Hector John Sutherland

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Grave/Memorial:  		Sutherland, Hector J

6 May 1897, Knaphill, Surrey

John and Charlotte (née Griffiths)

6th Battalion, Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire Light Infantry

N/A

Captain

2 February 1917, Meaulte, France, age 19

Grove Town Cemetery, Meaulte, Departement de la Somme, Picardie, France: III. B. 1 		      

Biography:
Hector John Sutherland was born on 6 May 1897, in Knaphill, Surrey. He was the son and third child of John & Charlotte (née Griffiths). He had 2 sisters
and seven brothers.

After leaving school, Hector went to Battersea Polytechnic to study engineering. He was also a member of London Officers’ Training Corps (O.T.C.).
When war broke out, Hector obtained his commission, in November 1914.

"OTC" refers to the University Officers' Training Corps (UOTC), a part of the Army Reserve that provides military training and leadership development to university students.
This training is designed to complement their academic studies and does not obligate participants to join the Regular Army or Army Reserves afterward.

Hector joined the 6th Battalion, The Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire Light Infantry. He deployed to France in July 1915. Hector was promoted to
lieutenant at 18 and captain at 19.

In January 1916, he became ill but refused to go into hospital. He was found dead in his bed on the morning of 3 February.

It was initially thought that Hector had died of acute bronchitis. A Court of Enquiry decision and official cause of death was later given as ‘carbon dioxide
poisoning from fumes which were given off from a brazier or stove, in which coal or coke were stated to be burning in his bedroom’.

Hector John Sutherland is buried, in grave III. B. 1, within Grove Town Cemetery, Meaulte, Departement de la Somme, France.

He was mentioned in Haig’s despatch of November 1916.

     
 In September 1916, the 34th and 2/2nd London Casualty Clearing Stations were established at this point,
known to the troops as Grove Town, to deal with casualties from the Somme battlefields. They were moved in
April 1917 and, except for a few burials in August and September 1918, the cemetery was closed.

Grove Town Cemetery contains 1,395 First World War burials. The cemetery was designed by Sir Edwin
Lutyens.