Remembrance - The Yorkshire Regiment, First World War 2nd Lieutenant William Vernon FENTON Close window to return to main page

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The above photo is from the Cranleigh School Roll of Honour

2nd Lieutenant William Vernon FENTON.

8th Battalion the Yorkshire Regiment. Eldest son of Mr. W. H. Fenton, J.P., and E. M. Fenton, of Heston House, Heston, Middx. Killed 16 September 1915. Aged 21.
Buried in the BOIS-GRENIER COMMUNAL CEMETERY.

The following additional information is taken from the book "Marjorie's War" by Reginald and Charles Fair;-
"2/Lt William Vernon Fenton died of wounds received from an enemy shellburst when going into the trenches for the first time on 16 September 1915. He was educated at Cranleigh School where he served in the OTC. A student in 1914, he joined the University and Public Schools Brigade of the Royal Fusiliers before being commissioned into the 8th Yorkshires on 8 February 1915. "
("He was badly wounded in the head and died that night.......")

The following additional biographical information is taken from Roberts Coulson's Biographies of Officers of the Yorkshire Regiment;-
"William Fenton was born in Sunbury on Thames on March 19th 1894 and was educated at Cranleigh School.
At the onset of war he joined the Universities and Public Schools Corps and was gazetted on February 8th 1915.
His war was very short, arriving with the 8th Battalion on August 27th 1915. Early September found them in Erquinghem where platoons were sent into the line for instruction and training.
It was during one of these exercises that 2nd Lt Fenton was wounded and taken to a Casualty Clearing Station where he died of his injuries on September 16th 1915 aged just 21. He was the first officer casualty of the 8th Battalion."

Captain Dodgson wrote to his mother in October 1915,
“A shell burst just behind the trench and caught poor Fenton who was walking from one dugout to the next. He was badly wounded in the head and died that night”.

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