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Auction: 19001 - Orders, Decorations and Medals
Lot: 709

(x) Three: Rifleman W. Gunton, King's Royal Rifle Corps, who was taken prisoner at Kut al Amara and died of disease in hospital at Baghdad, Mesopotamia, on 31 July 1916

1914-15 Star, naming erased; British War and Victory Medals (7883 Pte. W. Gunton, K.R. Rif. C.), good very fine (3)

William Gunton served in Mesopotamia with the 4th Battalion, King's Royal Rifle Corps, from 25 September 1915. He spent time with the 2nd and 3rd Battalions, K.R.R.C., and is recorded in No.3 Troop of the 41st Wireless Signal Squadron, I.E.F. "D"; he is buried at Baghdad (North Gate) War Cemetery, Iraq.

The state of his grave today is not known but the cemetery has sustained considerable damage in recent years. In an interview with The Sunday Telegraph, conducted in April 2013, the Iraqi caretaker explained the challenges in maintaining the site:

'A big car bomb hit an embassy just outside the cemetery in 2009, which knocked many of the stones over or broke them in two. And since then, there has also been damage from random mortar fire and rockets - this area used to see quite a bit of fighting.'

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/middleeast/iraq/99755232/Peace-in-Iraq-offers-hope-for-Baghdads-British-war-graves.html


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Sold for
£80