William Buckingham Beatton

A Private with 7th Bn. William died on 12th of September 1916 at the age of 38. 

William was born at Orford, Suffolk, in 1877, a son of David John and Harriet Beatton. In 1881 his family lived at The King's Head Inn, Orford, where his father was the licensee. By 1891 William was a boarding pupil at The College, Beccles. 

On 14 June 1900 William married Margaret Jane Barber at Saint Margaret's Church, Lowestoft. William was a fish merchant living at Aldeburgh and Margaret lived at 24 Clapham Road. In 1901 they lived at Aldeburgh and had a house and shop at High Street Central, Aldeburgh, where William had a fish monger's business. By 1911 they were living at 172 Raglan Street and William was the manager at a fish shop. Later Harriet lived at 8 Stanley Street, Lowestoft. 

William enlisted in the Army at Lowestoft in February 1915 and joined the Suffolk Regiment. Initially he served with the 6th (Cyclist) Battalion, service number 2414. In 1916 he was posted to the 7th Battalion in France. 

In September 1916 the 7th Battalion were in positions to the south-west of Arras. The Battalion war diary gives very little detail and entries for 12 and 13 September 1916 read:

12th All quiet
13th Enemy shelled Hope Street

No casualty details are recorded, thus it is not possible to know exactly what happened to William.

 LOWESTOFT AND KIRKLEY [football] PROGRAMME After winning the Football League Championship and the FA Cup in 1897, Aston Villa were officially the best team in England when they travelled to Crown Meadow to take on a combined Lowestoft and Kirkley side for a friendly on February 28, 1898. 

Villa won the match 6-0, but they were so impressed with the performance of Lowestoft captain, William Buckingham Beatton, that they asked him to join them. Beatton politely turned down the best professional side in the country, preferring instead to remain at Lowestoft where, a few weeks later in 1898, he inspired them to win the very first Norfolk and Suffolk League championship

Beatton did join Aston Villa the following November, becoming the first Lowestoft player to be transferred to a professional club. He later returned to his beloved East Anglia and became a fishmonger at Aldeburgh, Suffolk. He and his Lowestoft-born wife, Maggie, had a daughter, also named Maggie, who was born in 1901. 

When the First World War started in 1914, Beatton joined the seventh battalion of the Suffolk Regiment and was killed at the age of 38 at the Battle of the Somme on September 12, 1916. He is buried at Agny Military Cemetery in France. CREDIT: Eastern Daily Press (thanks Catherine Green)