Belton Men who Served in WW1
THE BELTON MEN WHO MARCHED AWAY TO WAR IN 1914 – 1918
Excerpt from From Belton at War
In the census of 1911, 85 families were recorded as living in the parish of Belton making a total population of 297. The village at that time was an agricultural settlement and the majority of the men were agricultural labourers or working as gardeners or servants in the big houses. But no doubt, the patriotic fervour of the time, and the exciting opportunity to fight the enemy, seemed preferable to the hum drum life of work on the land. For 4 years the inns in Belton must have been very quiet and the farmers desperate for labour to work in the fields.
Ignoring boys and elderly men from the 157 males recorded in the census, it can be seen that a large percentage of these able bodied men enlisted to fight. Of the 73 who marched to the battlefields, 7 were killed and 6 returned with permanent injuries. There is no record of those who came home severely traumatised by their experiences and the horrors they had taken part in and seen.
The names below record the men from Belton who fought in WW1. As can be seen, families of brothers, together with some of their fathers, enlisted to fight the enemy.
| ALLEN Albert Thomas | BUZZARD Arthur Boughton | MARLOW Alfred |
| ASHBY John William | BUZZARD Bernard | MARLOW Arthur |
| BETTS Charles William – killed. | BUZZARD Charles | MARLOW Charles |
| BETTS Ernest William | BUZZARD George William | MARLOW Ernest |
| BETTS Harold William – gassed. | BUZZARD Henry Leonard White | MARLOW Frank |
| BETTS William | BUZZARD John Howard | MAWSON Cecil A.G. – Lieut. |
| BINDLEY Frederick – awarded the Military Medal – wounded. | BUZZARD William Junr. | MAWSON W.M. Willmott – Capt. |
| CAMM Arthur – P.O.W. gassed. | OVENS James Hatton | |
| BRADSHAW Richard | CAMM Frederick Charles | OVENS William |
| BROWETT Arthur Ernest | CAMM Philip Otley – killed. | REEVE Charles Edward – killed. |
| BROWETT Ernest H. | CAMM William | REEVE Francis William |
| BROWETT Frederick | CLARKE George | REEVE George Henry |
| BROWETT George Edward – killed. | CLARKE William James – killed. | RINGROSE Archibald T. |
| BROWETT Harry | COLES Arthur James | ROBINSON Frederick – killed. |
| BROWN Alfred | COLES John Sidney | STEVENSON George Henry |
| BROWN James | COOPER Thomas J. | TARR Samuel Frank |
| BROWN William | COX J. Alec | TARR Samuel James |
| BUXTON Edward | DAWSON Guy R.F. | UPHILL Arthur James |
| BUXTON John | DODDEN Frank | WADD George Edwin – wounded. |
| BUXTON Stevens – awarded the Distinguished Conduct Medal and the Military Medal. | HUDSON Andrew | WADLAND Philip |
| HUDSON George | WEBB Abram – killed (see Life in the Trenches) | |
| HUDSON John Francis | WEBB Frederick | |
| BUXTON Thomas | JAKES Harry | WEBB John |
| BUXTON William – awarded the Military Medal, also the Parchment Certificate for meritorious work. | JAKES Leonard | WEBB John William |
| JELLEY William Cecil – gassed. | WEBB William | |
| KENDALL Harry – P.O.W. | WILFORD James Joseph | |
| WILSON Frederick |
