11947 Pte Foster Guthrie, 10th Bn, DLI

11947 Private Foster Guthrie of the 10th Battalion, Durham Light Infantry, was killed in action on the 1st February 1916. His partial service record survives as a burnt document at the National Archive, and the following information is taken from this.

He was born in the parish of St Mary's in Gateshead and at the time of his enlistment at Newcastle on the 14th August 1914, he was 26 years and two months old, five feet five and a half inches tall, and working as a moulder. He came from a large family and in 1919, according to Army Form W.5080, had his parents, one brother and five sisters still living.

Foster's death in action was confirmed by the officer commanding the 10th DLI, and he was buried at Essex Farm Cemetery by the Yser Canal, the Reverend Telford of the 4rd Light Infantry Brigade, officiating

After the war, Foster's medals, his memorial scroll and plaque, were sent to his father, Mr Walter Guthrie, at 334 Sunderland Road, Gateshead

I also remember today, my grandfather, Walter Leonard Nixon, a Great War veteran who served with the Royal Garrison Artillery between 1916 and 1918 and who was born on this day in 1893.

At the going down of the sun, and in the morning, WE WILL REMEMBER THEM.

Sources:

Ancestry.co.uk (MIC, WO363)
Army Ancestry
Army Service Numbers 1881-1918
Commonwealth War Graves Commission
Soldiers Died in The Great War