The Quintons and the War

The Great War tragedy of the Quintons

Cutting from Canadian Virtual War Memorial

What are the chances of only one of the four branches of the immediate family being impacted by the First World War? Pretty minimal, you would think, but that's the case for this family. All three Quinton boys who survived to adulthood were killed in WW1 - William in France in 1916, Albert as a POW in Mesopotamia later the same year, and Arthur in France as late as April 1918. Yet none of the Baker, Carter or Luetchford children were killed in action. See here for the text of a letter from William to his sister Kate (Caroline Edith Quinton, by then married to Frank Baker #2).

William Quinton (left) and Albert Quinton (right) - both died in 1916

In the Second World War the only known fatality was Bert Evans, son in law of Nell Quinton. Same family, again. 

I can't find any evidence of other war "in the line of duty" fatalities in the "immediate" family. 

However some Gibbs' cousins of the Quinton boys did die in the army, both, like Will Quinton, fighting in a Canadian uniform - Richard James Gibbs who had emigrated to Ontario as a boy in the 1880s, and Leonard Charles Gibbs who had only been in Canada 18 months before joining up.

One of Henrietta Luetchford's sons, Sydney Scott, died in action in Flanders in 1918.

 Harry Quilter, great grandson of James Pond, was killed in Gaza, Palestine in 1917; Arthur James Eves, great great grandson of Nathaniel Middleditch #2, was also recorded as killed the same day as Harry, the same place, and from the same Essex Regiment. Arthur Eves' elder brother Thomas Robin Eves, serving in the Seaforth Highlanders, was killed in France in 1917.

Two Langridges died - Henry Arthur Langridge, who like William Quinton had volunteered in Canada, died in France in 1916, and his nephew, William Charles Langridge who died in France in 1917, just 20.

This does not mean that other family members did not suffer, for example both Frank Carter and Jack Luetchford were injured in the First World War.