SHOEING SMITH GEORGE HALTON
ROYAL FIELD ARTILLERY
30TH JULY 1917 AGE 22
BURIED: COXYDE MILITARY CEMETERY, BELGIUM
In 1920, when the details of Coxyde Cemetery were finalised, George Halton's brother was still 'missing in action'. Their mother, seemingly caring nothing for the normal conventions of headstone inscriptions, used George's epitaph to send him a direct message. It is obvious that while she could derive some comfort from knowing where George was buried the unknown fate of her other son was an added grief.
Twenty-eight men with the surname Halton were killed in the war, nine of them are commorated on memorials because their bodies were never found and so they have no known grave: none of them can be identified as George Halton's brother. He could be Gunner R Halton who was killed in action on 12 July 1917 and is commemorated on the Nieuport Memorial, finalised in 1928. Gunner R Halton and George Halton both served with C Battery, 168th Brigade Royal Field Artillery.
A Shoeing Smith, someone with the responsibilty for shoeing horses, was a both a trade qualification and an army rank.