South Warwickshire Family History Society War Memorial Transcription Project

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 The Fallen Men of South Warwickshire - World War One

2nd Lieutenant Ronald Francis HUNT - 3rd Battalion attached 1st Battalion Royal Warwickshire Regiment


Killed in Action - Sunday, April 25, 1915 aged 25
 Military History

Theatre

France & Flanders

Action/Battle/Other

Second Battle of Ypres

Place of Death

St. Julien

 

Medals

1915 Star, British War and Victory Medals

Medal Citation (if app)

~

Enlisted Date/Place

8 Aug 1914 at Valcartier, Canada

 

Commonwealth War Graves Page

Ypres (Menin Gate) Memorial

SWFHS War Memorial(s)

Budbroke
Warwick School

Other War Memorial(s)

 

Previous Regiments/Units

Private 28899 - 72nd Regiment Seaforth Highlanders (Canadian) later 16th Battalion Canadian Infantry and then Commissioned into Royal Warwicks on 17 Jan 1915 after arriving in the UK.

Circumstances Leading to Death (Normally from War Diary)

Just after midnight on the 25th the 1st Battalion left Ypres and made their way NE to  where they received orders to attack German positions and they went forward in support of the Argyle & Sutherland Highlanders and attacked the wood to the left of the line while the Seaforth Highlanders, Royal Irish and Royal Dublin Fusiliers attacked the St. Julien to the left. However progress was held up as the supporting artillery barrarge was insufficient and the attack was stopped and the battalion dug in and consolidated any gains made. The attack came at huge cost of 517 men killed, wounded or missing. See alo Private Arthur Higgerson who was killed the next day.

The Second Battle of Ypres saw the first mass use of poison gas by the German army who fired Chlorine gas shells at British lines who no effective protection and led to the infamous order that troops should urinate into their underpants and breathe through them as urine contains chemicals that can counter the effects of chlorine. This ultimately led to the production of more effective gasmasks. See alo Private Arthur Higgerson who was killed the next day

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 St Julian area map  Ypres (Menin Gate) Memorial  Urine soaked clothes in use
 Personal & Family History

Birth Date & Place

30 Mar 1889 Budbrooke

Baptism Date & Place

21 May 1889 - Budbrooke St. Michael

Parents

Reverend Oliver and Emma Hunt
Budbroke St. Michael Church

Wife & Marriage

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Children

~

 

 

Occupation(s)

  • 1911 - Farmer in Canada
  • 1914 - Broker in Canada

Schools & Colleges

Address History

  • 1891 - The Vicarage, Budbrooke
  • 1901 - The Vicarage, Budbrooke
  • 1903 - Winnipeg, Canada
  • 1911 - Hardisty, Canada but visiting UK on 1911 census. He returned to Canada, arrived on 23 Apr 1911 from Liverpool
  • 1914 - Hardisty

Other Information

Ronald emigrated to Canada in 1903 arriving at Halifax, Nova Scotia on 28 Mar 1913. By 1911 he had moved to the logging town of Hardisty. He seems to have been a pioneer as Hardisty was only formed as a hamlet in 1906 and became a town in 1911, famous for it first of all being a "tent city" which housed the lumberjacks and support workers in the logging industry. 

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