GEORGE HAROLD TOON

George Harold Toon was born in Etwall, Derbyshire, on the eighth of March, 1851, the eldest son of Edwin Toon, Brewer's Clerk, and Ann, his wife.

He attended Etwall Primary School, (then taking pupils from the age of four to fourteen), and was also a regular attendant at the Methodist Sunday School from 1892 to 1896.

The family lived at Spring Bank, Egginton Road, Etwall, and Edwin Toon, his father, commuted daily to Burton on Trent, where he worked as a brewer's clerk in the thriving brewing industry.

Harold Toon went to live in Faringdon, then in Berkshire; for the last eight or nine years of his life, but it appears that he worked in Burton in his early years of manhood.

Harold joined the Army, having enlisted in Faringdon, in the Royal Garrison Artillery. His rank was GUNNER, and his number, 95662.

He died of wounds on the 17th May, 1917, in the theatre of war France and Flanders.

The following is an appreciation of Gunner Toon which appeared in the Burton Mail two weeks after his death on the 31^st May, 1917

"Gunner George Harold Toon, of the Royal Garrison Artillery, son of Mr and Mrs E Toon, and late of Etwall, has died of wounds received in action.

A chaplain, writing to Mr Toon, says that the deceased was admitted to hospital an the 16th inst, suffering from severe wounds in the head and neck. He never regained consciousness and died two days later.

Gunner Toon was well known in Burton, although he had been resident in Faringdon, Berkshire, for eight or nine years.

He was thirty six years of age, and leaves a wife and one child." 

Warlincourt and Saulty are villages on either side of the main road the N25, between Arras, (22km) and Douillens. (15 km).

The site of the cemetery was chosen in May, 1916, and it was used from June 1916 to May, 1917 by the 20th and 43rd Casualty Clearing Stations.

The whole of the plot was filled in April and May with casualties from the Battles of Arras.

Harold Toon was one of those casualties, dying of wounds on the 17th of May 1917.