Family :

Service Life:

Campaigns:

• The First World War 1914-1918, World-wide.

The Battle of the Somme 1st July - 18th November 1916 is inevitably characterised by the appalling casualties (60,000) on the first day, July 1st 1916. Having failed to break through the German lines in force, and also failed to maximise opportunities where success was achieved, the battle became a series of attritional assaults on well defended defence in depth. The battle continued officially until 18th November 1916 costing almost 500,000 British casualties. German casualties were about the same, and French about 200,000. The Somme could not be counted a success in terms of ground gained or the cost, but it had a strategic impact as it marked the start of the decline of the German Army. Never again would it be as effective whilst the British Army, learning from its experience eventually grew stronger to become a war winning army. The German High Command recognised that it could never again fight another Somme, a view that advanced the decision to invoke unrestricted submarine warfare in an attempt to starve Britain of food and material, and in doing so accelerated the United States declaration of war thus guaranteeing the eventual outcome. 287 Brethren were killed on the Somme in 1916.

Detail :

Coulton, Aubrey Ewan LONDESBOROUGH LODGE 734 Captain, 6th Batt Norfolk Regt., attached 2/6 Royal Warwickshire Regt; born in 1889; fell at Drury Lane Trenches, Laventie, close to Estaires July 19, 1916. SUBSIDIARY ATTACK AT FROMELLES SEE TRENCH MAP OH P.127; The two companies of the 2/6 R.Warwicks had lost heavily during their deployment (in No Mans Land); they pressed on towards The Wick salient until they were checked in front of the German wire which was almost intact. Machine Gun fire in enfilade at close range now took a terrible toll of them. The few who struggled through towards the German parapet were shot down before they could close. A third Company which had left the British line to reinforce the assault was stopped by machine gun fire whilst still in no mans land. At first he was posted as ?missing, believed killed,? but on Nov. 12, 1916, the following telegram was received from the War Office: ?Regret to inform you that the name of Capt. A. E. Coulton, Norfolk Regt., appears in a German list of dead. No. 183A disc recovered. No further particulars.? In a letter dated July 21, 1916, Lieut-Col J. J. Shannessy, 2/6 Royal Warwick Regt., wrote: ?Capt. Coulton was last seen leading his company in an attack on the German trenches and was seen to fall seriously wounded ??..I feel his loss deeply; he was a splendid fellow and a highly efficient officer. It will be some consolation to you to know that he fell doing his duty in a noble and heroic way. He was a great favourite with us all???? From the narrative of Sergt. W. Bigland: ?Our orders from Capt. Coulton were to advance in four waves, myself being in charge of the second and the Captain the third, with instructions to lie down and wait the signal to advance from him. Captain Coulton was ten yards or so to my left and during the rush got in front of me. He turned round and shouted ?Come on, Bigland? (I had picked up a bag of bombs, having my rifle broken), and while turning round to shout to me he was hit ??.Where the Captain fell would be about 60 yards from the enemy?s trenches??In my mind there is no possible doubt that he died instantly, as from the similarity of my wound (in the shoulder) he was shot through the head with a machine-gun.? Sergt. Bigland adds that Capt Colton had only a stick in his hand with a spike iron at the end and his revolver pouch. Of the 180 men in his company who went out there were 79 casualties. Bigland thought Saxons were manning trenches that day, but they may have been reinforced by Bavarians or Prussians. Pte Childs a machine gunner, who was hit in the chest and shoulder by machine-gun fire during the attack says: ?Everyone liked Capt. Coulton; you never saw him without a smile on his face. I don?t believe anyone ever did, no matter what was going on. Those 16 days we were in the trenches without any rest he was walking up and down the trenches with the shells bursting close to him, right in the trench and he was smiling and saying funny things to make the men cheerful. Once the trench was blown in and some of the men were buried and the Captain stood and dug them out right in the thick of the fire. I was helping him. Captain Coulton never used to get flurried. He was always cool and smiling and you felt safe with him. We would have followed him anywhere.? - The last evening he was in England, Capt Coulton was standing in a Norfolk garden watching the sun setting across the meadow to the river Nar. ?How beautiful it is!? he exclaimed. ?I wonder if I shall ever see it again.? The last thing he wrote was a pencilled note written when he must have known that he was going to almost certain death the next day. ???Things are very cheery, I think. Pray God it is the beginning of the end ??? Thus was one of Lynn?s most promising lives cut short. Aubrey Coulton was the elder son of Mr. Richard Calthrop Coulton and a grandson of Mr. John James Coulton, and he was a partner in the legal firm of Coulton and Sons, King-st., Lynn. He had been very successful in law examinations, for in Feb., 1913 it was announced that at the examination for honours to candidates for admission on the Roll of Solicitors of the Supreme Court, Aubrey Ewan Coulton was recommended as being entitled to honourable distinction (Class 1). His name was the only one which appears in Class 1 of the distinctions and he was also awarded the Daniel Reardon Prize of books and the Clement?s Inn Prize of books. He was educated at King Edward VII Grammar School, Lynn under the Rev F Stephenson. He served his articles with his father and read with Messrs Gibson and Welldon the law coaches. He was gazetted second-lieutenant in the 6th Norfolks on Sept. 17, 1908; a lieutenant on Jan 26, 1910; and was promoted Captain shortly before the outbreak of war. The Gazette of July 27, 1916 announced that he had been seconded for duty with the Warwickshire Regt. At a meeting of the Grimston magistrates on April 30, 1915 he was appointed clerk to the justices in succession to the late Mr. J. S. B. Glasier, but except for one occasion when home on leave he never attended at the Court in his official capacity, having been on military service since Aug., 1914. On Aug. 5, 1915, the Bench of Magistrates (Mr. W. A. Meredith presiding) passed a vote of condolence with the bereaved relatives, and paid a tribute to Capt. Coulton?s memory. In Oct., 1915, Capt. Coulton was married to Miss Kathleen Anne Clarendon, elder daughter of Dr. D. J. C. Godfrey, of Bridlington. A posthumous daughter, Celia was born in Sept., 1916.

Masonic :

Source :

The project globally acknowledges the following as sources of information for research across the whole database:

• The Commonwealth War Graves Commission
• The (UK) National Archives
• Ancestry.co.uk - Genealogy, Family Trees & Family History online
• ugle.org.uk - The records of the United Grand Lodge of England including the Library and Museum of Freemasonry

Additional Source:

• Founder Researchers : Paul Masters & Mike McCarthy
• Researcher : Bruce Littley