Arthur Herbert Britten M.C
Sunday 14 April 1918
Army Rank: LieutenantRegiment: Gloucestershire RegimentBirth: 27 September 1893Death: 14 April 1918Age: 25 yearsCause of death Died of woundsMilitary Cross won for ‘conspicuous bravery and devotion to duty’ at the taking of Messines Ridge.Commemorated with other members of the Gloucestershire Regiment on Panels 72-75 of the Tyne Cot Memorial to the Missing, 9 km north-east of Ypres in Belgium. He is also commemorated at Hereford Cathedral School and Hereford Cathedral. The following has been taken from ‘Teddy Bear Tails to Itchy Tights’ – a history for Hereford Cathedral Prep School (now Hereford Cathedral Junior School), by Jill Howard-Jones. Our thanks to Jill for her permission to use this material. “He was born at his home at Edenhurst in Bodenham Road, Hereford, on 27 September 1893, the last of eleven children. His father, land agent William Edward Britten, was then 44 and his mother, Alice, 43. Notwithstanding the demands of their large young family, the parents had Arthur baptised within 4 weeks of his birth.William only lived to see Arthur into the Cathedral Preparatory School in the wake of his brothers, while Alice survived to mourn both her youngest and her eldest sons. Seventeen years separated the oldest and youngest brothers. To Arthur, Charles must have seemed a heroic figure. Locally too, he was esteemed in sporting circles; his career at the National Provincial Bank lasting only until a taste for action and adventure drove him into the Shropshire Yeomanry where he intrepidly survived the whole of the South African War. When world war broke out in 1914, he was in Johannesburg and immediately volunteered for service with General Botha against the Germans in South Africa.Meanwhile young Arthur, having completed his education, likewise entered a bank, the Metropolitan, which he left only 6 months later in order to join another older brother then in business in Hereford. Aware of his country’s need and his brother’s apparent ease in bearing a charmed life while serving abroad, Arthur enlisted as a private in the Grenadier Guards. That splendid regiment spent the winter of 1914 with gigantic trench rats for company, fat from feeding on the dead bodies in No Man’s Land. How often, during the interminable waiting for enemy action, did Arthur fight sleep, willing warmth into his mud-soaked limbs, by dreaming of cricket at the Prep on the Castle Green?The frost-bite won; blood poisoning intervened. Whale oil applied to his toes failed to prevent trench feet. Dreams of Hereford became reality: he was sent home; the price: amputation of several toes. Recognition awaited him, however. Private Arthur Herbert Britten was awarded a commission—in the Gloucestershire Regiment, with whose 12th Battalion he was to serve continuously through the campaign of 1916-17. Thus the younger brother rose to the rank of lieutenant at almost the same time as the elder, since Charles, a gunner in the Cape Artillery had seen the completion of the war in South Africa and returned to England where he also obtained a commission, in the Royal Field Artillery. All seemed set fair.Then, on 25 July 1916, Charles received shrapnel wounds in his chest and thighs. The poisonous nature of his injuries meant that both his legs had to be amputated. Does it matter—losing your legs?For people will always be kind,And you need not show that you mind,When others come in after hunting,To gobble their muffins and eggs.From Does it Matter by Siegfried SassoonPerhaps mercifully, Charles didn’t have to face his hunting pals at home again. He died in Abbeville Hospital in France; he was 40 years old. His obituary included a reference to his younger brother who had lost his toes in similar but less fatal circumstances and who ‘has latterly been on home service but is again ordered abroad.’That order took Lieutenant Arthur Britten to Belgium where, according to the Commonwealth War Graves Commission, he was killed on 14 April 1918, the Hereford Times for April 27th 1918 reporting that he was ‘killed in action in France.’ He has no known grave and so is commemorated with other members of the Gloucestershire Regiment on Panels 72-75 of the Tyne Cot Memorial to the Missing, 9 km north-east of Ypres in Belgium.Arthur was awarded the M.C. in the New Year’s Honors list for 1918. His medal citation reads:For conspicuous gallantry in action. He displayed great courage and ability when in charge of the newly captured front, and greatly assisted in the organisation and defence of the line. He set a fine example throughout.Death notice in the Hereford Times, Saturday, April 27, 1918:We regret to announce the death of Lieut. Arthur Britten of the Gloucester Regiment who was killed in action in France on 14th April. Lt. Britten joined H.M. Forces in August 1914, enlisting as a private in the Grenadier Guards, with which regiment he served for nearly twelve months. He was with the Guards in the trenches for a considerable portion of the winter of 1914 and was invalided home with trench fever and had to undergo an operation to one of his feet. In 1915 he was awarded a commission in the labor battalion of the Gloucester Regt. under Col. Sir Harry Webb, and after being transferred to the 12th Battalion of the Glos. Regt. with which he served continuously through the campaigns of 1916 and 1917. He was awarded the M.C. for conspicuous bravery and devotion to duty at the taking of Messines Ridge.Lieut. Arthur Britten was the youngest son of the late Mr. W.E. Britten of Hereford and was 24 years of age. He was educated at Hereford Cathedral and Lucton Schools and then entered the Metropolitan Bank. Six months before the outbreak of the war he left the bank and joined his brother W.G.C. Britten in business in Hereford.The death of another brother Lieut. Charles E. Britten has already been announced. The remaining brother, Lieut. John Jeffries Britten is still in France serving with the Royal Field Artillery. He has also won the Military Cross.To his widowed mother, Alice, he left £223 10s 11d, and his Military Cross won for ‘conspicuous bravery and devotion to duty’ at the taking of Messines Ridge. His old school subsequently recognised his bravery too, giving his name to ‘Britten’ House.”