BORN HULL 1883. SON OF JOSEPH LAUGHTON (1850-1915) & CLARA COOPER (1854-1913). ONE OF NINE CHILDREN AT THIS 1901 CENSUS ADDRESS. HE ENLISTED IN THE 13TH HULL PAL. KILLED AT SERRE ON 13/11/1916, AGED 33. HIS PROBATE ADDRESS WAS ENDYKE LANE. HIS BROTHER FRED AND FRANK ALSO DIED DURING THE WAR AND ARE COMMEMORATED TOGETHER ON THE DUNSWELL SUNDIAL WW1 MEMORIAL.
ANOTHER BROTHER GEORGE, EYR, LIVED – 10 NEVADA TERRACE, BLUNDELL STREET.
Hull Pals Memorial Post. PRIVATE SAMUEL LAUGHTON 10/1088. Hard man to pin down for certain, but I believe Samuel was born in Hull in 1883 and lived on Endyke Lane, Cottingham. His journey once war was declared is the all-too familiar path from enlistment at City Hall to that fateful day on the Somme. Originally joining the 11th Battalion East Yorkshire Regiment, 2nd Hull Pals, Samuel was transferred to the 12th and was therefore at the spearhead of the attack on German positions in the ruins of Serre on 13th November 1916. The 12th and 13th Battalions were hit very hard that day and lost many of their Originals in mud up to the waist in places as they battled on dutifully through the usual mix of bad planning, bad intelligence and military incompetence to their deaths. Samuel is buried in Euston Road Cemetery, and if he IS the man I believe, was 33 years old. He left £170 13s 4d for Charles Webster, a retired licensed victualler- quite a sum in those days- which hints at a story we’ll never get to hear.
