Archibald Bruton

A Private with the 7th Battalion, Archibald died on 1st of March 1916 at the age of 20. 

Archibald was born at Poplar, London, on 7 August 1895, a son of William James and Annie Bruton. No details of what happened to Archbald’s father are known, but by 1900 his mother was using the surname Osborne. We know that his family lived at Poplar in 1900. His family has not been traced in the 1901 Census, but Archibald Osborne attended Saint Matthias’ School, and, from 26 February 1901 was a pupil at Woolmore Street School, Tower Hamlets, and left on 24 May 1901. By 1903 his family were living at Lowestoft and his half-siblings all had the surname Osborne. In 1907 his family lived at 5 Trafalgar Street, Lowestoft. By 1911 they were living at 3 Gladstone Cottages, Tonning Street. Later his family lived at 5 Richmond Place, Lowestoft.

Archibald volunteered and enlisted in the Army at Lowestoft. He joined the Suffolk Regiment, service number 9347. He was posted to the 7th Battalion and arrived in France with the Battalion on 30 May 1915.  

It appears that Archibald was wounded when the Battalion were in trenches near Noyelles on 26 February when the Battalion was attacked with grenades (rife grenades?) and ‘silenced a sniper’. The Battalion’s casualties for the day were one killed and three wounded. We do not know exactly where he was when he died of wounds, but, given that he is buried at Bethune, he may have been at 33rd Casualty Clearing Station.