- See William Arthur Higton’s entry on the Board of Trade’s Ancestry public tree.
- This information updates the group’s previous research published on the former DTI website (now archived by the National Archives).
- Do you have any more information about William Arthur Higton? If so the War Memorial Research Group would love to hear from you
Name recorded on Board of Trade Memorial: W. A. Higton
Born: 25 February 1897, Dulwich, London
Date of Death: 30 July 1917
Age at death: 20
Service, Regiment, Corps, etc: East Surrey Regiment
Unit, Ship, etc: 7th Battalion
Enlisted: Kingston upon Thames
Rank: Private (Service No: S/7203)
Decorations: WW1 Service Medals (British War Medal and Victory Medal)
War (and theatre): WW1 (France and Flanders)
Manner of Death: Died of Wounds (DOW)
Family Details: Son of Frederick P and Emily Higton, 65 Trigon Road, Clapham, London
Residence:
Home Department: Board of Trade – Bankruptcy Department (High Court)
Civilian Rank: Personal Clerk
Cemetery or Memorial: Tottenham & Wood Green Cemetery (Gen.7304 Screen Wall); Board of Trade War Memorial;
Biography:
William Arthur Higton was born on 25 February 1897 in Dulwich London. He was from a large family with seven brothers – Frederick Percival Higton (1889-1961), Walter Edward Higton (1891-1934), Albert Higton (1900-1963), Stanley Higton (1901-1997), George Higton (1902-1986) , Ralph Higton (1903-1904) and Robert Stanley Higton (1905-1912) and two sisters – Violet Victoria Higton (1887-1948) and Bella Frances Higton (1896-1966).
In the 1901 census, William is aged 4 and living with his family at 18 Crogsland Road, St Pancras, London.
William next appears in records, aged 8, starting as a pupil at Haverstock Hill School in Camden, London (which he joined on 28 August 1905).
Then, by the 1911 census, the Higton family are living at 1 Upper Holly Hill Road, Belvedere, Erith, Kent. Like his father, Frederick, the young William (now aged 14) is working at the law courts as a clerk. It is possible that this refers to the start of his working life at the Bankruptcy Department at the Board of Trade.
William Higton is noted on a Board of Trade list of April 1918 as having been in the 4th Battalion (Extra Reserve) of the East Surrey Regiment. William enlisted in the East Surrey Regiment on 28 August 1914 when William was 17 years old. A photo of him does not survive, but we know from his enlistment index record that he was around 5ft tall with hazel eyes and fair hair.
The 7th (Service) Battalion was formed at Kingston upon Thames in August 1914. It moved part of the 37th Brigade in the 12th (Eastern) Division. Along with other men from the battalion, William would have been based in Purfleet, Essex and then billeted to Sandgate. In February 1915, the battalion was based at Albuhera Barracks in Aldershot, Hampshire. William first served overseas with the battalion from 2 June 1915 when the troops landed at Boulogne, France.
The following further information has been supplied a few years ago by Mark Higton, his great-nephew, and the Trade Historians Group are grateful for his assistance.
“William Arthur Higton was the second son of Frederick Percival Higton (1865-1941), HD Clerk/Law Attendant at the High Court, late of the Blues and Royals, and Emily Alice Higton, nee Webb (1866-1949) a Curator at the National Portrait Gallery.
He was wounded in action during the 3rd Battle of Arras but succumbed to wounds received, dying on the Monday 30th July 1917 at Edmonton Military Hospital (now North Middlesex Hospital). The family has his British War Medal and his Medal Index Card states he was also entitled to the Victory Medal. At the outbreak of the war, his mother had insisted that all her sons should serve if they were able. She therefore returned the Victory Medal stating that all those that served had done their duty, and that the standard award would be satisfactory. This was the British War Medal.
His brother Walter Edmund Higton was a Warrant Officer in the 1st Battalion, Imperial Australian Infantry, serving in France and Flanders where he won the Military Medal during the Battle of Hargicourt between 18-21 September 1918. Sadly, Walter died in the 1930s from the effects of the wounds he had received during the Great War. Their cousin, William Albert Evans, who fought with the Royal Field Artillery, had served at Mons and had been killed in action some three months before William during the 2nd Battle of Arras.
William’s great, great grandfather was John Higton (1775-1827), an artist that exhibited at the Royal Academy between 1795 – 1815, and who was originally born in Virginia. The family had been Loyalists and returned to Britain with Charles Cornwallis, 1st Marquess Cornwallis to Cork, Ireland. Both he and every successive Higton male served in the Civil Service, and it is likely that William’s father helped him secure his position at the Board of Trade. William therefore came from a long line of civil servants, of which he was the last.
William was survived by his parents, four brothers, and three sisters, and was greatly missed.”
William is buried at Tottenham and Wood Green Cemetery in north-east London. The photos of the cemetery were taken by Mark Higton.
Board of Trade War Memorial 