Harvey Station, New Brunswick - Cenotaph - Private Arthur Frederick Kingston

In memory of
Private
ARTHUR FREDERICK KINGSTON
October 1, 1889 - August 12, 1918

When a recruit signed up for the Canadian Expeditionary Force in WW I he filled in an attestation paper that indicated his willingness to serve in the military and provided such information as date of birth, next of kin, height, weight, complexion, occupation, etc. As such these papers are of genealogical importance. The links below are to a scanned copy of the attestion papers of Arthur Kingston completed on 24 April 1917, in Fredericton, New Brunswick when he signed up with the 236th O.S. Battallion (New Brunswick Rifles - Sir Sam's Own).

Additional Information:
Private Arthur Frederick Kingston was the son of Benedict "Bene" Kingston and Elizabeth Jane "Lizzie" Henry, York Mills, Harvey Station, York Co., NB. born 1 Oct 1889, Harvey, and died 12 Aug 1918, WWI, Battle of Amiens.

Cemetery:
Bouchoir New British Cemetery, Somme, France.

Bouchoir is a village in the Department of the Somme on the straight main road from Amiens to Roye. The Bouchoir New British Cemetery is on the north-east side of the road nearly 2 kilometres south-east of the village.

From Peronne take the N17 to Roye then the D934 to Amiens. Travel for approximately 8 kilometres and just before the village of Bouchoir the cemetery will be found on the right hand side of the road.

The village of Bouchoir was lost to the Allies on 27 March 1918 during the German armies massive sprng offensive but was recovered by the 8th Canadian Infantry Brigade on 9 August 1918. The New British Cemetery was created after the Armistice when graves were brought there from several small Commonwealth cemeteries and from the battlefields round Bouchoir and south of the village. Almost all date from March, April or August 1918. The graves in Plots I and II are numbered consecutively from 1 to 144. Those in Plot III are numbered from 1 to 135, and the same system applies to Plot IV. Plots V and VI are numbered by rows in the usual way.

Casualty Details: UK 542, Canada 214, Australia 6, South Africa 1, Total Burials: 763

Grave Reference:
V. D. 29

Private Arthur Frederick Kingston was killed on Day 5 of the Battle of Amiens, which began on August 8th 1918. This battle marked the opening phase of the Allied offensive later known as the Hundred Days Offensive that ultimately led to the end of World War I. Allied forces, spear headed by the Canadian Corps advanced over seven miles on the first day, one of the greatest advances of the war although as the Canadians progressed beyond the reach of artillary support, and with the arrival of German reinforcements, their momentum slowed. The battle is also notable for its effects on German morale with a large number of German forces surrendering. This led Erich Ludendorff to famously describe the first day of the battle as "the black day of the German Army." Amiens was one of the first major battles involving a significant number of tanks and marked the end of trench warfare on the Western Front. Fighting became mobile once again and remained so until the armistice was signed on November 11th, 1918.

From newspaper obituary - 1918:

Pte. A. F. Kingston
Pte. Arthur Frederick Kingston, whose death in action was reported August 12th, was the son of Mr and Mrs Benedict Kingston, of York Mills, NB, and was twenty eight years of age.

Pte. Kingston went overseas with 236th Kiltie Battalion in November 1917. He was afterwards transferred to another battalion and served three months in France.

Letters received by his mother from his lieutenant attest to his splendid courage and gallantry in face of the enemy, and how nobly he met his death, during the great drive which commenced August 8.
Besides his parents, he is survived by six sisters and two brothers, who have the sympathy of all in the loss of a worthy son and brother.