Autbert Christopher Cedric DUTTON

12 October 1917

DUTTON – September 20th 1917, killed in action on the Western Front, Corporal Autbert Christopher Cedric Dutton, sixth and youngest son of the late Rev. A. C. Dutton, rector of Lothersdale, and of Mrs. Dutton, Gargrave, aged 19 years.

12 October 1917

GARGRAVE – CORPORAL A.C.C. DUTTON: A Sixth Son Pays the Price

We regret to state that Corporal Autbert Christopher Cedric Dutton, sixth and youngest son of the late Rev. C. A. Dutton, Rector of Lothersdale, and of Mrs. Dutton, Gargrave, was killed in action on September 20th in the Ypres Menine battle. No particulars are at present forthcoming, except the following letter from his captain:–

“Dear Madam, – On behalf of my company, allow me to convey to you our deepest sympathy in the loss of your gallant son. He was killed, bravely doing his duty, in the advance on the 20th inst. I had a great opinion of him. It is a great blow to you to lose such a boy, but may I say it, there is consolation and pride in the knowledge that you were permitted to be the mother of such a man, who made the supreme sacrifice in the cause of liberty and right. With deepest sympathy, believe me, yours faithfully, S. W. TOMLINSON, Capt.”

Mr. Dutton went out to South Africa at the age of 16, where four others of his brothers are doing good work for their country. He was a boy of exceptional ability and trustworthiness. During the Rebellion in South Africa, engineered by Germans at the beginning of the war, he was one the Secret Intelligence Staff under the Provost Marshal (Major H. W. Hamilton Fowle). He had several interesting German relics relating to this period, viz., photographs of captured German officers, amongst them that of the officer who commanded the poisoning of the wells in German South-East Africa; the flying officer in his aeroplane who harassed their lines of communication; together with passports, identification papers, &c. He then became secretary to General Smuts, at that time Minister of Defence and Finance, and was on excellent terms with his honoured chief. It is recorded that on a certain occasion the General said to him “ What is this ‘Tipperary’ I hear so much of?” Someone entering the chief’s office later was amused to find young Dutton giving the General vocal demonstration of the soldiers’ popular marching song.

Deceased gave up a career full of promise at the age of 17 to enlist as a private with troops bound for England. After three months’ training in South Africa and finishing the course in England, he was drafted to Egypt, and was there in action against the Senusie. He was seriously wounded on the Somme last year, and was three times offered a commisson, but he prefered to remain with those he had been with from the first, and had come to regard as friends. He was educated at Hereford Cathedral School, and was killed at the age of 19½ years.

REFERENCE BY THE VICAR

At the close of his sermon on Sunday night, at the Parish Church, on the subject of the continuity of this life with the next, the Rev. A. C Blunt, vicar, very feelingly referred to the sad event. He said:– “Since we last met here another name has been added to the Gargrave Roll of Honour. At the call of his King and Country, Corporal Dutton fell bravely doing his duty, and we who knew him will honour his memory as we have done others who have fallen. Tonight our thoughts go out in sympathy to his sorrowing mother and family, and we trust that God will give them great comfort in their trouble.” At the close of the service Mr. E. Burlend played the Dead March on the organ, the congregation reverently standing meanwhile, and then leaving the sacred edifice in silence.

26 October 1917

GARGRAVE – The Late Corporal Dutton

Such a large number of sympathetic letters in reference to her son’s death have been received by Mrs. Dutton that she finds it impossible to thank the writers separately and begs her neighbours and all who have so kindly written to accept her heartfelt thanks through the medium of this paper. Among the letters referred to the following was received from General Smuts:– “Dear Madam, – I am asked by General Smuts that you will allow him to convey his respectful sympathy to you at this moment when you are mourning a beloved son, a gallant soldier. The war has taken heavy toll of South Africans, whether they be such by grace or by adoption, and whether they served in South African or other units, and warm tributes are spontaneously paid to their charm as companions and their bravery as soldiers. That your son’s sacrifice may not be in vain is General Smuts’ fervent wish. Believe me, Yours in sympathy, ----- Private Secretary.”

25 January 1918

STOP PRESS

KENNAN – On the 21st January, at Gargrave, Yorkshire, Dorothy Margaret, in her 27th year, wife of Thomas Brereton Kennan, Basutoland Mounted Police, and daughter of the late Rev. C.A. Dutton, Rector of Lothersdale, and Mrs. Dutton, Gargrave.

[Sister of Cpl. A.C.C. Dutton, killed in action, 20 September 1917]

14 March 1919

LOTHERSDALE – MEMORIAL TABLET UNVEILED

During the evening service at the Parish Church last Sunday, a marble tablet in memory of Autbert Christopher Cedric Dutton, son of the late Rector, was unveiled in the presence of a good congregation by the Rector, who delivered a short address. Appropriate prayers were read, and the anthem ‘Blest are the departed’ was sung by the choir.

The inscription on the tablet is as follows:– “For God, King and Country. In ever loving memory of Autbert Christopher Cedric Dutton, of the 3rd South African Infantry, 6th son of the late Rev. C. A. and Helen Dutton. He fought against the Senussi in Egypt, was wounded in the battle of the Somme, 1916, and was killed in action in the Ypres-Menin Road battle, September 20th 1917 aged 19 years.”