enlarge)