The following extact from page 66 of "Alnwick
in the Great War" by Craig Armstrong was kindly sent to me
by John de Lucy in Feb 2017:
In a town the size of Alnwick the news of casualties
tended to spread quite quickly and, with the press coverage, the numbers
of those being killed or wounded, even when a major battle was not taking
place, resulted in every Alnwick resident being well aware of the sacrifices
that were being made. We have earlier heard how Mr John de Camborne
Paynter of Belvedere had died in 1915 leaving the majority of his estate
to his four sons (all of whom were in service by 1916). His youngest
son Major Francis Pendever Paynter of the 4th (Northumberland) Howitzer
Brigade, Royal Field Artillery, died of wounds on 10 January aged 34.
Francis left behind a widow at their home in Carlisle as well as his
mother in Alnwick.5 Before the war he had, like his father, been renowned
as a keen and able golfer and was a member of Birtley Black Fell Club.
Captain H.R. Smail, 7th Northumberland Fusiliers, had spoken to him
just the day before his death when he had visited the trenches of the
Fusiliers. Major Paynter received head wounds from shrapnel whilst trying,
accompanied by another soldier, to rescue a wounded comrade.
An excerpt from page 56 of the same book can be found
on John de Camborne Paynter's
page.
|
Mabel Paynter (née Davis) 1886 - 1966
|
