LIEUTENANT T.G. HAUGHTON

LIEUTENANT T.G. HAUGHTON
12TH BATTALION ROYAL IRISH RIFLES
(CENTRAL ANTRIM VOLUNTEERS)

Thomas Greenwood Haughton, son of Mr Thomas Haughton J. P., and Catherine Isabel Haughton,Hillmount,was educated at Edgbaston Preparatory School, Birmingham, and St. Edmund’s School, Oxford.

Before the First World War broke out he was commander of E. Company, U.V.F., in Cullybackey. When war was declared he at once offered his services and had been at the front since October, 1915. Lieutenant Haughton was an able and enthusiastic officer and very popular with his brother officers and men. He was killed in action on the 1st July 1916 at the Battle of the Somme whilst leading his men to attack German trenches during the advance of the Ulster Division. When news that he had been killed reached his native district, there were expression of deep regret from all in the area, and on the 16th July 1916 a memorial service in his memory was held in the Craigs Parish Church.

Whilst living at the family home in Hillmount, Lieutenant Haughton was a regular attender at Divine service in the Craigs Parish Church and was closely associated with the work of the parish, acting for a number of years as churchwarden.

Lieutenant Haughton was a director in the firm of Messrs. Frazer and Haughton, Hillmount, and such was the esteem in which he was held that the employees considered it but right and proper to erect a memorial in his memory. This was in the form of a brass mural tablet, along with a brass book rest presented by the Rev. H. C. Townsend, B.A., rector of Craigs Parish Church and dedicated by the Rev. W. H. A. Lee, M. A., on Sunday 6th May 1917. The inscription reads:-“To the glory of God, and in memory of Thomas Greenwood Haughton, Lieutenant, 12th B. Royal Irish Rifles, who was killed in action July 1st, 1916, near Thiepval, in the battle of the Somme, France, aged 25 years. When killed he was leading his men in a most gallant manner towards the German trenches. This tablet is erected by the employees in Hillmount Bleach Green.”

He was laid to rest in Plot I.A. 15 in the Hamel Military Cemetery, Beaumont Hamel, Somme, France.

 

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