Sutton F A Lt 2nd South Lancs Regiment
SUTTON, FERGUS ALGERNON, Lieut., 2nd Battn. South Lancashire Regt., 2nd s. of Algernon Charles Sutton, of Hamsted House, Chidham, Chichester, and Woodcroft, Tunbridge Wells a great grandson of Sir Richard Sutton, 1st Bt., M.P., Under Secretary of State, 1766-72, by his wife, Winifred Alice, dau. of William Edwin Cotton Fell, of Lochrin, Edinburgh; b. Chidham, Chichester, 26 Aug. 1891; educ. Tonbridge School; joined the 5th Battn. (Cinque Ports) of the Royal Sussex Regt., and became Lieut. 2 Aug. 1913. From the Territorial Force he was gazetted as 2nd Lieut. to the South Lancashire Regt. 10 June, 1914, and was promoted Lieut. 15 Nov. the same year. On the outbreak of war he went to France with the Expeditionary Force, was present at the retreat from Mons and at the Battles of the Marne and the Aisne, at which latter he was wounded. After returning home in Nov. 1914 he again left for the Front in the following Jan., and was killed in action near Ypres, 26 Feb. 1914; unm.
He was buried at Kemmel, in the military cemetery. At Mons Lieut. Sutton made a gallant attempt to save a machine gun in a trench from which they had to retire; while he and another man were lifting the gun out, the Germans brought one of their own machine guns to the head of it, and starting to fire, killed his companion. Capt. B. Evans, after Lieut. Sutton’s death, wrote to his parents: “Your son was an extremely gallant man, and I, as his company officer, wrote twice to the authorities recommending him for the D.S.O. If any one in this war has deserved this distinction, he most certainly did so. In my experience, I have met many gallant young fellows, but I never remember having met a young officer who was always so cool and collected under every circumstance as he was. His indifference to danger was remarked by all of us. His loss is a great one to the regt. and he will be missed by all of us who know him.”
Source : De Ruvigny’s Roll Of Honour Vol 1